Legit Reviews

Hey everyone, I need help with this new Intel build for my son.

I've narrowed it down to what is listed below, but I would love to lower the price without hurting performance and still have it be future-proof for around 2 years.

Keep it in mind that he definitely wants SLI in the future, and a smallish case. I am kind of stumped on a small ATX case that will work with dual 8800gts, cube or desktop case maybe.

He is not getting a monitor because he wants to hook it up to his Toshiba DLP 50" HDTV.

Going to Overclock the CPU and need advice on which ram would be best...DDR2-800 or DDR2-1066.

Is there any "nearby" technology you think I should hold out for? Not more than a few weeks at most.

Please let me know if you see anywhere that I can save some cash or improve this build...all help is greatly appreciated!

Samsung DVD Burner - $33.99
.
Seagate 320Gb HDD - $84.99
.
Evga 8800GTS 512 - $314.99 - $30 MIR
.
Corsair 620HX PSU - $169.99 - $25 MIR
.
A-Data 4GB DDR2-800 - $99.99 - $20 MIR
.
Evga 780i board - $249.99
.
Q6600 Kentsfield - $277.99 - OC to around 3.2Ghz

Total = $1231.93 all items free shipping.

Take a look at 500gb and 750gb hard drives, they're generally cheaper per GB.

im not sure if he'll be able to oc that high on a nvidia bord. he should wait for the 790i to come out, much less heat

Looks very good, I am building my machine with very similar specs.

One thing I would look into is the 8800GTs instead of 8800GTS. The price and power consumption are lower and they outperform the GTS in SLI in most benchmarks. Of course, you will not be able to implement triple-SLI with the GTS's.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the input, you guys rock.

Ya, the larger drives are cheaper per GB but money, as always, is an issue, so I chose the 320Gb...I almost picked the 250GB which is $70.

Ya, I really want either an Asus or Gigabyte board, but this Evga board was the best offering atm. How soon on the 790i boards?

All the benches I've seen (assuming both are 512 G92) indicate the 8800GTS is faster than the 8800GT and that is normally to be expected. Did anyone else hear that the GT outperforms the GTS in SLI?

I've switched from the EVGA 8800GTS to the XFX version. It is essentially the same card with same warranty but cheaper before and after rebate.

A little help here please guys? I know you all build systems and I value your opinions...even if all you say is that my build can't be improved, thats fine...thanks!

PSU normal price here is cheap than the eggs with the rebate, and it also has a rebate http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe ... ode=373110

I'd go with an Intel Chipset, should be cheaper and OC just as well

hey ibleet!

i'm not certain when the 790i boards are going to be rolling out, but maybe for now you should find a single-slot 680i or P35 chipset board just to run on until the 790i boards come out and you have a chance to see which one will last for him.

as for the video cards, i'd DEFINITELY stick with the 512 GTS over the GT. way better performance over 2 GT cards once he decides to go SLI.

going with an intel chipset is a good idea, i just noticed Matt's input before i posted. (cheap single slotted board until you find the long-haul board, save some $ now when he doesnt need sli capability)

going with stock cooling for that quad-core? hmm... i'm a dual core guy right now, but i'd check out what your after-market options are.
those things run hot, especially when overclocked!

Looking good so far though! wish i could get a GTS 512, but i'm sticking with the 7800GT until the 9xxx cards come out

Thanks for the heads up on the PSU. I just picked one up at Clubit for 136.99 with a $25 MIR.

Ya, I have been having 2nd thoughts on the motherboard. I will definitely go with the Intel chipset. I would opt for a single slot board, but he wont hear of it. He wants the best of everything...he wants SLI, with both slots at pciex16 (2.0).

I'm gonna find out how hot the quad runs on air. I got a Go stepping quad, so that should help some since it runs cooler and at lower voltages. My goal is 3.2Ghz on air...I have seen more and I'm just hoping that I get lucky with a nice chip (die size). I tried to talk him into the E8400 but he wouldn't hear that either.

Thanks for the input....more is appreciated.

So far I have purchased the Q6600 Go stepping, and the Corsair 620HX psu. The quad came with a free copy of Company of Heroes.

Whos paying for all this him or you? that would go along way as to what I would be putting into this.

He's paying for it, but he has a birthday coming up soon.

Actually he sold his PS3 and he's selling his laptop to afford this. That should give him roughly $1200 to play with.

He also wants to hook it up to his Toshiba 50" DLP HDTV, so I'm gonna have to research options for the best video and sound. The XFX 8800GTS has TV out in the form of S-Video. I have yet to decide on a digital sound card or to just go with onboard analog.

He decided on Sunbeam Case and it got decent enough reviews and seems to offer good airflow and cooling.

Thanks for the help.

dicecca112 wrote:PSU normal price here is cheap than the eggs with the rebate, and it also has a rebate http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe ... ode=373110

I'd go with an Intel Chipset, should be cheaper and OC just as well

Which motherboard do you recommend that is Intel chipset, full x16 sli (2.0)? Does it exist?

ibleet wrote:He also wants to hook it up to his Toshiba 50" DLP HDTV, so I'm gonna have to research options for the best video and sound. The XFX 8800GTS has TV out in the form of S-Video.

It has been a long time since I tried S video output to a TV.
If it hasn't improved on the newer generation cards, won't he be a bit disappointed with that?

I hooked a HTPC to a 46" Sharp last week using a HD3850 GPU and HDMI output.
Holy cow that thing looked amazing!
It didn't look like the usual computer hooked to a TV ... it was like a true 46" monitor.

Nicest sound you're gonna find without breaking the bank is here ...
http://biz.tigerdirect.com/applications ... u=L23-6334

Yeah, make sure that you use a DVI to HDMI adaptor (do they work on that card?).

At the very least use the VGA input on the TV (I presume it has one, if it doesn't, does it have a DVI input?).

SVideo is poor to send PC signals through, especially on a HD TV.

Dan

i concur with everyones opinion on s-vid to TV. go to amazon.com and get a DVI to HDMI cable - i just picked one up last week i think it was under $5. I have a 55' sony HDTV i have my computer hooked up to at the moment- and it looks just like a monitor - i am running it wih a 8800GTS 512mb.

Thanks guys, I'm gonna pick up that cable later this week and give it a try using my system.

Guys, the tv-out on new video cards isn't straight s-video, new video cards come with an adapter to component output, and will do full 1080p over the tv-out port.

If DMI to HDMI is available, I'd still choose that, but component cables can still produce beautiful picture.

Thanks for all the input guys! I finalized the build and ordered the parts today! Here it is:

Q6600 Go Stepping - $272.98
Includes FREE bonus game Quake Wars, Enemy Territory. Takes the sting out of not needing the stock HSF.
Corsair 620HX PSU - $111.99 after MIR

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - $26.99

Gigabyte P35 DS3L - $89.99

4GB (2x2Gb) OCZ Reaper DII800 - $95.99 after MIR

XFX 8800GTS (G92) 512 - $279.99 after MIR
Includes FREE bonus game Company of Heroes.
Seagate 320Gb HDD - $84.99

Samsung DVD Burner - $33.99

Sunbeam Transformer Case - $75.99

Gigabyte Wireless Card - $15.99, Apevia 120mm Fan - 6.99, Shipping - $27.43

TOTAL Damage - $1123.32

PICS COMING SOON!

sounds like a solid gaming machine! just be sure to run the RAM in dual channel mode, much better bandwidth!