Madek

Budget: How much money are you willing to spend on the new build?

$5,000

Brands: Are there any brands of components you want or don't want?

I want to try and stay with Nvidia for graphics (SLI)


Multitasking: Will you be multitasking with this computer and if so, how much?

Yes, as much as you possible can (gaming, internet, video editing, image editing programs, website creators, other open applications, etc.)

Gaming: Will you be gaming and if so, how much and how new are the games?

Yes, hardcore gamer and I an no stranger at all to games - been playing all my life

Calculations: Will you be doing any intense calculations or media encoding?

Yes, both


Overclocking: Do you plan on overclocking and if so, how much?

Yes, max but I do know exactly what overclocking invovles, though I want to do it


Storage: How much storage will you need and what will you be storing?

About 1 TB


Legacy Support: Will you need support for older hardware like parallel, serial, or PS/2 devices?

Yes


Operating System: Do you want Windows XP or Vista, or Linux compatibility?

Vista (64-bit)


Case: Do you want help selecting a case and if so, how big do you want it?

Yes, thought I have already picked one (roughly the size as one picked)

Accessories: Do you want a keyboard, mouse, or other items included?

No


Recycled Components: Will you be reusing any components you already have?

No


Monitor: If you want a monitor, what size do you want and should it be widescreen?

Around 25', and yes


Stores: Do you have any online stores that you prefer to purchase from?

Newegg, or any other suggestions


Location: What country do you live in?

USA

I fairly new to PC building and I have picked out most of the parts I need to build with and am wondering if they are all compatible with each other:

Case - Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan - Retail

Motherboard - EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

Power Supply - ePOWER EP-1200P10-T2 ATX12V / EPS12V 1200W Power Supply

Processor - Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 Kentsfield 3.0GHz LGA 775 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562QX6850

Memory - GeIL Esoteria 8GB(4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Quad Kit Desktop Memory Model GX28QG6400ERSPDC - Retail

Floppy - MITSUMI Cold Gray 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive - OEM

Hard Drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

DVD Drive - LG Super Multi Blu-ray Disc Burner & HD DVD-ROM Drive Black SATA Model GGW-H20L - Retail

Sound Card - AuzenTech Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail

CPU Fan - ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail

Video Card - PNY VCG8800XXPB GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

I am looking to build an ultra gaming system so if anyone has any suggestions as to additional/different parts, please let me know!

Any help is very much appreciated and thanks in advance for taking the time to read through my post!!!

TheMatt

I would look at a different motherboard and power supply. Also, you definitely don't need that much RAM, not even half that. And the 8800GTX video card is obselete, look at the 8800GT or GTS G92 instead.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131232
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817703013
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227089
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127329 (2 in SLI will be better).

Other than that it looks good.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115034 (maybe something to considder).

Madek

All right cool.

Any particular reason for powersupply "downgrade" and motherboard switch?

And will the 8 GB memory still work with the system?

Also, if I wanted to have three cards in SLi, would that one you suggested still work?

Thanks a bunch Matt!

TheMatt

The power supply I found will actually be better quality. PC Power & Cooling makes some of the best power supplies in the industry IMO. You need a quality power supply, otherwise your system won't have clean and stable power.

The motherboard is sort of the same thing. eVGA doesn't really make real good quality motherboards (their graphics cards are great though). The Asus board has much higher quality components. For example, it uses the newer solid capacitors which have longer lifespans and lower tolerances. It also uses copper heatsinks and has a better designed voltage regulator for the CPU (the eVGA board doesn't use solid caps for other voltage regulators).

You have to remember that the motherboard is also a power supply. It has switching type voltage regulators on it (just like inside that big box up in your tower), which if poorly designed, can pollute the clean and stable power from a high quality power supply. Power from the PSU goes through voltage regulators on the motherboard for the CPU, RAM, expansion cards, and just about every other component mounted on the motherboard. This is why a quality motherboard in addition to a quality power supply is crucial.

The 8GB will work, but I can tell you that it is a huge waste of money unless you plan on building a server. 32-bit Windows won't even recognize more than 4GB. When you have more memory, it is also slower.

You could do 3-way SLi if you really wanted (the Asus board wouldn't support that though, you need the 780i for that) but TBH it is a big waste of money. Dual 8800GT G92 cards will be extremely powerful at 3D gaming and rendering for today's latest games as well as tomorrow's games.

Another tip: dual cards (like the 8800GTs on the 750i) operating in PCIe 2.0 mode at 8x, 8x speed will have the same PCIe performance as two cards (like the 8800GTXs on the 680i) operating in PCIe 1.1 mode at 16x, 16x speed.

Madek

Ok awesome, that makes a lot of sense.

A few more questions:

64-bit Vista will recognize 8 GB if I ever decided to get it right(and not run slower)?

Also, if I decide to get an ASUS 780i, will not using the third SLi slot (like if I double up on 8800gts you suggested) slow down/ or affect performance, and would this one

ASUS Striker II Formula LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

be the step up for a three card set-up from the one you suggested?

Thanks a lot for the help Matt!

TheMatt

64-bit Vista will recognize the 8GB, but from what I have heard there are a lot of application compatibility issues with it. Looking at what you are doing, a 32-bit platform will be fine with 4GB of RAM.

Another thing I should point out is that getting more smaller hard drives would be a better option then getting fewer larger drives. Two of these would be good:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148288

That board looks good. Not using the third PCIe slot won't affect performance. That would be good for a three card setup if you ever decided to go that route in the future.

Madek

Awesome man, just awesome!

I can't thank you enough for all your input!

So now I am thinking this memory for 4 GB

OCZ Gold 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
Good quality?

Lastly, what version of Vista would be best for my purposes? (moviemaking, picture taking, gaming, etc.)

Cheers!!!

TheMatt

I would personally get two of these kits:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227089

Tighter timings for better performance. When you get higher and higher capacity sticks, your ability to reduce the timings decreases. Also, those sticks are rated at 2.2V which will get you the 4-4-4-12 timings everyone likes in DDR2 800MHz.

I usually start out with Vista Home Premium. Then go to a more expensive version if necessary. To be honest though you would probably be better off with a MS tech helping you on this one since this is their area of expertise. I will have them come and take a look.

You're welcome.

jive_john

yeah you should stick to the 32 bit version you wont need 8gbs of ram and + theres alot of retardted stuff that goes wrong by the way how much voltage are u gonna have with the power supply and make sure your comps got dual channel support+)

Madek

860W Power supply and it does have Dual Channel support.