New PC Build

[maxwell89]

Just found this site on google so this is my first post here...hello everybody!

I'm looking to build a PC that will act primarily as a DAW but will also be capable of playing games like COD4 and UT3. I've been doing some research and this is the outline I have come up with so far.

Specs Updated 16/02/08

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0ghz
ASUS P5K-E AiLifestyle Series P35 Motherboard
OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2
BFG GeForce 8800 GT OC 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
Samsung SpinPoint 500GB SATAII 16MB Cache - OEM x2
Antec Neopower 650W Modular PSU

So do you reckon this will all run smoothly together?

Any advice anyone can offer would be much appreciated!

[liljim]

Welcome to Pctechforums maxwell,

Oddly enough, I spent most of my day today researching power consumptions among the different nvidia 8 series vid cards as im planning to buy one or two myself. The 8800 GT draws 247 watts under a load and 152 at idle, if you ever intend to run 2 of these in SLI your eating 494 watts in video cards alone. If you will only run 1 of them, 500 is still pushing the envelope a bit. You have to account for the CPU, DVD/CD Rom drives, USB devices, etc. I'd be looking for 700-800watts to allow for future upgrades.


With all that said, you have a conflict between the board you chose and nvidia video cards. Intel boards are designed to run ATI cards with crossfire technology. You CAN run 1 Nvidia card on a crossfire board but you CAN NOT run 2. The same goes for SLI boards, only 1 ATI card will work, never 2.

You can go with an AMD based board and run 2 Nvidia cards in SLI
or
You can go with Intel and run 2 ATI cards in crossfire

And again, if you only plan to use 1 card then it wont matter.


So maxwell, hopefully that information will help you out some. Let me know what you come up with.

[liljim]

Just a quick clarification, even though the 8800gt draws 247 watts, its quite less than its rivals.

8600GTS : 206
8800GT : 247
8800GTS : 263
8800GTX : 304

and just to hurt venneys feelings....

ATI Radeon HD2900 XT, a whopping 376 watts under load! 752 watts for nothing but 2 video cards!

[venney]

blimey! looks like I will have to upgrade when I get a new gpu as well!

i think mine atm only takes a max of edit 65 only apparently.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/ ... 0gs_6.html

im on the x1950 pro.

[maxwell89]

[liljim]

[maxwell89]

[liljim]

[maxwell89]

[liljim]

[venney]

Yea i have a P35 chipset mobo, it seems ok. I dont use the onboard audio, even tho is is 7.1 i have a soundcard.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... subcat=913

is mine i think (if not sorry ive only just woken up).
My pc is quiet good for gaming, i could do with a new gpu but the mobo is all good.

[cool75]

There is great information here in this thread.
Thanks for this valuable information.