And now for something new: Newb needs advice on system build!

S

SMann233

n00b
Joined
May 30, 2007
Messages
7
Hey guys,

First time poster. I've been reading over the forums for a bit now, you guys absolutely rock. So, I was hoping that some of you all might advise me on a rig I'm going to build.

The primary purpose of this will be gaming/home theater. I'm primarily into MMORPGs, so I don't need twitch-gaming capabilities, but being able to max out all settings is definitely what I have in mind. I'd like to have this last for ~5-6 years before I need another build, probably just upgrading the vid card and memory in the meantime. (To put what I consider "useable" in perspective, my Vaio PCV-RS430G only recently became intolerable - Pentium 4 2.8ghz w/ HT, 1gb PC2700 RAM, Radeon 9200 first edition, etc.) My budget is $1700, and I'm not expecting to buy this much before November.

Anyway, here's what I've picked out. This is my first time doing a BYOS, so if I've overlooked anything, or have done something incredibly stupid, please tell me.

Case - Antec Performance One P180B Black
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor
I'm also considering the Q6600 for the processor, given that by the time I'll be building this, it's projected to be $266. Is there going to be enough of a difference in the lifetime of the comp for this to be worth it?
Mobo - ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
Vid Card - PNY VCG88GTS32XPB GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP
PSU - SILVERSTONE SST-ST60F ATX 600W Power Supply 90 - 264 V
Memory - CORSAIR XMS2 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Hard Disks:
#1 - Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150
#2 - 2x Western Digital Caviar RE WD3200YS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s - one of these will be networked between myself and my 3 roommates for storage/file transfer purposes. I'm not expecting this to be under heavy use.
DVD Burner - ASUS Black thingy 18x +- RW
CPU Cooling - ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler
Extra USB ports - Rosewill NEC 4+1 Port USB2.0 PCI CARD Model RC-101
Old 3.5" floppy junk + card reader - MITSUMI Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal USB 2.0 digital card reader with Floppy Drive Model FA404M BLK
OS - Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit edition, SystemBuilder's OEM version.

Oh, and here's the monitor I'll be using, which I've got. (Love this thing)
Chimei CMV 221D 22" Widescreen

Whew...ok, what'd I miss?
Also, a few quick concerns I've got that I'll ask in advance:
1) Most of what I've heard regarding the motherboard says that it's not for beginners. I'm not afraid of doing plenty of research to get myself up to speed, but will this one suit my needs? (Also, if anyone has any good links on the configurations necessary for such a thing, I'm always looking for good reading material.) Also, related question -- given the heat pipes around the CPU socket, will the Zalman actually fit that slot, or do I need to be looking at something else?
2) What are the implications of penryn? Worth waiting for/shelling out the cash for?
3) It was recommended to me that I get the 64 bit version of Vista. I certainly understand the applications of this with regard to speed and the hardmax on the amount of system memory that the machine will use under 32 bit, but are the drivers/software going to be an issue here? Would I be better off long term with 32?

Anyway, I think that's it. Any advice you all have would be greatly appreciated. ^_^
 
ok, you should drop the raptor, too expensive for what it does you can pick up another 2 320 gb drives. Also are you planning to overclock anything, because the quad core is going to be slower in most applications because it runs at a slower clock speed, so if you want it you should be willing to overclock. Also you could prob buy a 640 gts in november because they new cores will be out from nvida most likely so the prices should drop.

So you drop the raptor, get the quad core overclock it, and it might be a tight fit for your cooler but it should be able to fit. For you penryn unless it's a lot faster than the core 2 duos arent going to be worth it for you, right not hardware is leaps and bounds ahead of software so you should be fine with your quad core. And there are still driver issues in vista 64 so be prepared for somethings not to work, and having to google fixes.
 
1) Since you have a 22" LCD, you don't need a 680i chipset board unless you plan on upgrading to a 30" LCD any time soon. Go for an nForce 650i SLI or Ultra chipset instead, if you want to stick to nForce. If you want to upgrade to a 45nm CPU within a year or so, then go with a P35 Express board instead.

2) Penryn/Wolfdale/Yorkfield will be 45nm. A move to a smaller manuf. process usually means lower power consumption and more cache. Yorkfield, native quad cores, currently aren't showing that much improvement over Kentsfield. So, if you want to pickup a quadcore when it hits $266, then go ahead. FYI, Intel plans on releasing more multi-core chips next year at very low prices, to help the push to multi-core.

3) Yes, there will be driver problems with Vista, both 32 and 64 bit, depending on the hardware you choose and programs you run. Keep in mind, they can only get better, right? :p

Don't bother with the E6700 nor the 680i board. Go for the Q6600 or E6600 and either the GA-P35-DS3R or P6N SLI-FI.

The raptor isn't worth its price. The Seagate 7200.10 320GB drives are pretty fast for their price, compared to a raptor (raptor 150gb 78MB/s vs. 'cuda 320gb 65MB/s).
 
totally forgot to tell him not to deal with the e6700, since he can just overclock any of the core 2 duo chips, but these suggestions should hold you over, you could get a 640gts if you want to have the system for longer since it should hold up well for you
 
Unless you actually use Lightscribe, get 2 20X LiteOn SATA DVDRWs for $33 each instead of the ASUS.

The E6420 should OC to around 3.2Ghz without issue and save you some cash. Lots, in fact. Don't buy an E6700.

I'd buy EVGA rather than ASUS for the 680i as well. $50 more, but well worth it for customer support reasons alone.

What resolutions do you intend to run, and will you possibly be replacing your monitor at any point soon? Look at a 640MB GTS if you'll be running 1600x1200 or higher.

The Zalman HSF is vastly overpriced. Scythe Ninja Plus Rev B or Sunbeam Tuniq Tower are both better choices, in my opinion. You could even get a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme and a fan for it for the same price as the Zalman, and it is a far better heatsink.

If you intend to go SLI in the future you will likely need to replace the 600 watt Silverstone. If not, a P35 based motherboard could save you $100 and perform just as well, as well as support the next gen Intel chips. The 680i boards /may/, but there is nothing official yet..
 
I take preference to stability over speed, but I wouldn't be opposed to doing a little overclocking. (Whatever processor I get, I was planning on trying to bring up to at least 3ghz.) The Q6600 sounds like the better deal then.

Is there a reason to pick Seagate over WD? I picked WD out of personal preference: I work retail and deal with store-level returns. While I haven't had to do Seagate's products directly, ever since they acquired Maxtor, the response time and one-on-one feedback has been abysmal, and that's with a corporation representative, let alone a single customer. But if there's a reason in the hardware to go Barracuda over Caviar, I'll do that.
Also, if going with a series of 7200 drives, is setting up a Raid 0 worthwhile? (Probably a newb question -- again, first build. It's something I hadn't considered up to this point, I'm going to have to read into it more... ><)

I'll be sticking to this monitor for awhile: having to pay for my own tuition for college doesn't allow me the $$ for a bigger one. :( Still, it suits my needs -- I'll be using the max resolution of 1680x1050 as often as possible. Will the 320 be sufficient, or should I still be looking at the 640?

I like the motherboard choices you've recommended, the 680i seemed a bit daunting. I'm not certain I'll be going SLI in the future; I know I'm not immediately, but I like keeping my options open as far as long-term upgrades. One of the lessons I've learned from the Vaio -- Sony uses proprietary parts that cost 5x as much as they should. At this point, I'm leaning towards the Q6600, given the feedback so far. Quad cores ought to see some use in the next few years, and the option is nice, but Nov. is a bit aways and I've got time to make up my mind on that.

Oh, and footnote -- I got my Ratpadz XT in today. This thing is pure love, in the form of hard black plastic. :D
 
enginurd said:
1) Since you have a 22" LCD, you don't need a 680i chipset board unless you plan on upgrading to a 30" LCD any time soon. Go for an nForce 650i SLI or Ultra chipset instead, if you want to stick to nForce. If you want to upgrade to a 45nm CPU within a year or so, then go with a P35 Express board instead.
Click to expand...

There is no indication that the NVIDIA 600 series boards won't support 45nm processors, but there is also nothing official stating they will either. In any case why wouldn't he need a 680i? They are awesome overclockers, and have a ton of features. I fail to see what his monitor has to do with that. If he wants to go SLI with any 8800 series card, the 680i SLI and 680i LT are the best choices.

enginurd said:
3) Yes, there will be driver problems with Vista, both 32 and 64 bit, depending on the hardware you choose and programs you run. Keep in mind, they can only get better, right? :p
Click to expand...

I've had no driver problems in Vista as I waited for the majority of the problems to be solved with the 8800 series cards before making the switch. Otherwise, no problems with either 32bit or 64bit Vista.

enginurd said:
Don't bother with the E6700 nor the 680i board. Go for the Q6600 or E6600 and either the GA-P35-DS3R or P6N SLI-FI.
Click to expand...

I agree with your processor recommendations, but as far as the motherboards go, I'm going to seriously disagree. One of the best high end choices is the EVGA 680i SLI. On the lower end of things the 650i Ultra and 650i SLI are fine, but I'd rather have a board based on the P965 Express or better yet, the P35 chipset. I haven't used the Gigabyte board in question, but I have used the DQ6 version. I've also tested a variation of the P6N SLI and really, while they are decent boards, the ASUS P5K Deluxe gets my vote right now for best P35 chipset motherboard. For the 650i Ultra/SLI, the EVGA boards get the nod.

enginurd said:
The raptor isn't worth its price. The Seagate 7200.10 320GB drives are pretty fast for their price, compared to a raptor (raptor 150gb 78MB/s vs. 'cuda 320gb 65MB/s).
Click to expand...

Well now this debate goes on and on does it? You have two kinds of people, pro Raptor and anti-Raptor. Personally I think they are great, and they are worth it, but only if your budget allows for it. For most people on a budget I'd recommend sticking with more conventional drives and reaping the bennefits of lower cost and more space.
 
Generally speaking, only buy what you need at the price you're willing to pay.

Dan_D said:
In any case why wouldn't he need a 680i? They are awesome overclockers, and have a ton of features. I fail to see what his monitor has to do with that. If he wants to go SLI with any 8800 series card, the 680i SLI and 680i LT are the best choices.
Click to expand...

As far as SLI and monitor size goes, I'm under the impression that SLI is only needed for high-resolution 3D rendering. Otherwise, I see no point in spending any extra for such a feature. Sure, the 680i is the best option for SLI, but do you really need SLI with a 22" monitor? Wouldn't the cheaper, 650i SLI chipset provide enough bandwidth for 1680x1050? Does the 680i offer so much more performance improvement to warrant its price premium? This discussion is useless if the prices of the two chipsets are equal, though. I also see little benefit in running midrange SLI configs as opposed to a single higher end card (8800GTS x2 vs. 8800GTX x1).

My opinion with SLI as an upgrade path is that it isn't a worthwhile upgrade path unless that upgrade takes place within several months of the original purchase. From the reviews I've read, there always seems to be a better single card solution that will outperform last generation's high end SLI config.

In addition to the nForce chipsets, there also isn't official word if there will be 45nm parts compatible with existing P965 Express and i975x boards. :( ... or is there?

I think its funny how Intel lowered their CPU prices, yet motherboards are so overpriced for such CPUs. $250 for a motherboard?!?!?! You used to find good, decent boards for around $50. Now, they'll run you at least $100, and double that for "extreme performance."
 
enginurd said:
Generally speaking, only buy what you need at the price you're willing to pay.



As far as SLI and monitor size goes, I'm under the impression that SLI is only needed for high-resolution 3D rendering. Otherwise, I see no point in spending any extra for such a feature. Sure, the 680i is the best option for SLI, but do you really need SLI with a 22" monitor? Wouldn't the cheaper, 650i SLI chipset provide enough bandwidth for 1680x1050? Does the 680i offer so much more performance improvement to warrant its price premium? This discussion is useless if the prices of the two chipsets are equal, though. I also see little benefit in running midrange SLI configs as opposed to a single higher end card (8800GTS x2 vs. 8800GTX x1).
Click to expand...

The 680i SLI only has more video card bandwidth than the 650i SLI in a dual video card configuration. Otherwise the 680i SLI has more features and supports SLI Ready memory modules with tighter timings and more officially supported bandwidth.

enginurd said:
My opinion with SLI as an upgrade path is that it isn't a worthwhile upgrade path unless that upgrade takes place within several months of the original purchase. From the reviews I've read, there always seems to be a better single card solution that will outperform last generation's high end SLI config.
Click to expand...

The next video card solutions are not always guaranteed to be faster than the previous generation SLI setup. The 7950GX2 is a good example of this. It was only as fast as a 7900GT SLI setup. The 7900GTX SLI setup was still faster. Even if it's not the SLI configurations are pretty close to the next generation single card setup. Generally though a single card setup is less complicated and therefore preferable.

enginurd said:
In addition to the nForce chipsets, there also isn't official word if there will be 45nm parts compatible with existing P965 Express and i975x boards. :( ... or is there?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately there is no official word concerning support for the P965 Express and i975x chipsets with Penryn. Since the official bus support for those chipsets stops at 1066MHz, I wouldn't bet on it.

enginurd said:
I think its funny how Intel lowered their CPU prices, yet motherboards are so overpriced for such CPUs. $250 for a motherboard?!?!?! You used to find good, decent boards for around $50. Now, they'll run you at least $100, and double that for "extreme performance."
Click to expand...

In the last 11 years I've never seen good motherboards for $50. They've always been close to $100 or so. I do agree that motherboards have gotten out of hand price wise, but they do in fact include more integrated features than they used to so it stands to reason they'd cost more.
 
Dan_D said:
The 680i SLI only has more video card bandwidth than the 650i SLI in a dual video card configuration. Otherwise the 680i SLI has more features and supports SLI Ready memory modules with tighter timings and more officially supported bandwidth.
Click to expand...

But its all about price to performance. Do you really get the performance you pay for if you buy a 680i SLI board with a couple 8800GTS' in SLI for a 22" LCD? Or are you better off going with a single 8800GTX and a cheaper motherboard? In other words, do you really need the bandwidth of dual 16x PCI-E lanes to push only 1.7MPixels (1680x1050)? I thought you only needed that kind of bandwidth for 4MP (2560x1600).

Are the tighter timings really worth the extra cost? In most cases, I doubt most people would notice a difference between CL4 and CL5 in everyday usage (including gaming) unless they're running benchmarks. How much of a performance improvement do you get with those tighter timings? Most benchmarks I've read only show a 1-5% performance improvement in games. Is that little improvement really worth the 25% higher price of the ram sticks? Are my findings outdated? I've been really busy at work lately, so I havent been able to read all the reviews I'd like.

I hate how fast these expensive vidcards depreciate... and I hate how they have a ~6month refresh on GPUs.

Yah, you're right. My BE-6 II was around $100... not $50. Though, my QDI group Pentium MMX board was only $50, but it was decent, lol. Yah, mostly nothing was onboard back then... I remember having a SCSI controller PCI card, ISA 14.4k modem, ISA ess audio, pci trident video... all the cheap stuff, lol. Eh, still, $250 is too high for a mobo price... even if it does have an onboard LCD diagnostic screen.
 
enginurd said:
1)

The raptor isn't worth its price. The Seagate 7200.10 320GB drives are pretty fast for their price, compared to a raptor (raptor 150gb 78MB/s vs. 'cuda 320gb 65MB/s).
Click to expand...
Yes but the Seagate drive doesn't have the seek times the raptor does, just though it should be noted..
 
imzjustplayin said:
Yes but the Seagate drive doesn't have the seek times the raptor does, just though it should be noted..
Click to expand...

Due to the higher RPMs... which translates to the faster avg transfer speed I listed. Still, would you want to pay $80 for 65MB/s or $160AR for 78MB/s? its up to you. As someone else mentioned above, its a luxury, not a necessity (for desktop usage/gaming).
 
Ok, I've looked at a couple new things, based on some of the reccomendations posted here. I've decided to err on the side of spending a little more for the sake of long-term upgrade potential.

New Mobo selection: EVGA 122-CK-NF68-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX
Stronger PSU - Thermaltake toughpower W0117RU ATX12V / EPS12V 750W Power Supply
CPU - Q6600.
CPU cooler - Enzotech Ultra-X
System memory is something I'm still debating. Ideally, I'd like to get 2x 2gb sticks to start, which lead me to this stuff:
CORSAIR XMS2 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400), but then I found these:

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

The GSkill seems to be a clearly better stick, especially at that price. But it only comes in the 2x 1gb, meaning I'd have to buy two sets for the starting 4gb I want. Is it worth it to do that and revisit the memory later when I actually need to go over 4gb?

I'm still debating the Raptor v. non-Raptor... I'll probably end up dropping it for financial reasons, but I'd still like to get more info on RAID setups first.

Also, again, given that I'm going to be using a 1680x1050 res. for just about everything, will the 320mb 8800GTS be sufficient? Or should I go for the 640?
 
thermal take makes shitty PSUs IMO, get a seasonic, sure thermal take could license out production to seasonic but I'd get a seasonic IMO. I also find it funny how people are using increasingly powerful power supplies when the power consumption of CPUs has dropped drastically. Sure GPUs have gone up but considering that the OP has a GTS card, a decent 650watt psu should more than suffice, even for a GTX card. After looking through a lot of reviews, I'd get this:http://www.seasonicusa.com/s12plus.htm 550watt or 650watt variant.

Remember, wattage isn't everything if the placement of power isn't where it's suppose to be, not to mention the usage of cheap capacitors and regulators.
 
enginurd said:
But its all about price to performance. Do you really get the performance you pay for if you buy a 680i SLI board with a couple 8800GTS' in SLI for a 22" LCD? Or are you better off going with a single 8800GTX and a cheaper motherboard? In other words, do you really need the bandwidth of dual 16x PCI-E lanes to push only 1.7MPixels (1680x1050)? I thought you only needed that kind of bandwidth for 4MP (2560x1600).
Click to expand...

No, most people are better off with a single video card solution. As for cheap boards, I don't generally recommend them. There isn't a single motherboard for less than $100 I'd ever use and certainly not one I'd recommend that I know of. However, for $100 or more, you have a seemingly endless list of choices, and the 680i doesn't have to be one of them. If you'll read most of the threads I have posted motherboard recommendations in I usually break it down into these categories:

SLI:
680i SLI, 680i LT, 650i SLI (budget and other concerns make a difference here, but obviously for SLI these are your best choices)

Crossfire:
P5W DH
P5W64-WS Professional
D975XBX2

Single video card:
Any well made, reliable P965 Express chipset based board or any P35 chipset based board.
Examples:
P5B Deluxe
P5K Deluxe
ASUS Commando etc.

Budget/Budget Enthusiast:
EVGA 650i Ultra/something similar

I've also been known to recommend 945P Express chipset based boards and the like, but rarely. If there are any sub $100 boards I'd recommend it's those, but I always feel bad for recommending them due to their gimped memory frequency support.

enginurd said:
Are the tighter timings really worth the extra cost? In most cases, I doubt most people would notice a difference between CL4 and CL5 in everyday usage (including gaming) unless they're running benchmarks. How much of a performance improvement do you get with those tighter timings? Most benchmarks I've read only show a 1-5% performance improvement in games. Is that little improvement really worth the 25% higher price of the ram sticks? Are my findings outdated? I've been really busy at work lately, so I havent been able to read all the reviews I'd like.
Click to expand...

For Intel processors I don't recommend tighter timings. I don't think they are worth it. I'd go for absolute clock speed if you are overclocking. For stock systems tight timings might be an alright thing to look for, but it's not really worth the cost. Intel processor based machines simply do not perform all that differently based on memory timings. The latency caused by having a memory controller on the motherboard is the reason for this.

enginurd said:
I hate how fast these expensive vidcards depreciate... and I hate how they have a ~6month refresh on GPUs.
Click to expand...

Well it's not always the case. The 6800GT and 6800Ultra reigned supreme for the NVIDIA/SLI crowd for an entire year and we were then treated to the 7800GTX 256MB which was nearly double the speed. The 8800GTX was replaced in six months by the Ultra, but come on, the Ultra is only a slight improvement and I don't see anyone selling off their GTX's to get Ultras. Hell there are plenty of factory overclocked GTX's that are faster than a stock Ultra. The Ultra's only advantage is a little less power usage and more overclocking headroom. Not really worth the price of admission, though if you are looking for a high end G80 card, the prices are more in line with what the GTX's started at, and are becoming more attractive to the consumer. So really the 8800's all get to reign supreme for a year unless ATI pulls some serious magic out of their ass in a month or two. (Not likely.)

enginurd said:
Yah, you're right. My BE-6 II was around $100... not $50. Though, my QDI group Pentium MMX board was only $50, but it was decent, lol. Yah, mostly nothing was onboard back then... I remember having a SCSI controller PCI card, ISA 14.4k modem, ISA ess audio, pci trident video... all the cheap stuff, lol. Eh, still, $250 is too high for a mobo price... even if it does have an onboard LCD diagnostic screen.
Click to expand...

That's because QDI has always been a budget board company. Granted the QDI boards during the Pentium days weren't that bad and all my friends and myself had them. Though I remember them being closer to $80.00. Whch as I recall I thought that was about right for the day, if not a little on the cheap side. Until the i875P chipset based boards came out, $200 for a motherboard was rediculous to me. It's that generation that made $200+ ok. for a board.
 
Ditch the E6700 for a E6600.

Ditch the raptor too.

Ditch the 680i motherboard if you're not going for SLI. get a nice 965 or P35 board.

If you're going to be sharing files with roommates, you may as well buy a NAS instead like WD My Book. It'll save your computer the overhead of having to act as a server, and the files will still be accessible after your computer has been turned off. Better yet, if you have a spare PC, just use FreeNAS or something similar to turn it into a file server.
 
Dra said:
Ditch the E6700 for a E6600.

Ditch the raptor too.

Ditch the 680i motherboard if you're not going for SLI. get a nice 965 or P35 board.

If you're going to be sharing files with roommates, you may as well buy a NAS instead like WD My Book. It'll save your computer the overhead of having to act as a server, and the files will still be accessible after your computer has been turned off. Better yet, if you have a spare PC, just use FreeNAS or something similar to turn it into a file server.
Click to expand...

For the most part I agree. I am not sure I agree on ditching the Raptor. I'm obviously quite fond of them and I can't see myself switching to 7200rpm drives again.
 
I personally like single card solutions.. It just makes life so much easier. Also, especially since you are in school, I'm sure it will be extremely easy to find someone on/near campus to buy the card off you in a few years, so you can get the latest single vid card.

Even so, I have a feeling SLI with a pair of 320's is going to be less than optimal in the future, because of the memory limitations.. In SLI, the mem isn't shared between the cards, so if future games are really that demanding, they'll probably also have a lot of textures to load and swap too, and having only 320 megs may be the biggest bottleneck.

I'd just get a cheaper $100 965 mobo, like a ds3 or whatnot, and either pocket the extra money, or consider getting a 640. Its a tough choice, between the 320 and 640, I debated it, and decided to roll the dice and get the 640 in hopes future games will effectively use the extra mem. In the past, usually it wasn't the case, but for some reason, I think future games seem to load more and more textures now.. I could be wrong.

With that case and no real overclocking, I bet you will be happy enough with the stock retail CPU HSF, since you have those two 120mm fans in the p180 case right there.. My stock e6600 barely even really needs the fan to run.

I'd also consider being able to dual boot between XP and Vista. I'm sure you can find a cheap copy of XP to use with a school license.

When I was in school, I personally left my computer hardware more or less stock, so I didn't have to worry about it.. I had enough swirling around me that I didn't want to fiddle with the computer hardware itself, except for occasionally swapping vid cards out between friends.

PS, those huge heatsink fans, you have to watch the weight and mounting, especially if you are moving! I dunno about you, but I always hauled my computer around with me when I went back home for long times, or during the summer living someplace else. I've seen stuff from other people's setups thats been knocked loose in transit. There's a reason why there is a recommend maximum weight for the HSF.. I believe its around 450 grams?
 
I've stepped back and taken a look at what I want out of this system again. I feel I might have underestimated my original needs. Here's an example of one game I'll be playing, Vanguard, Saga of Heroes:

Recommended Specs:

* Windows® 2000/XP/Vista
* 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible computer
* 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible keyboard or input device
* Processor 3.0 GHz Intel or 3500+ AMD processor
* 2 GB RAM
* Vertex and Pixel Shader 2.0 compatible hardware with 256MB of texture memory
* DirectX compatible audio hardware
* Broadband Internet Connection
* 16X Speed DVD-ROM
* 20 Gigabytes Hard Drive Space

System requirements may change over time and you may need to upgrade your current system (or obtain a new system) to play the game over its lifetime.
Click to expand...

Obviously hard disk intensive, but the harder aspect is that I can expect to be interacting with upwards of 100 separate clients in the same visual area, and I don't want this comp to slow down. Again, I don't need twitch speeds, but it's going to have to handle a lot of data at once.

Not only do I want this system ready for this game, I want it ready for the games that succeed it for the next several years. So, with that in mind, here's a total reassessment:

Case - Antec Performance One P180B Black (Although, I'm genuinely debating getting a little extra money for a P182SE...that thing looks damned sexy.)
CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor
Mobo - ASUS P5K DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
Hard Drives - 2x Seagate Barracuda ES ST3320620NS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s (With the additional spaces available in the P180 case, I'll add more later if I need it. For now, just over half a TB ought to serve my purposes.)
Memory - 2x G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
Video card - EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card -- for now, GTS w/ 640mb. I'd like to get a GTX for this, but I simply can't afford that investment at this point; if the price in November is closer to that of where the GTS is now, I'll certainly be looking at it as an alternative.
CPU Cooler -- Thermaltake V1
PSU - CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W

And then standard accessories - 18x DVD w/ Lightscribe (I tend to use it, I can get the CDs cheaper.), 3.5" floppy, card readers, extra USB, etc. Vista HP 64 bit for OS.

I'd like to see this OC'd up to the 3.1-3.2ghz range... it could probably handle beyond that, but I think I'd be content at that point.

Think I'm getting closer to the ballpark of what I want... am I still missing something I need to be looking at at this point?
 
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