Looking to build rig for heavy gaming. Where to start?

[Hefemeister]

Does your 9900 have the mounting kit for the skt 1366?

If it does it is ok but not the best air cooler by any streach of the imagination.

 

[LetJimiTakeOver]

Does your 9900 have the mounting kit for the skt 1366?

If it does it is ok but not the best air cooler by any streach of the imagination.

Yes it has the mounting kit and is compatible with all i7 processors, according to the website.

As a matter of interest, what is the best air cooler?

 

[Hefemeister]

Thermalright true 120 or true 120 copper, Noctua NH-D14 or the Prolimatech Megahalems are all great choices for heavy overclocking on Air.

I use the true and Slay uses the copper.

 

[LetJimiTakeOver]

Ok thanks Hef. I'll probably go with a Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme since the website I'll be buying from doesn't have the true or true copper variations. It's around the same price as the Zalman 9900.

Question about compatibility. Will the utra-120 fit in a Lian Li PC-7FN midtower?

 

[Hefemeister]

ThermalRight Ultra 120 Extreme = TRUE 120

The true height is 160.5 mm. Width on your case is 8.26 inches or 210mm Could be tight. If you loose 2 inches with mb and cpu that would put you at 159mm left. Without having one to measure I cannot say for sure but it should fit.

 

[LetJimiTakeOver]

ThermalRight Ultra 120 Extreme = TRUE 120

LOL I'm an idiot

The true height is 160.5 mm. Width on your case is 8.26 inches or 210mm Could be tight. If you loose 2 inches with mb and cpu that would put you at 159mm left. Without having one to measure I cannot say for sure but it should fit.

Ok thanks man you've been a huge help

 

[Druid]

Good plan on keeping the i7. If you can fit the 5870 and the i7 in your budget like you did, there is no reason to get an AMD.

If the 5870 did not fit, I would probably consider the gtx 470 over the 5850. On newegg at least, the cheapest 5850 is only $5 cheaper than the cheapest gtx 470 after rebates. You can't order from them, but I would think pricing would be similar elsewhere on the net.

gtx 470 ($295): Newegg.com - MSI N470GTX-M2D12-B GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
HD 5850 ($290): Newegg.com - XFX HD-585X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5850 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity

I guess after you add in the shipping, the 470 goes up to $300, but the 470 is definitely more than $10 better than the 5850. I think that is the sweet spot right there as far as high end gpu's go currently. The other 470's aren't quite as good of a deal though. If only it didn't have that silly street fighter graphics on it.

 

[LetJimiTakeOver]

Ok thanks for all the help so far guys.

Another quick question: Why is there a 100 euro price difference between the following ASUS rampage MoBos?

Extreme: Komplett.ie - Webshop for PC components, Sound & Vision, Digital Imaging and Gaming

GENE: Komplett.ie - Webshop for PC components, Sound & Vision, Digital Imaging and Gaming

 

[patonb]

Other than the internal features, the Extreme is a tri sli/xfire and the Gene is only sli/xfire.

As well, look at the cooling of the north and south bridges, the extreme is more extreme. Basically the extreme is an overclocking designed board, and the gene is a mid range mild oc'n board.

 

[LetJimiTakeOver]

Thanks patonb!

Ok I've come across this mid tower case:
Komplett.ie - Webshop for PC components, Sound & Vision, Digital Imaging and Gaming

Now I know the 5870 is a fairly large card, so will the above case be able to accomodate it? Or should I just go with a full tower like the Cooler Master ATCS 840?