Another First Time Builder

[MWForrest]

Hello everyone! I have spent a long time researching components and over the course of a couple months I have have drastically changed my build. I feel like I've finally settled on a system that will perform amazingly for a great price.

However, I am indeed a computer building beginner. (This will be my first build) I would appreciate the input of experienced builders on the products I have chosen.

NOTE: I am building this computer primarily for Gaming. I intend on taking advantage of Over Clocking.

All comments/suggestions are welcome! Here is the list:

Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW Black/Silver Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower *
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811119077
Price: $39.99 (After Rebate)

Does this case have adequate cooling? Enough space?

PSU: Corsair 520W Power Supply *
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...b520W%2bPower%2bSupply
Price: $114.99 (After Rebate)

Enough power?

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3P LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard *
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128047
Price: $149.99

Compatible with everything? Good for OCing?

GPU: EVGA GeForce 8800GTX *
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130072
Price: $509.99 (After Rebate)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 *
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115017
Price: $289.99

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 *
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?item=N82E16829102006
Price: $90.99

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7,200 RPM 16MB Cache *
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822148140
Price: $79.99

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Premium (OEM) *
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16832116204
Price: $111.99

EDIT: I already have 2GB of Corsair PC-6400 Ram, and a RW-DVD Rom.

Subtotal: $1,427.92
Tax: $103.52
Shipping: $25.47

GRAND TOTAL: $1,556.91

 

[xitshsif]

First thoughts:

If you're OCing you'll need a new heatsink/fan.

How about this hard drive? Link

What resolution are you gaming at?

 

[child of wonder]

I'd consider getting a 150GB Raptor drive to be your main drive for Windows, programs, and games (C and then a 320GB be your data partition (D. Your system will be blazing fast, you don't want the HDD holding it back.

I also second the heatsink suggestion. Get a Tuniq tower 120 or Zalman 9700.

I'd also recommend saving up for another 2GB of RAM.

 

[MarcVenice]

Should be plenty of cooling, maybe a fan on the side could be nice, but that won't make or break the system. http://www.clubit.com/product_...il.cfm?itemno=A6200026 LOTS cheaper !!! 90$ for the 620hx too btw!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128050 slightly cheaper, just as good. Spend the money saved on a thermalright ultra extreme with sflex fan. Will cost 70$ or so, and will allow LOTS of overclocking. Getting 4gb of ram might be nice, but 2gb isn't going to hold you back so no systembreaker either. Rest of the PC looks pretty good, I find 500$ a lot of money for a videocard, and isn't the most bang for your buck, but it's up to you

Oh, and no need for a 150gb raptor, the cost doesn't really get you that much extra performance, it's better invested into more ram and a better cooler.

 

[child of wonder]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Getting 4gb of ram might be nice, but 2gb isn't going to hold you back so no systembreaker either. Rest of the PC looks pretty good, I find 500$ a lot of money for a videocard, and isn't the most bang for your buck, but it's up to you

Oh, and no need for a 150gb raptor, the cost doesn't really get you that much extra performance, it's better invested into more ram and a better cooler.

Since he's running Vista 4GB will help in gaming.

The Raptor isn't necessary, but being that the hard drive is the slowest component in the system it's nice to have it as speedy as possible.

 

[MarcVenice]

How will 4gb help? Only in some games will it increase performance, and when I say some, I mean very very few, but I think he will be gpu limited before that anyways. On the other hand, what's 67$ for another 2gb

 

[child of wonder]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
How will 4gb help? Only in some games will it increase performance, and when I say some, I mean very very few, but I think he will be gpu limited before that anyways. On the other hand, what's 67$ for another 2gb

I've heard people complain that some newer games such as Bioshock and other DX10 titles really thrive with 4GB of RAM in Vista vs. 2GB just the same as users in XP with 2GB had better performance over those with 1GB in BF2.

I'm sure his rig will perform beautifully even with 2GB of RAM. I'm just saying a full 4GB of memory will get the most performance in newer titles.

 

[MarcVenice]

Like I said, it's cheap, so why not Only battlefield that I know of really likes 2gb of ram, so does lotro btw and gothic 3. The latter is just a crap game though. I have yet to try BioShock in Vista, but I will soon. If it shows considerable less fps in dx9 mode it might just be ram, since I've only got 2gb of ram.

 

[MWForrest]

Originally posted by: xitshsif
First thoughts:

If you're OCing you'll need a new heatsink/fan.

How about this hard drive? Link

What resolution are you gaming at?

I see a lot of opinions as to what heatsink/fan I should get. MarcVenice recommends a thermalright ultra extreme with sflex fan.

and

Child of Wonder says to get a Tuniq Tower 120 or a Zalman 9700

I have next to zero knowledge of heatsinks and what makes one better than the other. Some input on this would be greatly appreciated!

Also, I am worried about that harddrive Xitshsif suggested. At first sight it looks like a great deal, for the same price. However, just looking through the reviews, there are A LOT of people talking about the drive dieing on them within the first year.

I am gaming at a 1680 x 1050 resolution. (20in Widescreen)

As for getting another 2GB of ram. This is the ram I have purchased: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...185043&Tpk=sflex%2bfan
This ram originally had some rewards and high rankings but I guess there was some scandal where corsair started making their ram with lesser quality materials than originally. Do you believe I can still trust them?

Thank you so much for the input guys! I look forward to hearing some more good advice ;-D

 

[toughwimp11]

you can get the psu from buy.com for 90

 

[MWForrest]

After looking through all the top rated CPU Fans/Heatsinks I have stumbled across yet another dilemma. I have yet to see one that says it is specifically compatible with Quad Core processors (such as the Q6600). The closest it gets is the Core 2 duo Extreme.

Does this mean I can't use any current heat sinks on the quad cores, or is it that they simply failed to include quad core in all the descriptions :-\

Thanks,
Forrest

P.S. I really like the looks of this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835118019 but again, I can't even be certain that it is compatible with the Q6600 because it fails to mention Quad Cores.

 

[engiNURD]

The Zalman's arent that great for their price. Though, they are probably the easiest to install, lol.

I'd suggest the Tuniq Tower over the 9700. Here's AT review of coolers: http://anandtech.com/casecooli...howdoc.aspx?i=3005&p=6

How many drives do you plan on having? The P35-DS3R still has 8 SATA ports, but only 1 PCI-E 16x and no firewire. So, if that extra 16x sized PCI-E slot (4x electrical) and firewire is worth the extra $20 to you, then go for it. If you don't really need 8 SATA ports and raid, then you can even drop down to the P35-DS3L instead, which would save you $50, right off the bat. Also, the IP35-E has a nice rebate from mwave, for $70 after $20MIR.

Check shipping on a Centurion case from svc.com... they're usually cheaper than newegg. They typicall have a C5, C534, or C532 for around $35 + shipping (zipcode dependant).

The X-Fi and Vista don't play well together. Stick with onboard for now until Creative sorts things out.

As for the raptor, don't bother with it. My Raptor does around 78MB/s, while my 'cuda does around 65MB/s. I threw 2 300GB 'cuda's in raid0 for some nice 112MB/s avg transfer rates... not bad for $120, imo. The raptor isn't worth its price premium anymore, since the new PRT drives are getting faster.

 

[MWForrest]

The Tuniq Tower seems to be a great CPU cooler to get, however I am worried it will not fit in my case. Just looking through the customer reviews and many people are complaining about how huge it is. Many have broken other components trying to get it to fit, such as case fans. Some can't even close their case because of it.

As for drives, I assume that means hard drives and Roms? If so, then only two maybe three. One hard drive and possibly two roms. I'd like to have at least 4 slots though; in case I needed an extra hard drive. Expandability is good ;-)

I guess I'll stay away from an audio card for now.

Also, I do not want a raptor. As many have said, its simply not worth it. Its such a small increase in speed for somewhere around 150 dollars more expensive.

 

[MarcVenice]

Thermalright ultra 120 or the extreme version are both better then the tuniq. It should fit if you have a normal case. In a minitower it will be tricky

But depending on how far you will overclock, the arctic freezer 7 pro is fine too. And MWforrest, the core 2 duo processors fit into socket 775 motherboards. Same for the qaudcores, there's no difference in size between the dual or qaudcore cpu's, so why would a HSF fit unto a dualcore cpu, in the same mobo, and not fit onto a qaudcore cpu, in the same mobo?

Btw, the link to your ram is incorrect.

 

[MWForrest]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Thermalright ultra 120 or the extreme version are both better then the tuniq. It should fit if you have a normal case. In a minitower it will be tricky

But depending on how far you will overclock, the arctic freezer 7 pro is fine too. And MWforrest, the core 2 duo processors fit into socket 775 motherboards. Same for the qaudcores, there's no difference in size between the dual or qaudcore cpu's, so why would a HSF fit unto a dualcore cpu, in the same mobo, and not fit onto a qaudcore cpu, in the same mobo?

Btw, the link to your ram is incorrect.

Thankyou for clarifying for me, whether or not the CPU coolers work on Quad Core. I'll check out those coolers you suggested. Here is the correct link to the RAM:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820145034

Also I think I am going to go ahead and take advantage of that PSU deal on buy.com. Before I do so, can you guys approve that this will work good with all my components? Will the rails have enough power for the video card.etc? Even after reading explanations of this, I still don't quite understand how it works.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...b520W%2bPower%2bSupply

 

[MarcVenice]

Buy 2 more gb of that ram if your budget allows ^^ Could wait, but who knows how long rebates stay.

And yeah the powersupply is plenty of power for your rig.