New Gaming Computer Build

[Ariste]

I'm planning to buy and build a new system in the next week or so. I built my current rig almost 5 years ago, and, despite periodic upgrades, it's becoming a little dated.

As the title of this post suggests, the computer will be primarily used for gaming, as well as other general computer tasks. I'm willing to spend up to around $1700, but, at this point, it just doesn't seem necessary at all. I'm ordering from the U.S., and yeah, I'm planning to overclock

I'll be reusing a 74GB WD Raptor and another 300GB HD as well as a Creative sound card, a 24" LCD, some speakers/headphones and various other peripherals. Here's what I'm looking at so far:

Case - Antec P182

CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale

HSF - Xigmatek HDT-S1283

Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L

RAM - G.SKILL 4GB DDR2 1000

GPU - EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 512MB

PSU - Corsair 620HX

OS - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit


I'll also be ordering a DVD drive and some extra fans/thermal paste and one of those bolt-thru kits for the Xigmatek.

The components come out to be about $1150 or so. I'd be willing to spend some more if there were any worthwhile upgrades, but at this point there doesn't seem to be any need. I'll probably be utilizing the EVGA step-up program to upgrade to one of the new GTX280s when they come out in a month or so.

Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks,

 

[DarkRogue]

Looking good here.
Are you planning to OC that E8400 past 3.6GHz? If not, getting some cheaper DDR2-800 would help save a few bucks, otherwise it looks good.
I'd say you can go with a lower capacity PSU too, 450-500w should suffice for a single video card rig, but otherwise that model is good too.
Seems like you did your research.

 

[Ariste]

Originally posted by: DarkRogue
Looking good here.
Are you planning to OC that E8400 past 3.6GHz? If not, getting some cheaper DDR2-800 would help save a few bucks, otherwise it looks good.
I'd say you can go with a lower capacity PSU too, 450-500w should suffice for a single video card rig, but otherwise that model is good too.
Seems like you did your research.

I'm planning to OC the thing as far as air cooling will take it =P I'd rather spend the extra few bucks if it'll give me a chance at a better overclock.

I originally picked the Corsair 620W because I was going to go with the 9800GX2. I think I'll stick with it now, though - the GTX280s will supposedly suck lots of power, and I'll be upgrading to one of those eventually. Hell, who knows - maybe I'll want to SLI two of them at some point in the future. It'd be nice to have the capability without having to swap out PSUs.

 

[sgrinavi]

Other than the cooler I have all those parts and, at one time, were all in the same system. Works great...

 

[Urtho]

Originally posted by: Ariste

Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L

I originally picked the Corsair 620W because I was going to go with the 9800GX2. I think I'll stick with it now, though - the GTX280s will supposedly suck lots of power, and I'll be upgrading to one of those eventually. Hell, who knows - maybe I'll want to SLI two of them at some point in the future. It'd be nice to have the capability without having to swap out PSUs.

You won't be going SLI ever on a DS3L motherboard FYI as you'd need an Nvidia chipset board to do that. I'd ignore the SLI option completely, however, so I wouldn't worry too much about missing out on it.

Rest of your build is fine, it's basically what I built myself for a gaming system and I'm happy with mine.

 

[s44]

Yeah, the next-gen Nvidia is going to be a serious power suck.

 

[DarkRogue]

Oops, yeah I overlooked that.

You can't go SLI with the P35 motherboard, although you can go Crossfire. Unfortunately with P35, Crossfire I believe is limited to x16/x4 which isn't very good. Perhaps P45 will enhance its Crossfire support.

Other than that, the alternative is when/if you decide to go SLI/Crossfire, you can get a new motherboard and re-use the power supply.

 

[chinaman1472]

Skip the heatsink and drop to DDR2-800 RAM for lower voltage ratings if you're not overclocking. Other than that, it's a solid build. Thumbs up for the research .