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Performance/$$$ Spent System Build: Please Advise!

K

KraziAzian

n00b
Joined
Mar 12, 2005
Messages
5
Hey guys,

So I’m building a new system as my current AMD 3000+, 4GB DDR, ATI 9800 AIW, 160GB, Dell 2007FPW system is reaching it’s death bed after 4 years of hardy work. I haven’t been keeping up too much with the specifics of the new products but from my reading of reviews and research I’ve compiled a preliminary list of parts of my new system.

I would like some input on the various parts that I’ve selected and any foreseeable problems – in particular spacing, heating and overclocking issues. My goal is to build a system sub $1800 CAD – and I don’t plan on buying stuff online anytime as the + shipping/customs to get across the border often kills any money saved via Newegg or any deals online in the US.

So for those of you from Southern Ontario, I’m primarily looking to purchase all my parts from Canada Computers as their pricing is very competitive.

From what I’ve read:

• DDR3 doesn’t have a significant performance increase over DDR2 especially with the current price disparity between the two. I’m not sure of the specific mechanics – but in terms of value I’m sticking with DDR2 – but if I’m wrong on this – please inform me!
• 8800 GTX is a great card, but there hasn’t been a price drop at least in Canada for this card to below that of the 9800 GTX so I’m sticking with the 9800 GTX until a deal can be found. Also with the lower power consumption and heat issues, I believe a smaller PSU can be used as opposed to a massive 1000KW PSU which might be needed to SLI 8800s.

So the build:

Case: Cooler Master 690 – 71.99 CAD
• My original plan was to go with the Antec 900 but I’ve read there’s a lot of cable routing issues and it’s a giant dust collector so I’ve decided to go with the CM 690, I also was looking into the CM Centurion 590 – but compared to the 690 it loses imo.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - 214.99 CAD
• Price/Performance this baby can’t be beat.

Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX X2 - 24.99 CAD
• I probably could use a better cooler if I plan to OC big – but I have concerns with the amount of space I have, airflow and heating issues

RAM: OCZ (OCZ2P8004GK) DDR2 PC2-6400 Platinum 4GB (2x2048) Kit Dual Channel – 107.99 CAD
• I don’t know too much about ram, and to be honest I just picked a pair of sticks that was in the middle of the pricing. – Any input here would be appreciated.

Motherboard: EVGA 750i SLI FTW - ~200 CAD
• This board actually isn’t available yet in Canada but I believe we should see this thing in stock within the next month. I actually have real big concerns with the setup of the PCI slots. And whether or not 2 9800GTX’s will fit and have enough breathing room. And whether or not I could fit an additional sound card in there.

PSU: PC Power & Cooling (S75QB) Silencer 750 Quad 750W ATX V2.2 EPS12V 24PIN – 155.99 CAD
• Expensive PSU! I don’t know if this is enough to power my rig with SLI 9800 GTX’s however, but from the reviews I’ve read with full load their review rigs couldn’t draw past 550W. But any advice here would also be appreciated.

GPU: EVGA Geforce 9800 GTX SSC - ~399.99 CAD
• As there isn’t too much room I’m guessing leftover if you stick two 9800 GTX’s in there I was thinking to go with the factory OC models of the EVGA cards so that I wouldn’t need non-stock coolers to keep the thing in check. I plan to purchase 1 card at the time of assembly and get the 2nd one once there’s a significant price drop after the new ATI/NV cards come out.

HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 SATA 750GB – 137.99 CAD
• Not too much benefit in performance I could tell by going for the ES2 version of these HD, and raptors are too expensive for the little gain in performance I think.

Optical: LG GH20NS10 Black SATA - 30.49 CAD
• I just picked a cheap SATA optical drive, didn’t bother to research it – they all look/price about the same.

I plan to run this system using my old 2007 S-IPS WFP, I plan to upgrade to a 25.5": DoubleSight DS-263N 6 months from now when I get a chance.

I’m also looking to get a sound card in there but I don’t know if I will have the room with my upgrade path that I want via SLI, also I’d like to know whether Vista x64 is recommended. I plan to game a lot, and I’m not sure of the driver support available. Also I've read Creative has a lot of issues with drivers with their cards and Vista.

Any advice is wanted and appreciated!!!!!!!! Thanks.
 
well if you're looking for bang for your buck I'd look elsewhere besides the 9800. I'm not up on my intel chipsets very well, but everything else looks good. If you can find a modular psu like the corsair hx it would definitely be worth it. also I'm too lazy to look up conversion factors, so I'll just assume those are decent prices.

case: heh yeah the 900 is weird. admittedly, I'm a p180 fanb o y , but still. the 900 is the p180s retarded big brother.
 
Originally I was just going to get a 8800GT, but then when I added in everything else, I was well under my budget of $1800. So since I plan to upgrade to a 26" eventually, I figured going big on the GPU right now will allow me to play at high resolutions later on if I choose to SLI as a cheap upgrade path instead of adopting new tech.
 
Currently the CAD is trading just under the dollar. So those prices are almost spot on.
 
Goint with the 45NM processor is a nice touch with Wolfdale. I would also recommend looking into a quad core Q6600.
 
I called the place where I plan to buy the parts from and they said they have it in stock. So that's not something I'm going to worry about. But I was wondering if i SLI on a 750i board, can a I fit a Prelude sound card on the board? I can't tell from the pictures of board, anyone have any ideas?
 
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