Gaming rig for overclock

[bokster]

Check out my new build. I'm going to overclock to 2.4 ghz for starters, then work on 2.5 ghz later on. The rig is mostly for gaming, but also quite a fair amount of video/audio encoding, and I do heavy multitasking as well, hence the X2.


Budget: $2000 CAD


Processor: http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...tDetail.php&DisplayProductID=6042&SID=]AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (max planned OC: 2.5 ghz)[/url]

Thermal Compound: http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...tDetail.php&DisplayProductID=4173&SID=]Arctic Silver 5[/url]

Motherboard: http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...tDetail.php&DisplayProductID=6543&SID=]DFI Lanparty NF4 UT-Ultra-D[/url]

Memory: http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...tDetail.php&DisplayProductID=6797&SID=]Mushkin XP4000 Black Series 2GB Dual Channel[/url]

Video Card: http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...tDetail.php&DisplayProductID=6651&SID=]eVGA GeForce 7800gt CO[/url]

Case: http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...tDetail.php&DisplayProductID=5957&SID=]Antec P180[/url]

Power Supply: http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...tDetail.php&DisplayProductID=5669&SID=]Enermax 535W FMA ATX 12V v2.0[/url]

Hard Drive: http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...tDetail.php&DisplayProductID=7193&SID=]Seagate 300GB Barracuda 7200.9 SATA II w/ NCQ, 16MB Cache[/url]

Optical Drive: http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...tDetail.php&DisplayProductID=6323&SID=]LG Super Multi 16x16 DVD +/-RW Dual-Layer[/url]

Monitor: http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...tDetail.php&DisplayProductID=6127&SID=]Samsung Syncmaster 997MB 19in Flat-CRT[/url]

Speakers: http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...tDetail.php&DisplayProductID=4827&SID=]Altec Lansing VS3121 2.1 Speaker Set[/url]

Extra:
About $200 dollars for keyboard/mouse and OS


I have a few questions regarding the build:

1) With the money left, I can't decide whether to go for the Thermalright
XP-90 or XP-120? Opinions? I also heard the arctic cooling freezer 64 pros are really good, and they are cheaper. According to my planned clock, do I really need XP-90?

2) What do you guys think of the performance of the rig to the amount of money spent? Am I spending too much? Too little? $2000 CAD approx. $1750 USD

3) Lastly, should I go for pc3200 memory? It's much cheaper and I heard it could run at pc4000 speeds, especially brands like OCZ or Mushkin. So are pc4000's really worth the extra $40?


Thanks guys!

 

[imported_fx]

1) you can choose whether you like because those choices are awesome cpu cooling and of course you need xp-90 for overclocking
2) teh rig look great to me.
3) I think it is worth to pay extra $40 for pc4000 ram if you want to overclock the ram to 250fsb at 1:1

 

[thecrecarc]

i suggest the opteron 165, it overlcoks like crazy, and it has more cache

 

[Praxis1452]

I would suggest another online retailor for the processor atleast. You can get much better deals =)

 

[fobis]

NewEgg is good, but not the best. Always shop around. Use PriceWatch, PriceGrabber, etc.
But yeah, your current choice of retailer is charging way high.
And as for your CPU, Opteron 165 gets another vote. Mad overclockers and 1MB L2 cache vs the 3800+ 512KB L2 cache.

 

[Madwand1]

Yes, you can save a few dollars here and there by shopping around. $50 for the video card and $25 for the CPU. Shipping is usually quite fast, and would be covered by the savings.

Check pricenetwork.ca and pricegrabber.ca. (Although Pricegrabber.ca still seems to list US vendors who don't ship to Canada.)

http://www.pricenetwork.ca/products.php?p=2698

 

[bokster]

Thanks a lot for the website. I've been looking for a site like that for canada for a long time and just couldn't seem to find any. Memoryexpress is a local store in calgary where I live, and their prices are the best, and I've actually found another store here with better prices on some items. I've researched the net extensively, even US sites, and concluded memoryexpress has the best deals. Thanks for the link and the headup though!

 

[robertk2012]

Opty 165 or 170