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Thread ID: 78811	2007-04-29 10:41:00	Upgrading/Rebuilding computer - Advice needed.	Tigurius (12192)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
545219	2007-04-29 10:41:00	I am upgrading my computer to make it a more of a gaming system and will be doing it myself. This is to keep costs down, as getting a new system, or taking it to the local PC Store is on the expensive side. However I'd like a bit of advice before I follow through on these upgrades as my knowledge in some of these fields are limited. These are what parts I am upgrading to:- Motherboard: Intel D975XBX2 (www.intel.com) CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad QX6700 (www.intel.com) Video Card: GeForce 8800 GTX (www.nvidia.com) Sound Card: Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro (www.creative.com) Harddive: Seagate Barracuda ST3400620A (www.seagate.com RCRD&reqPage=Model) I apologize in advance if there is a lot of "foot work" involved with my questions. - Are these all compatible? - Does the Motherboard/CPU have a real-time cooling controller? I have tried to find info on this, but my attempts have turned up nothing. - I am getting the Core 2 Extreme Quad retail pack. Would this contain coolant or would I have to get my own? - When adding the Video Card, Sound Card, etc do I have have to disable/switch off the onboard sound/video chipsets on the Motherboard when I add them, or does the Motherboard do this automatically? - I also plan to Upgrade the OS to Vista Home Edition when I finish these upgrades. Is it best to get the upgrade pack, or start anew and which type, the 32 or 64-bit edition?	Tigurius (12192)
545220	2007-04-29 21:54:00	I'll reply to the bits I know, there are some things i'm not sure of. - Are these all compatible? Yes, it looks like the m/board should support the cards ok. - I am getting the Core 2 Extreme Quad retail pack. Would this contain coolant or would I have to get my own? The CPU will most likely come with a standard fan cooler. If you're going to overclock, then you'll need a bigger/better one. - When adding the Video Card, Sound Card, etc do I have have to disable/switch off the onboard sound/video chipsets on the Motherboard when I add them, or does the Motherboard do this automatically? Depends on the BIOS on the m/board. You'll need to change the settings in there on first boot anyhow, so check for any way to disable onboard sound & video. - I also plan to Upgrade the OS to Vista Home Edition when I finish these upgrades. Is it best to get the upgrade pack, or start anew and which type, the 32 or 64-bit edition? Stick with 32bit unless you have some great need for more than 4GB of memory. The 64bit Windows OSes still have poor driver & device support and very few apps that take advantage of the extra "bits".	autechre (266)
545221	2007-04-29 22:36:00	well I think that covered it pretty well. A couple comments though. I understand creative have been dragging the chain with Vista drivers and a lot of people have been having trouble getting various creative cards to work properly - you may want to do a bit of research or wait 3-6 months for vista to become worthwhile. Also onboard sound is much better these days. Why Quadcore? certainly it's an awesome processor, but currently not that much software even supports dual core all that well especially games. This will undoubtedly change but I reckon a high end dual core would do everything you want for the next couple of years and save you some cash. Also the GTX card is not much better than the GTS for quite a price difference and unless you're planning on running at very high res - above 1600x1200 or whatever you probably won't see the difference. But anyway... if you have the cash and wan't to build the best gaming rig possible then looks like you're on the right track.	dugimodo (138)
545222	2007-04-29 23:43:00	That's pretty crazy! What are your current specs? I would reccomend getting these instead of your selected items. Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Geforce 8800 GTS, 640MB, PCI Express That saves about $1500 straight away according to pricespy, and I seriously doubt you will notice the difference. I can't really comment on the soundcard, as I have never used one, but I don't have any problems with my onboard sound. In fact, one of the reasons why I don't get a soundcard, is because I can't hook it up to the front audio ports on my pc.	mejobloggs (264)
545223	2007-04-30 05:13:00	- Does the Motherboard/CPU have a real-time cooling controller? I have tried to find info on this, but my attempts have turned up nothing. What do you mean by real-time cooling controller? - I am getting the Core 2 Extreme Quad retail pack. Would this contain coolant or would I have to get my own? The only way you would use coolant would be if you intended to water cool your PC, is this what you intend to do? Either way the CPU wont come with coolant, but if you buy a retail pack it come with the stock Intel HSF. - I also plan to Upgrade the OS to Vista Home Edition when I finish these upgrades. Is it best to get the upgrade pack, or start anew and which type, the 32 or 64-bit edition? Buy a full copy of Windows Vista, there are work arounds so you can do a clean install with only the Vista disk but these are still tedious. Also Vista is a bit of a dog if you do an upgrade. Also why are you buying a Soundblaster? Have you used onboard sound lately? The Soundblaster wont give any increase in performance and unless you've got a decent set of 5.1 speakers and a good sense of hearing you're unlikely to notice any improvement in quality.	Pete O'Neil (6584)
545224	2007-04-30 07:12:00	I would reccomend getting these instead of your selected items. Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Geforce 8800 GTS, 640MB, PCI Express I can't really comment on the soundcard, as I have never used one, but I don't have any problems with my onboard sound. I agree with this. The single most important component for gaming is the graphics card. Not the CPU. Nor is it worth getting that sound card.	pctek (84)
545225	2007-04-30 08:29:00	Thank you for your advice and suggestions. I've had this computer since 2003, the current specs on it are: 2.4 GHz 1 GB Ram 128 MB MB GeForce Ti 4200 80 GB HDD The motherboard is a Gigabyte, I have no idea on what model is it, though. I am looking at having the upgrades last me for atleast another 3 years if that is not being too optimistic. To answer your questions; By real-time cooling control I mean does the motherboard/cpu automatically control or adjust the speed of your fans? At the moment on my current fans (case and cpu) run at full speed, as you can imagine this is very loud and annoying. I am told this is because my motherboard has no speed controls for the fans. By coolant I was meaning something like "Thermal Compound" I think it is called, the gel you put in between your cpu and heatsink. The reason for choosing a sound card is because my current onboard sound is a bit flaky for example when I play a game most the sound/music will be perfect other parts will be hard to hear. However if you recommend that onboard sound is just as good, I am more than happy to go with that. Also if you recommend a High-end Core2 Dual and the GeForce 8800 GTSl will do the job I have no problem getting those as the money savings would realy help out.	Tigurius (12192)
545226	2007-04-30 08:34:00	Hving gone down this route of upgrading over the last few months I'd agree with mejoebloggs. I love creative but have come to the conclusion that it's also a waste of money. I am now on an intel DG965WH, Intel 6600 Core 2 (2.4mhz) and a cheap PCI-E 16 card until cheaper DirectX 10 cards come out in a few months (please god!). But get memory, plenty of it if you want speedy vista!	zcc (50)
545227	2007-04-30 08:53:00	By real-time cooling control I mean does the motherboard/cpu automatically control or adjust the speed of your fans? At the moment on my current fans (case and cpu) run at full speed, as you can imagine this is very loud and annoying. By coolant I was meaning something like "Thermal Compound" I think it is called, the gel you put in between your cpu and heatsink. Also if you recommend a High-end Core2 Dual and the GeForce 8800 GTSl will do the job I have no problem getting those as the money savings would realy help out. Depends whether or not you enable it. ASUS has the Cool N Quiet thing. I never use it. If your fans are loud change them, its normally case fans that are noisy anyway. Get Vantec STealth or Silenx. If you use the stock HSF you don't need any paste. You do if you change it to a different HSF. Get the 8800GTX not the GTS. And the dual will do. And onboard sound on the new MBs is fine.	pctek (84)
545228	2007-04-30 09:20:00	The motherboard you've selected has 3 16x PCIe slots, which for the foreseeable future will only have a couple of realistic applications. These applications include a multi GPU graphics and physics solution such as SLI or Crossfire or an addin card that requires A LOT of bandwidth such as a very expensive RAID or network card. That motherboard will only ever support SLI through the use of hacked drivers and the electrical configuration of the slot is going to be detrimental to any multi GPU setup. If SLI is your aim then there are better motherboards to buy such as anything based on the nVidia 650i or 680i chipsets. If SLI isn't on the agenda then consider a cheaper motherboard based on the 965 chipset such as the Asus P5B-E or Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3. Intel boards have always been highly regarded for their stock performance and stability but you do pay a price premium for it, brands such as Gigabyte and Asus are equally as good as Intel and often not as expensive.	Pete O'Neil (6584)
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