I already have a Q6600 and some (4gb) Corsair Dominator PC 8500.

I'll be running XP 32 right now and my add vista 64 to the velociraptor at a later date.

The computer will be used to 30 table STTs (hopefully the raptor will be fast enough to allow me to use Holdem Manager... I've been playing hudless ever since I moved above 12 tables). I'll be playing some video games as well.

I'd like to overclock to at least 3.2. I have no idea how many fans to buy for the Full Tower Case.

I currently have 3 20" Samsung 204b's, and will be upgrading/replacing them to at least 2 Dell 3008 WFP 30" monitors (or 1 3008, 1 3007, and maybe keep my 20" in portrait mode) and will be running an HDMI cable to 46" Samsung HDTV (will be used occasionally as 4th monitor for watching videos and maybe games). So 2 30" monitors, 1 20" monitor, and 1 1080p TV (4 devices total).

I'll probably power the 1080p HDTV and Main Monitor with 8800 GT. I need suggestions for cheap solid secondary PCIE video card for powering monitors 2 & 3.

I realize that the 8800 GT is sorta weak for a 30" monitor but I think it is a good by at this price and will hold me over till the next line of video cards come out.

Originally I'd planned on X38 Asus Maximus Formula, but I can't see myself using crossfire or SLI, hence the IP 35.

Still need to get a mouse, a trackball, and a solid keyboard. Open to suggestions.

Total is $1432 (+ ~190 for Q6600 cpu and ~130 for 4 GB ram) after tax and shipping, so it totals ~ $1,750 (before monitors). Sucks that Newegg has tax in my state, but I'm tired of shopping around and want to get everything quickly.


LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model DH-20A4P-04 - OEM
Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM
Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD753LJ 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM x 2
SYBA SD-U2HUB-4 3.5" Front Panel USB2.0 4-port Hub - Retail
ASUS EN8800GT/G/HTDP/512M GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply - Retail
Koutech IO-RCM620 USB 2.0 3.5"/5.25" Card Reader - Retail
Koutech PCI to USB2.0 Card Model IO-PU520 - Retail
ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail
XIGMATEK ACK-I7751 Retention Bracket - Retail

secondary pcie video card...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130316

Don't buy the 8800GT, the next line of video cards comes out in 10 days.

I don't like this choice. I'd spend the extra money on a card with dual DVI.

I definitely need dual DVI. It will have to power a 30" monitor and a 1080p HDTV, or 2 30" monitors or something. I think I want HDMI out for the TV (so that I can run a 30' cable to it), right?

Damn, I've put off buying a computer for 1/2 a year already. Just now I was waiting for the velociraptor to come out. I have no idea what's coming out in 10 days (last I knew the 9800x2 came out, and since I hate SLI I'd considered a 9800 GTX single). The 8800 GT is like 140 i think after rebate. Anyone expecting anything big to happen with whatever is being released...? My plan was to hold on to 8800 GT for a year, sell it, and upgrade to something that can finally play games like crysis on a 30" at 2560x1600 (or whatever).

Don't get a floppy drive unless you have some specific need for it, I haven't used one in years and my latest build survived just fine w/o one.

Your case comes with 4 fans, doesn't seem like you need any more.

Freakin's been recommending these WD hard drives a lot and says they're almost as fast as Raptors, might be a good choice for your secondary ones.

Not sure why you need a mouse AND trackball but I've been using the Logitech Trackman my whole life and it's ****ing awesome.

Can shave $50 or even $100 off the case if you want depending how nice of one you want to get - for like $40 less you can get a cheaper version of the same case you selected (with the drawback being 3 fans instead of 4). Centurion makes decent cases at around $50.

Are you sure you're going to have enough USB ports?

Like goofy said, those WD harddrives are pretty much the sickest storage drive you can get right now

Get some good thermal paste (arctic silver 5) for your cooler. You could also look at the scythe ninja, tuniq tower & thermaltake ultra120 coolers. They are pretty much the 3 best last I checked.

The Q6600 G0 will go to 3GHz no problem, 3.2 shouldn't be too tough.

I hate the armor case personally... if I'm getting a big heavy case I go with antec p182, otherwise i use coolermaster centurion for all my builds.

your PSU is probably overkill.

motherboard is a great choice.

I use 8500 or 8600GTs for my secondary monitor cards, usually because they will be plugged into hdtv. The 8500 & 8600 are the first cards from nvidia to have hardware H.264 decoder built in (and anything above the *500 for the whole 8 & 9 series should have it too). This is important for decoding hd movies on your secondary (tv) display

Dude, you could go with a mid-tower Armor instead of the full-tower and have a 230 MM FAN ON THE SIDE WINDOW! That would be ****ing badass.

I would ditch the 8800gt and go with a 9600gt, uses less power/less noisy (I've got the asus passive one so no noise) and is almost as fast.
Then simply get the cheapest nvidia card with dual dvi you can get for the other monitors.

Regarding the big tower and stuff: I prefer all the technical stuff in a small package either a shuttle or a mid tower, but that's just a preference

And a mx1000 is a fine mouse!

Thanks guys for all the advice... I realize that these questions are kinda annoying... I've put this off for so long that now I just want to get it over with.

I definitely want a tower case. I want it to be cool, have lots of room for up to 6 hard drives... maybe more. I want plenty of room for expansion. I'm not set on the Armor case, but whatever I get has to be a tower, and the Armor seemed relatively cheap for a high rated case (the coolermaster Stacker that I was going to get used to be like 119, now its 200$).

They never give you enough, do they?

Last I checked, WD was slow and green. Looks like they’ve improved. I read some good reviews and they seem to have similar speed to the Samsungs with fewer Errors. Reliable enough to put 2 in raid 0 for my media? Would 3 in raid 5 be stupid?

Got the arctic silver 5, and I think that the Xigmatec is now pretty much king of the hill from a $$$, noise, and cooling standpoint. Even over those you listed. Only knock on it is the cheap mounting mechanism, so I’ve bought a replacement. They’ve released a newer model, but it apparently is quieter but not as cool.[/quote]

Why do you hate the armor and love the p182? P182 isn’t that different price wise (like 20$ more). I definitely want a full tower, and had planned on a Coolermaster Stacker 830 but they’re now 200$ (when I last priced them, they could be had for like 110$ on rebate). I want room for a lot of drives, and room for a big graphics card.

Probably, but I could end up with 6 hard drives, a 9800x2, and an 8500. Still overkill?

I was going to go with an X38 Asus Maximus Formula, but I just hate the idea of SLI or XFire and would rather go with single card solution, so I can’t see a reason to go X38.

I think I’m going to go with an 8500 if it has HDMI out (necessary because it includes sound in the cabling) and can power 2 30” monitors at full resolution.


I think I need a full tower. I will be pissed at myself if I run out of room. Pretty sure full tower cases have gone up in price since I last checked. I want something expandable, cool (temperature wise… don’t care about looks really), and big enough to hold monster heatsink + monster graphics card.

Seems like the 8800gt is bit faster still, and $140 seems like a pretty good deal for it. 8800gt is still a weaker card than I’d like, but I just don’t see a ton of value in the 9800s right now. I’m thinking of the ECS 8800gts for $160.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814134037


I have a big space in my desk that can fit a tower, and a door that closes to cover it, so there isn’t much reason not to get a big case. I’d love to make a small shuttle type media box htpc at some point, but I want to have the ability to turn this thing into a monster. As for the mouse, is it just me, or is wireless annoying when you have to move or click to activate it cause it goes into sleep mode? I’d love to have a wireless mouse that doesn’t sleep (for a while at least), plays games well, and has at least 2 Xbuttons on it (maybe more), but I’m not sure this exists. Also, I think I want my keyboard with backlighting, cause I suck at finding F7 in the dark.

Also, I think I need a decent surge protector, both for my computer and my 46” $2k+ HDTV (so 2 surge protectors). How much protection does one need?

Bigger isn't always better, fwiw - in my current Antec P180 the power supply goes in a segregated compartment at the bottom of the case like this:



Because of this, routing the power cables up to the rest of my system took FOREVER, especially with the huge GFX card (which did fit ok) blocking the direct path from the PSU to the CPU. I still don't know how I got the motherboard power cable connected, because it seriously did NOT want to reach. I think I had to disconnect all my cables re-mount the PSU so that the cables started closer to the exit area of the compartment.

Long story short, sometimes it's cool to just have the PSU chilling upstairs and near your motherboard and not have a vast empty space between them.

Also, I'm not sure what expansion problems you would run into with a mid-tower. It's not like there aren't enough drive bays. I've never read much about full towers being more advantageous for cooling, is that true? I imagine a lot of people would recommend them on tech forums if so.

I use a wireless Trackman mouse. It doesn't sleep as far as I can tell, and I don't really play games with it but it works well and not having to deal with wires is A++.