Hey all. Long time no post haha. New Rig time! Need input.

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TheOtis

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Nice to be back. It's been my second leave from the forums since '05. I've been quite busy with work and school lately. I look forward to coming back as much as I can, I've always enjoyed coming to these forums, we seem to have some of the most informed people I've talked to, or hopefully still do. Trotter and b1g still here?

So, a couple months ago for this term, I had to sell my gaming rig :( Hated to do it, but had to. Now, It's time for me to build a new one!

Here in Portland, OR, a brand called Danger Den is VERY popular, I'm sure you all have heard it. They make incredible water cooling parts that people live by, and some pretty killer cases. I've decided to go with the trend and build my rig around this. Please give me any input you have on any parts, suggestions and input are appreciated.

Core 2 Quad 9300
Gigabyte EP35C-P33P
Memory- Corsair 4GB (2x2gig) DDR2 800
XFX 8800GT
Danger Den Water Box
Danger Den Water cooling kit
Western Digital Raptor 150GB
Sound Blaster X-FI
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit

My budget's around $1500 for this. Now. I have a few things I'd like to address-

The Core 2 Quad 9300 comes out March 15th, I'm pretty stoked for. I'll stick with the P35 chipset. X38 would be nice, but I can't say I'm down for paying a TON more for a bit of a better overclocker.

I was thinking about possible doing different memory. I want to stick with 4 gigs, because I defiantly see a reason to with 64-bit, and I'm sure if not much now, I will see a good performance increase in having 4 gigs over 2.

Now, I could go with Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066 2x2gig 4GB, but it'd cost around $189. If I did that, I'd go with a WD 500gig for $100.

So it comes down to-

Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066 4GB
WD 500gig

or

Corsair DDR2 800 4GB
Western Digital Raptor 150gig

Quite the decision. So again, any input would help, just please tell me why you think one choice is better then the other, then a simple this or that.

If anyones interested, here's the Water box and WC kit-

DD Waterbox Plus-
Danger Den :: Cases :: DD -...

DD WC Kit-
Danger Den :: Water Cooling...

I know it says out of stock, but a local retailer sells them.


So there it all is folks.
 
out of those two choices none of the above :D

get the 500gb 32mb Cache HD from the first one, and the Ballistix from the second choice

also don't get the q9300, it sucks, because of its low as heck multiplier, the q6700 will probably overclock a great deal better and it'll be $266, and the q6600 will be $213
 
BAD KIT! Don't get it... get aspire in here to explain why

From what he told me... EK Supremes or dTek Fuzions are the best CPU Waterblocks...

I agree with the P35 instead of X38 since you can get nearly identical overclocks

D5 Laing pump?

Dual Pass radiator?
 
Q9300 consume less power than Q6600, Thats really the only advantage of Q9300 have over Q6600.

Q9300 does perform slightly faster stock vs stock. It just about 5% faster. You won't notice the difference.

If you don't plan to overclock Q9300 would be better choice if it cost the same as Q6600

If you plan to overclock then Q6600 would be better because it doesn't have low multiplier like Q9300

also don't get the q9300, it sucks, because of its low as heck multiplier, the q6700 will probably overclock a great deal better and it'll be $266, and the q6600 will be $213

The price drop for Q6700 and Q6600 is on April

I heard that Micro center is selling Q6600 for only $199, though.
 
TheOtis said:
Trotter and b1g still here?
Are you kidding? They can'y pay me to leave.

...hey, wait... they don't pay me to stay, either...

Meh. Either way, we're both here. And both of us have taken a step up... :D:D:D
 

Processor - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 OEM(clubit.com)
Motherboard - Gigabyte EP35-DS3R
Memory - Crucial Ballistix 2 x 2GB DDR2-800
Graphics cards - MSI 8800GT 512MB
Power supply - Corsair 520HX(clubit.com)
Hard drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB(clubit.com)
Optical drive - Samsung 20X SATA DVD Burner
Sound card - Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1
OS - Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM
Watercooling - Petra'sTech CoolKit Elite - Rev.2(petrastechshop.com)


Comes to around $1,372.87 w/o shipping. I'm guessing you have the other parts? Case, keyboard, mouse, etc...

Why did you choose the EP35-DS3P that supports Crossfire, if you're getting an Nvidia card? Unless you plan on crossfiring ATI cards, later on. That's why I chose the EP35-DS3R, for the single card solution.


Trotter said:
Are you kidding? They can'y pay me to leave.

...hey, wait... they don't pay me to stay, either...
haha...Same here. This is my e-home.
 
B1g, he has the ep35-ds3C listed, which is the hybrid ddr2/ddr3 board. I suggest you just get the regular dsr board without the support for ddr3. By the time you want ddr3, you will be buying a new board to support nehalem anyway. Also, check out the ocz reapers 2x2 kit. Awesome memory and you can get them in 4-4-4-12 timings at 800mhz, then just loosen the timings if you need to overclock them.

Another thing to remember, the 9300 only has a 7x multi and half the cache of a 9450.
q6600/6700 = 8mb cache
q9300 = 6mb cache
q9450 = 12mb cache

Most of the gains on the new 45nm chips come from the 50% extra cache over the q6600, and slightly higher stock clocks. But for now, the q6600 is still the best chip for the money.

Wait...reread...wtf is the ep35c-p33p?

Also, for the amount of money its going to cost for a watercooling loop, why not just get the Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 and save 150 bucks for as good of healing without the hassle of water.
 
B1g, he has the ep35-ds3C listed, which is the hybrid ddr2/ddr3 board.

Wait...reread...wtf is the ep35c-p33p?
Ah...Gigabyte confuses me with all their Es, Ps, and Cs. But from what I understand, E is for that energy saver, P is for Crossfire, and C is for the DDR3 support.

He probably got them mixed up like I did.

Also, for the amount of money its going to cost for a watercooling loop, why not just get the Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 and save 150 bucks for as good of healing without the hassle of water.

Agreed, if he decides to skip the water route. TRUE with two Scythe S-FLEXs.
 
Phew, a lot to go over from these responses haha.



Q9300 consume less power than Q6600, Thats really the only advantage of Q9300 have over Q6600.

Q9300 does perform slightly faster stock vs stock. It just about 5% faster. You won't notice the difference.

If you don't plan to overclock Q9300 would be better choice if it cost the same as Q6600

If you plan to overclock then Q6600 would be better because it doesn't have low multiplier like Q9300



The price drop for Q6700 and Q6600 is on April

I heard that Micro center is selling Q6600 for only $199, though.

Thanks for that, I didn't know it had a lower multiplier. I do plan on overclocking, which is why I want that watercooling kit. I could build my own from DD, but for the price, chances are I'd be getting roughly the same parts. And every review I've read for the box and kit have been great reviews. I know ATLEAST 10 people that have that kit or custom kits like it, and they love it. So I'm for sure getting it.


Ah...Gigabyte confuses me with all their Es, Ps, and Cs. But from what I understand, E is for that energy saver, P is for Crossfire, and C is for the DDR3 support.

He probably got them mixed up like I did.



Agreed, if he decides to skip the water route. TRUE with two Scythe S-FLEXs.


Yea, I got confused too haha. They have multiple boards that all look the same, and all their names look the same to me haha. I won't get the one that supports DDR3 also. I mean, the ONLY time I'd go for DDR3 is if it was DDR3 1600, that's when the performance in DDR3 takes off. But the price for that speed is still out of my league. As soon as I can pick up for gigs for under $300 or $250, I'll pick it up.



Processor - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 OEM(clubit.com)
Motherboard - Gigabyte EP35-DS3R
Memory - Crucial Ballistix 2 x 2GB DDR2-800
Graphics cards - MSI 8800GT 512MB
Power supply - Corsair 520HX(clubit.com)
Hard drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB(clubit.com)
Optical drive - Samsung 20X SATA DVD Burner
Sound card - Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1
OS - Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM
Watercooling - Petra'sTech CoolKit Elite - Rev.2(petrastechshop.com)


Comes to around $1,372.87 w/o shipping. I'm guessing you have the other parts? Case, keyboard, mouse, etc...

Why did you choose the EP35-DS3P that supports Crossfire, if you're getting an Nvidia card? Unless you plan on crossfiring ATI cards, later on. That's why I chose the EP35-DS3R, for the single card solution.



haha...Same here. This is my e-home.

Thanks for that build list. I still dig the magic stix and all, but I was kind of hoping to get DDR2 1066. Why? Theirs no huge reason I guess. You guys are the big overclockers here and I'm sure I could get the magic stix at 800 to OC around that the 1066 could OC at. I've just wanted to own Dominators and I dig the way they look. They're astheticly(sp for sure) pleasing with that Water box.

I was kind on set on going modular for a power supply again. Since it'll be a completely transparent case, wire managment is going to have to be perfect, I figured it'll be easier with a modular PSU.

I will mos def get a Q6600. Last time I had one it wasn't the G0 and I still got it to 3.1 or 3.2 or so with no problem. I'm sure I could get a G0 much higher the the DD WC kit.

I'm really not too picky on the sound card. Honestly, aslong as I don't have to use my proc. for the audio, I dun care. I just want it to be an X-FI and not one of those Audio ones, ya know, the ubber slim ones, I haven't heard great things about them.

Thanks for all your input everyone, it's helping a lot, keep it coming!

Are you kidding? They can'y pay me to leave.

...hey, wait... they don't pay me to stay, either...

Meh. Either way, we're both here. And both of us have taken a step up... :D:D:D


Haha! You guys are big dogs now ey? Trotter, you're managment?! I didn't even know they HAD managment for forums?! That's killer.

EDIT: Sorry for the double post! Jeebus, what a n00b thing for me to do!

Double Edit: Woa woa woa. Automatic double postage deleter?! That's sick.

One last EDIT: I'm going with these bad boys instead- Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail . 2 sets. So I'll be running 4x2gig sticks. All tracers, so they'll look sick. They run at 5-5-5-15 @ 1000mhz. Perfect. Granted, it will take up all 4 slots, but then again, I doubt I'll need any more then 4 gigs before I move to DDR3 later on.
 
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