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firefly, check out the CPU comparisons at Tom's Hardware. You'll see that the dual cores are definitely faster even with slower clock speeds.

You do mean Core 2 Quad right? (see below)

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.htm...2&chart=422

And

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.htm...2&chart=420

and

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.htm...2&chart=425

The Q6600 quad is beating the core 2 6600.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok, here's what I have so far:

Antec 900 case (already bought it, sitting right next to me)

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model LH-20A1S - Retail

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (this will be upgraded with another better hard drive later)

EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail

I'm almost certain these are the components I want, unless someone thinks otherwise. Here are the areas I am having trouble with.

Motherboard:

EVGA 122-CK-NF67-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i LT SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

I'm not sure if this motherboard will be good enough. Should I try to get a better motherboard with DDR3 memory? I want integrated audio, 10/100/1000 NIC, firewire, and USB. What are the best companies? I also don't want this to happen:

http://digg.com/linux_unix/Now_Bios_phoeni...ONLY_with_Vista

Power:

I was thinking 900 Watt? Probably Antec?

RAM:

This depends on the motherboard, DDR2, DDR3? Are Crucial or OCZ good brands?

CPU Cooler:

Zalman 9700 series

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835118020

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835118019

What's the difference between the two? What's the difference between a 3 pin versus 4 pin power connector for the fan?

Thanks for the help! :)

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^

In regards to the Zalman cooler 3/4 pin question the CNPS9700LED has a three pin connector which goes to a remote speed control unit which in turn is connected to the MB while the CNPS9700NT (4 pin) connects directly to the MB and relies on its utilities to switch between quiet and normal mode. I have the 9700LED and if I had known better I would have got the 9700NT, -less hassle.

Good choice on GPU...no complaints here.

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You won't need a 900W Power Supply, go with something like the Silverstone 750W or the PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750W, although you could probably go with a 610W Silencer and be okay.

900W is just completely overkill, even if you bought another GTX and SLI'd them. Unless of course you plan on hooking 2 GTXs, and about 15 HDs.

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^

In regards to the Zalman cooler 3/4 pin question the CNPS9700LED has a three pin connector which goes to a remote speed control unit which in turn is connected to the MB while the CNPS9700NT (4 pin) connects directly to the MB and relies on its utilities to switch between quiet and normal mode. I have the 9700LED and if I had known better I would have got the 9700NT, -less hassle.

Good choice on GPU...no complaints here.

Note to self: "..learn from NoQuarter." :)

I had the 9700NT on my Newegg Wishlist, now its back on the list :thumbsup:

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@firefly2442, just curious, how come you didn't go with the EVGA 122-CK-NF68-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i?

---was it the price/rebate? I love rebates :rolleyes:

I had this board on my wishlist too due to the Northbride cooler, something about it catches my eyes. Don't know the pro's n con's about it though. <_<

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@firefly2442, just curious, how come you didn't go with the EVGA 122-CK-NF68-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i?

---was it the price/rebate? I love rebates :rolleyes:

I had this board on my wishlist too due to the Northbride cooler, something about it catches my eyes. Don't know the pro's n con's about it though. <_<

Hmm, dunno, I guess I didn't notice that one in my searches. So, it basically allows for a faster clock cycle on the memory? Going through the specs, that's the only major difference I can find. Do you have any experience with EVGA motherboards? I guess I didn't even know they made motherboards until today. I thought they just did video cards...

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So I think I need to bite the bullet here and build a new system. The 5 year old Alienware that has had various upgrades over time just isn't cutting it anymore. I have a couple questions though:

1) If I build a new system with Intel's latest Dual Core CPU or Quad Core, will the old Windows XP CD that I have work? This CD is really old and doesn't even have SP1 on it. It should work right? It's the Windows XP CD that I got with my Alienware? I'll be removing XP on my old Alienware and purely running Linux.

2) I don't want to get Windows Vista yet. I want to wait for as long as possible, maybe even never. Based on compatibility issues, DRM, component upgrades forcing you to re-activate, and numerous other issues... Is this a good idea?

3) I want to do a custom build. The entire system will be from scratch, I don't have any decent parts sitting around that I could use in the build. What CPU should I get?

4) If I get an Nvidia 8800 series DirectX 10 card, does this still support DirectX 9 games? Like in Windows XP? Are there drivers for it? I've noticed Nvidia hasn't updated their XP drivers in a long time.

Well, I chose to take a pass on Vista simply because none of the games I like will play on it, or at least their current iterations don't. Maybe in the next series of GRAW and RS6 they will. But for now, with my new system, I had to settle for XP Media Edition, although I've got an enterprise license for XP Pro which might be used for a second partition me thinks. But had I not been thinking gaming rig, I would have followed the old IT rule of thumb: Only buy it after SP1.

Sounds like a good system you're making! Have a good weekend.

Eric

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@firefly2442, just curious, how come you didn't go with the EVGA 122-CK-NF68-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i?

---was it the price/rebate? I love rebates :rolleyes:

I had this board on my wishlist too due to the Northbride cooler, something about it catches my eyes. Don't know the pro's n con's about it though. <_<

Hmm, dunno, I guess I didn't notice that one in my searches. So, it basically allows for a faster clock cycle on the memory? Going through the specs, that's the only major difference I can find. Do you have any experience with EVGA motherboards? I guess I didn't even know they made motherboards until today. I thought they just did video cards...

no experience sen'or, just wishing. :D but since, I'm kinda diggin the eVGA series, I figure why not match to the card. Couldn't hurt right. Plus, I seem to remember a few magazine giving this board such praise. Most of my positive experience (all 2 of them :rofl: ) have been on Asus boards.

I'm glad I was able to confuse you more on which part to get. :whistle:

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I looked at that exact same EVGA MoBo, and was warned of it because of EVGA's lack of "mainstream MoBo making" or whatever. Also, I saw that (for the time being) it was better to get a good P35 board I could OC and just get one beefy GPU, rather than worry about SLI and (yes, I know) Vista issues.

:)

Good luck to you, FF.

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Yeah, good point. I'm looking at these two right now:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813136035

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813130080

DFI versus MSI. These were the two that I found in my price range and have the 680i chipset. I'm leaning towards the DFI because the last system I built had a DFI motherboard and I love it.

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Go with the non LT version firefly. Somewhere i read that the LT is actually a 590 with a 680I northbridge (or south.. forget which)

The full 680I is what you want.

I would however not recommend one with a fan on it. Read the readers comments. they say it's loud. Straight heatpipes are the way to go.

This is what i have

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813131073

And i must say the board rocks. Cheaper... i don't use integrated sound but the sound card in it is premo for integrated (7.1 pci-x 1x)

I also have to say Asus is great as a mainboard manufacturer and it's cheaper then the MSI. My system temp is 30C and the new quad 6600 on idle sit at 22C! With aircooling!

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OK, here's what I have. I just tried paying with Paypal but it doesn't seem to be working at the moment.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16827106057

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16822144701

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814130072

I went with an Antec TPQ-850 ATX12V / EPS12V 850W Power Supply.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817371009

OCZ Platinum Revision 2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16820227139

And the Asus motherboard you suggested.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813131073

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16819115017

And Zalman cooler, expensive but hopefully worth it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16835118020

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Congrats FF.

Just a note, some ppl at Hardware Analysis Forum have posted that some PS that have modular cables have/had problems, mostly, folks who keeps adjusting their cables, for management purposes. Meaning, some of the pins have gotten loose.

Hopefully you get rig up soon :thumbsup:

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I probably won't be touching them after the setup so I doubt that would be a big problem for me. Time to try again, hope Paypal is working...

Thanks for the help all. :)

edit:

Well, the order is in. I should have it up and running by next weekend. :D Woot! :)

Edited by firefly2442
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OK, so I have a question already. :)

The Zalman 9700 NT cooler, I checked out their website and there's a nice video showing how to install it. I understand everything except the retention guide. What's the difference between a horizontally oriented retention guide versus a vertically oriented retention guide?

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