New System

[aman501]

I put this thread on the cooling and modding forum because I plan on overclocking much of the hardware (CPU, GPU, etc) and I was wondering 1)what you thought of the system (i.e. would the components work together well?) and 2)If I would be able to keep it cool enough with this hardware. This is supposed to be a mid range gaming rig. Suggestions will be accepted but I am reluctant to go much higher price-wise.

Mobo
Processor
HDD
Memory
CPU Cooling
Case
DVD Drive
DVD-R/RW
PSU
GPU
Monitor

Thanks

Thought about my configuration and thought I might want to run 2 video cards SLI/Crossfire in the future so I found this mobo. The Abit website had a very limited number of approved RAM sticks but Kingston's reliable so I think I'll stick with them unless anyone knows about a problem with the combination. Here's the website for the approved hardware and Here's the actual link to the mobo on abit's website. That puts the price of the system to around 1600 so If someone wants to upgrade/change something there'll have to be a trade-off of hardware unless it only increases the price a few bucks.

 

[MetalX]

Goddamnit, why can I never read newegg links... can you post the actual part names? (your links aren't broken, it's just that newegg.com seems to have blocked my ip address or something... cuz I can never use their website).

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

For starters, try getting this card instead of the 7900GT. It has a lot more punch for almost the same price. Also, I would suggest this monitor as a better alternative to the one u have chosen. It has a maximum resolution of 1280x1024 which makes it a perfect choice for gaming. That Antec PSU looks good too. As for the mobo, this is a cheaper alternative to the Abit one. In addition, I recommend this RAM to go with it since it has lower latency and is cheaper (after rebates) than the Kingston kit. Plus, it's also officially supported by MSI on the mobo's website and should work with the Abit mobo too if u decide to stick with it.

The support list is not necessarily made to be stuck to religiously. Any good-quality RAM will work in either mobo, regardless of whether it's supported or not. For example, Patriot makes superb-quality RAM but they're not present on the RAM support list of the MSI board (which can be found here).

 

[aman501]

Wow Thanks a bunch, although I do have some questions.
I have a lot about the GPU. I chose the nvidia one vs. the ATI one you showed me because of it had 24 pixel pipes but ATI had only 16. I see that it has a 48 pixel shader processor and faster clock and memory speeds but I was going to overclock mine. Does the ATI overclock well? and does the 16 pixel pipes and 48 pixel shader processor better than the 24 pixel pipes and 512Mb on the nvidia card?
Monitor's great thanks for the heads up.
The reason I chose the mobo I did was because of 2 main reasons 1)I have an MSI board now and their bios/drivers update utilities suck. 2)The reviews had a lot of people with bios/drivers problems and since this is my first build I'd like to make it easier on me. (the reason I'm telling you is because if you know that any of this stuff will work, and I said I thought it wouldn't, you can tell me)
Sorry, I hate mail in rebates. Gonna stick with kingston.

Oh, sorry here's the hardware I had chosen above without links (differen't screen):

ABIT AW9D Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz 2M sharing L2 Cache
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250620A 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive
Kingston HyperX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Thermaltake MiniTyp 90 92mm Value Pack
NZXT LEXA-NP Black/ Silver Aluminum Construction Plastic Front Panel ATX Mid Tower
SUS Black 16X DVD-ROM 52X CD-R 32X CD-RW 52X CD-ROM 2M Cache E-IDE/ATAPI Combo Drive
LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM IDE Burner with LightScribe Technology
Antec NeoHE 500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply 100Vac to 240Vac +/- 10% UL, CUL, TUV, CE, FCC, CCC, CB, C-tick
GIGABYTE GV-NX795T512H-RH GeForce 7950GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
Hanns·G HX-192RPB Black 19" 2ms DVI LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 700:1 Built in Speakers

 

[raybay]

Nice setup. We Have most of the same with no problems at all yet.

 

[aman501]

Sorry, I have more questions...

Sweet thanks raybay. I've read up on the GPU's and decided to go with rage and use the X1950XT he suggested. its 10 dollars cheaper and a lot faster. a few more questions.

Would I be able to keep this hardware cool with overclocking the CPU and GPU?
Is this system worth the $1600 + (OS)? (I'm still a little reluctant to spend that much money) and
Should I wait until Vista comes out or go ahead and buy XP?

Thanks a lot for the help everyone.

p.s. anyone know how much the typical version of vista will cost?

 

[raybay]

Nothing wrong with what you have. Just remember, Perfection is unattainable.
And in the coming year, computers and software are going to change dramatically. Both Intel and AMD are coming out with new processors. Cooling sytems are improving, as are power supplies.
We are going to wait until May to change, and if not perfect by then, we are going to wait until October.
We want to see Windows VISTA problems get sorted out.

 

[aman501]

Your probably right. Thanks for the advice. I'm probably going to content myself with a new video card to run TESIV Oblivion. That's not nearly as big an investment as a new computer and I'll be able to transfer my new card over to the new computer when I get it.

I need to calm down and be content with what I have lol.

Thank you all

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

That's a mighty powerful build you have there. As far as OCing goes, keep in mind that the X1950 runs quite hot so be sure to get extra cooling for it. I have 2 X1900s in my system along with a w/cooling rig and the idle temps are around 50C, going all the way up to 85C at full load. That should give u some idea. The X1950s have better stock cooling but I don't think they'd be enough for OCing. Other than that, it's a great system. Nice job! :grinthumb

 

[aman501]

Thanks

Thanks man, Unfortunately I won't be able to afford that particular system (but same graphics card and monitor because I already bought those) I started over (again) and came up with this:

Motherboard
Pentium D 925
Case
RAM x 2
CPU Fan (same as above)
HDD

According to a review here this mobo will work with Pentium D processors but I'd like a second opinion. Will this PSU have enought power for this GPU (I have both already) and all the above stated hardware? Please notify me of any items that will not work together!

I can't say how much everyone has helped me
aman