Ok, so finalizing my order to newegg for new computer.

[Oddzball]

Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum/Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #:VA8000BWS
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

$25.00 Mail-in Rebate
Add this item to your cart $144.99 $144.99

CPU Thermal Paste / Grease
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 Arctic Silver Ceramique Thermal Compound - OEM
Model #:Ceramique
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

Add this item to your cart $4.99 $4.99

Fans, Heatsinks (Case, CPU, Chipset)
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 Titan BIANCA TWC-A05 80mm Economic Water Cooler - silent and effect cooling soultion - Retail
Model #:TWC-A05
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

Add this item to your cart $89.99 -$15.00 Instant
$74.99
1 Swiftech MCX159-CU 40mm Chipset Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail
Model #:MCX159-CU
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

Add this item to your cart $32.99 $32.99

Intel-compatible Motherboards
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #:GA-965P-DS3
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

Add this item to your cart $146.99 $146.99

Internal Hard Drives
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #:WD2500KS
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

$10.00 Mail-in Rebate
Add this item to your cart $77.99 $77.99

Operating Systems
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 w/SP2B - OEM
Model #:M93-00294
Return Policy: Software Return Policy

Add this item to your cart $109.99 $109.99

Power Supplies
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX500-A, 2.0 version, 2 SATA, PCI Express, 500W - Retail
Model #:AX500-A
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

Add this item to your cart $89.99 $89.99

Processors
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6400 - Retail
Model #:BX80557E6400
Return Policy: Processors (CPUs) Return Policy

Add this item to your cart $223.00 $223.00

Video Cards
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 eVGA 01G-P2-N592-AX Geforce 7950GX2 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Dual GPU Video Card - Retail
Model #:01G-P2-N592-AX
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

Add this item to your cart $494.99 $494.99

Video Devices & TV Tuners
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 Leadtek TV2000XP/EXPERT PCI Interface TV/FM Tuner Card, REMOTE - Retail
Model #:TV2000XP/EXPERT
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

Add this item to your cart $42.99 $42.99

Combo
Qty. Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price
1 CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400 - Retail
Model #:TWIN2X2048-6400
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

$50.00 Mail-in Rebate
Add this combo to your cart $327.49 -$37.49 Combo
$290.00
Apacer Handy Steno AH320 2GB Flash Drive (USB2.0 Portable) Model AP-BHA200P02G/G - Retail
Model #:AP-BHA200P02G/G
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

SubTotal: $1,733.90

 

[PurdueRy]

Are you overclocking? If not lose the water cooling and you don't need that swiftech HSF. Just get the Zalman one if you want something quieter

 

[KeithTalent]

Kind of hard for me to read all of that, so I am not sure if you have a monitor listed there or not. What games do you play and what resolution do you plan to game at? That will help answer the overkill question.

 

[Oddzball]

Yeah, I want to overclock. I mean I just like to fiddle with things. As for the swiftech HSF, the DS3 chipset runs hot doesnt it? Wouldnt it be better to have good cooling on the chipset?

I guess the real question is how big of a difference overclocking is going to make. I want to bump this baby up to 3ghz, with Corsair memory and watercooling, plus chipset cooling I just might be able to.

The real question is the RAM, since its only DDR2 800, how much headway is it going to give me? Should I go with a faster speed?

 

[Oddzball]

I play all the major FPS's, I have a 1280x1024 native resolution LCD Monitor. So 1280x1024 is my maximum resolution.

I play World of Warcraft, Oblivion, and any major release for the most part.

RIght now I have a p4 3.4ghz, 2 gig DDR400, and a radeon 9700 256mb, so I know It will be a huge improvement but I just think for the price, it might be overkill to get the 7900 GX2 when my resoltion is limited to 1280x1024 in the first place.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: Oddzball
I play all the major FPS's, I have a 1280x1024 native resolution LCD Monitor. So 1280x1024 is my maximum resolution.

I play World of Warcraft, Oblivion, and any major release for the most part.

RIght now I have a p4 3.4ghz, 2 gig DDR400, and a radeon 9700 256mb, so I know It will be a huge improvement but I just think for the price, it might be overkill to get the 7900 GX2 when my resoltion is limited to 1280x1024 in the first place.

Yep. Get a X1900Xt or 1950XT and save yourself the extra cost and headaches of the 7950GX2.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Oddzball
Yeah, I want to overclock. I mean I just like to fiddle with things. As for the swiftech HSF, the DS3 chipset runs hot doesnt it? Wouldnt it be better to have good cooling on the chipset?

I guess the real question is how big of a difference overclocking is going to make. I want to bump this baby up to 3ghz, with Corsair memory and watercooling, plus chipset cooling I just might be able to.

The real question is the RAM, since its only DDR2 800, how much headway is it going to give me? Should I go with a faster speed?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118014

This will work just fine and is much cheaper

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent

Originally posted by: Oddzball
I play all the major FPS's, I have a 1280x1024 native resolution LCD Monitor. So 1280x1024 is my maximum resolution.

I play World of Warcraft, Oblivion, and any major release for the most part.

RIght now I have a p4 3.4ghz, 2 gig DDR400, and a radeon 9700 256mb, so I know It will be a huge improvement but I just think for the price, it might be overkill to get the 7900 GX2 when my resoltion is limited to 1280x1024 in the first place.

Yep. Get a X1900Xt or 1950XT and save yourself the extra cost and headaches of the 7950GX2.

:thumbsup:

 

[Oddzball]

Well, since I cant go SLI, I suppose I could go back to ATI, I dunno, I just always kind of wanted to try out Nvidia.. and they do seem to be doing nicely.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: Oddzball
Well, since I cant go SLI, I suppose I could go back to ATI, I dunno, I just always kind of wanted to try out Nvidia.. and they do seem to be doing nicely.

Wait until G80 if you want to get an Nvidia card, it looks like it will be a beauty: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=4450

Start a 'G80 fund' with the savings from the other switches you are making

 

[Noubourne]

Ditch the water for sure. Get a decent air cooler. The Scythe Infinity kind of rules imo. Other good ones are Tuniq Tower (hard to find), Arctic 64 or 7, and Big Typhoon.

Get a 6300 if you plan to overclock at all. Even a newbie will far surpass the speed of the 6400 chip with a 6300 on a DS3. And unless you're experienced, there won't be much difference between the clocks you get from the 6300 and the 6400. The only reason to get more than a 6300 is to get the extra cache on a 6600, and the only reason to buy an X6800 is, well, there really is none imo. Even a 6300 will hit 3Ghz without requiring much luck or skill.

 

[Oddzball]

Hrmm, a X1900XT and not an XTX? I suppose with only 1280x I shouldnt go overboard and just save my money for a 8800 but damn who knows if I will have the money then.

I'll look into the reviews for the x1900XT and see what they say.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: Oddzball
Hrmm, a X1900XT and not an XTX? I suppose with only 1280x I shouldnt go overboard and just save my money for a 8800 but damn who knows if I will have the money then.

I'll look into the reviews for the x1900XT and see what they say.

You can OC the XT yourself to XTX speeds and save yourself the $50 - $100.

 

[Oddzball]

Any brand X1900XT you personally recommend?

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: Oddzball
Any brand X1900XT you personally recommend?

I just bought whatever was cheapest, but if you are concerned about warranty or anything (probably not if you are going to OC things) then I would just check out the warranty that suits your need or if you want a different cooler the IceQ ones look good.

I have a Sapphire and have no complaints.

 

[Oddzball]

Damn newegg's selection of X1900XT is poor as hell.... all they have are crossfire cards..

Will crossfire effect the performance of the card?

 

[Bobthelost]

Don't forget the eVGA step up program, looks like it's the time when it becomes a really good idea again.

 

[Oddzball]

You know, I think Im going to go with the eVGA 7900 GTO, I heard good things about it, plus its cheap.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: Oddzball
You know, I think Im going to go with the eVGA 7900 GTO, I heard good things about it, plus its cheap.

Good call, then you can just do the step-up as Bob suggested.

 

[Oddzball]

Cool, thanks for all the feedback guys, you all rock. I'm sure I'll be back online when I get my new rig up and running.

I am somewhat wavering between the Thermaltake Armor and the newer Thermaltake Eureka. But I would think the Eureka would have better airflow.

 

[dBTelos]

Originally posted by: Oddzball
Cool, thanks for all the feedback guys, you all rock. I'm sure I'll be back online when I get my new rig up and running.

I am somewhat wavering between the Thermaltake Armor and the newer Thermaltake Eureka. But I would think the Eureka would have better airflow.

Here is a discussion on the Eureka.

Link.