Critique my build

[igloo15]

My computer was recently stolen so its time to rebuild

I bought my monitor and ram alittle while ago

Monitor: LG L246WP-BN $380 at best buy
RAM: 2x1GB G.Skill ddr2 800

So now i need to get the rest of the parts I am trying to get under 1000 dollars for the rest. Here is what I have picked out so far:

Harddrive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500gb
PSU: OCZ GameXStream 700W power supply
Vid Card: MSI 8800GTS 512mb OC (G92)
CPU: Intel E2160 Allendale 1.8ghz
Heatsink: Tuniq Tower 120 P4
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
Case: Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel
Dvd Burner: Samsung 20X DVD+-R Burner
Extra: Thermaltake External Harddrive enclosure


Alright I am a media whore I like to watch movies and tv shows and some time in the future I would like to get a tv tuner for this computer. I will be getting two of the harddrives and two of the dvd burners. One of the harddrives will be for the external enclosure. It will back up my data so that I won't have to do an entire restore of my computer if its stolen in the future. I am also a pretty big gamer I like to play call of duty 4 and team fortress. I have crysis and plan to play a lot of new games in the future. I also plan to OC the cpu and hopefully get near 3.4 ghz with it.

I don't have any current parts so yeah this is basically a build from the ground up. I am buying the parts from the US. I have no brand affiliation though I am a little partial to nvidia.

My stolen computer was :
cpu e6600
vid 8800gtx
same ram
and dual monitors 19" and 22"

Should i expect better or worse performance out of what I have above and can anyone suggest any changes or improvements?

 

[chinaman1472]

Sorry to hear your rig got stolen. Getting robbed of anything really bites.

Look on Buy.com for Corsair Power Supplies (450/550VX, 520/620HX). They're under $100 and 520-620w is plenty for your system.
I'd consider the E4500, I think it might be a bit better OCer than the E2160.
Check out the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 heatsink. It's comparable to the Tuniq Tower and a bit cheaper.

The performance will probably be about the same, maybe slightly worse. The 8800GTX was a beast, and for gaming, the 8800GTX still edges out the newer 8800GT(S) in terms of raw power if I'm not mistaken.

 

[MarcVenice]

Sorry to hear about your stolen PC. Hopefully insurance is covering it. Getting robbed always sucks though.

I'd get this powersupply instead: http://www.buy.com/prod/corsai...loc/101/203270716.html 80$ after google checkout, no shipping costs.

HDD: Check out this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822152052 it's cooler and quieter running, and 15$ cheaper. Or check this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822152100 for 20$ more you get 250gb more, and a even more cooler and quieter running HD, and faster as well.

Rest of the components look awesome. Compared to your old rig you're lacking some cache on the CPU, depending on how high you OC it you shouldn't really notice a difference though. As for the videocard, at 1680*1050 the 8800gtx is barely any faster then the 8800gts, especially not a overclocked one. Only when you get to 1920*1280, and with AA enabled then the 8800gtx will start edging away from the 8800gts 512mb.

 

[igloo15]

As far as my build I am slightly worried about the graphics card, motherboard and cpu. I am worried that when I OC my board will not be able to handle it. I was hoping to get it to 400mhz fsb but the board is only rated for 1333 so 400mhz is a little bit over that max.

Also my monitor runs at 1920x1200 natively so the relatively small Memory width 256bit compared to 386bit on gtx could be a problem. I don't expect to be running with AA any higher than 2x but i still expect it to be a problem.

The cpu worries me the most since it has a very low speed and I will have to overclock it alot. If I am unable to do that I could be stuck with a very weak cpu.

I am considering changing to a q6600 and a 8800gtx. The vid card is only about 319 dollars after rebate and the cpu is about 250 dollars so it will add about 300 to my current build but I think it would give me a piece of mind and allow for better future proofing.

 

[MarcVenice]

Personaly I wouldn't. The 8800gts 512mb should be fine for your resolution, and the e2180 will easily hit 3.0ghz, which is more then fast enough for nowadays games. Especially at your resolution you will be gpu bottlenecked LONG before you get cpu bottlenecked. A q6600 isn't a bad investment , but it's 3 times more expensive then the e2180. As for the videocard, the 8800gtx is really outdated, I'd rather wait for r700 and/or g200.

 

[imported_wired247]

A good motherboard will handle 1600MHz FSB no problem. A good motherboard will recover after overclock failure, and won't blow up unless you do something stupid.

I haven't had any experience with Gigabyte mobos but hopefully someone can chime in about taking that one to 1600

 

[DSF]

Stick with the 2160. By the time that chip is too slow for what you need, the $150 or so dollars you saved will probably buy you a quad core that's even better than the Q6600.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: wired247
A good motherboard will handle 1600MHz FSB no problem. A good motherboard will recover after overclock failure, and won't blow up unless you do something stupid.

I haven't had any experience with Gigabyte mobos but hopefully someone can chime in about taking that one to 1600

FWIW, I've got a Gigabyte 965-based motherboard and even though I didn't even shell out for an expensive one mine does 1600MHz no problem, day in/day out. It has a rake of options in the BIOS and only started complaining once I pushed the FSB past 1800MHz (450x4).