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**Helevitia** · 5 March 2007, 00:18

Another thing. both the Tuniq Tower and Thermalright Ultra 120 perform amazing but it seems the build quality and clip on the Htermalright are crap. Does anyone have any experience with either cooler?

Also, what about the mobo? Should i be getting an Intel P65, Nvidei a680i or Nvidia 650i? So many choices that it is confusing. The P5B seems to have proven the test of time as a stable mobo and that is my goal to have a high quality, stable mobo as my current mobo sucks donkey poo.

**Helevitia** · 5 March 2007, 00:27

Something else I forgot about is the Intel price cuts on April 22nd.

Q6600: $851 to $530
E6700: $530 to $316
E6600: $316 to $224

So no point in getting the E6600 since I won't be upgrading until at least then.

**Mehen** · 5 March 2007, 00:27

R600 doesn't look so promising anymore. Might be better off getting a 8800GTS.

**schmosef** · 5 March 2007, 00:30

I've got two PCs with P5W DH Deluxe motherboards and I really like them. In one of them I've got two Raptor 150GB drives in a RAID 0 array using the onboard EZ-RAID controller and it is FAST.

I wouldn't bother with the Creative sound card. Onboard audio has really come into it's own with Intel's HD audio spec. I really like the Realtek HD audio chips on my mobos. I'm not to sure about ADI though. I don't remember if you can get driver updates directly from ADI or if you have to get them from Asus (which is often slow to release updates).

**Mehen** · 5 March 2007, 00:31

I have a Thermalright SI-120, works quite well (I have a prescott, and it cools that pretty damn good). No build quality issues for me, feels solid.

There's some good cheap OCZ ram out there (DDR2-800, something like 5-5-5-12 or 4-4-4-12 I think). You'd want either 2x1GB or 4x1GB.

E6700 @ $316 would be sweet.

I'll find some links about the R600....

**Mehen** · 5 March 2007, 00:37

Huge. Yikes. Still prototype but not promising:

http://content.zdnet.com/2346-10741_22-57089.html

Delayed into Q2, (I wouldn't be suprised if this now meant the end of Q2):

http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37768

Long article explaing why the delay sucks

:

http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37880

Included in ^^ is mention of the supposed 240W power requirement, yikes.

It's a shame because I was really looking forward to this card.

I would say your money is best spent on a 8800GTS, or a X1950 series card and then maybe getting a R700 later.

Check out the XFX 8800GTS here:

http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37910

**Mehen** · 5 March 2007, 00:40

Oh yeah, and I agree with the 965/P5B choice. You are probably best to stick with onboard audio, see how it is, if you don't like it you can always upgrade later.

**Mehen** · 5 March 2007, 00:47

Check out Silverstone cases as an alternative to LianLi. Both are really good.

**Helevitia** · 5 March 2007, 00:48

Originally posted by |Mehen| View Post

R600 doesn't look so promising anymore. Might be better off getting a 8800GTS.

I'll wait for the reviews before deciding

I'm patient at this point.

**Helevitia** · 5 March 2007, 00:51

Originally posted by schmosef View Post

I've got two PCs with P5W DH Deluxe motherboards and I really like them. In one of them I've got two Raptor 150GB drives in a RAID 0 array using the onboard EZ-RAID controller and it is FAST.

I wouldn't bother with the Creative sound card. Onboard audio has really come into it's own with Intel's HD audio spec. I really like the Realtek HD audio chips on my mobos. I'm not to sure about ADI though. I don't remember if you can get driver updates directly from ADI or if you have to get them from Asus (which is often slow to release updates).

Cool, I'll check out the P5W's and see what's up. As far on-board audio goes, I used my on-board audio that came with my current mobo(can't remember what it is, realtek?) Anyway, I never really liked it, but stuck with it for a while, I then aquired an Audigy 2 ZS and it blew it away in CPU util, stable drivers, and no crackling, so now I am kind of scared of on-board audio. On top of that, I do a lot of home recording with my guitars and bass and love the Elite external board that comes with the X-fi, so I am going to get the X-fi Elite unless something much better comes along.

**Helevitia** · 5 March 2007, 00:56

Originally posted by |Mehen| View Post

I have a Thermalright SI-120, works quite well (I have a prescott, and it cools that pretty damn good). No build quality issues for me, feels solid.

There's some good cheap OCZ ram out there (DDR2-800, something like 5-5-5-12 or 4-4-4-12 I think). You'd want either 2x1GB or 4x1GB.

E6700 @ $316 would be sweet.

I'll find some links about the R600....

So how hard was it to get the clip on the mobo and the spring loaded screws I hear are a huge pain in the ass. Can you confirm/deny?

I love Mushkin memory. They have the best tech support and the memory is second to none in my opinion. Oops, just realized I forgot to add the memory to the wishlist. this is the memory I was thinking: http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16820146114

**Helevitia** · 5 March 2007, 00:59

Originally posted by |Mehen| View Post

Huge. Yikes. Still prototype but not promising:

http://content.zdnet.com/2346-10741_22-57089.html

Delayed into Q2, (I wouldn't be suprised if this now meant the end of Q2):

http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37768

Long article explaing why the delay sucks

:

http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37880

Included in ^^ is mention of the supposed 240W power requirement, yikes.

It's a shame because I was really looking forward to this card.

I would say your money is best spent on a 8800GTS, or a X1950 series card and then maybe getting a R700 later.

Check out the XFX 8800GTS here:
http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37910

Thanks for all of the info, I am currently aware of the current happenings of the R600 as I am waiting patiently for the reviews

I will wait to buy a system when the R600 comes out so that I can have more choices and hopefully some DX10 games might be out. I may just get a cheapo DX9 card and wait even longer for a DX10 card if no games are out yet. My current DX9 card is AGP so I can't use that.

**Helevitia** · 5 March 2007, 01:00

Originally posted by |Mehen| View Post

Check out Silverstone cases as an alternative to LianLi. Both are really good.

Thanks, I've checked out both of these companies for cases. I like both and had a hard time picking which one I wanted. I may change my mind again as I get closer to actually laying down money.

**Mehen** · 5 March 2007, 01:00

Couple of notes/rumours on the R600; memory controller capable of up to 2/4GB memory. Also will probably use GDDR4 in the higher end models. Performance apparently slightly above 8800GTX speeds.

I'm betting it will come in GDDR3/4 variants, as well as 512/1024mb variants. Expect Pro/XT/XTX and all that too. I doubt we will see a high-end 256mb version. Also, I don't think the actual card will be that huge, nor will the power requirements be that high.

If you do a lot of home recording etc then its probably good that you do stay away from onboard then.

On a sidenote, what kind of setup do you have for guitar/bass?

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Mulling over parts for new system - What's your opinion?

Mulling over parts for new system - What's your opinion?

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