Time for an upgrade, I love taxes

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Mewgen1

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Okay, so I don't really love taxes, but the tax return is nice. After all it is finally going to let me have the money I need to upgrade my system for the first time in 5 years. I've been looking around and was hoping someone could give me some input on the parts I've selected for my upgrade.

Before anyone asks, I already have a DVD Burner and 3 hard drives which total about 570GBs, which I hope will be more than enough storage for the near future. I also have a very nice silver Thermaltake Armor case in which I intend to craft my new machine.

EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel
Newegg Item #: N82E16813188024

BFG Tech GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
Newegg Item #: N82E16814143119

PC Power & Cooling S610EPS EPS12V 610W Continuous @ 40°C Power Supply
Newegg Item #: N82E16817703005

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W
Newegg Item #: N82E16819115037

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Newegg Item #: N82E16820231122

Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Ultimate for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM
Newegg Item #: N82E16832116215

I was thinking about going with a q6600, and I might still, if only because they're easier to find. I'm just not entirely sure Ill use all 4 cores to their fullest potential with what I'm going to be doing (gaming mostly).

If anybody notices anything I left out that is important or any potential conflicts that I missed please point them out, id like this to go as painlessly as possible once I get all the parts in.
 
The E8400 is perfect for gaming right now. But if you're not planning on upgrading for a long time though, I'd suggest the Q6600, as it will last you a longer time. Sure the 4 cores are not all in use right now, but it will be useful in the future. Especially with gaming. If you want to go for the Q6600, see if there is a Microcenter near you, because they are selling the Q6600 at $199.99. Not sure if the deal is still there though. Other than that, I would suggest getting the Q6600 from ClubIT.com

If you're going to be overclocking, I would highly suggest you get an aftermarket CPU cooler. Such as the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme. Along with aftermarket thermal paste. I would suggest MX-2 thermal paste.

And from that list that you've provided, everything looks pretty good.
 
even in current gaming 4 cores are better than two... even if games are only made to run on two that will leave the other two to handle system processes that are running in the back ground
 
Im not really sure I trust coolers that only have heatsinks with no fans. though I do think I will look into some sort of after market cooling. Any particular reason that the Freezer 7 wouldn't work with q6600?

The 9600gt card is a pretty sweet deal, heck, for about $50 more I could get 2 and run in SLI. How important are the stream processors? I notice the 9600 has half of what the 8800 has. would running in SLI negate whatever effect that might have? I suppose though that even 1 9600 would be a massive improvement over my old 6800, no matter what its specs are, but I really would like the most bang for my buck here.
 
Im not really sure I trust coolers that only have heatsinks with no fans. though I do think I will look into some sort of after market cooling. Any particular reason that the Freezer 7 wouldn't work with q6600?

The 9600gt card is a pretty sweet deal, heck, for about $50 more I could get 2 and run in SLI. How important are the stream processors? I notice the 9600 has half of what the 8800 has. would running in SLI negate whatever effect that might have? I suppose though that even 1 9600 would be a massive improvement over my old 6800, no matter what its specs are, but I really would like the most bang for my buck here.

and you can get a fan with the TRUE. It is the best cpu cooler out (unless you want water, or wanna pay 200 bucks).

the freezer 7 just isnt enough if you are gonna be doing any oc with the q6600.
 
Agreed with noclue98.

Sorry about not mentioning that the TRUE does not include a fan. Here is a fan suggestion though:
Scythe Slipstream 120mm 69cfm/24dBA



Mewgen1 said:
The 9600gt card is a pretty sweet deal, heck, for about $50 more I could get 2 and run in SLI. How important are the stream processors? I notice the 9600 has half of what the 8800 has. would running in SLI negate whatever effect that might have? I suppose though that even 1 9600 would be a massive improvement over my old 6800, no matter what its specs are, but I really would like the most bang for my buck here.

The 9600GT is probably the best bang for your buck card. I would usually recommend SLI, if you plan on playing games at a resolution of 1920 x 1200 or over.

Stream processors are pretty important, as it has a direct correlation to a graphic card's performance. Even though it has less SPs the 8800GT has, it's stock shader clocks are higher than the 8800GT's. So it doesn't trail far behind the 8800GT, for a lower price.
 
The 9600GT is probably the best bang for your buck card. I would usually recommend SLI, if you plan on playing games at a resolution of 1920 x 1200 or over.

Thats ture, but ive looked at some 9600GT reviews and SLi scales unbelievebly well with them, even at 1240x1024.(or whatever that res is)

The 9600GT trails slightly behind 8800GT in single card situations, and equals or beats it in SLi.
 
Ok after some suggestions Heres what Ive come up with. Anything with an asterisk is something Ive changed or added.

EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel
Newegg Item #: N82E16813188024

*MSI N9600GT-T2D512 OC GeForce 9600GT 512MB
Newegg Item #: N82E16814127332

PC Power & Cooling S610EPS EPS12V 610W Continuous @ 40°C Power Supply
Newegg Item #: N82E16817703005

*Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz
Newegg Item #: N82E16819115017

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Newegg Item #: N82E16820231122

Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Ultimate DVD - OEM
Newegg Item #: N82E16832116215

*Rosewill RC-208 PCI IDE (ATA) Silicon Image Host Controller un-RAID
Newegg Item #: N82E16816132005

I decided the 9600 was a better choice than the 8800 since its about $120 cheaper and is pretty much on par with the 8800 as far as I can tell. Also I may upgrade the video card in the near future when the 9800 series comes out and I'd rather not shell out $300 on something I may just toss in 6 months.

The q6600 won out over the E8400 since its more widely available and also seems to be wildly overclockable so it may last another 5-7 years if I get a more intense cooling solution than stock.

The ide controller is on there since I realized that I have 4 ide devices (3 HDDs and 1 DVD-R) and the motherboard I am getting here only has a single ide connector.

I appreciate the input on cooling solutions but, unless theres actually a problem with the stock cooling, I think ill stick with that for the moment. In the future, if and when I need to get some extra speed out of the cpu, I will think about a more serious cooling apparatus. At this point, however, it would just be an unnecessary expenditure.

Anyone have any other input on this setup?

I would just like to say thanks for all the replies already posted and also thanks in advance for anyone else who has any suggestions.
 
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