Need help making a decision...

[spikey_richie]

My only input would be that XFX SLi cards are excellent. Also remember that if you don't like Vista and want to go back to XP, there's no DX10 support.

[Danish Dynamite]

since you have waited this long why not wait for b3 stepping phenoms i have heard phenom's 9600 black edition is out now, on certain projects normal phenom 9600 makes my 5200, 4600 look sick

[Evil-Dragon]

Huzzah!

I finally started my build. Specs as follows:

Lian-Li BLACK CLASSICAL SERIES PLUS FULL TOWER NO PSU
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz 12M Cache S775 1333MHZ
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX (2x1GB) (x2)
Asustek S775 Intel X38 Maximus Formula ATX Audio Lan
Western Digital Raptor 150GB S150 16mb 10000rpm (x2 for RAID0)
Sapphire Technology Radeon HD 3870x2 GPU 1GB PCIE Dual DVI HDMI
Zalman ZM850-HP Heatpipe Cooled 850W Modular PSU
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/LGA775)
Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7191S 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM DVD
Alphacool Full Graphic LCD Display (240x128) - Black
QuietPC AcoustiPack Deluxe Kit V2 (Optional)

Should be an awesome gaming/cruncher when it's built. I'm going to look forward to building it

[spikey_richie]

I'd be a bit cautious of a passively cooled PSU, there are some VERY quite fan cooled PSU's around. My Tagan was very quiet, and my new Coolermaster is also VERY quiet and much more efficient (it's a green edition)

---

Scrap that lot - I just saw the pics on the Zalman site

However, consider a modular PSU as you might not use 1/2 the wires on that supply. I have one with the clip-in leads.

[Evil-Dragon]

Too late on the PSU unfortunately, it's already ordered but hopefully i should be able to hide the cables i don't need/use somewhere in the massive case

The Zalman PSU did well on efficiency pulling only 167watt from the line with a 850watt load, so it means it's quite green (if i am reading the numbers correctly)

[gamer007]

Huzzah!

I finally started my build. Specs as follows:

Lian-Li BLACK CLASSICAL SERIES PLUS FULL TOWER NO PSU
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz 12M Cache S775 1333MHZ
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX (2x1GB) (x2)
Asustek S775 Intel X38 Maximus Formula ATX Audio Lan
Western Digital Raptor 150GB S150 16mb 10000rpm (x2 for RAID0)
Sapphire Technology Radeon HD 3870x2 GPU 1GB PCIE Dual DVI HDMI
Zalman ZM850-HP Heatpipe Cooled 850W Modular PSU
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/LGA775)
Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7191S 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM DVD
Alphacool Full Graphic LCD Display (240x128) - Black
QuietPC AcoustiPack Deluxe Kit V2 (Optional)

Should be an awesome gaming/cruncher when it's built. I'm going to look forward to building it

Looks awesome. I have the same Mobo as you. I see you got the new 45nm CPUs. I have a Q6600 that I've recently OC'd to 2.8 GHz. Stock cooling and surprisingly runs stable after I lowered voltages! I regret getting Home Premium 32-bit since I recently upgraded to 4GB of Mushkin DDR2-800 RAM.

Anyways, enough me me. Have fun building it! I know I had fun building this current rig (T'was my first time too).

EDIT: Just a note of caution, the Maximus Formula overvolts some of the voltage settings. No clue why.

[Evil-Dragon]

Thanks for the heads up gamer.

I just placed the order (can you tell i'm like an excited schoolboy right now?) but i've been reading some rumours/new posts that the 3 (Q9300, Q9450 & Q9550) 45nm Quad core chips are delayed until 31st March. Can anyone confirm that this is true?

Apparently it's due to errata (a bug with mb's with less than 4 layers to the PCB apparently)

News source: http://www.dailytech.com/Intel+Expla...ticle10362.htm

Looks like my PC won't be built until March now... worth the wait?