Freg's New Desktop

I haven't had a desktop since I started school (about 2 and a half years ago)
So, I decided to indulge my desires and here's what I have coming:

Intel Q6600
2x EVGA geforce 9800GTX's
EVGA 780i Motherboard
Ultra Chilltec TEC Cooler (really cool technology, its basically a refrigerator for my cpu)
Antec 900 case
4 GB of ram (either G.SKILL or Patriot)
1TB hard drive (doubt i'll ever fill it up, but hey, I've got a TB)
I get vista 64bit for free through school
and i won an 1100W Tagan power supply at Newegg Lanfest in 2007 =)
Logitech G15 Keyboard



I'm really, really excited, everything should be ready by this weekend.
I have a full suite of benchmarks ready to run and post (with pictures) this weekend (as long as everything gets here on time)

friggin sweet how much did that set you back

Thats a bad ass setup there. I'm sure your gonna love it.

Those chilltec fans are really cool. Saw some vids of them and they had to at first adjust them because they would cool the case so much it would create a rainforest effect inside the case. They fixed that and now a lot of people rave about them.

so far thats about $1550. I still need to pick up the case, the RAM and a Monitor and then just wait for my packages from Newegg and Tiger Direct to get here ;D

What's a better card, 9800GTX or 8800GTX?

Very nice specs.

I have a G15 keyboard and i'm pretty happy with it. I have Rivatuner showing temps and fan speed for my vid card on the LCD. It rocks!!

I also went with 4 gigs of G.Skill. I have have a slight overclock on it and have had no issuse since day one.

Wowiezowieweapons! That's a nice rig mate. Just make sure you warn the neighbors before you boot it up, you'll probobly take down a city block just to power it lol.

Rastas wrote:What's a better card, 9800GTX or 8800GTX?

ok the assumption that 9 is higher than 8?

all kidding aside

it really depends on alot more factors than just the call number for the card

ram size and speed matter also if there are other technical improvements

for instance i bought a 640mb 8800gts oc, 2 weeks later there were 8800gt 500mb cards spanking mine because of the g92 technology. (i'm just glad i got my card at such a good deal that it was actually less than the new stuff, for a long time newegg still had the older models 80$ higher than the newer ones)

Very nice build dude! What made you go for the Q6600 over an E8400 or Q9xxx chip? The Q6600 is a great CPU and some overclock quite well.

Around June or July we should see nvidia's new 9900GTS and 9900GTX release. Of course this is just rumor.

You should be quite happy with that PC for a long long time. Enjoy!

Sounds awesome, makes me wish I was not such a dork and could build my own. I am probably gonna buy an Alienware and then have to buy Vista 64bit from newegg or Best Buy.

Very nice rig. You are gonna love it!

Rastas wrote:Sounds awesome, makes me wish I was not such a dork and could build my own. I am probably gonna buy an Alienware and then have to buy Vista 64bit from newegg or Best Buy.

Actually considering you are a dork; you should learn to build your own! I'm told often by my fiance just how much of a dork I really am. I prefer born again Geek but whatever.

IMO Alienware computers cost way too much. Though their top end kit is just that; top end!

If I were you I'd find a mom and pop pc shop (every city has 'em) and ask how much to build you a pc if you provide the parts. You might be shocked to learn that most will charge between $75-$150. Thats not bad at all. Then you go out, buy all your pc parts tailored to your needs and BAM you saved yourself $1k easy.

Just food for thought.

Sorry if I hijacked- Back on topic!

Louchar is absolutely right about building it yourself (or at least purchasing your components by yourself) if i went with a similar build through Alienware (even though I love them to death, i got my lappy from them) it would have cost me easily 2 to 3 thousand more.
And as for the Q6600 over a Core 2 Duo, the Q6600 has extremely good results with overclocking, and i plan to do so. The 45nm process with the Q9xxx series seems to be less tolerant to heat and overclocking from the reviews I have read, and they are also more expensive at the moment. Also, I want to be prepared for future applications, as many applications and games are beginning to take advantage of the quad cores, Assassin's Creed and Crysis are worthy examples. I am on what seems like my 5th run through crysis on my laptop now, which can handle it on mostly high spec, though I rarely see FPS over 30, its still enough to seem smooth. And if the 9900GTX's do release in June (or July) then I can take part in eVGA's Step Up program, and get the new card(s) at a drastically reduced price, and then I'll really be smokin'

Fregarum wrote:Louchar is absolutely right

You know what Freg? Can I call you Freg? Well I like you already my friend. You are my kinda guy with that way of thinking!

Yes, louchar, you may call me Freg. I have always felt that way about buying computers. I inherited that from my dad. This is actually my first build that I have completely paid for/will be building from scratch. I have built several computers, and even installed my brothers water cooling system on his Lanbox. I'm really excited about my new PC, because I have never had anything that was on the bleeding edge of current technology. I have had cutting edge, but never so deep as to bleed
I will definitely be posting as much information as I can about how it runs and what kinds of temperatures I see as well as my success in overclocking. I plan to run 3Dmark 05, 06 and then Vantage in succession as soon as I get everything running to spec. Hopefully some of this information will help others who are looking at upgrading/building a new pc soon.

I am looking into building my own rig after I buy each part. I usually do ok fixing problems with my computer and installing new parts (plus I do read the manual). I am really not as knowledgable of what is cutting edge right now as I should be so any help would be great. I will be re-visiting this thread often.

Fregarum wrote:Yes, louchar, you may call me Freg. I have always felt that way about buying computers. I inherited that from my dad. This is actually my first build that I have completely paid for/will be building from scratch. I have built several computers, and even installed my brothers water cooling system on his Lanbox. I'm really excited about my new PC, because I have never had anything that was on the bleeding edge of current technology. I have had cutting edge, but never so deep as to bleed
I will definitely be posting as much information as I can about how it runs and what kinds of temperatures I see as well as my success in overclocking. I plan to run 3Dmark 05, 06 and then Vantage in succession as soon as I get everything running to spec. Hopefully some of this information will help others who are looking at upgrading/building a new pc soon.

I am looking forward to your benchies my friend.

PDOA wrote:I am looking into building my own rig after I buy each part. I usually
do ok fixing problems with my computer and installing new parts (plus I
do read the manual). I am really not as knowledgable of what is cutting
edge right now as I should be so any help would be great. I will be
re-visiting this thread often.

take a look at what I'm getting (in the first post) thats a pretty good indication. Other than that, just do some of your own research and read lots of reviews on all of the products that you look at. for example, the cooler that I've chosen is capable of holding a Q6600 OCed to 3.0+ Ghz at under 35C. If you have any questions as to what kind of thermal paste you should use, or how to install your heatsinks or anything like that, feel free to ask, I will be glad to help, as I'm sure will many others.

That's nice rig. I run the Q6600 at 3.4ghz, and I like it alot. Tagan makes superb power supplies, so you got a great prize there. Looks like you have all the bases covered well, and you should be running great at launch.

I hope to get mine up to 3.6Ghz but i will be more than happy with 3.2 or 3.4ghz

i just ordered vitsa64 home premium from zipzoomfly.com for 99$...best deal i found by 30$

i got an OEM copy from Fry's for 110 after the rebate (free $50 gift card ) (Vista Ultimate, 64 bit)

Oh, and I got my monitor, my Case, and my Ram, (4-4-4-12 timings)

K, now i've got the disk drive, the hard drive, and the keyboard. Just waiting on my box from tiger to get here. should be monday

Fregarum wrote:1TB hard drive (doubt i'll ever fill it up, but hey, I've got a TB)

LOL thats what I said when I got my first 1 mb hard drive, then on my first 1gb hard drive.

haha I know.
Well, once I do fill it up, I'll be able to say "I can't believe I filled the WHOLE thing!"