Maybe time for an upgrade

[indyjones]

the 9800GTX is just a 8800GTS 512 clocked higher, it doesn't achieve much over the 8800GTS 512

Exactly :up:, all you get is a higher start clock (or not if you get a factory overclocked GTS) and an uprated cooler.
I may get the GTX, but it would have to be on special offer at for the £40 price difference, and for that I could get another artic cooler or even a nice thermal right one and still be covered by the XFX warranty.

 

[indyjones]

Just waiting on the parts I want to be on offer again as there is a substancial cost saving getting the cpu and board together.............. my have to request the offer

 

[indyjones]

Right, going to order everything this week

Now ram, I have narrowed down to two options the first is
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-9200C5 1150MHz Flex II Passive/WaterCooled which is supposedly quicker, or the corsairDominator Series Twin2X4096-8500C5DF which 'might' be a little more compatible and the heat sinks are smaller which would allow the crazy upgrade to 8gig (should I wish to) the OCZ heatsinks block the slot next to them.

As always opionions welcome

 

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

In that case I would probably go with the Corsair since I hate not being able to use the full capability of my machine, if it were mine.

 

[zeke_mo]

Right, going to order everything this week

Now ram, I have narrowed down to two options the first is
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-9200C5 1150MHz Flex II Passive/WaterCooled which is supposedly quicker, or the corsairDominator Series Twin2X4096-8500C5DF which 'might' be a little more compatible and the heat sinks are smaller which would allow the crazy upgrade to 8gig (should I wish to) the OCZ heatsinks block the slot next to them.

As always opionions welcome

I stopped using the big names a few ram sets ago, I would check out G. Skill ram. I have had no problems with the 4 I have in my computer now


btw, you are gonna have to find a new .gif file for the new indy jones movie out

 

[Aprox]

I personally love and swear by Corsair, always have always will.

 

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

The last desktop memory I had someone buy to upgrade their computer I had built for them was G. Skill brand.

Right now on NewEgg, G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) is the highest rated of all of their RAM that's PC2-8500 or higher (148 reviews, average 5 out of 5 eggs).

OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) is their cheapest RAM at that speed or higher.

Both the G. Skill and the OCZ look like they'd fit in all four RAM slots eventually. I notice when looking that OCZ tends to have 5-5-5-18 timing whereas a lot of others have 5-5-5-15. Small difference but it's just surprising given OCZ's (arguably hyped) reputation.

It's hard to have brand loyalty anymore. One model by a company may work wonders whereas another model isn't so hot. Competition is a good thing this way, keeps each other on their toes somewhat, plus drives the prices down of course.

 

[indyjones]

I am currently swinging towards the Corsair memorey as its the cheapest
The G.skill is the most expensive, then the two OCZ (being abot the same prices).
Thanks for the feedback everyone tis been really useful just about decided on my system now

Anybody had any experiance with Gigabyte gfx cards? Its just I have spotted a gigbyte 9800GTX which is not that much more than the 8800GTS, I know they are the same card but is only around ~£30ish for a supossidly much better cooler.

 

[LordOfLA]

Well, I had a gigabyte motherboard in a server with a cracked mosfet. As long as it didn't get warm enough to seperate the mosfet via expansion it was solid as a rock

 

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

I've never used a Gigabyte branded video card, although I did use one of their motherboards on a Pentium III system a looooong time ago.

I seem to recall Gigabyte having been the first to do something innovative with a video card sometime in the last few years. Maybe it was them who first had two nVidia GPUs on one card so that you could have SLI x4 if you bought two of them. It was a big deal at the time. That's the only news that comes to mind about their video cards.

 

[indyjones]

I currently have two of their boards and they same fine (motherboards) one in the media center, 1 in the server. I think it should be OK for the gfx card as they are all pretty identical built of the same reference design. The only problem is the warrenty will not be as good as XFX or EVGA

 

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

Hmm...the warranty might swing my opinion as I hate one year warranties. I try to get 3+ year warranties on as many computer components as I can. If there truely is so little difference between the 8800 and 9800 (I haven't investigated this myself and in the past year I've been leaning towards ATI once again).

 

[indyjones]

The warranty on the gigabyte card (just looked it up) is 2 years which is not too bad

 

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

Yeah, that's acceptable.

 

[indyjones]

Well the XFX 8800 GTS is now no longer availible the next cheapest card I have found is between £20-£30 cheaper than the gigabyte 9800GTX, which means I am going to get myself one of those
So the final build is looking to be like this
Intel Q9450
Artic Freezer Pro
Asus Rampage Formula
4Gig Corsair dominator 8500
Gigabyte 9800GTX

 

[indyjones]

So the final build is looking to be like this

Intel Q9450
Arctic Freezer Pro
Asus Rampage Formula
4Gig Corsair dominator 8500
Gigabyte 9800GTX

I caved

Items are now on order from Scan under their buy now pay in 6 months deal, (allows me to save up while getting it all now). Also ordered a nice eSATA/USB2 icybox hdd enclosure.

Was still considering changing a few bit especially with the new asus maximus II coming out (lower chip p45 but with creative XFI etc) but I thought I had to just bite the bullet.

I am in Canada for the last half of the week on a business trip, but hopefully by the time I am back it will all be there waiting and I will update this thread with comments and pictures.

Once again thank you to everyone who has helped me with this build, I have never had such a high model GFX card before and really looking forward to it, hopefully it wont clash with my XBOX too much

Finally if a mod could please change my title to something more relevant such as 'New Quad Core System build'. that would be great.

 

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

Hooah! Good luck and safe trip.

 

[indyjones]

Hooah! Good luck and safe trip.

Thanks

 

[indyjones]

Woooo got the parts now

First comments the mainboard looks really nice and the GFX card is flipping massive!

Will post some more pictures/comments tomorrow (if it all works, fingers crossed).

Got some unexpected items too, I did not realise the corsair ram came with their active cooler included, I got assassins creed free with my CPU, but the weirdest thing was a free cheap ps2 mouse ? Which was quite amusing as my new board does not even have a port for it

 

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

ROFL! Have fun building and installing!