Buidling my Performance PC

[skaterbasist]

I'm selling the Laptop to my bro and im gonna use that money to build a PC; he needs a laptop, I need a PC. The specs for my laptop are pretty good. This laptop is kick-ass for a laptop. It's (regretably) running Vista, T7400 Core 2 Duo @ 2.16 GHz, 2 GB @ 667 MHz, 120 GB HDD @ 7200 RPM, Overclocked GeForce 7900GS.... alot of good stuff. It gave me an average 45-50 FPS running BFG2 at full details.

Now for the upcoming PC... I am debating whether I should get the Core 2 Quad Q6600 or the Core 2 Duo E6850.

The Core 2 Quad Q6600 specs are 2.4 GHz w/ 1033 MHz FSB, L1 Chace: 64KB+ 64KB, L2 Chace: 2 x 4MB.
The Core 2 Duo E6850 specs are 3.0 GHz w 1333MHz FSB, L2 Chace: 32KB + 32KB, L2 Chace: 1 x 4MB

From what I hear, they both have their ups and downs. the Q6600 should be MUCH faster than the E6850 at multi-processing such as video editing, photoshop, etc. The only problem with the Q6600 is that, since Quad cores are relatively new, many programs cannot take advantage of the two extra cores. Many programs don't even see it as a Quad core since they haven't been designed for it. But then again, this makes the Q6600 VERY future-proof.

The E6850 should be faster in things that do not require as much multi-processing.

Now here's the setup that im thinking about. Any suggestions are welcomed:

Samsung 19" Wide-Screen
EVGA 680i Sli ATX Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
2 GB DDR2 @ 1033MHz
GeForce 8800GT
HDD SATA 500 GB
750 WATT PSU

What you guys think? I want this PC to last for years without having to go through any major upgrades. I wan't to go SLI, but I never play any video games except for counter-strike a few times a month. So its not worth it for now.

.

[vinyard]

Can you post links to the items you are going to buy? Are you really going to do that much multi-tasking? It would probably be best to look into another motherboard seeing as the 680i only support ddr2 800 natively.

[skaterbasist]

Never understood what the term "native" meant in computing & software... can you elloborate?

I'm sort of in a dillema as far as motherboards and chipsets. The two main chipsets I am interested in are the 680i(Nvidia) & X38 (Intel). They both seem like excellent high-end chipsets. But what bothers me about the 680i is the fact that it doesn't support a 1600MHz FSB; I know that sounds pretty rediculous right now, but I'm also looking on keeping a MOBO for long-term. That's why im looking for good upgradeable MOBO in the long run.

As far as X38, I don't like the fact that it only supports Crossfire for AMD; I'm assuming that SLI won't be possible on this MOBO. I hate this Intel-AMD partnership. That's the only down side I see of the X38. It seems to have more advantages over the 680i, but the biggest con of the X38i is the SLI issue.

And to add to this, the 790i & X48i is just right aound the corner. I will wait 2 months for these two new chipsets. Supposeably, these two chipsets will add full DDR3 support and will suport the newer 45nm processors that will arive next year. And since the 790i will obviously have full SLI support, im leaning toward that one.

I won't post any MOBO's because im really undecided with all those options out there. Plus, like I said, I will wait for the newer one's to arive. MOBO's are so damn important! I looked at the ASUS Striker Extreme (680i), EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 (680i), Asus Maximus Formula (X38), and some other ones.

I'm going big because I do some intensive multi-tasking somtimes, such as video editing & processing. And more importantly, because I don't want to upgrade for a while. Therefore, im going big right now just to have a good stable PC for a very long time.

Thanks for all the suggestions. [/End Essay ]

[zero86ea]

I'm selling the Laptop to my bro and im gonna use that money to build a PC; he needs a laptop, I need a PC. The specs for my laptop are pretty good. This laptop is kick-ass for a laptop. It's (regretably) running Vista, T7400 Core 2 Duo @ 2.16 GHz, 2 GB @ 667 MHz, 120 GB HDD @ 7200 RPM, Overclocked GeForce 7900GS.... alot of good stuff. It gave me an average 45-50 FPS running BFG2 at full details.

What about school?! What are you gonna do without your baby?