my proposed gaming pc

[Zeero]

Ok, as you probably discerned from the title, I am trying to build a high-end gaming pc. I'm looking to spend between $2500-3000. I'll be buying either my parts or the finished comp on the internet. If I buy it premade I will use cyberpower gaming pcs. I prefer Intel processors with Nvidia GPUs. I don't have any parts yet other than my Razer Diamondback Gaming Mouse. I do not plan on overclocking this system until I learn more about it, but I would like to keep that option open for the future. Let me reiterate that gaming is all I care about with this system and I want to optimize gaming performance above all else without sacrificing system stability.

Anyway, here is the list:


CASE: CoolerMaster Stacker 830 Tower Case W/ Side-panel Window
PS upgrade: Thermaltake ToughPower 750W - Quad SLI Ready

CPU: (Sckt775)Intel® Core? 2 Duo E6850 CPU @ 3.00GHz 1333FSB 4MB L2 Cache 64-bit

MOTHERBOARD: (Quad-Core FSB1333) Asus P5N32-E nForce 680i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard

MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (($30 off Mail-in Rebate) Corsair XMS2 Xtreme Memory w/ Heat Spreader)

VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB 16X PCI Express (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA)

LCD Monitor: Samsung Syncmaster 226BW (22" Wide)

HARD DRIVE: Extreme Performance (RAID-0) with 4 Identical Hard Drives (320GB (80GBx4) SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8MB Cache 7200RPM HDD) (no brand listed)

Optical Drive: (Special Price) 18X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)

Optical Drive 2: 16X DVD ROM (BLACK COLOR)

OS: Vista Home Premium 64-bit ed. OR XP pro. Sp2 (verrry undecided, need help)

SOUND: Creative Labs X-FI XtremeGamer 24-BIT PCI Sound Card

Speakers: Logitech Z-5300e Digital 5.1 Configuration Speakers System with Control

Keyboard: Logitech G15 Gaming

Extras: Hawking HBB1 Wireless Network Broadband Booster
Logitech Extreme PC Gaming Headset
OPTI-UPS VS575C 575VA/345W UNINTERRUPT POWER SUPPLY

CyberPower's price (including shipping & tax) $2716


So what do you guys think of this system? Good price? Optimal parts? What needs adding, removing, or changing? Please answer why you would make any changes as well. Thanks in advance. Also, keep gaming in mind and feel free to add gaming accessories if you think they add a lot to the overall gaming experience.. GAMING! Thanks guys.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Zeero
CASE: CoolerMaster Stacker Cosmos 1000
PS upgrade: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750W

CPU: (Sckt775)Intel® Core? 2 Duo E6850 CPU @ 3.00GHz 1333FSB 4MB L2 Cache 64-bit

MOTHERBOARD: Gigabyte P35-DS3R

MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (($30 off Mail-in Rebate) Corsair XMS2 Xtreme Memory w/ Heat Spreader)

VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB 16X PCI Express (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA)

LCD Monitor: Samsung Syncmaster 226BW (22" Wide)

HARD DRIVE: Extreme Performance (RAID-0) with 2 x 150GB (or 74GB) Raptors

Optical Drive: Samsung 20X SATA DVD-RW

Optical Drive 2: 16X DVD ROM (BLACK COLOR)

OS: Windows XP Pro.

SOUND: Creative Labs X-FI XtremeGamer 24-BIT PCI Sound Card

Speakers: Logitech Z-5300e Digital 5.1 Configuration Speakers System with Control

Keyboard: Logitech G15 Gaming

Extras: Hawking HBB1 Wireless Network Broadband Booster
Logitech Extreme PC Gaming Headset
OPTI-UPS VS575C 575VA/345W UNINTERRUPT POWER SUPPLY

 

[Zeero]

Thanks a lot for your help, Blain. I do have one question on your changes, though. Could you offer just a little explanation on why you changed the motherboard? All your other changes seem very intuitive and I like them. Thanks Again.

 

[Blain]

Intel/Intel... P35 for non-SLI = better
Gigabyte P35-DS3R/DDR2 = :thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Zeero]

Good man! ty ty Cheaper too

 

[Blain]

That CM Cosmos 1000 is one of the best looking, best designed cases I've ever seen.

 

[Mojoed]

Originally posted by: Blain
That CM Cosmos 1000 is one of the best looking, best designed cases I've ever seen.

I completely agree. I'm usually not impressed with cases either.

 

[jkresh]

Cosmos is impressive, its quiet and it has room for a reasonable watercooling setup if you are interested.

 

[Zeero]

Well, I'm actually planning to use the Vigor Gaming Monsoon II Lite CLT-M2LI LGA775 air conditioning cpu cooler. I've heard really good things about it and I'm not a fan of water cooling. But, yeah, what drew me to the cosmos over the 830 evo was the noise dampening initially. Then I noticed the handles/feet are pretty cool too. Thanks again for bringing it to my attention.

 

[Zeero]

Another question popped up for me recently. I don't think this would be compatible with my system, but let me know if it is possible to have a 64 bit edition of windows xp (oem). I didn't know they made one at all until I saw this.

https://www.pronetcd.com/detai...p?PRODUCT_ID=ZAT-00008

 

[Blain]

Gaming = 32-bit XP Pro

 

[Zeero]

quoted from someone on PC Gamer forum in response to the case change:

I really like the aesthetic of the Cosmos case, but I'm not sure that it's an ideal case for a pure gaming rig. I could be off here, but it appeared to me that the airflow on the Cosmos is somewhat restricted. There are several Newegg reviews mentioning how temps increased by switching to the Cosmos, which is most definitely undesirable if you're going with high-end components like the 8800 GTX or an Ultra.

I'd definitely reconsider the 830 or the 832. Both have excellent airflow, and my 832 is extremely quiet all things considered (this boils down to fans, etc as well though). Cable management is superb, the motherboard tray is very user friendly, and I'm a big fan of the ease in which the side panel is removed.

Also, the handles are a neat feature, sure, but how many times are you planning on actually using them? I wouldn't consider that a selling point unless you're a LAN junky, and if you are, have fun because that case is HEAVY.

End Quote.

Never having used either of these cases, I am kinda torn between the two now. I'm concerned about the gpu temp now that it has been brought to my attention and I don't want to have to buy additional gpu cooling. Thoughts? P.S. I care nothing about LANs

 

[Zeero]

After using pricegrabber.com to do a price roundup for every part on your revised parts list, Blain, I came to a total of 2883.68 tax and shipping included. An almost exact same PC, if bought on cyberpower gaming would cost me $2913 all costs included. Here are the only differences that are found in cyberpower's PC.

1. Mobo is the MSI P35 with 1 less pci slot is the only difference in function I can see. Correct me if I'm wrong on that. I also have only 2 pci devices that I need to connect, but I realize there's no room for another pci device.-

http://computers.pricegrabber..../m/38781018/search=p35

2. Power supply is the Thermaltake ToughPower 750W - Quad SLI Ready
Not sure how this PSU measures up to the other one in my self-build.

http://computers.pricegrabber....es/m/19979753/details/

I realize these 2 components have a slightly cheaper cost probably totally somewhere between 50-75 dollars if the savings are added up. This further separates the price of the home build vs the cyberpower build to a margin around 100 dollars. I don't mind paying for the service of them putting the pc together and the 3 year warranty and lifetime free tech support that is included are good selling points on their part. I guess what I'm asking is how much difference in gaming I would notice if I bought the cyberpower Pc instead of built one myself. How much are these 2 components lacking in comparison to the others? Am I paying too much for parts or does that total sound reasonable?