crit. my proposed new rig; share your expertise; earn karma points

[crumply]

Here are the components I think I am going to submit to Monarch for them to put together for me. I would like to try building it on my own, but i figure it is worth $49 to weed out defective parts.

I dont really want SLI, but they are now selling the board for $194, and I am sick of waiting.

the case comes with a single 120 mm fan up front. i am adding an optional 120 mm in the back. think this will make the case loud?

is the shin etsu grease a scam?

anything you would buy differently?

Case: Silverstone SST-TJ04 Aluminum Mid $89.00
PSU 535W - Enermax EG565P-FMA REV.2.0 ATX $99.00
Extra Case Fan: 100987 - 120mm - Thermaltake 120X120X25mm Case Fan $9.99
Mobo: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe NForce4 SLI MCP Audio $192.00
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 512K 90nm (939 $193.00
Shin-Etsu G675 Thermal Grease $14.00
Heat Sink Fan: 130129 - Thermaltake A1838 AMD Opteron/Athlon 64 H $25.00
Memory DDR (400) 3200 - 1 GB (2 pcs 512) OCZ $219.00
Hard Drive: Western Digital (WD1600JD) 160 GB/ $99.00
DVD-RW - Sony DW-D22A-B2 16x-Dual Layer D $77.00
Floppy Drive: 170110 - Mitsumi 1.44 MB 3.5" Floppy Drive (Black) $20.00
Sound Card: 180329 - Creative Audigy 2 ZS 24BIT/5.1/IEEE/MIDI/ $96.00
Video Card: 190439 - XFX GeForce 6600 GT 128 MB DDR3/PCI-E/TV- $189.00

TOTAL $1540.00

 

[Mrvile]

Yes the Shin Etsu grease is a scam. I don't know anyone who wouldn't use AS5.

 

[Cawchy87]

If this is going to be used for gaming, scale back on some of the parts and get at least a 6800GT if your dropping over 1500!

 

[natethegreat]

I am new to this but I get confused when I see people getting a SLI board and only one graphics card, can you run a 6600GT SLI'ed with a 6800GT? If not then why get a SLI board since most people say that 2 SLI'ed 6600GT's run as fast as 1 6800GT and they both cost about the same price. Also by the time you are ready to buy another 6600GT to fill both slots prices will have come down on faster cards, It just seems like SLI is an advantage for people who have the money for 6800's not 6600's

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I think everything looks great, just as you have it

 

[crumply]

nate:

i want a pci-e motherboard so a couple of years from now, i will be able to put in a video card.

i dont really care about SLI, but i am going to buy it, because its available, and i've been waiting for three months. it wont be the first time i have spent $40 on a feature i dont need.

 

[SrGuapo]

$20 for a floppy seems high...

Also, do you you really need a seprate sound card? The integrated sound on the nForce4 is really wuit decent and you may want to give that a go before dropping $100 on one you may not even need. I also prefer the NEC DVD drive (it is only $63 at newegg), but that is just me... Other than that, it looks good...

 

[Edward Lee]

SLI + 6600 GT + AMD 3200= Bad Set up
Non SLI MOBO + AMD 3200 + 6800GT = Better performance

$219 RAM + $1500 Total = Waste of money
$140 RAM + $1000 Total = Money well spent.

Everything else looks ok.