My conroe build (to be built in 1 month)

[undeclared]

NOTE: Prices are in Canadian, and some are wholesale.. if they seem too cheap or too expensive =p

CPU: Intel Conroe E6600 @ 2.4ghz + OC - ~$400
CPU Cooling: A compatable water cooling kit (TBD) - ~$150
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 (or better if released by then) - ~$300
Ram: 2x Patriot Dual Channel Kit (2GB each kit - 4gb total) DDR2-800 - ~$550
Boot hard drive: 74gb SATA 10,000 rpm drive - $200
Storage hard drives: 4x320gb SATA II Seagate drives - $400
HD cooling (for all): Hotswap bay (uses 3x5.25" slots and supports 5 sata drives) - $170
Video: 1x XFX Geforce 7950 GX2 Xtreme - $720
Case: Thermaltake Kandalf - $200
Power supply: Seasonic S12-600 - $150
Monitor: ViewSonic G225FB (0.20mm dot pitch, up to 2048x1536 @ 80hz) CRT monitor - ~$600
DVD-RW 1: Lite-On DVD+-RW 16x - ~$60
DVD-RW 2: Pioneer DVD+-RW 16x - ~$60
Keyboard: Generic one (I forget the brand, but it is extremely good to type on..) ~$15
Mouse: Logitech G7 Wireless ~$80
Total price: $4,055 + tax

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

if you can't afford it, don't buy it.

 

[undeclared]

Edited top one to remove the money thing heheh

I can afford it though, don't worry

 

[stevty2889]

What are you going to be doing with the machine? 4gb of ram is an overkill, 32bit windows can't even fully utilize it in most cases, and doesn't assign more that 2gb of ram to a single program anyway..

EDIT: and I hope thats DDR2-800..not DDR..

 

[Arcanedeath]

Looks fine if your looking for top of the line, but if your already spending this much already you my as well get the X6800 Extreme edition CPU will overclock easier w/ your water as it doesn't have a locked multiplier.

 

[Mogadon]

Some puzzling choices.

Why two different brand of DVD-RW and you can get better or just as good DVD-RW drives for around $40, check out the NEC 3550 for example.

As said, 4GB RAM is unnesscary, granted though you may have your reasons.

You might want to look at spending more on the water cooling kit, $250 ish, and if you have the time or effort put a kit together yourself. If you're going to go with water you may as well do it properly.

What are you doing with all that storage space and I wonder if the cooling is really necessary.

It all boils down to what you're doing with the box, let us know and we can give you a better idea of how suitable your component choices are.

 

[undeclared]

Two DVD-RWs: because having one isn't good enough for my needs.
4 gigs of ram: I have some decent reasons for this
DDR2-800: yes I meant ddr2
X6800: thats another $600+ or more.. not sure if it's worth it.

 

[movingincircles]

i've seen the g7 going for $40 USD , i dont think canadian dollars make the price jump double

 

[acegazda]

Originally posted by: xtwells
Two DVD-RWs: because having one isn't good enough for my needs.
4 gigs of ram: I have some decent reasons for this
DDR2-800: yes I meant ddr2
X6800: thats another $600+ or more.. not sure if it's worth it.

Which are....?
I think the asus p5d deluxe is the best c2d ocing board with the most features ATM. Plus its a bit cheaper than the gigabyte. What is the e6600's multi locked at? What are you going to be doing with the dvd burners?

 

[wiredvibes]

Video: 1x XFX Geforce 7950 GX2 Xtreme - $720

where did you get this price from?

 

[Elderly Newt]

spend half that for 95% of the performance, and then spend the other half on a similar priced comp a while from now...

 

[brunswickite]

Originally posted by: Elderly Newt
spend half that for 95% of the performance, and then spend the other half on a similar priced comp a while from now...

smart way to do it.

 

[Operandi]

Looks nice but I would change a few details.

RAM: Mushkin, Crucial, Corsair, and Kingston are well established names.

DVD-RW: Lite-On drives always seem to be much louder then everyone else?s optical; I like Samsung and Plextor.

Case: I'm not a fan of Thermaltake, did you give the Lian Li V series a look?

 

[undeclared]

Operandi: You also forget that Lite-On drives always read disks that absolutely nothing can read.
Case: Well, I like it.. so who cares.. Lian Li's are good, but I don't think there's anything wrong with a Thermaltake (keep in mind, it has holes built-in for water cooling)
Ram: Patriot is also a decent quality brand.

 

[acegazda]

patriot, g.skill and geil are brands that I would buy from if the price is right, for instance, g.skill tends to be competative. OCZ is probably the best IMO.

 

[bobdelt]

if youre building this a month from now, why are you doing this now? things can change a lot in a month

 

[zainali]

any particular reason for a crt monitor? why not get a dell 24 inch?

also if u do need a crt look for a used one. some of sony's commercial models go for about 300-400 USD

 

[Mogadon]

Well, you still haven't told us what you're actually doing with the rig hence any advice we give is not going to be very useful ... end of story.

 

[Blain]

oh, another "new build" thread...
let me think it over

 

[spyral]

Wow for that kind of cash I can see quite a bit off with your build.

Someones already mentioned getting the E6800 instead for ease in overclocking.
In terms of RAM, again...a more established brand like Corsair or OCZ would definately be better.

If your buying this in a month, Id say go with the ATI 1950XTX's in crossfire. Current tests show it smoking a quad SLI 7950GX2 build.

The ASUS P5W-DH also reviewed as a very good OC'ing board.

Also, somone mentioned Lian-Li over thermaltake. You will have no problems watercooling with quite alot of Lian Li cases...just do a google search and ull see a ton of people using it. Plus you can also get Lian Li cases prefitted with a Koolance watercooling kit. (I dont know how good it is but if your only looking to spend 150 on watercooling, I think it should be okay)

The PSU is good. The Corsair HX620 is also built by Seasonic and gives you a little extra (620W)

Monitor too someone mentioned a Dell and thats an excellent monitor. Got one of those and works brilliantly. Itll set ya back a little more but you also get the extra real estate.

I guess your optical drives are fine. Look into the NEC 3550 though. Well proven and a preferred drive across the board.

Also, no idea if your gonna be gaming with this rig but if ya are, Ive never had good experience with wireless mice. I havnt used the latest ones tho.

Read the anandtech review on the Conroe that talks about mobo's and memory that work well with it. It should give you alot of the information you need. Plus theyre coming out with a 2nd part detailing other stuff like coolers, gfx cards etc that work well with Conroe. Hopefully thats out before your purchase date.