Buying new rig, have some questions.

Hi guys, within a week or two, I will buy a new rig. Here are the specifications::
1) Core 2 Quad 6600

2) XFX 680i based mobo.

3) RAM..
There is a confusion. Since I am a gaming freak, I just wanna know which will be a better option? 2GB of 800MHz ram or 4GB of 667 MHz RAM??

4) Viewsonic 17" monitor...
Which one: Widescreen or Simple.
Most of the games today have the option of widescreen, so is there any diffrence b/w the performance in widescreen/simple mode??
Is widescreen a bit less expensive than the simple one??

5) 8600 GT or 8800GTS 640MB.
I just wanted to know about the custom duties on the 640MB card. Like if my relative can get it from Dubai, then is there any way to save the duty??

7) APC UPS
8) 600W PSU
9) G1 gaming mouse+ Keyboard combo.
10) 2.1 speakers.

Whats your opinion?

5. U cant compare the two... the price difference is HUGE...
10. Altec lancing ATP3
9. Logitech MX 518 + kbd

^^ I am not comparing them.
I am just asking if there is any way of evading the custom duties (of 8800 of course) if my relative can get it from Dubai. Coz after coverting the price in INR, one can see the HUGE diffrence of price in India and in Dubai/America.

If this is not possible then I will have to buy 8600GT

. And I dont think with this card I can play the upcoming titles in max condition.

And thanks for the Logitech 518 mouse, I forgot the name.

cynosure said:
3) RAM..
There is a confusion. Since I am a gaming freak, I just wanna know which will be a better option? 2GB of 800MHz ram or 4GB of 667 MHz RAM??

4) Viewsonic 17" monitor...
Which one: Widescreen or Simple.
Most of the games today have the option of widescreen, so is there any diffrence b/w the performance in widescreen/simple mode??
Is widescreen a bit less expensive than the simple one??

Please answer these questions...

3) 2gb 800 mhz ram would be better. utilization of ram above 2gb is minimal and just generates extra heat.

4) cost diff between widescreen and normal isn't much. widescreen 17" gives much more viewing area than a normal 17" LCD. widescreen is good for games, and much much better than a normal screen if u watch a lot of dvds

5) obviously the 8800gts 640mb is better. there's no comparison. its like compairing a 7300gs and a 7600gt.

9) since a keyboard offers digital input, it doesn't make too much of a diff. go for a key board that has soft keys, feels comfy and has multimedia support. as for the mouse i'd suggest the mx518. its cheap (comparatively, approx rs 2k). if u surf around some tech sites, most of them have a very poor review for the g5 so i won't recommend it

4 GB RAM is supported only by 64 bit OS.
If you go for 2 GB RAM then go for 512MBx4 seperate RAM modules for better performance.

J

morpheusv6 said:
4 GB RAM is supported only by 64 bit OS.
If you go for 2 GB RAM then go for 512MBx4 seperate RAM modules for better performance.

Why not 2x1GB which I think will be better for all reasons?

@xbonez

Whatever the advantages, I think that widescreen has less viewing area and that is the reason why they are cheaper to manufacture and sell.

^^ The screens of TFT monitors are crafted out of some semicondutor sheets. If you cut the sheets diagonally (and produce widescreens), then you can have more no. of screens. But if you cut it horizontally (and produce squares), then you have less no. of screens and hence the widescreens are cheaper. Please dont ask for more details, I read this somewhere (maybe wikipedia).

AFAIK, widescreens give better viewing area, at least horizontally.

@morpheus: I will also use some 64bit distros of linux. But I think 800MHz of 2GB RAM will be enough for them.

One comment

Reviewes for Overclocking the Q6600 is really not impressive !!!

J

cynosure said:
^^ The screens of TFT monitors are crafted out of some semicondutor sheets. If you cut the sheets diagonally (and produce widescreens), then you can have more no. of screens. But if you cut it horizontally (and produce squares), then you have less no. of screens and hence the widescreens are cheaper. Please dont ask for more details, I read this somewhere (maybe wikipedia).

AFAIK, widescreens give better viewing area, at least horizontally.

@morpheus: I will also use some 64bit distros of linux. But I think 800MHz of 2GB RAM will be enough for them.

I meant quantitatively, ie. Sq. inches/cms.

i think widescreens have more viewing area. anyway, confirm that once.

2x1gb is much better than 512x4

Choto Cheeta said:
One comment

Reviewes for Overclocking the Q6600 is really not impressive !!!

Man who wants to overclock a 2.4GHz proccy??
Overclocking E4300 from 1.8 to 3.0 made sense, but this one is already sprinting at 2.4, I dont think OC it will be a nice option most probably because it runs hotter than the duo cores.

And if anyday I have to OC it (not now, but in the near future), I might use a water cooling kit.8)

And one more question guys, I read somewhere that using 667MHz RAM in 1066FSB wala processors would slow down the applications a bit. Only if one used 533Mhz/800MHz RAM was the processor able to work faster.

Lets consider a case when I OC the FSB to 1333. If I use 800MHz dual channel mem then it will be 1600MHz net, but the proccy will be working at 1333MHz. Will this be a kinda bottleneck for the memory? So in this case should I use 667MHz RAM with OC and 533MHz RAM with stock OR 800MHz with both stock and OC.

cynosure said:
Man who wants to overclock a 2.4GHz proccy??

Me

cynosure said:
If I use 800MHz dual channel mem then it will be 1600MHz net

Source of Information ?? :lol:

Refer here for Dual Channel !!

*www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/133
*en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-channel_architecture

They will not run at 1600 MHz !!!

Choto Cheeta said:
Source of Information ??

CAnt recall it

Anyways, in a nutshell, my question is:
Will I be able to rip the maximum power outta my PC if I use 800MHz RAM in dual channel mode.
Will the CPU be a bottleneck if I try to overclock it and use 800MHz RAM?

cynosure said:
Will I be able to rip the maximum power outta my PC if I use 800MHz RAM in dual channel mode.

There are RAMs available to run at Speed of 1066 !!! so if u get those then Performance should increase... but honestlly apart from few Bench marking software, there is no real word application to benefit from those High performance Systsms

cynosure said:
Will the CPU be a bottleneck if I try to overclock it and use 800MHz RAM?

Nope, as if needed RAMs are Overclockable too

J

xbonez said:
i think widescreens have more viewing area. anyway, confirm that once.

2x1gb is much better than 512x4

simple geometry!

^^ Widescreens are longer horizontally, but arent they shorter vertically??
Just a question. I havent used any widescreen (or any LCD for that matter

)

J

cynosure said:
^^ Widescreens are longer horizontally, but arent they shorter vertically??
Just a question. I havent used any widescreen (or any LCD for that matter)

Pl see the link which is self explanatory.
*dailycupoftech.com/2007/03/20/sometimes-bigger-is-smaller-widescreen-monitors/

2. u can go for the ultimate of all mobos....the Asus Striker Extreme....or if u want a little bit decent offering then go for Asus P5N32 E-SLI....the price difference between these two boards might be as big as 8k......but both of these are based on the 680i chipset.

^^ I have a limited budget. So that kinda extreme board will be too extreme for me.

After all, I need to buy a decent gfx card.

i don't think u'll need such an extreme mobo as the ASUS Striker Extreme.