Upgrade job

[Captain]

That's the one I use. Near Sherway in Etobicoke, right? I don't even believe what they tell me. At least twice I've called them in the past inquiring whether or not they carry a specific item. Each time they've said "yes", I've gone down to find out they don't carry it in the store and I've had to buy something else. Go figure

[Captain]

I may be ready to finalize my choices here.

Motherboard:

EVGA nForce 650i Ultra - $114
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... CatId=1533

RAM:

OCZ Platinum Revision-2 2GB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Dual Channel - $64
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... CatId=2261

or

OCZ SLI-Ready Edition Dual Channel 2GB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz - $59
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... CatId=2261

GPU:

EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 640MB - $427
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... CatId=2514

or

EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB - $333
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... CatId=2669

Err, although I'm not sure about this rebate thing. The RAMs are both $100 without rebate :S

[Captain]

Well, not including rebate or tax and going with the nForce 650i, OCZ Platinum Revision-2 2GB, and the EVGA 8800GTS 320MB, the total comes to $587 which is pretty much perfect.

Throw in this Western Digital SE16 400GB HDD for $115 and the total comes to $702.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... CatId=2459

It's OEM but the mobo will have extra SATA cables, so it's all good. It would be nice to have one of those Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM drives as a boot disk, but they're too darn overpriced IMO. Maybe I'll even split my 250GB for a system drive and some files and use this 400GB for all my games and multimedia, so I can finally retire that IDE.

As for CPU cooling (I don't think the stock D fan will cut it with an 8800GTS in there), this seems pretty decent. Thermaltake RSI Socket 775 Aluminum CPU Cooling Fan: $15 and supports Pentium D as well as Core 2 Duo.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... CatId=1588

Total including tax is $824. Yea/nay?

[SoM]

That's the one I use. Near Sherway in Etobicoke, right? I don't even believe what they tell me. At least twice I've called them in the past inquiring whether or not they carry a specific item. Each time they've said "yes", I've gone down to find out they don't carry it in the store and I've had to buy something else. Go figure

ya thats the one i went too also, but if some fuck says they have it in-store and when you show up and they dont have it, ask for the manager and get the fucker fired atleast or tell em to give you that 640mb version , and never give reviews for tiger, or give them bad reviews.. depending on the situation

[SoM]

Well, not including rebate or tax and going with the nForce 650i, OCZ Platinum Revision-2 2GB, and the EVGA 8800GTS 320MB, the total comes to $587 which is pretty much perfect.

Throw in this Western Digital SE16 400GB HDD for $115 and the total comes to $702.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... CatId=2459

It's OEM but the mobo will have extra SATA cables, so it's all good. It would be nice to have one of those Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM drives as a boot disk, but they're too darn overpriced IMO. Maybe I'll even split my 250GB for a system drive and some files and use this 400GB for all my games and multimedia, so I can finally retire that IDE.

As for CPU cooling (I don't think the stock D fan will cut it with an 8800GTS in there), this seems pretty decent. Thermaltake RSI Socket 775 Aluminum CPU Cooling Fan: $15 and supports Pentium D as well as Core 2 Duo.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... CatId=1588

Total including tax is $824. Yea/nay?

i paid $803 total, minus rebate running all on stock, overclocked the 5200+ (2.6GHz) to 6000+ (3.0GHz) all on stock

running fast and smooth

[SoM]

CPU fan has nothing todo with the 8800GTS, thats a question for the PSU and fan on the GFX

you can run the stock CPU fan and OC it nicely @ stock cooling

[Captain]

Well my entire system has been extremely cool even with the CPU overclocked 20% to 3.2GHz and the 6600GT at 550/1100. Although the PSU is more than capable of powering an 8800GTS, but there is no fan under it, which I think might cause some heat buildup. The second fan is facing the drive bays.

Observe: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... CatId=1483

What do you think? The PSU is pretty new btw, bought it back around March IIRC, when I was having PC issues


Well ok, forget about the CPU fan

The total ignoring rebates and including tax is approximately $807. How does the rebate system work? Do they actually give cash back or is it one of those "omg make ur money back with coupons lulz" catches?

[SoM]

try the powerup 550W PSU 120mm fan @ tigerdiger, plus u'll need the amperage for an 8800

my system is very silent too, dont even know if its on ( depending on your case )

my case -- thermaltake RS100 comes with rear 120mm fan

[SoM]

@ tigerdirect u pay the full price, once you get the rebate # on your purchase coupon u logon to http://www.tigerdirect.ca/rebates, type in the number and they send u a cheque ( u got 30 days to send in a rebate )

[Captain]

My case also came with fans. One 80mm in the front chassis keeping the 3.5" bays cool and a 120mm in the rear. I'm not sure with your take on the PSU though. The 600W X-Finity is built for SLI systems and I've heard good things about it in systems running 88xx cards

I've got a quiet system too, perfect for running torrents while I sleep

[Captain]

Oh yeah, I need one of these too

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... 4&CatId=89

[Captain]

I'm thinking of going for the nForce 680i instead of the 650.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... CatId=1533

[creep]

You're really just talking to yourself at this point.

[Captain]

Holy shit, look at the price on this 8800GT 512MB

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... =P450-8812

Only $341...moron alert???

[SoM]

but look at the interface, only 256bit compared to 320bit on the 320mb version

i'd go with the better interface then more memory

[Captain]

Final choices:

XFX nForce 680i LT SLI Motherboard - $189.97
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... CatId=2051

OCZ Platinum Revision-2 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Dual Channel Memory - $99.97
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... =O261-8070

Western Digital Caviar SE16 400GB Hard Drive - 7200RPM, 16MB, SATA-300, OEM - $115.99
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... =TSD-400KS

EVGA GeForce 8800 GT Superclocked Video Card - 512MB GDDR3 - $365.99
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/ ... =E145-8810

Total: About $880 with tax.

Good? Bad? Scared?

[obsidian]

I don't know anything about mobos anymore, but looks good to me otherwise. Hurry up. I need more people to pwn in Quake Wars.

[Captain]

Just my luck

Called Tigerdirect and they don't carry any of the items except for the RAM. So I said "alright, hide the RAM for me."

I'll just go downtown Toronto on Monday and go straight to Filtech. I'll call them tomorrow as I missed their store hours today, but they're selling the 8800 GT 512 OC for over $100 less than TD. As for the HDD, I was going for the WD 400GB 16MB from TD. Well, Filtech has the same HDD with 500GB for the same price. No-brainer there.
As for the RAM, they have the OCZ Rev-2 2GB and it's considerably cheaper than at TD.
Considering the mobo, I was planning on the XFX nForce 680i LT SLI from TD, which they don't have. Filtech has the eVGA variant and it's still the same brand and chipset I was looking for.

All in all, I'll end up saving a lot of money and getting what I need. So fingers crossed for Filtech having them all in-store

[Captain]

Well...the 8800GT is nowhere to be found in the entire country because the Canadian distributors made a big doodoo. Gonna have to delay this project by another week

[obsidian]

When I got my 6800 Ultra, they weren't available anywhere in Canada either. Despite the demand, no one could get one. So I emailed the manufacturer in Taiwan and had them send a shipment to their distributors in Canada who then shipped one to me. Always nice to know the right strings to pull and the right buttons to push.

Oh... they also gave it to me for a little less than the price for the 6800 GT.

[Captain]

I have everything ready to process at NCIX. A new shipment of 8800GTs is coming in but it won't get through all the backorders. It may be well into December before I can get my hands on the GT SSC.

That being said, I went down to Tiger looking for a DVI-D cable and the poor chumps didn't have any, only DVI-I. So they placed some on order to arrive from the warehouse and I decided to ask them about the 8800GT as well. Apparently they might have a new shipment that hasn't been opened yet. I'll call them tomorrow and there's a good chance they might have some \!/

[Captain]

Ordered!

All from Filtech (with these prices, I'd be crazy not to):

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66 GHz (1333MHz) 4MB L2 Cache Socket 775 Processor - $189.99

OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 800MHz NVIDIA SLI-Ready XTC Edition 2GB (2x1024MB) Dual Channel Kit - $91 ($56 after MIR)

WD5000AAKS Caviar 500GBSATAII 7200RPM 16MB Buffer (OEM) - $100

eVGA 8800GT 512MB Ssc Edition 512MB DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV Out DIRECTX10 Video Card - $294

Arctic ACFZP7 Freezer 7 Pro for socket 775 - $26.99

BFG nVidia nForce 680i LT Socket 775 nVidia nForce 680i Sli - $172

2m DVI to DVI (DVI-D) Digital Dual Link 24-pin M/M - $22


That E6750 is going to make sure nothing bottlenecks in this system

[Captain]

XFX 8800GT Alpha Dog arrived today and damn does it look superb
Saturday I'll go down to Filtech to pick up the rest of the pieces. Also I substituted the RAM back to my first choice, which is the OCZ 2GB Platinum XTC Rev-2.
Video card was $305 including tax and shipping from NCIX.
Rest of the hardware will be $646 including tax from Filtech. I'm pretty much getting the best bang for the buck in this project.
Gonna be up and running on Saturday evening

[Dark Metal]

It seems that no one cares. It's your real life on the internet!