New system: Feedback needed.

[3.0charlie]

600W may not be enough for the 4870X2 - we had a member here that had a problem running that card with a low-wattage PSU. Corsair TX750W as a minimum. But hopefully SKYMTL will see this thread and he'll tell you exactly what you need.

For the Ram, Mushkin is a respected company in America. Please tell us where in Europe you will buying your components and we'll guide you in the selection of the Ram sticks.

And Welcome to the Forums, from across the Pond.

[Dwayne]

Originally Posted by Freshke

I really appreciate the feedback. As a 'noob' you can read and read, think you're doing the right thing, but still do totally wrong. I'm already happy you guys don't answer with... are you coming from Mars?
By the way... sorry for my bad English, but I'm only a stupid Belgian

So UPDATE: My rig from opening thread stays the same except for following components:

* PSU: Corsair CMPSU-620HX (109€)
* E8400 Core 2 Duo (149€)
* OCZ Vendetta 2 for 39€ (Replace CPU cooler)
--> Doesn't this mean I don't need a boxed version?

What do you guys think...

First off, your English is excellent, much better than my French, German, Dutch or Flemish!

Second, you guys are getting hosed over there for prices! Check out Buy Computer Parts, Computer Hardware, PC Parts at Best Online Computer Shop - DirectCanada or NCIX.com - Canada's Premier Computer Store - Great Technology, Service and Selection. to see Canadian prices or Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more! for USA... you should be able to do considerably better even with the shipping. The only drawback I can see is any return issues. With luck, if it doesn't break in the first 6 months, it will run for years, or at least that is my experience.

Lastly, your components look great. The reason I recommended a 600W or better PSU is because in many reviews the power draw in a system with a HD 4870 X2 is almost 500W. You really need slack in there because even with excellent efficiency a 500W PSU rarely can deliver 500W clean all the time, if ever! Also, if you ever decide to run a Crossfire with the X2s you really need a bit more PSU, say 850W, just to be sure.

PS Memory - I have read a lot of different reviews and many point out that the actual memory chips themselves are identical across the providers. If you are not going to OC the RAM then almost any RAM that gets a good review should be fine.

[Freshke]

Originally Posted by 3.0charlie

600W may not be enough for the 4870X2 - we had a member here that had a problem running that card with a low-wattage PSU. Corsair TX750W as a minimum. But hopefully SKYMTL will see this thread and he'll tell you exactly what you need.

For the Ram, Mushkin is a respected company in America. Please tell us where in Europe you will buying your components and we'll guide you in the selection of the Ram sticks.

And Welcome to the Forums, from across the Pond.

Tnx for the welcome.

PSU: I started here with an 500W... now it looks that i need about 750W - 800W. I hope 'SKYMTL' can confirm this (I assume he's an expert). I just don't want to buy a very powerfull PSU and then have a electric bill that isn't really necessary.

RAM: We never buy in Belgium. Most of the time Germany, then Netherland and UK. One of the bigger HW vendors is Alternate which I use as a reference point for the pricing (ALTERNATE. Hardware - Software - Entertainment)

Originally Posted by dwayne

First off, your English is excellent, much better than my French, German, Dutch or Flemish!

Second, you guys are getting hosed over there for prices! Check out Buy Computer Parts, Computer Hardware, PC Parts at Best Online Computer Shop - DirectCanada or NCIX.com - Canada's Premier Computer Store - Great Technology, Service and Selection. to see Canadian prices or Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more! for USA... you should be able to do considerably better even with the shipping. The only drawback I can see is any return issues. With luck, if it doesn't break in the first 6 months, it will run for years, or at least that is my experience.

Lastly, your components look great. The reason I recommended a 600W or better PSU is because in many reviews the power draw in a system with a HD 4870 X2 is almost 500W. You really need slack in there because even with excellent efficiency a 500W PSU rarely can deliver 500W clean all the time, if ever! Also, if you ever decide to run a Crossfire with the X2s you really need a bit more PSU, say 850W, just to be sure.

PS Memory - I have read a lot of different reviews and many point out that the actual memory chips themselves are identical across the providers. If you are not going to OC the RAM then almost any RAM that gets a good review should be fine.

If you prefer, i don't have a problem with switching to dutch, flemish, french or german... just shout.

Prices: don't tell me that we get hosed. They should be ashamed... earning their profits on my back grrrr.

PSU: see above reply... seems that an even more powerfull PSU will be needed... hope to get confirmation over time by discussing this with you guys and other OC'ers.

RAM: I intend to do some OC, but not extreme... just a bit.

I'm checking your links at the moment!

[1Tanker]

Originally Posted by Freshke

PSU: I started here with an 500W... now it looks that i need about 750W - 800W. I hope 'SKYMTL' can confirm this (I assume he's an expert). I just don't want to buy a very powerfull PSU and then have a electric bill that isn't really necessary.

RAM: We never buy in Belgium. Most of the time Germany, then Netherland and UK. One of the bigger HW vendors is Alternate which I use as a reference point for the pricing (ALTERNATE. Hardware - Software - Entertainment)

An 850w PSU isn't going to give you any higher of an electric bill, than a 500w. The PSU only produces what is needed. One good thing about having a slightly more powerful PSU than what you need..is the efficiency. If your system draws 450w, and you use a 500w, the PSU will be running at 90% of its potential output(at peak).Most of the new 80% rated PSU's are more efficient in the 30-80% range... actually getting as high as ~85/86% efficiency. The 620w(with a 450w peak load) will be running at ~73% efficiency(dropping it into the more efficient range), meaning the 620w could actually give you a lower electric bill than a 500w.

The Corsair RAM will be fine... they make good RAM.

GL

[hybrid2d4x4]

Hello, I just wanted to throw in a comment about one of your 'alternate' choices for PSU: Don't bother with the Zalman. In my experience (with 4 of their products), there is a price premium for their "silence" but unfortunately they fail to deliver on that promise. All the Zalman fans I've heard make buzzing noises (not constant, so you really notice it when it goes through a phase if the rest of the system is quiet). You should be ok with 500W or 550W, but to be honest with you I'm a bit relieved you bumped it up to 600W just to have some room to grow if you add in extra drives or TV tuners, and also so you won't be stressing the PSU as much since that would probably reduce it's longevity.

As Dwayne mentioned, I'd also be inclined to go with the E8400 (or even as low as 8200) unless the price difference between those and the 8500 you want is minimal. You should be able to OC a 8200 to 8500 speeds on stock voltage, and with one of the cheap OCZ coolers (we have them here for $18-35 not counting mail-in-rebates, so shop around a bit more since the CDN60 you mentioned seems a bit off), it would still run cooler than a 8500 cooler with the intel cooler.
And yes, you should buy an OEM cpu if you are getting aftermarket cooling.

As for the memory, I personally went with 8gb (4x2) pc2-6400 OCZ Platinums for about the same price as the 4gig kit you linked because I didn't really think the faster modules were good enough value for money. At the end of the day, it's your choice, but you should be aware of the other possibilities. Good luck with your build!

[3.0charlie]

You can PM SKYMTL and ask him directly what would be his choice of PSU for such a video card monster. He's our resident PSU expert.

[SKYMTL]

PSU Choice =

Silverstone DA750 or above
Corsair TX750 or above
Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W and above

If you have a HD4870X2, you don't mess around.

[Freshke]

Ok guys... i've been reading, been talking to people and slightly changed the rig to the following:

* PSU:--> Type: Corsair TX750

* Motherboard:
--> Type: ASUS P5Q PRO P45

* Graphic Card:
--> Type: Sapphire HD4870 X2

* CPU:
--> Type: Intel Q6600

* Memory:
--> Type: Corsair DIMM 4 GB DDR2-1066 Dominator EPP Kit

* Cooler:
--> Type: OCZ Vendetta 2


I've got two remaining discussion points:
* The HD4870 X2 or the the 280 from Nvidia
* The E8400/E8500 or the Q6600

Reasoning for graphic card:
I don't understand why some ppl keep saying to go for the 280 as i read from reviews and benchmarks that the 4870 X2 outperforms the 280 easily and that for practically the same price... What am I missing and what do they know more????

Reasoning for processor:
E8400 seems a very good processor and the Q6600 seems to be slightly less, but I heard that you can run the 6600 on 3ghz without OC and it would be also an investment for the next two years so by then probably more games will make use of the cores maybe???

[Freshke]

Anybody that wants to reply?

In addition to the 280 or X2 discussion... Option is also for example to take an Alpha Dog Geforce 8800GTS in SLI. Price is less. Performance is slightly less then 280 or X2 but seems to be defendable also.

Let's not forget also that i will need to buy a 28" monitor to take advantage of the X2 card and that i'm not sure it those monitors can pull it (ghosting... etc).

Hope your answers can lead me to solve these last discussion points.

[sswilson]

Given similar pricing / performance I'd be inclined to select a vid card which wasn't an X2 just to avoid possible performance issues down the line.

As far as the Q6600 goes... opinions vary but most gamers will tell you that you'll get better performance out of the higher clocked dual core E8400 than you will out of a auad Q6600. On the other hand, sooner or later quad cores are going to start making a difference to overall performance and IMO you can't beat the current pricing on the Q6600.

It's going to come down to personal preference. Would you prefer the highest possible gaming performance (dual core) or would you prefer to try to "future proof" your system for either better use of 4 cores in new apps, or possibly a change in how you want to use your computer (heavy multi-tasking)?

Welcome to the forums BTW.... Do you folks still have the best lit highways in the world? (Loved night driving on the highways in your country, but the signage left a lot to be desired..... :) ).