The Death of my "uber leet" PC is NIGH!

[Bloodnok]

Just letting u guys no that my pc's motherboard is failing slowly and in need of a HUGE upgrade (a year early than planned).

I am looking for a gaming machine that requires more sense than money, a hard task I know.

My budget is £500

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=643237

I have been interrested in the Intel Q6600 Quad Core (can be overclocked to 4Ghz! if u get the right model) but not sure what ram type/speed to get as the new mobos take the DDR3 but read there are latencey issues??

The Q9450 comes out just before BL8 and uses the 45nm tech so that might be an issue (build the pc at the lan? yea right)

Another problem is that my soundcard is right smack in the middle of 2 8800 GTXs and would like it in a better situation (heat issues).

http://www.xfxforce.com/web/product...seriesId=1743782&productId=1743798#openLarger

The above mobo is what im think about as it is the same make as the gfx cards and can support up to 1200 MHz SLI-Ready memory but theres 1600mhz ram on the way... (an arm and a leg me thinks)

You lot think 2 gfx cards is nuts, 3 is just insane (no pci space) so that idea is out the window and can be found just off the coast of the Isle of Mull (don't ask what its doing there) so it the QX9650 and QX9770.

Another thing, CPU heatsink (not trusting the intel 1)

http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/product/Product_Read.asp?idx=165

just hope it fits my case unlike my prize i won last year...

So I would like from you, the people is feedback and other possible solutions (if any at all).

note: the links ive picked are the 1s i can get asap so im miffed that THE-BLACK-BOX is dying a month before the new stuff...

 

[Deep Blue]

Dude,

Why quad core? Seems a waste, there are new 45nm dual cores coming out soon, I chose the old 6850 in favour of a quad core, runs cooler, runs faster. Sod having 4 cores at 1.6ghz when you can have two cores running at 3ghz. Last time I checked SMP support for games was pretty damned limited. UT2004, CSS all run on one core.

I went with DDR2, I got 2gb for about 70quid in the end, My board has the Intel P35 chipset. I am a little confused as to what you want to do as £500 will not get you far if you are buying boards with 3 PCI express 16x slots and the like!

Just my two cents

 

[Bloodnok]

Ok this is nuts, the machine is working fine under vista....

Damn those out of date xp drivers!!!

Ill update this if anymore issues

thanks for ur 2 cents Blue, so heres a penny back

 

[Deep Blue]

Damned exchange rates

Could it be a powersupply thing? Are the capacitors on your board okay? Not domed, oozing etc?

 

[Bloodnok]

None I could see but I have bought the new components today as there is an offer with the CPU (free postage from scan.co.uk ) atm so here is what I have ordered:

Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 G0 SLACR £160.02

XFX MB-N780I-ISH9 £173.31

2GB Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator £61.09

Zalman CNPS9700-NT NVIDIA Tritium Super Aero Flower Cooler £43.46

Total: £437.89 (all prices have VAT)

They should be here Tuesday

Chirst, at least i didn't order THESE:

Intel Core™2 Extreme QX9775 £1,021.08

As the mobo it needs can use 2 of THEM!!!

Intel Skulltrail £390.73

Told ya I needed more sence than money

Expect a priceless gag here soon

 

[Deep Blue]

Sweet deal dude

 

[ZeroG]

That's one pricey motherboard.

 

[Bloodnok]

Parts came today at 10:10am, PC working at 14:40

What a sod to build but all working fine and the CPU fan fits like a glove (and has nice green glow, shame ive got nothing but blue fans).

The only improvement Ive found so far is the jumps in fps in WOW from 60-149 at max settings in some areas.

CSS: none what so ever (come on valve, update it to the orange engine!).

I'll benchmark the system at some point (my last system was the fastest in the world with the FX-60, shame i didn't take a screenshot of it )

Zero, the mobo is the same make as the cards so it should be more stable (bf2\more or less every EA game crashed ).

More news to follow when i can be bothered.

 

[Bloodnok]

Heres an update for ya

Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 G0 SLACR: £160.02

XFX MB-N780I-ISH9: £173.31

2GB Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator: £61.09

Zalman CNPS9700-NT NVIDIA Tritium Super Aero Flower Cooler: £43.46

Finding out that the PC is underpowered: PRICELESS

For everyone else, there's plain old common sense