@george_tsiros: My appologies. I just don't understand why people put so much stock into a synthetic benchmark that spits out arbitrary numbers.

A new system? Whats wrong with your current one!

The problem (ish) with processors is that there is always the budget chip capable of nearly the same speed as an *overclocked!!* faster and multiple times more expensive chip. If money is tight, I wouldn't feel good knowing that I'm getting a E6600 will probably run as fast as a half price E4300.

Quote from Forbin :

so much stock into a synthetic benchmark

it is not the definitive way to compare speeds, i agree, but since the guy wants his rig for next gen gaming (otherwise he wouldn't be going for such a powerful machine and 8800series card) we have to see how it performs in DX10 enviroment. The best i could think of is 3dmark 06. I do not care about benchmarks like 3dmark, when there are games you can check, but if there is nothing better right now, what are you going to do?

i still think he should get the cheaper conroe and get the bigger card. from timedemos, (i am not very sure of this, you must check it out yourself. in any case, it doesn't matter what *i* say that i understand, but what the benches say. so check it yourself) i have seen that when the system is pushed, the card makes the difference.

If you want to see what DX10 cards can do, look into a video called "Cascades" - it's all rendered real-time on one 8800GTX

Just to update you all as you've been extremely helpful with this.
I've just ordered:

1 GB of cheap Ebuyer Ram
BFG Geforce 8800 GTS
Core 2 Duo E6600
Antec Nine Hundred Case

All of that was ordered with Ebuyer as Overclockers seems to add 10% on top of the prices. The other stuff was not avalible through Ebuyer so that will be coming with Overclockers.
I'll be ordering the other parts when I can next get some money in the bank and for it to clear. I'm not in too much of a rush for the other parts as the motherboard is not released till Friday as Overclockers displays.

With ordering three quaters of the stuff with Ebuyer I've managed to save myself £96.42 (that's inc VAT, Tax, Delivery).

The intresting part is going to be me building it as I've never built a PC in my life, any tips?

Thanks alot one and all, you've all been great .

best wishes for your new PC

and we want pics, of course!!!

as for assembling it, take a good screwdriver, a clean place and take it easy... read the manual try screws with your hands if they fit where you are trying to put them, etc... there are some good guides online if you want... here's a list i found after a quick google search : http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/howtodiy/index.html

good luck and have fun!!!

I'll keep you all updated, but now I have to wait till the mobo is released, going to pre-order it Wednesday if my cheques clear .

Motherboard was released on Overclockers about 30 mins ago and I order that, and the PSU 20 mins ago. Will be delivered Tuesday. So if everything goes well and I don't brake anything, then it should be up and running by Tuesday night unless Windows locks itself because of all the new parts.

You will need to install a fresh copy of windows. Don't even bother with your old instal, it won't boot.

Quote from Davo :

You will need to install a fresh copy of windows. Don't even bother with your old instal, it won't boot.

Thanks alot for informing me. I will spend this weekend sorting my hard drives out so I have a empty partition to install Media Center on when I setup my new computer.

btw, is it safe to delete some of the windows files on a non-working OS? I have 3 of the same OS on this HD and 2 of them are screwed because of something I've done or a windows update that went wrong.
If I could delete the Windows folder, that would save me 2.6 GB on that alone.

well if your running on another partion and boot to that one then you should be able to delete the windows file from the non working OS then that should be no problem but back up first >__<

Got a question about the fan plugs on my new case

http://seggons.gom-team.com/Images/STA70346.JPG
http://seggons.gom-team.com/Images/STA70347.JPG

In the 2 images above are the plugs from my fan. From studying the motherboard manual, all the fan connection (bar the heatsink fan) are all 3 pin connections. How do I go about plugging the connection in the above pic into the motherboard?
Or does that plug into 1 of the PSU connections?

I have been looking in my current case, but all the fans have 3 pin plugs that plug stright into the motherboard. I just don't understand how I plug them fan connection into the motherboard when there 4 pin plugs and the motherboard is 3 pin connection?

Yeah, that's what's known as a 4-pin MOLEX connector. One is for powering the fan, the other ensures that you don't lose a power connector (essentially an integrated Y-splitter). The only disadvantage is the motherboard can't control the speed of the fan. You can get around that with a resistor/potentiometer, though.

Quote from Davo :

You will need to install a fresh copy of windows. Don't even bother with your old instal, it won't boot.

i know im going slightly backwards here...........but my XP install has booted fine on 5 different PC's so far and none of the hardware was the same. Have i just got some amazing installation or just lucky? lol.

You must have a magic install.

No re-formatting for me then! Same install since 2004!

Quote from Forbin :

Yeah, that's what's known as a 4-pin MOLEX connector. One is for powering the fan, the other ensures that you don't lose a power connector (essentially an integrated Y-splitter). The only disadvantage is the motherboard can't control the speed of the fan. You can get around that with a resistor/potentiometer, though.

So do I plug all 4 of them into the PSU's peripheral cables?
http://www.ocztechnology.com/i ... essories/b/Cables_GXS.jpg

Or do I connect all 4 of them together and use 1 of the peripheral cables?

I'm sure you won't have a problem daisy-chaining them. There's plenty of power from just 1 to drive multiple fans. The only issue may be the length of the wires.

http://seggons.gom-team.com/Images/Inside.JPG

As you can see from the image above, all the fan power cable are pretty long. I guess the rule is, the length of the cable, the more power loss? If so would it be safe to do 2 fan cable to 1 peripheral cable?
And is if safe to put cables behind the motherboard so hide them from view?

The wires have minimal resistance. You're not putting all that much power through them. If you can, I'd probably even run them all off the same peripheral cable.

The maximum power load I've seen for 120mm fans spinning at maximum speed is about 4 Watts. Multiply that by 4, that's 16 Watts. At 12 Volts, that's only 1.333 Amps. High-end video cards drawing power from the same 12V rail draw around 5 times as much. One peripheral cable is fine.

Running cables behind the motherboard is fine as long as they don't rub on the pins on the back of the motherboard too much, removing the insulation. That would be very bad. I typically don't do so in order to have easy access to everything.

Got the motherboard and PSU Tuesday at work, and got it all in and together when I got home. Took me 5 hours in total but I am over the moon I got it together by myself and not one problem along the way.
Been so busy getting it setup and what-not that I've not had time to post.

The system is A-mazing, 16x AA and 16x AF, Gamma Correction, Super Transparency AA etc ... Hovers at 200 fps on my own, and around 70 fps from the trackside camera's on mutiplayer.

The case and all the fans are almost silent and I'm sitting right next to it.

Pictures and things I will do at the weekend, in the mean-time. I got more gaming to do ...

P.S, cheers for the help Forbin about the fans. All running off 1 perhiaral cable

Quite welcome.

Nice! Get some more pics of the inside up, but with all the parts in it

Picture Time .

The computer from my POV:


http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/6598/sta70374xb6.jpg

Top down picture looking at the huge fan:


http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/2589/sta70376pc3.jpg

Computer with side panel on:


http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/3460/sta70385ff4.jpg

Computer without the side panel on:


http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/765/sta70377ip2.jpg

Bottom half of the computer. (From bottom up, PSU, TV card, the huge 8800GTS):


http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/2883/sta70380zd3.jpg

Top of of the computer:


http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/7613/sta70381xc2.jpg

Bottom of the case looking up at the top 200mm fan:


http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/5391/sta70382og0.jpg

Top half of the case from behind:


http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/9224/sta70383ti6.jpg

Bottom half of the case from behind:


http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/3637/sta70384oa7.jpg

The run I did with 3d mark 05 with everything at normal rates is 13505.

My complete setup:


http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/4797/sta70373gs0.jpg