First Build in Looong Time

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brewcrew814

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 27, 2005
Messages
134
Hiya all,
I was hoping to get some feedback on this build I put togethor. I will be purchasing in about 2 weeks. I'm planning on doing some OC'ing nothing real hard core though. I use it for gaming mostly on a 20" Acer AL2051W monitor. Playing Vanguard, a little BF2 and will be trying out C&C3 along with other new games out there.
Was curious if spending $250 on the MB is worth it since I will be doing only minor OC'ing. I'm trying to keep the price range around $1500'ish can go over a little if I have to. Just don't want to get too crazy with the bank account :D

most of the parts are here.

EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GEFORCE 8800GTS 640MB DDR3 PCI-Express w/HDCP DVI+DVI+HDTVOut ROHS (*Regular $389 - $30 Mwave Instant Discount = $359, While Supplies Last!) PLUS $30.00 Mail-In Manufacturer Rebate Available Till 5/31/2007 1 $349.90 $349.90
SKU: AA52230

EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 nVIDIA nFORCE 680I SLI CHIPSET ATX FORM FACTOR 2xPCI-E(X16)/2xPCI-E(X1)/2xPCI/4xDDR2 W/SATA2 RAID,DUAL LAN(Gb),1394,USB 2.0 & AUDIO (CPU TYPE:INTEL - SOCKET 775)* $15.00 Mail-In Manufacturer Rebate Available Till 5/31/2007
CPU OPTIONS
MEMORY OPTIONS
VGA CARD OPTIONS
TESTING OPTIONS
1 $249.90 $249.90
SKU: AA52400 - - - -

WD 500GB WD5000AAKS SATA2 16MB 7200RPM (Bare drive)
EXT.SATA ENCLOSURE OPTIONS
DATA CABLE OPTIONS
1 $113.90 $113.90
SKU: AA66870 - -

SAMSUNG Black 18X SH-S183L SATA+LIGHTSCRIBE w/SW(Bare drive)
ADD-ON MEDIA OPTIONS
1 $32.90 $32.90
SKU: AA67460 -

ARCTIC SILVER 5 PREMIUM SILVER THERMAL COMPOUND 3.5 GRAM (RECOMMENDED FOR ALL OF PROCESSORS) 1 $6.50 $6.50
SKU: BA19642

ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED-CU COPPER BASE CPU COOLING FAN FOR AMD (SOCKET 754/939/940) AND INTEL (SOCKET 478/775) PROCESSOR W/3 PIN CONNECTOR 1 $52.00 $52.00
SKU: BA22059

INTEL CORE 2 DUO E6600 (BX80557E6600) 2.4GHZ EM64T DUAL CORE W/4MB CACHE 1066MHZ LGA775-PIN RETAIL BOXED W/COOLING FAN (3 YEARS WARRANTY)
THERMAL COMPOUND OPTIONS
1 $219.00 $219.00
SKU: BA22889 -

THERMALTAKE W0104RU TOUGH 650W ATX 12V V2.2 / EPS 12V UL & FCC POWER SUPPLY FOR ATX CASES
TESTER OPTIONS
Y CABLE OPTIONS
1 $130.90 $130.90
SKU: BA23196 - -

CRUCIAL BALLISTIX BL2KIT12864AA804 2GB KIT (1GB x 2) MATCH PAIR PC26400 800MHZ 4-4-4-12 240-PIN DDR2 DIMM W/HEAT SPREADER 1 $117.75 $117.75
SKU: BA23794

Only thing I won't be buying from mwave is the case. Just going to run to Circuit City since it's so cheap there :D
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Ante...sem/rpsm/oid/177493/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Thanks In Advance for any feedback.

P.S. selling my Dell XPS GEN3 to my brother for $500. It's got:
P3.4gig processr
3Gigs of Ram
X800XT PCIE GPU and some samsung HDD I added, can't remember model. Just wondering if this is a fair price. Not looking to rip him off :p Guy only Plays Counter-Strike and didn't want to watch him drop money on a new build if he didn't need to. Thanks again!!
 
Video:
You can get the GTS cheaper at Newegg, but it's a solid choice. Staying all EVGA where you can for customer service reasons is also probably a good idea. $320 after $30 MIR for the 640MB 8800GTS.

Motherboad:
I am personally happy with my EVGA TR revision 680i board (SE) ($150 after $10 MIR at Newegg), as I only intend to OC my dual core and will be buying a new motherboard if and when I go to a quad, and it does what I want beautifully, plus I still get a 680i and it doesn't break bank at $150. People will bash it, of course, because it won't OC quads. If you don't plan to OC that much (say just 3.2Ghz on the E6420) you can get a 650i SLI board instead and save $50 there. The EVGA 650i board is $100 after $10 MIR at Newegg.

Something to note: T-series stuff from EVGA has 2 year warranties, A-series stuff has lifetime warranties, so if that's important to you you may want to pay the extra for A-series stuff, but personally I build around every 2 years, so it's not a big deal.

CPU:
Drop the E6600 down to an E6420 ($187 at Newegg, probably less elsewhere if you look around). You can always replace it in 6 months or so if you feel it isn't fast enough and the quad core prices are way down.

The latest batch of E6600s are proving to be very poor overclockers, but I'm running 3.2Ghz linked and synced (RAM at DDR2-800 due to the 8x CPU multiplier, 400Mhz FSB gives 800Mhz DDR2 at 1:1 ratio) and near to stock vcore with crappy Thermaltake watercooling on my E6420. You can do the same with a $40 Scythe Ninja or $65 for a Tuniq Tower or (also $65) Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme (plus a fan, not included) and probably get better temps than me. (30C idle, 57C after 8 hours Orthos Small FFTs)

Optical drives:
Liteon 20X SATA DVDRWs can be had for $33 at Newegg. Don't think they have Lightscribe support, though, so if that's important to you go with the Samsung.

Heatsink:
Zalmans offer sort of middle-of-the-road performance. With a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme ($65, have to buy fan separately) you will get better temps and it should be just as quiet when used with a Yate Loon or Noctua fan. More expensive of course, and the Zalman will get you to 3.2Ghz just fine, so it's really up to you.

Thermal paste:
Shin-Etsu X23 ($10 + $3 shipping) is apparently awesome, as this review shows. I think it's worth an extra $5. I'm certainly getting some. Enough said there.

PSU:
Thermaltakes are pretty questionable until you get in to their newer higher wattage supplies like the Toughpower 850 and 1200. That's not to say they're all bad supplies, there are just better supplies out there. A Corsair 620watt at $150 after $20 MIR will treat you better, I think.


Total with all changes, going with most expensive proposed parts, around $925. Your case is $100 on top of that, puts you a little over $1000, and you could shave off $100 of that easy. Could throw in another 8800GTS or switch to a singe 8800GTX and buy a new LCD. 22" Samsung windscreen runs $300 or a little less. $525 instead of $320, $200 up on video for the GTX, $300 for the monitor, $1500 total. Just something to consider. Could get under $1500 shipped by going with the less expensive motherboard. Just things to consider.
 
You only have a 20" LCD but want a 680i SLI chipset board? What for? Drop that down to a 650i SLI or Ultra board unless you plan on upgrading that LCD sometime soon (to 24" or larger, and plan on picking up another GTS... though, a single GTX would be better if going with a 24"). I'd go with the MSI P6N SLI-FI or the eVGA 650i Ultra that silent-circuit suggested. Another good choice for a single card solution would be the DS3.

I'd drop that thermaltake PSU and go with one of these:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1460
 
enginurd said:
You only have a 20" LCD but want a 680i SLI chipset board? What for? Drop that down to a 650i SLI or Ultra board unless you plan on upgrading that LCD sometime soon (to 24" or larger, and plan on picking up another GTS... though, a single GTX would be better if going with a 24"). I'd go with the MSI P6N SLI-FI or the eVGA 650i Ultra that silent-circuit suggested. Another good choice for a single card solution would be the DS3.

I'd drop that thermaltake PSU and go with one of these:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1460
Click to expand...


Thanks for all the replies. I'm definately taking them into consideration. I'm also planning on getting a 24" LCD in the future. Hopefully by end of year. I just want to be ready now and not worry about upgrading again because I bought a new monitor. Thanks again!!
 
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