New PC

[crshnbrn]

Mainly going to be using the system for gaming and watching movies but will do the occasional photoshop and video editing/rendering. Planning on spending about $1500 USD but can go a bit higher than that. Dont have any real stone preference on any of the parts except I mainly want an nvidia card. The only thing I actually want to reuse from my old PC is a 30gb 10k rpm HD and my Zalman CNPS9500. I'm basically wondering if these parts will work together and are good for overclocking.

Would I benefit more by buying 4gb of mem in 2gb pieces? Or would it be worth it to get a quad core for the things I'm planning to use it for?

Case: Thermaltake Armor - $170
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R - $130
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe - $205
PSU: Silverstone SST-ST60F ATX 600W - $120
Memory: 2x Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 - $110 x 2 so 220
GPU: eVGA 8800 GTS 320mb - $290
Hard Drive: WD Caviar 500GB (Would it be better to get a couple smaller HDs and run them in RAID or just get the 500gb one?) - $110
Monitor: Acer AL2216Wbd 22" WS - $220
DVD Burner: Samsung SH-203B - $31

This puts me at about $1500 through newegg before MIRs, any suggestions to lower the cost while not sacrificing too much performance wise? Any input would be appreciated.

 

[Blain]

* Go with the 830 Stacker for sure.
* Why go with an nVidia SLI MB if you're not ordering twin 8800's? I'm a Gigabyte P35 fan.
You know what we always say about the "buy one now..." plan.
* I'd go with the cheaper E6420, but a nice quiet cooler and give the CPU the old 333FSB bump.
* I'd drop the TT 700W in favor of the PC power & Cooling S75Q Silencer. They're close to the same $$.

 

[LightningRider]

Don't get that MSI board, you don't need SLI, I almost guarantee you. Get a P35 board instead like Gigabyte DS3R. All of the cases look nice though. I also agree with the power supply mentioned by Blain. I don't know if you plan on OC'ing but I wouldn't go lower on the CPU.

 

[Aikouka]

You can be real stingy and save $5 by going for the normal Raptor 150 ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136012 ) rather than the worthless Raptor X. I don't suppose you're going to pull the HDD out while it's spinning and show all your friends or something?

 

[crshnbrn]

I chose the between the MSI mobo and Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4 because I'm going to need more than one ATA100 connector becuase I have 2 HDs that are IDE and am going to be reusing, and the only mobos I could find that had more than one ATA100 connectors were sli boards. If anyone has any suggestions that will work w/ the CNPS9500 let me know.

I also couldnt find the S75Q Silencer on newegg so yeah.

Thanks for the input so far.

 

[Blain]

For crying out loud... Don't buy a MB based on how many IDE slots it has! :shocked:
You can always buy an IDE/PCI card.

 

[MarcVenice]

Erm, 1 IDE port on the mobo is enough, 1 master, 1 slave. Right?

 

[necine]

get the quad core. e6600

 

[crshnbrn]

Originally posted by: Blain
For crying out loud... Don't buy a MB based on how many IDE slots it has! :shocked:
You can always buy an IDE/PCI card.

I had completly forgotten about that ~_~ and it was pretty stupid of me to choose a MB just on that. Anyway, did some searching and decided on the Gigabyte DS3R

 

[tjaisv]

Here's the system i am planning on building. Compare to yours for reference. Prices are quoted from zipzoomfly and newegg, except for the HSF which is from jab-tech.com.


CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad-Core Processor 2.4GHz, 1066FSB, LGA775, 8MB cache Retail ($275.90)

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-P35C-DS3R Intel Core 2 Duo (Desktop) Socket 775 1333MHz FSB DDR3 1066MHz ATX Motherboard Retail ($165.99)

HSF: Thermalright Ultima-90 heatsink ($46) and Scythe S-Flex SFF21F 120mm fan ($14) and Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM ($6)

MEM: 2x Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA804 - Retail ($110 each)

VID: EVGA 640P2N825AR e-GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked 640MB GDDR3 PCI Express Video Card Retail ($399.99)

HDD: 2x Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 500GB 7200RPM Serial ATA II Hard Drive w/16MB Buffer ($104.99 each)

SOUND: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Xtreme Gamer Sound Card Retail ($92.98)

PSU: Corsair HX Series CMPSU-620HX 620W Power Supply Retail ($146.90)

CASE: ANTEC Performance One P182 SE Mid Tower Case Retail ($189.99)

DVD: SAMSUNG SH-S183L/BEBM 18X SATA DVD Burner Black DVD±RW Bulk ($37.59)

FLOPPY: SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM ($7)

TV TUNER: ATI 100-715331 TV Wonder 650 High Definition Personal Video Recorder Retail ($119.99)

TV TUNER REMOTE: Microsoft Remote Control and Receiver for Windows XP Media Center, Single-Pack OEM ($30.49)

KEYBOARD: Microsoft A13-00002S White USB + PS/2 Ergonomics Natural Keyboard Elite - OEM ($27)

MOUSE: Logitech G3 Laser Gaming Mouse Retail ($46.99)

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Single-Pack DVD OEM ($109)

SPEAKERS: Logitech Z-5500 505 Watts 5.1 Computer Speaker System ($305)

MINI DRIVE: CORSAIR Flash Voyager GT 2GB Flash Drive (USB2.0 Portable) 256bit AES Encryption Model CMFUSB2.0-2GBGT - Retail ($34)

DISPLAY: Dell 3007WFP-HC 30" Widescreen LCD ($1274)

 

[crshnbrn]

That reminds me! Do you get any sort of performance boost from using 2 sticks of 2gb mem vs 4 sticks of 1gb ram? Or is it just so that you can have more? because it seems to be cheaper to buy 4gb in 1gb sticks.

 

[Abu Som3a]

Less stress on the memory controller, meaning more stability and better overclockability.

 

[tjaisv]

If you're running Vista 4GB helps

 

[crshnbrn]

Updated, planning on buying it within a week or 2