Building a new gaming rig - budget around 1500$

[DJCrunkMix]

Here are the specs that I have come up with

Already bought

Case: Sunbeamtech Clear Acrylic Case (90$)
Mouse: Logitech G7 (69$)
Keyboard: Saitek Eclipse with Red LEDs (42$)
Power Supply: Antec Truepowertrio 650W (100$ - 40$R = 60$)
Already got HD. I can put off the monitor if the budget gets over 1500$. I got an old CRT for uber 1337 gaming performance ;-p.

Looking to buy

CPU: Core2Duo E6600 (315$)
GPU: 8800 GTS (399$ - 40$R = 359$)
RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (221$ - 40$R = 181$)
Mobo: ASUS P5B LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard (125$)

Questions

1. I will be dual booting Xp Pro and Vista Ulti. Do I really need 2GB of ram?
2. Is the RAM compatible with the mobo?
3. Should I get a Dx10 graphics card like the one above or for example, ATI X1950 XTX for 389$?
4. Worth SLI'ing in future? If so, what mobo do I need?
5. I have a 160 HD with 8mb cache. Do I need a better one from the gaming perspective?

I'd appreciate your help. Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: DJCrunkMix

1. I will be dual booting Xp Pro and Vista Ulti. Do I really need 2GB of ram?
2. Is the RAM compatible with the mobo?
3. Should I get a Dx10 graphics card like the one above or for example, ATI X1950 XTX for 389$?
4. Worth SLI'ing in future? If so, what mobo do I need?
5. I have a 160 HD with 8mb cache. Do I need a better one from the gaming perspective?

1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. DX10
4. Probably not.
5. No.

Are you planning to overclock?

 

[Boyo]

Your build looks good. I would go ahead and get the DX10 card now. Forget about SLI, unless you are an intense gamer. It's just not needed and you could put that money to better use.

Yes, it is wise to get 2GB of RAM with that system and yes, that RAM will work with that mobo. Anything lower and you will be sitting around waiting for your PC to work.

I would get a small Raptor, like a 74GB and use it for my OS, apps and games, then use the 160GB for my documents, media and backups.

 

[Icepick]

Definitely get at least 2GB of RAM.
You would be a fool to get a previous gen and lower performing graphics card for more $$ than the 8800GTS (after rebate).
Planning to upgrade to SLI is a bad idea.

Edit: A better hard drive will NOT improve gaming performance.

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: DJCrunkMix
Questions

1. I will be dual booting Xp Pro and Vista Ulti. Do I really need 2GB of ram?
2. Is the RAM compatible with the mobo?
3. Should I get a Dx10 graphics card like the one above or for example, ATI X1950 XTX for 389$?
4. Worth SLI'ing in future? If so, what mobo do I need?
5. I have a 160 HD with 8mb cache. Do I need a better one from the gaming perspective?

I'd appreciate your help. Thanks a lot in advance.

Very well formatted post, btw.

1. On RAM for XP/Vista: XP is great with 2GB. But 3GB is significantly better in Vista than 2GB. - Windows Vista Performance Guide - How Much Ram?
3. Personally I would say no, but I'm not one to rush out and buy the latest games (I have a 6800GT right now). But general advice is that you should buy the video card to play games that are available NOW, not later. Because if the first DX10 game that's worth it isn't out for another 6-12 months, GPU prices will have dropped by then. Why pay a DX10 premium now for technology that you can't even use?
4. On SLI: "Until you max out the single GPU options, there's not much point in buying two GPUs." - Anandtech Holiday 2006 Shopping Guide: GPUs

 

[Roguestar]

- 2Gb RAM should be your target for gaming and Vista.
- To be honest I'd say get an X1950Pro now for $165 and wait a few months for the more D3D10 graphics cards to saturate the market and drive prices down and performance up. You say you're using a CRT (sup CRT buddy) so assuming you're gaming at 1280*1024 that's easily good enough until you can see what the summer holds for D3D10 cards. ATi have yet to reveal their offering, and remember there isn't even a D3D 10 nVidia driver out yet (if I recall correctly...?).
- SLi / CF are a waste of money in my opinion.
- You don't need a better hard drive, no.
- Are you overclocking? If no, you should just get some PC5300 value RAM because any other RAM will run at PC5300 speed anyway. If yes, search the CPU/OC forum for "The definitive, unbiased Core 2 Duo/DDR2 memory guide" and get something suggested in the first post there.

 

[engiNURD]

I don't know if anyone pointed this out or not, nor if it matters to you, but the P5B cannot overclock at all. To get the best performance from that CPU, you should really look into the P5B-E, GA965P-DS3 (or -S3), P5N-E SLI, or some other OC'ing board (too many to list). If you plan on running at 9*400=3.6Ghz, you'll need better cooling, like a Scythe Ninja Plus Rev.B. If you run the ram at 1:1 with the CPU OC'd to 3.6Ghz, then you'll use that ram to its potential and put it to good use.