Building a new gaming/TV machine

grayter · Post by **grayter** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 10:47 am

Hi everyone,

I've been looking around this site for a while trying to decide on components for a PC I intended to buy later, but my old laptop has finally given up so I've got to get something fairly shortly. I'm hoping to get something with decent performance whilst keeping the noise down as much as possible when not gaming. I've so far found these as a basis, but I would greatly appreciate some other opinions:

Case: Antec P182
PSU: Corsair 520W
Motherboard: Abit IP35 Pro
CPU: Q6600 G0
CPU Heatsink: TRUE-120
CPU Fan: 120mm Scythe S-FLEX
Memory: 4Gb (2x2Gb) Corsair TwinX XMS2
Graphics Card: 512MB MSI 8800GT OC
Graphics Card Heatsink: Arctic Cooling Accello S1
Graphics Card Fan: 120mm Scythe S-FLEX
Case Fans: 120mm Scythe S-FLEX (x2)
Hard Drive: 750Gb WD Green Caviar
DVD Drive: Pioneer DVR-212BK
TV Card: BlackGold 6in1
Thermal Paste: Arctic Silver 5

I've got a couple of questions about this. Are my fan choices sensible? I intend on using the Abit uGuru software to run them at a reduced speed, but do I need as many as I've put in (I was thinking CPU,Graphics Card, Exhaust, Intake). Secondly, is the PSU overkill? I've seen many suggesting the 420W version. Also, is this going to be able to run extremely quietly whilst doing non-intensive tasks or am I trying for too much performance. Finally, are there any better components that I've overlooked?

I intend on over clocking for gaming, and am buying these in the UK. Many thanks!

Sizzle · Post by **Sizzle** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 12:04 pm

I think the 520 would be fine, that is what I have and it's nice and quiet.

Are you planning on running Vista64 bitt? If not, then 4 gigs of ram would be a waste. Vista x86 is only going to recognize about 3.2 gigs of memory.

Since you live in the UK, you should be able to get the passive Sparkle 8800GT video card. I like this option better then a aftermarket cooler as it does not void the warranty of the card.

grayter · Post by **grayter** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 12:15 pm

Yes, I forgot to mention that I've already got a 64bit edition of Vista through the MSDNAA. I shall have another look for the Sparkle card - I haven't yet been able to find a company who actually has them in stock, although this seems to be a problem across the whole 8800GT range.

Part of the appeal of the aftermarket cooler was the potential for a slightly higher clocked version of the GT since I'll be driving a 1680x1050 display. I'll go and re-read some reviews.

Thanks!

grayter · Post by **grayter** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 1:09 pm

The Sparkle does look good from the Anandtech review. One other thing, how many slots would an S1 and fan take up? Also is the TR HR-03 GT better in that it can be mounted the other way and comes with extra heat sinks which some reviewers have mentioned are an essential component missing from the S1?

darkb · Post by **darkb** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 5:01 pm

I've recently got an Abit IP35 Pro.. it's a very nice board, layout is perfect for me, easy to overclock ect.. it can control 6 fans, but only through pwm on the cpu fan header, and dc voltage variation on the rest. Setting it up to use a header other than the cpu one for the cpu fan is fairly easy, but the main problem is that the dc voltage range is only 8-12v. Adding resistors seems to work though.. maybe you could add a fanmate to it to further reduce voltage if needed. (I might try this myself later, I have a few in my drawer)

The fan controller can be tweaked using the uguru utility in windows, and settings are remembered by the bios. Voltage settings and fsb can also be set in the utility. You can also make profiles, and tell it to apply different profiles when you run certain programs (though I haven't tried this). There are 3 user profiles, and the "Default" one, which you can change.

For reference if you plan to overclock.. Mine can run all day long at 450fsb with the vMCH set to 1.33v... but it doesn't want to go over 460 or so without alot more voltage, and it seems to be getting too hot when I do that. I haven't added any fans for it though.

I also got a Corsair HX520W... It works very nicely with the IP35 Pro, no problems here with that.