New Build - Need Ideas

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slobo

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Oct 1, 2007
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I plan on building this system in the next 2-3 months. I am willing to spend more but 350+ video cards are out of the question. Along with this build I will be buying a 24 inch LCD (1920x1200). For the next year or two I will be running XP, but do plan to switch to Vista. I game but mostly older games, such as warcraft III and I do want to play startcraft II. I want this system to be useable for about four years. My current build for reference is 2.8 Intel 1 gig ram, 9800 pro video card.

I am debating about OCing, and if I do it would not go above a 400 MHz (8*400 3.2), as this is my first time doing it.


COOLER MASTER 534 RC-534-SKN2-GP Case
$49.99

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L
$99.99

EVGA 320-P2-N815-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
$294.99

ENERMAX EG495AX-VE FMA ATX12V Ver 2.2 485W
$79.99

C2D E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz LGA 775
$279.99

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 6400
$65.99

Western Digital 250GB 7200 RPM SATA
$69.99

Sony NEC Optiarc Black IDE DVD-ROM
$17.99

SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black
$30.99


$989.91

Prices are from newegg, without shipping.
 
Budget?

Oh and don't bother with the E6850. It's not worth the extra money for that extra 300Mhz over the E6750. The performance difference isn't that much to warrant the extra $100. Plus the E6750 has a 8x multiplier anyway, which is what you were planning to use for OCing.
 
Budget: 1,000-1,300. If it will truly yield performance benefits I can swing 1,500.
 
First of all, drop the PSU. There are better PSUs for around that price range and considering your budget, you can afford to spend a bit more:
Corsair VX550 550W PSU - $91
Corsair HX520 520W PSU - $100 <- If you want modular cables, then I recommend this PSUS

Second, ditch the E6850. It's cheaper to just get an E6750 plus a decent HSF, like the Scythe Ninja or Tuniq Tower 120 and OC it 3.2Ghz:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 CPU - $189
Scythe SCNJ-1100P Ninja HSF - $36
Tuniq Tower 120 HSF - $45

Third, ditch the IDE drives. IDE cable can and will hurt or block the airflow inside your case. Just go with two SATA DVD burners since DVD burners are so cheap these days:
Samsung SH-203B 20X DVD±R SATA DVD Burner - $32

Fourth, for an extra $15, you can get a 320GB drive with a 5 year warranty:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $85

I'd post more but my laptop battery is about to run out. :eek: But the above should be a good base to start from.
 
I agree with Danny Bui. The Seagate 320GB is the best bang for the buck. Also, you can't go wrong with the Corsair PSU. Definitely don't spend $279.99 on a C2D E6850. You have 2 alternate options:
1. Core 2 Duo E6750 - $190
2. Intel Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz - $279.99

You can also save about $30 by switching to the ABIT IP35-E (which is a great motherboard). Just my 0.02.
 
Laptop batteries are now charged!

Continuing on from my last post:
Fifth, in order to play at your native resolution, 1900 x 1200, you're gonna need at least an 8800GTS 640MB. The GTS 320MB will work at that resolution but you won't get too much eye candy or performance. The 640MB will provide you with much better performance and eye candy than the 320MB @ 1900 x 1200. Here's a egg hunt for you:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&Subcategory=48&description=&Ntk=&srchInDesc=
 
Thanks for the ideas, though spending 100 on a power supply seems steep. Are there any decent case and psu combos? Also, as my time horizen for this build is about 2 months, so hopefully the 8800 gts 640 will drop to under 350, which is a lot of money for one component.

Thanks

-Slobo
 
You're always going to pay about as much as you did for the CPU and motherboard with a decent gaming machine. $100 for a PSU is not steep -- less with this sort of build is being cheap. Clean power is extremely important.

CPU - C2D E6750 - $200
or Q6600 $275
Cooler - Scythe Ninja Plus Rev B. - $35
GPU - 8800 GTX - $500
Motherboard - Abit IP35-E/IP35 $100/$145
or Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R $130
RAM - 2GB DDR2-800, CAS 4 or 5 - $65-75
PSU -Corsair 520HX - $80 AR, look around/wait for it.
HDD - Seagate 320GB 7200.10 SATA - $80 / 500 GB - $100
DVDRW - $30
DVDROM - $20
Case - Coolermaster 690 - $50

That gets you in under your $1300 max budget, especially if you shop around and things should go lower in the next couple of months. $1400 with a quad core.
 
Is there really a big difference between 8800 GTX and 8800 GTS. Same question applies to 320 vs. 640.

Thanks,

-Slobo
 
slobo said:
Is there really a big difference between 8800 GTX and 8800 GTS. Same question applies to 320 vs. 640.

Thanks,

-Slobo
Click to expand...

At 1650x1080 and higher, yes.

There is massive disagreement as to what's needed where, but I'd say that at 1650x1080 and above you're going to need a GTX to run max or near-max settings in games coming out in the next few months. The 640MB GTS would probably be find at 1650x1080. Below 1650x1080 the 320MB GTS is probably fine (1280x1024 and below). At 1920x1080+ the GTX is pretty much a requirement and SLI is ideal.

There are numerous comparison reviews. Google it up.
 
How far will the price drop on 8800 GTX when the next Nvidia comes out? What is the typical price drop when new gen cards come out?

Thanks,

-Slobo
 
slobo said:
How far will the price drop on 8800 GTX when the next Nvidia comes out? What is the typical price drop when new gen cards come out?
Click to expand...

When the 8800GTX cards came out, the 7900GTX cards were still expensive. When they finally went on sale, there wasn't much stock left. Stock ran out before prices could dip much lower. I don't think its a price drop so much as a better option for the same amount of money.

Your best chance to get a good deal on an 8800GTS 640MB is to wait for black friday, imo.
 
Then wait I will. Is it smart to try to build this system on black Friday? What kind of pitfalls would someone ordering/buying everything on one day run into? Has anyone else tried doing all there buying in one? Is manufacturing quality an issue since companies will "rush" to get items to the shelves?
 
slobo said:
Then wait I will. Is it smart to try to build this system on black Friday? What kind of pitfalls would someone ordering/buying everything on one day run into? Has anyone else tried doing all there buying in one? Is manufacturing quality an issue since companies will "rush" to get items to the shelves?
Click to expand...

If you aren't going to build until then don't even bother looking at prices now. Things will go down -- things always do.
 
slobo said:
Then wait I will. Is it smart to try to build this system on black Friday? What kind of pitfalls would someone ordering/buying everything on one day run into? Has anyone else tried doing all there buying in one? Is manufacturing quality an issue since companies will "rush" to get items to the shelves?
Click to expand...

stop being paranoid.

I built my main rig because the prices were "right" on black friday, lol. I basically saved around $200+. I was actually on the fence, but when I saw such great prices, I just ordered it all, lol. The sales havent been as good recently, but they're still better than no sale at all.
 
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