[MrChriss]

Hey everyone, new here to this forum so hello all.

I'm looking to buy a whole new PC in the next week or so to replace my old one which has sadly died. Having spent many many hours putting each component together into a list, I'm still having doubts and would very much appreciate having a third party (or two) give any advice. So without further delay, here are my choices:

Case: Antec P180
Motherboard: ASUS Socket 775 Intel P35
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 6600
Graphics Card: Zotac Geforce 8800GT
Memory: Crucial DDR2 2Gb 800Mhz RAM
HDD: Western Digital Caviar 320Gb 16Mb buffer
CPU cooler: QuietPC Scythe Ninja-Plus heatpipe
OS: Windows XP Home Edition

I'm probably forgetting something, but heres the rest of the detail. I'm pretty big into gaming, and have a budget of between £1200-£1500. My current concerns are this:

1. the recently released 8800GT uses PCIe 2.0, thus I'd need a mobo that supports it, such as an x38, correct?

2. if that is the case, do I get the mobo that supports only DDR2, or spend that extra money on one that supports only DDR3 and get 2Gb of that instead.

3. I understand a new range of quad core processors will be released early next year, so would it be much of an improvement to wait for those?


I'd really appreciate any helpful input, its been years since I put a new PC together.

Many thanks,

Chriss

[PotGuy]

Hi there welcome to the forum

I'll answer what I can - just out of interest what is your motherboard model?


1. PCI-E 2 is completely backwards compatible. Think of it as AGP 4x to 8x - there is a theoretical bottleneck which probably won't make any differencei nthe real world.

2. DDR3 has no real-world advantage over DDR2. You can wait for those boards to arrive for sure, but you won't see any difference in normal use.

[Adywebb]

To backup what PotGuy has said:

1. No, the card will support PCI-E 2.0 and below, so you are fine with the Asus P35, and they support the next generation 45nm CPU's (see 3)

2. DDR3 memory is hugely expensive at the moment, and it isn't going to give you that greater performance increase - so I would stick with DDR2 and get 4GB.

3. The new Penryn 45nm, and yes there will be an improvement in performance and power usage, but they will also be very expensive at first so I would stick with the Q6600, you can always upgrade a year or so later when they come down in price.

Make sure you budget for a quality PSU such as a Corsair HX620 too


I have 2 Q6600 machines with Asus P5k-Deluxe boards overclocked from 2.4GHz to 3.4GHz and they run sweet as a nut with maximum temps of 45C running 100% 24/7

[MrChriss]

Ahh yes the PSU, how could I forget. Thanks for the suggestion, I've heard good things about that model.

So I shouldn't suffer much loss in performance running a PCI-e 2.0 card in a PCI-e mobo?

I'm quite amazed at how much you have those PC's overclocked. May I ask how they are cooled?

I'll abandon DDR3 as you guys suggest, which also means I can get a mobo dedicated to DDR2. Having done a little reading I'm favouring an ASUS motherboard at the moment, apparently they're useful for overclocking.

I really appreciate the quick responses, I'm already some way to having my mind set at ease.

[Adywebb]

Mine are cooled with Thermalright Ultra-120 Extremes together with YS-Tech FD1238 120mm fans.

PCI-e 2.0 gives a higher bandwidth per lane, but it isn't a limiting factor on GPU performance, so you will see little difference with your frame rate.

I rate the Asus P5k Deluxe very highly indeed - the additional cooling on the mosfets is excellent for higher overclocks

[floppybootstomp]

Just a thought. If using XP Home Edition 32 Bit, not much point in getting 4Gb of memory - correct?

[Adywebb]

True, in as much as it won't 'see' the full 4GB - but you do get to use more than 2GB in dual-channel mode and DDR2 is dirt cheap at the moment.

Another motherboard option for you MrChriss - how about the new Asus Maximus Formula, it will give you the X38 chipset, PCI-e 2.0 and also DDR2 - so ticks all the boxes. The only drawback is going to be price - around £185.

[MrChriss]

Adywebb, you suggest getting 4Gb then? I don't quite understand the concept of dual channel mode, but if I can afford to get 4Gb and it will boost my performance, I might as well.

If the performance difference running PCI-e 2.0 in a PCI-e mobo is negligible, I'll stick with a cheaper ASUS motherboard I think. Can't wait to order this now!

[muckshifter]

Memory does not boost performance per-say, but merely gives the OS & hardware that can use it more room in which to do so.


The dual-channel configuration alleviates the problem by doubling the amount of available memory bandwidth. Instead of a single memory channel, a second parallel channel is added. With two channels working simultaneously, the bottleneck is reduced. Rather than wait for memory technology to improve, dual-channel architecture simply takes the existing RAM technology and improves the method in which it is handled.

Having more total RAM available is generally more beneficial than maintaining dual-channel configuration.

[MrChriss]

But the 32 bit version of Windows XP doesn't support 4Gb of memory does it?