A $1400 build, need advice please.

[aatf510]

RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WBP Black SECC STEEL ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply $89.99

NEC 18X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black E-IDE / ATAPI Model 7170A-0B $29.99

CORSAIR XMS2 DOMINATOR 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4D $309

Intel BOXDG965WHMKR Socket T (LGA 775) Intel G965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard $119.99

Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive $149.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 $317

Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 Audigy SE 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail $27.99

XFX PVT71JYHD9 GeForce 7950GT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail $299.99

ZALMAN ZM - Reserator1 V2 Water Cooling System $239.99

Well my first thoughts when I saw this list was:
- Terrible case and power supply
- $150 too much for a 74GB raptor
- Instead of spending $240 on a Zalman watercooling, spend it elsewhere
- $300 there could be a better video card

But I haven't look at computer hardward for a good several months, and I never own a Core2Duo system, so I really have no idea what's the best motherboard and best memory to use these days. Any help would be great!! Thanks!

BTW: this system would be used for BF2142 95% of the time.

 

[aatf510]

Anyone?

 

[moosey]

1st off, I'm pretty sure that PSU with that case is gonna be crap. I'd upgrade that to a reputable brand.

Second, why are you getting a board with the G965 (not P965) chipset when you're getting a separate video card? Also, if you're planning to o/c at all I'd look to the Gigabyte DS3 series or Asus P5B series for a mobo. This seems likely with the water cooling. So the Intel board seems like a mistake.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...t=ENE&Manufactory=1314&SubCategory=280
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...t=ENE&Manufactory=1315&SubCategory=280

3rd, if you're going to scrap the water cooling I'd put $100 you saved into a GF8800GTS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...1+1067924922&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=48

If you need more space than the Raptor, get a good 7200RPM drive. The Raptors are nice and fast but at least you'd have other options.

If you wanted other memory options for a bit less also look here (I don't know if Corsair was using promos on that line or not)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146565
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220144
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145034

 

[nitenichiryu]

Toattett, I think you probably won't get any replies in this thread, for the simple fact people have to change underwear immediately after reading it. =P

Take it from me...DO NOT SKIMP ON THE PSU. It is the very first step from where power reaches ALL your components. I've had a crappy PSU fail, which sent all my other components into a slow death. Perhaps buy a cheaper water cooling kit to compensate doe the costs? The C2D runs fairly cool. Also, skip the raptor unless you are running a server in RAID. Get 2 regular drives and RAID them instead. You'll get a lot more space and not really feel the hit unless you edit video.

 

[f4phantom2500]

if you want a gpu in that price range go with an x1950xt, or, as was earlier mentioned, just go for an 8800gts. also you may want to consider one of the allendale processors (conroe with 2mb cache instead of 4). from my understanding the extra cache doesnt make that big of a difference and the allendales tend to overclock better. someone please correct me if im wrong. a lot of people go for the e6400, its about $100 cheaper than the price you posted for the e6600. also i wouldnt go for a raptor drive, but hey thats me; id go for one of the seagate 7200.10 drives, one of the perpendicular recording ones. unless im mistaken (again), the performance difference between those and the raptors arent great enough to warrant the price difference (320 gig 7200.10 for $95 shipped from newegg). i mean, seriously, are the slightly faster load times worth the $50 and the fact that youd be getting like 1/4 the storage capacity? if it's that big a deal, invest a bit more and get a huge raid 0 array lol.

just my 2 cents.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

1. new case
2. new psu
3. asus mb for its reliability and features
4. no water cooling, instead get a tuniq tower
5. no audigy SE, get x-fi
6. the x1950xt is a better deal

 

[aatf510]

Great help everyone.
I totally realize most of the problems you guys mention above.
I am primarily looking for suggestions for a particular model of the best mobo to use, and the particular (better value) memory to use because that is what I haven't been following with a core 2 duo setup. Thanks!

Edit:
Let me try to make my question more specific:

First, I think $300 is a bit too much just to spend on RAM:

CORSAIR XMS2 DOMINATOR 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

Are there better choices? Is it better to get something higher than DDR2 800 (e.g DDR2 1000) for overclocking purposes?

Second,

This is the cheapest ASUS P5B I found on Newegg.com, is this sufficient, or do I have to go up to a higher P5B model?
ASUS P5B Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard

Thanks again!

 

[trOver]

i have the asus p5w-dh deluxe. Although it is quite a bit more expensive that the p5b line, i dont think you should skimp on the mobo/chipset. try to get a board w/ the 975x chipset or higher .(680i) for overclocking

also-

DO NOT skimp on the psu. it is the heart of the system. go with a solid brand with good reviews. Remember quanity isnt as important as quality when it comes to power for computers.

300 bucks for a decent set of ram is expected. I got some crucial pc2-8000 (1ghz) for 300. This way i wont have to worry about the ram overclock when i overclock my e6600.

DO get a lian li case. they are outstanding. since i bought one, i will never buy another brand. they are simply the best case company in my opinion.

 

[Boyo]

The Asus P5B is an excellent choice in mobos. But your main problem with your rig is your case and power supply. There is no way that is going to power your video card. I would get a Lian Li PC7B Plus II and an Enermax 600W PSU.

Keep the Ram, you'll love it and you can do some serious OCing with it.

Everything else looks good, except that with the Raptor you might want to get a second HD to put all of your data and media on to. That way you just have your OS/ apps and games on the fast Raptor and you won't fill it with junk.

 

[engiNURD]

How far do you plan on OC'ing? With an E6600, 9*400=3.6Ghz, which is close to its max already... 9*450=4.05Ghz. Now, if you want to run your RAM at 1:1, then all you need are some nice DDR2-800 sticks, like the G.Skill 2GB 2GBNQ sticks for about $210 at the egg. If you want to run that ram higher than the fsb, I think the Patriot sticks using micron IC's would be your best bet, as they're under $250 at the egg. Now, if you want even faster ram, the Crucial Ballistix DDR2-1000 would be a better deal than those Dominators C4Ds. If you want to stick with Corsair and OC the ram, go with the other model Dominators instead: 3DF/C5D/C4DF (they use micron ICs). Here are your other choices: http://ramlist.ath.cx/ddr2/

The P5B can't OC very well. As for motherboards, go with the GA-965P-DS3, the P5B-E, or the P5B Deluxe. Any of those boards could easily reach 450Mhz FSB, and the DS3 and P5B DLX can reach over 500. If you're goin for extreme speeds, go with an nF 680i SLI board, like the Asus or eVGA models.

As for the PSU, go with a Seasonic S12/M12 ~500W or Corsair 520W/620W. If those are out of your price range, look for an OCZ gXs thats cheaper after rebate. For other good PSUs, check out jonnyguru's list: http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103

Doh, I forgot you were lookin into a Raptor. My raptor does about 78MB/s; my seagate 320gb 7200.10 does around 65MB/s, and my WD2500KS does about 55MB/s. The only improvement I noticed with the raptor were drive-to-drive file transfers, media ripping/encoding, level load times (in games), and windows startup time. I'll leave the choice to you, because I got a damn good deal on my raptor, so it was worth it. But at their current prices, I just can't justify buying another one because I need alot of space; so instead, I got another Seagate 320gb to throw in RAID0.

 

[Roguestar]

As has been mentioned the P5B vanilla doesn't overclock as well as the P5B-D. Getting 400FSB to work with 9x multiplier is in no way guaranteed. The sheer incidence of threads in CPU/OC shows that not everyone gets to 3.6Ghz.

For RAM I'd second engiNURD and suggest Crucial, or most of the suggestions in this thread (which you should also read):
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=28&threadid=1966035

The x1950xt will do you well in BF2142, I've got one and have just started playing (buddy me if you want, I'm "magicfrog" ) and I run it no problem at max details at 1280*1024.