Help me build

[Pdwe]

I'm going with

Lian Li 65B case
Vista 64 Ultimate
Seagate 500 GB 32 mb
9800 GX2 (step up program)(Which brand do you like best)(Want 2560x1600 res)
Gateway XHD3000 30 in Monitor

I want either p35 ddr 2 mb or x48 ddr3 mb MB from Asus or Gigabyte
How much faster do you see CPU's going past 3.2 ghz on the 48 series ddr3 mb's
8 GB Ram DDR 2 or DDR3
CPU Any can always upgrade later
DVD RW with lightscribe (Do you think Lightscribe is worth it)
Soundcard best with Vista
PS 750 watt which brand and is one with cable management best idea or not

Thanks

 

[engiNURD]

Don't bother with DDR3, since the price premium is huge and there is no added performance gains over DDR2.

How much faster you can OC the CPU depends on the CPU. All E2000/E4000/E7000 chips seem to top out around 3.4Ghz regardless of the board. With the E8400, you can probably reach 4Ghz regardless of the board. With quad cores, you'll want better power delivery to the CPU for a better chance of a good, high OC. The Q6600 seems to top out at 3.6Ghz, regardless of the board. The Q9300 and Q9450 seem to reach 3.6Ghz as well, but their lower multipliers force a higher FSB to reach such speed.

What will you be doing with this system besides gaming?

eVGA and BFG are the only ones with a step up program that I know of.

Onboard HD audio is fine for most, and the Asus Xonar is popular to the anti-creative crowd.

The best priced 750W is the Corsair from buy.com or provantage.com.

 

[tiraides]

Why are you getting 8GB of RAM? Unless you're a heavy Photoshop or Maya user, do a lot of video or 3D graphics editing, or use a lot of virtual machines, you really don't need more than 4GB. Stick with DDR2 800 RAM unless you're considering one of the 45nm Penryn (E8xxx dual-core and Q9xxx quad-core) processors -- in that case, go with DDR2 1000 RAM.

Additionally, unless you need the BitLocker drive encryption or the Vista Business features that Vista Ultimate provides, Vista Home Premium would be enough for your needs.

With your (proposed) monitor, you would benefit from using either SLI or CrossFire. However, it's basically an all-or-nothing situation -- you get the motherboard and both cards now, or you stick with a P35-based board and a single high-end card (which would make things easier for you in the long run). If you're going SLI, which is for NVIDIA cards only, stick with the EVGA 750i FTW -- it's the most stable SLI board out now. For the AMD/ATI-only CrossFire, go with an X38/X48 motherboard that uses DDR2 RAM, like the ASUS P5E.

Additionally, wait a few weeks for the new cards from both NVIDIA and AMD/ATI to arrive. EVGA and BFG Tech (both NVIDIA-only brands) are the only companies with a step up program.

Personally, I believe that LightScribe is not an important feature for a DVD burner -- then again, I have no need for the feature myself. Regardless, get one of the Samsung DVD burners, which perform more quietly than most other brands.

You may want to spend a bit extra and buy either the Western Digital 640GB HDD or the Samsung F1 750GB HDD. They both run faster, cooler, and quieter than the Seagate 7200.11 500GB HDD yet they only cost a bit more each.

I do not recommend the PC-65B as it uses all 80mm case fans for cooling. Get a case that uses 120mm fans, which push more air at the same speeds yet is much quieter than 80mm fans, like the PC-7B.