New gaming desktop build?

[parkj123]

OK, after doing a little research, I'm considering this build:

Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Allendale 2.2GHz

GPU: MSI GeForce 8800GT

RAM: G.Skill 4GB 2X2GB DDR2 800

HD: Seagate Barracuda 500GB

PSU: Corsair 520HX

Burner: LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner

Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion

I'm pretty confident about everything except the mobo, cpu, and HD. Any suggestions are appreciated. Also, the total comes out to about $900 w/ shipping and taxes. I'm hoping there's a way to get that to about $800 or less.

Thanks

 

[parkj123]

Alright, I've made some changes. Instead of the corsair and centurion, I'm just going with an antec sonata III that comes with a 500 watt PSU. I plan on ordering asap, so any comments would be nice.

 

[DSF]

It looks pretty solid. Personally I'd go with a graphics card that has a lifetime warranty, but that's only because I tend to keep parts for a very long time. There's nothing wrong with that MSI card.

 

[MarcVenice]

Looking good, looks like you did your research. No overclocking btw ?

 

[parkj123]

No, I'm kind of scared to overclock... not sure if i want to get into that.

 

[MarcVenice]

You could grab a e8400 OEM cpu for 190$, at 3.0ghz it's considerably faster then a e4500. http://www.tankguys.com/produc...o.php?products_id=1816 You do have to buy a cooler for 20-35$ though.

The e4500 ain't slow btw, it's a little faster then my own CPU, but for how long will that be fast enough ? If you could overclock it to 2.8-3.0ghz ( quite easy to do ) it will be just fine for at least 2 years.

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: parkj123
No, I'm kind of scared to overclock... not sure if i want to get into that.

No need to be. I have a very similar set up to yours and my E4500 is running at 2.93GHz with no trouble.

If you find that you need the extra 33% down the road, I'd play around with it.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: DSF

Originally posted by: parkj123
No, I'm kind of scared to overclock... not sure if i want to get into that.

No need to be. I have a very similar set up to yours and my E4500 is running at 2.93GHz with no trouble.

If you find that you need the extra 33% down the road, I'd play around with it.

That's why you get a card with lifetime warranty like XFX and eVGA which let you overclock and mod =).

I was scared to OC with my first system, but I found it a lot more enjoyable later when I learned a few tips. While I'm not a HARDCORE OCer, I know the steps to properly OC and stability test and what not. My Opteron has a nice 25% speed boost cuz of this.