advice on my rig build C2D e6300

[Jambodan]

I love all you guys who help out all of us who are not as knowledgeable!

OK here it is. My budget is very locked at $1000 ish taxed and shipped )= if only money was of no concern.

I plan to OC with the stock HSF for starters, if i get hooked i"ll upgrade later. (Debating on Arctic Silver or similar thermal past over the stock stuff???)

While I'm not a heavy/hardcore gamer I want to be able to play the games that are out there, watch dvds now and again, listen to music and work with my digital photos and video (just the average user here) and general home office stuff.

Here is what I've come up with so far

CPU:E6300 $180

MoBo: Gigabyte DS3 $137.99 (from fry's) (Any other suggestions w/in my price range? This seemed the
best I could find on various reviews etc.

RAM:A-Data 1gb (2x512) DDR2 667 PC2 5300 dual channel $114 (Need some
advice on this, it was a good price for the specs but don't know if it is quality or not.)

GPU: <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130062">EVGA GForece 7600GT 256mb
GDDR3</a> $132.99 (From my research this seems like a good card for my budget, able to play the latest games (not at great quality but still . . . able) Suggestions??.

Monitor: Acer AL1717 17: 8mss LCD $159.99

HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 160 7200 rpm SATA 3.0gb/s $56.99

Optical: LG 16x DVD +- R super multi DVD burner w/ 12x DVD Ram $30.99

OX: XP Home $89.99

case: Antec B-stock SLK1640B $44.00 taxed and shipped
SLK1640B O ya, it comes with a PSU 350W smart power 2.0 atx 12v

Random keyboard and mouse $20-30

which comes to a grand total of $1062.00 (really don't want to go higher than this! But if I have some fatal error in the build I just mentioned maybe i'll have to rethink my build

Thanks for all you suggestions in advance I really appreciate the help and hope that I did enough foot work on my on to not be on of the guys that walks in here and says " hey I need a new computer where do I start).

 

[Operandi]

The DS3 is a good board, and probably the best in that price range.

A-Data is not a top tier memory manufacture but it is name brand so it should be fine.

The Evga 7600GT should be fine. I just did a re-build and went with this passively cooled Gigabyte; it is more expensive but worth it my opinion.

Acer has been around for a long time they are owned by the same parent company as AOpen.

Seagate and LG are good choices.

The Antec is an OK case; good build quality but the plastic is a bit on cheap side, it's also not much to look at. It's also missing a PSU, which I'm assuming you missed since I don't see one mentioned anywhere else.

InWin make some very nice cases (better then Antec in my opinion) that included fairly decent PSUs (also better then most Antecs), here is a good example. Idealy I'd suggest something like a 330 watt S12 but that's probably not possible with your budget.

 

[Doom Machine]

have you seen the recent issue of computer power user?

they show you how to build an E6300 that will tromp an FX-62 on all benchmarks and comes close to E6800 stock scores, very good read.

so i built the same system except i used an E6600..i just used same mobo/ram and cpu heatsink/cooler

if you need further info on the article i'd be happy copy it or something and send it to you

 

[Jambodan]

The Antec is an OK case; good build quality but the plastic is a bit on cheap side, it's also not much to look at. It's also missing a PSU, which I'm assuming you missed since I don't see one mentioned anywhere else.

Sorry, I edited the OP probably while you were replying. it does come w/ a PSU, check it out in the OP,

Thanks for you thoughts.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: Jambodan

The Antec is an OK case; good build quality but the plastic is a bit on cheap side, it's also not much to look at. It's also missing a PSU, which I'm assuming you missed since I don't see one mentioned anywhere else.

Sorry, I edited the OP probably while you were replying. it does come w/ a PSU, check it out in the OP,

Thanks for you thoughts.

Ah, I see. Still the InWin is better in both respects.

 

[Jambodan]

any one have anything more to say? I would like some more oppinions before I buy. How bout the video card? Is there a cheaper one that will still do a halfway decent job on the latest games (I'm content w/ half way decent). Would really like some more oppinions and suggestions before I spend my chuck of cash.

 

[Cheex]

Personally, I've always liked Nvidia but when i was gonna upgrade from my 6600GT AGP a friend advised me on getting an X850XT PCIe.
It is debatable whether or not its better than the 7600GT (i think it is) and it costs only $120.

 

[Jambodan]

Thanks for the advice, a week ago you would have had me swayed, but after all my research it sounds like the 7600 GT is in the sweet spot for value/price, too many reviewers, sites, and forums are giving this card the thumbs up, I can't ignore.

I will check this card out and see if there are reviews which put them up against each other but I'm doubtful I'll switch, Thanks for the advice though, it?s always welcome.

 

[ProSlayer]

Everything seems fine except for the case/PSU. Most PSU's that come with the case don't last very long, so it is better to buy the case and PSU seperately.

Also, many sales, as well as the new video cards, are coming up, so I recommend waiting before buying since there is a good chance that there will be a price drop in the next month or so.