New System

[dajini92]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
My system will be used for gaming.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20%
spread.
My budget is around 800 dollars.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
I'm in the USA and I will be purchasing my parts from newegg.

4. IF YOU have a brand preference.
Nvidia for GPUs, intel, WD, OCZ

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Case, DVD/CD drive, keyboard, mouse, joystick, speakers

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
Yes. I've spent 10+ hours over the past couple days researching and reading about different parts.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
I plan on overclocking the Q6600 up to 3ghz, eventually. I would also like to overclock my video card but it isn't necessary at the very beginning.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Anywhere from the next couple days to sometime within the next two weeks. Any major price drops coming? I know the GT2xx line just released but we haven't seen the price drops on the 8800 and 9800 line that we were all waiting for...

Anyways, my system is as follows:


Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EP43-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128347


CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115017


Video Card: XFX PVT88GYDF4 GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814150261


RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231122


HD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136218


PSU: OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W ATX12V Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817341002



Total: 854.94



Any comments / suggestions?

 

[ther00kie16]

Everything looks good except for pricing on a couple of things.
8800gts is under $200 after rebate. Cheapest one is ECS at $167 after rebate but with only 3 yrs warranty. All the 8800gts use reference cooler so there shouldn't be a difference between the different brands.
GSkill's ddr2 1000 kit is the same price as the 800 kit so might as well go for that.
For power supply, people recommend any of the Corsairs (specifically the modular 520hx), which are cheapest on buy.com

 

[dajini92]

Originally posted by: ther00kie16
Everything looks good except for pricing on a couple of things.
8800gts is under $200 after rebate. Cheapest one is ECS at $167 after rebate but with only 3 yrs warranty. All the 8800gts use reference cooler so there shouldn't be a difference between the different brands.
GSkill's ddr2 1000 kit is the same price as the 800 kit so might as well go for that.
For power supply, people recommend any of the Corsairs (specifically the modular 520hx), which are cheapest on buy.com

I saw the ECS on newegg, but I went with this XFX because it comes with COD4, a 50 dollar game that I was planning on buying anyways. So I'm good as far as that goes.

Thanks for pointing out the different RAM... higher speed, same amount, same company, same price... might as well. =D

I think I'm going to stick with the OCZ power supply though... I've had great experiences with OCZ, as have about 700 other people on newegg. Modular cables aren't too important for me, I can deal with an ugly bundle of wires (it's not like the inside of my case is meant to be pretty, hehe). But thanks for the suggestion.

Anything else?

 

[boomhower]

Nope, I think you have it covered. You may want to consider adding a HSF while you at it. At 3Ghz the stock cooler may get you buy but it will be close. A Freezer 7 at ~$25 or a OCZ Vendetta at ~$30 would be a good investment. It will be much easier not while you putting it together than later when you have everything installed.

 

[DSF]

Just be aware that the bundled game is most likely a disc in a paper sleeve and nothing else.

 

[chinaman1472]

Nothing particularly wrong, but I'd rather go with the E7200 or E8400. You can save yourself $20 or $80 and can be OCed as well or better. I took my friend's E7200 up to 3.0GHz and another's E8400 to 3.6GHz without really trying and didn't do much tinkering to get it there.

It might take a few weeks for the 8800s to drop in price, and it probably won't anything significant. They're still being manufactured at a (most likely) normal rate as before; it's not like they're trying to push out the last few shipments. They're hot sellers and great for the dollar and the new GT2**s aren't exactly replacing those models.

 

[dajini92]

Thanks for all the help guys. I've decided to add a HSF for my CPU, gonna do a bit of research on that and find which one is best. Any other thoughts?