New System

[AmberClad]

Hopefully you guys can look these picks over, offer some opinions or input if I've made some bad/incompatible picks, if I should get something else that's more bang for my buck, etc. Oh, and it's a SFF system -- overclocking features aren't really a major consideration.

EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate
$279.99

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
-$40.00 Instant
$149.99
$109.99

GIGABYTE Intel G965 Express Micro ATX
$106.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
$234.00

Subtotal: $730.97
Shipping: $8.62

Salvaged from the old system:
SFF case
2x HDD
DVD-RW
sound card
Zalman cooler
PSU

Have I forgotten anything? I'm still out on if and when to upgrade to Vista...

 

[Vogel515]

I was thinking of building a SFF machine, would the 8800GTS fit in there? That was a concern I had.

Mind if I ask what kind of case you have as well?

 

[AmberClad]

I have the Aspire X-QPack.

No problems getting my old 6800 in there, but I'm probably going to have to do something careful measurements when I get home to make sure the longer 8800 series card will fit. There's actually plenty of empty space at the bottom-front of the case because I used cable ties to organize things neatly, I just need to check and make sure there aren't any support beams around there. I also don't know if that particular case will take a stock CPU heatsink. I've always used a Zalman 7000, which barely fits under the crossbar support, never tried a stock Intel one. Luckily, the new Intel chips still use the old LGA 775 socket so I may be able to keep that Zalman.

 

[ric1287]

get one of the newer C2D chips that are cheaper + 4mb cache

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I would also wonder if the 8800GTS will fit in the case. And even if it will I'm pretty sure you will have to upgrade the PSU, the 420w PSU that comes with that case only has 13a on the 12v, and the minimum recomended per the specs on newegg for that GPU is 26a. I've seen people that reported running it on a system with dual 12v rails at 18a, but I would want at least 20a dual or a 26a single rail PSU.

 

[AmberClad]

Heh, I ditched that awful Aspire PSU long ago. It only lasted a couple of months before it started sputtering and causing the system to refuse to post.

But that is a good point about the PSU. The one I'm using right now, while it works just fine, would be borderline in terms of output on the new system according to the eXtreme PSU Calc. I was actually pretty surprised that I was able to fit a normal-sized PSU into that thing, btw. Anyways, I was looking at these two:

Antec NeoHE 430
SeaSonic S12-430

Read the SPCR reviews for those before, but I still haven't gotten a good sense for which is quieter. Any other options (quietness being the priority here)?

Edit: Btw, I'm at home now and I've got the ruler out. As far as I can tell, length-wise, it can fit something 4 inches longer than a 6 series card. Hopefully the new cards aren't any wider, because there's only a couple millimeters of space in that direction...

 

[GuitarDaddy]

The 8800GTS is a two slot card and I would think it's quite abit wider than the 6800 series cards

 

[AmberClad]

Wider? Or thicker?

If you just mean thicker, as in two-slot or how far off the card the parts protrude, that shouldn't be a problem. If the card is actually wider, as in the PCB board is longer in the direction perpendicular to the motherboard, that's another story...

I thought the width of a PCIe card is capped to the same max as PCI (4.2"). Or is that wrong?

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Yes I was confused, it is much thicker but should be the same heigth off the motherboard

 

[AmberClad]

Phew...thought for a minute there I'd have to rethink my plans. Yeah, luckily I only use 1 PCI card, if at all (and always in last slot when I do). Good thing too because I haven't seen any mATX form factor boards with more than 2 PCI slots and that 8800 looks like it'll be hanging over the first one.

So in other news, after reading some reviews on teh Egg, looks like that Antec NeoHe I was considering is a no-go. Many of the reviewers said that it was DOA when used on a 965 board. So I'm thinking either the Seasonic S-12 430, or the Antec True Power 430.