First post, upcoming build

[Realityshift]

Well its tax seasons and that means I finally get to build a new gaming pc.

This build will mainly be used for gaming as well as some graphic design but im mostly worried about being able to play current and upcoming pc games at good frame rates.

My budget is roughly $1000 and I do plan on some decent overclocking of most all hardware. the only old component being reused is my current eVGA 9800GTX+ sc+ edition (really wish I had bought 2 of these things as they look way cooler then the current 9800GTX+ models).

I will be buying all parts from directcanada.com.

after about 3 weeks of review reading and planning this is what ive decided on so far.

$89 - Intel dual core E5200
$169 - after MIR eVGA 750i ftw edition MB
$195 - after MIR another 9800GTX+ sc for sli
$64 - G.Skill DDR28000 cl5 x4gbs
$89 - after MIR BFG 680w LS series PSU
$22 - Artic cooling freezer 7 pro
$78 - western digital 640gb sata hd
$111 - coolermaster NV-690 case
$4 - noctua NT-H1 Pro grade thermal paste

I can get all of this shipped for $1030 so it meets my budget very well.

I do have a few questions reguarding my build however. first off I know the E5200 isnt exactly the E8400 but will I see a huge difference in frame rates with the 4mb less cache if I manage to get the E5200 over 3.6ghz? Is the E5200 at said clock speeds going to be enough to push this sli setup for a year or 2? would I see more benefit if I went with a single 9800GTX+ and switched to a better dual or quad? (E8400/Q9550) im not really into the hype of the Core I7 platform right now, its well outside of my budget and in gaming and even the small amount of desktop stuff I do do I cant see it making enough performance increase. im currently running an x2 5000+ at stock speeds with value 667 ram in anyones oppinion how much performance increase am I going to notice in the end? would it be worth my time to look at keeping the x2 5000+ non be edition and trying to overclock it?

Another option is to drop the 750I board and sell off the 9800GTX+ possibly and grab a P5Q pro for 138 after MIR and buy a better single video card (GTX260/4870)

[ImmaPC]

From what I've read the E5200 with its 45nm transistor size is VERY overclockable, some bloke on the NCIX forums got it up to 4GHZ with a Gigabyte EG32M-S2, so you should be fine if you get the eVGA board. If you overclock it enough you should be alright for SLI, but if worse comes to worse there's the E6xxx series and the E7xxx series for not that much more.

You wouldn't see any benefit from ditching an entire card and getting a better CPU. A better CPU means a few more frames with a single video card, but by NO MEANS should you ditch a second GPU for a CPU, it will mean less frames then the first CPU and a second GPU. If you were only going for ONE GPU, then yeah I'd say go for it, but if you want to SLI, that's a different story.

Because I tend to think that factory OC'ed cards are sometimes a ripoff for what you get, I would put up your GPU for sale to see what people offer. If you get a few good ones, then sell it to the highest bidder and get two reugular 9800GTX+'s, and then just OC them yourself (it's easy). If you don't get any good enough offers, then by all means, buy a second GTX+.

The 750I board is great, but you might get it for cheaper, if you are willing to buy everything from NCIX and then pricematch from random sites you find on Compare prices - Canada - Price Comparison - Comparison Shopping or PriceCanada.com: Search. Compare. Buy. - Canadian Online Shopping Search and Comparison! . I would NOT go for the P5Q Pro because from what I've read, a 9800GTX+ in SLI is faster than a single GTX 260, hell, even GTX 280.

The PSU you got is alright, but you can spend $20 more and get the Corsair TX750W for $109 after $24 MIR, along with Corsair reliability (I'm unsure of BFG's PSU's quality) and peace of mind should you go to bigger and better cards in the future.

If you get this setup, the performance increases will be TREMENDOUS, especially with a second GPU, overclocked E5200, and 4GB of RAM. The AMD one you have is sort-of the same as the E5200 but not quite. It doesn't overclock as well, it's hotter, has bigger transistors (65nm process), and has less cache. The only thing your CPU has going against the E5200 is the fact that it's clocked roughly the same. But if it has less overclocking ability, and less cache, in the long run it's going to eat the E5200's 45nm-sized dirt =D

[Realityshift]

Thanks for your fast reply :)

the 9800GTX+ SC i got was on sale at Futureshop for 169 without a mail in rebate (they no longer sell products with MIRs only instants) which is well bellow what the reference card cost at the time. and right now the SC version is cheaper the the reference clocks once again (yeah I dont understand it either), im running the original one at 799/1220 and for some reason hit a wall at 799 core clock which is well bellow what others are getting, not sure if it has something to do with the coolermaster 550watt psu with only 16a on the 12v rail.

only problem with price matching at NCIX is id have to find something with free shipping for entire order on it to match what I can get this stuff for at directcanada as they free ship on everything over $300.

Ive been really impressed by the E5200 cpu after reading about it online, i was just unsure about real world differences on cache differences.

[LCB001]

Originally Posted by Realityshift

Thanks for your fast reply :)

the 9800GTX+ SC i got was on sale at Futureshop for 169 without a mail in rebate (they no longer sell products with MIRs only instants) which is well bellow what the reference card cost at the time. and right now the SC version is cheaper the the reference clocks once again (yeah I dont understand it either), im running the original one at 799/1220 and for some reason hit a wall at 799 core clock which is well bellow what others are getting, not sure if it has something to do with the coolermaster 550watt psu with only 16a on the 12v rail.

only problem with price matching at NCIX is id have to find something with free shipping for entire order on it to match what I can get this stuff for at directcanada as they free ship on everything over $300.

Ive been really impressed by the E5200 cpu after reading about it online, i was just unsure about real world differences on cache differences.

If you bought the EVGA GTX+ with the single 6-pin PCIe connector, they don't seem to OC as well as the GTX+'s with dual 6-pin PCIe's...

[Realityshift]

the one I currently have has a dual 6 pin which is why I found it odd that I hit that wall. even running the shaders unlinked didnt help. and im not to sure I wanna mess around with voltage modding. just luck of the draw I guess.

[ImmaPC]

Perhaps. If you get another one that's SC like your current one, you should be able to get it to run as fast as the one you have now in SLI. And good steal on that SC version at futureshop, normally they tend to put too high a markup on things like that.

I think I saw a 9800GTX+ SC w/ free shipping for entire order not too long ago, I'll have to check into it. If you can save more money on shipping than you can if you bought cheaper parts, then either way you're saving more money so go fo rit.

[Realityshift]

yeah I couldnt belive it when I seen the price on that gtx+, and I was impressed with their move away from MIRs.

As for the PSU, I looked into the BFG one and apparently its performing really well in tests, and although I dont like the multi rail psus the rails on this model arent bad at 4 rails 20a per rail. I looked into a couple of the corsairs as well as the antec earthwats but I like the look of the BFG and Id like to see how it performs. plus I save like 40 bucks after rebates.

I just noticed NCIX has the 790i ftw edition on with 4 gigs of crappy DDR3 ram on for 299 plus some mir, not a bad price but DDR3 is a bit over kill for this build I dont think id see much use out of the 790i over the 750i since the 750i supports dual x16s.

[Realityshift]

well the 790I ftw Digital power motherboard and 4 gigs (4x1) DDR3 1866 ram is ordered thanks to the special supprise sale, $269 after MIR.

[ImmaPC]

Meh, you don't really need DDR3 unless it's triple-channel, and comes with an i7. I've heard that with high-end CPU's it actually performs better because of the higher clocks both stock and overclocked, but for low-end things it's really not needed, although there is a slight performance boost depending on speed.

Although, if you're already paying $~235 for the mobo and RAM, you may as well pay another $35 and get a better board + better RAM, $269 for that combo is a good deal, I would jump on that if I had the cash.

EDIT: Woah, snap stop the press! I know you said no i7, but there's the EVGA X58 + 6GB Aeneon Xtune DDR3-1866 RAM on sale for $450, and then you can just slap in an i7 920 (pricematched @ NCIX) for $350, and you're laughing with an $800 i7 setup!

[Ronin]

NCIX.com - Buy NCIX.COM $10 Gift Card *Pre Activated* - NCIX-GIFTCARD-10-PA In Canada.

Add 10$(which I'm assuming you can use later if you wanted too) and you get free shipping.