New rig help/opinions

[XPac]

I'm not a hardcore hardware guy like a lot of the people here, and I usually only get into the guts of it when it's time to build a new rig. Well that time is here, so any helpful suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Here's what I've definitely got so far:

Intel DX38BT motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850
8800 GT (not sure what brand)

SO, I definitely need a case, cooling, power supply, memory. I'm looking for any good suggestions on these, I'd like as quiet-ish a rig as possible, although I know most modern cards are very noisy so I'll have to deal with some noise I guess. I will be playing games on this machine, I don't really plan on overclocking.

Forgot to add, I'm looking to spend somewhere in the $1200 - $1500 range or below. I could go higher if necessary, that's just a ballpark figure.

 

[newschool]

quiet gaming computer (your lucky thats exactly what I wanted and bought)

case : Antec P182 , the reference

Powersupply : corsair hx 520 or 620 (its a seasonic but has only the big 120mm fan)

harddrive: WD SE16 500AAKS or samsung 501lj (check the review on anandtech they talk about those two, I have the WD its incredible quiet)

cooling : for your cpu go thermalright ultra or ultima. then add REAL 120mm fans wich are Nexus or Yateloons, quieter than the one included with the antec but still good airflow.

finally for the motherboard the x38 x48 is overpriced. Its not even better in games than the 965 or p35. So you could just get a Gigabyte P35 or abit IP35.

 

[XPac]

Cool, thanks for all the suggestions!

 

[PhoenixOrion]

for memory, there are so many good deals right now with DDR2 at 2x1GB modules that you can pretty much pick and choose if you browse the HotDeals forum here or other deals sites.

now it really depends if you plan to overclock or stay at stock volts and speed as there are some memory on sale but not necessarily known to be good overclockers, i.e. can't take the higher voltages needed to support a stable overclock.

 

[bigi]

I'd go with Antec Solo as it is very quiet and smaller that 182. It looks great and working with it is just pure pleasure.
Silverstone PS are very good and reasonably priced. EF500 Plus has stellar reviews and it is only ~$80.
Zalman cooler for video card (v900)- that for sure to keep things quiet. Works much better than any stock cooler and it is very quiet.

 

[Denithor]

Don't get the e6850, save yourself $90 and go for the e6750 instead. Practically no difference in games at all between those chips.

Get the abit IP35 at Mwave for $95 after $25MIR, it's a great board with lots of features and excellent track record for overclocking performance. Cheap too.

The Antec EArthwatts 500W power supply is $50 after $40MIR at Newegg right now, quiet power supply with high efficiency and plenty of power for even a high end build.

Stick with memory from Kingston, Crucial, or Corsair. Avoid OCZ (compatibility problems).

Everyone is talking about how quiet the Radeon HD 3870 is, you might consider one of those although they are ~15% lower performance than the 8800GT 512MB card on your list. If you are truly a hardcore gamer you might also consider the G92 8800GTS 512MB, with the dual-slot cooler it *may* be quieter than the 8800GT cards.