New PC Rig Help!!

[aazzametalhead]

Sorry about the above message i have no idea why it has done that and for some reason it wont let me edit the thing, so ill repost here.

In september some drunk guy crashed into my car, wrote it off and i eventually found out (3 months later BTW) Mislocated my pelvis. This means that i was gonna get some compo coming my way (£2000 + New car to be exact).

Basically, im gonna build the one of the best computers money can buy at the moment. I have been building pc for quite awhile but due to lack of money havent for nearly 5 years when Athon XP 3000+ was one of the best amd cpus out, so im not quite sure about all this dual/quad core and SLI stuff.

Specs:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache (2x4MB (4MB per core pair)
Not the best but at £165 you cant go wrong
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache (2x4MB (4MB per core pair) Retail Boxed Processor - Ebuyer

MSI S775 nForce 680i DDR2 ATX Audio Lan
Triple SLI support just incase i want to add another card later on
dabs.com - MSI S775 nForce 680i DDR2 ATX Audio Lan (P6N DIAMOND)

4X Kingston 2GB DDR2 533MHz/PC2-4200 Memory Non-ecc CL4 1.8V Unbuffered
I know this is way more than needed but for £136 i might aswell
Kingston 2GB DDR2 533MHz/PC2-4200 Memory Non-ecc CL4 1.8V Unbuffered - Ebuyer

2X ASUS NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 DVI HDCP HDTV out PCI-E
AAAWWW YEHHH
ASUS NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 DVI HDCP HDTV out PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer

These are my questions:

1) Will all these components be compatable with each other?

2) Ive heard alot about the new Nvidia 9000 series, and that they willbe quite cheap (cannot find any articles that are newer than november 2007). Will the 9800GTX be considerably better than the 8800GTX? When are they coming out? Should i wait until then?

3) Should i buy different brands of the same products?

4) I am getting a 1000W PSU will this be sufficient?

5) Will 4 120mm fans be enough to cool the system or should i use water cooling?

All help will be very appreiciated.

PS. I have got fans and cases sorted as not much has changed in that department since my last build.

[chedabob]

Don't buy quad. You'll more than likely see a dip in performance with it.

[aazzametalhead]

Really? Any idea why?

[chedabob]

Because nothing is really written for quad except processor intensive applications. Games are only just starting to support dual core, quad is a long way off.

[aazzametalhead]

Well i do use maya, fruity loops, adobe photoshop and XNA/C# alot so maybe it would be a good idea. What do you reckon?

[chedabob]

You might see some benefit on rendering in Maya, but that'd be it. Even games like Crysis and UT3 don't take full advantage of multi-core systems.

[Power666]

The Geforce 9800GX2 is due to revealed on March 11 with the Geforce 9800GTX at the same time or a week later. The Geforce 9800GX2 is simply two 512 MB Geforce 8800GTS that take up one slot on the motherboard. Information on the Geforce 9800GTX is a bit sketchy as nVidia may have actually scrapped their true high end chip and is going with a faster 512 MB 8800GTS that supports triple SLI. nVidia's true high end chip was supposed to have a 512 bit wide memory controller and support 1 GB of GDDR4 memory. Either way, I think it'd pay off waiting a few weeks and see what is released and where they're placed in terms of performance. At the very least, it'll force a drop in price for the older models.

I'd also like to ask what resolution your monitor is for gaming. Simply put, the extra performance of the Geforce 8800GTX is wasted at low resolutions. If you have display that can do 1920 x 1200 resolution or higher, the Geforce 8800GTX's are justified in the system. I'd actually go with 512 MB Geforce 8800GTS as it actually out runs the Geforce 8800GTX at lower resolutions. As a matter of fact, SLI is pretty useless at lower resolutions on the Geforce 8800GTX too.

I'm not sure that motherboard supports 3-way SLI even though it has four PCI-E 16x slots. It will support SLI with two cards perfectly fine though. Oddly enough, that motherboard will support quad SLI with two Geforce 9800GX2 cards when they are released.

Equipping a system with 8 GB of RAM is possible on most modern motherboards. That isn't a downside but itself but to actually use that much memory, you need a 64 bit operating system. Linux is perfectly fine but lacks in gaming support. There is a 64 bit version of Windows XP but that is messy and Vista is just was messy. For gaming, I advise you stick with 32 bit Windows XP SP2. With this operating system, going beyond 3 GB of RAM is wasteful.

If you plan on doing triple SLI, I'd recommend a 1000W power supply but if you're only planning on using two video cards at most, then you can get away with a 800W unit in all likelihood. You're fortunate enough to live in Europe where the electrical standards for power supplies are higher than the US. I'd still pay attention to what brand you'd get though.

As far as cooling goes, it mainly depends on the case. Throwing fans into the system has to have some thought put into it by balancing intake and exhaust. The placement of fans also matters.

Originally Posted by chedabob

Because nothing is really written for quad except processor intensive applications. Games are only just starting to support dual core, quad is a long way off.

That actually doesn't explain a dip in performance all other things being equal. In fact there is no dip performance going with a quad core chip compared to a dual core chip at the same clock speed.

Clock speeds are something carefully look at. Dual core chips tend to offer higher clock speeds and available for less than what it costs to get a quad core chip. I think what Chedabob was trying to explain is that often games benefit more from higher clock speeds than more cores in a system.

[aazzametalhead]

I run my pc off my 32" samsung LCD, so i really need the good performance at high resolutions.

Thanks for the info, ill wait and see whats instore for the new nvidia cards.

[InsightGoalie]

If you truly want top of the line you may want to wait. I'll say this to anybody buying a PC right now... Intel is releasing a new chipset sometime this year. They're doing away with the LGA775. So, that offers you two options; you can get the more powerful new stuff, or you can buy a top end LGA775 processor at discounted prices.

[Power666]

Originally Posted by aazzametalhead

I run my pc off my 32" samsung LCD, so i really need the good performance at high resolutions.

Thanks for the info, ill wait and see whats instore for the new nvidia cards.

I assume that's an HDTV which either sport a 1920 x 1080 resolution (which would justify a Geforce 8800GTX of better) or the more probable 1366 x 768 rseolution which a 512 MB Geforce 8800GTS would be better for.