Please help flesh out new computer

[Iron Ace]

I finally registered after being a long time reader for some help from you all. This is primariIy for a gaming rig. I need it sooner rather than later since my ancient system died. I am trying to keep around a $1300 budget for a CPU, PS, case, MB, RAM, vid card and HDD. So far I am looking at these items but am on the fence about some of the items.


- CPU ($218) = Core 2 Duo E6400
Looking to OC this, might go with an E6300 instead but I'm always worried about trying to OC a bottom of the ladder CPU.


-MB ($188) = ASUS P5B Deluxe
One of my biggest question mark, only because I might want to go SLI down the road. I want to stick with an ASUS board either way. From what little I am seeing about the nvidia 680, it sounds expensive for a lot of features I don't really need. Aside from OCing well and being stable, on board audio and ethernet is all I really need.


- Memory ($282) = 2GB Corsair CM2X1024-6400C3
Good memory for OCing up high with great latency timings.


- Case ($61) = CAC-T05-UW
I'm not in to anything special and the price is too hard to pass up.


- PS ($91) = Antec 550w
A big question mark, I have heard good things about Seasonics also and if I go SLI I will need something better for sure.


- Video card ($285) = GeForce 7950 GT 512MB
I want a good single card with the possibility for SLI later on maybe. I am thinking that 512MB on board would be better than 256MB though I won;t be running super high monitor res so maybe 256 would be better? The price difference doesn't seem to be much though


- HDD ($190) = Seagate 7200.10 (x2) 320GB in Raid 0 config
I saw numbers that this was almost as good as a 150GB WD Raptor. Obviously has a lot more space.


Any other thoughts and feedback would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[engiNURD]

If you can, wait a week. nF680sli will be expensive, but nF650sli should be more affordable. 8800gts/gtx are also due out soon, along with those nF600 boards. So... if you can, wait a couple weeks or so.

you seem to love that board, but i don't think its worth its price. yah, asus boards are great, and the p5b deluxe is no exception, but i still think its overpriced. i'd go for the ds3 or foxconn instead, if i were on a tight budget. you could also go for the p5b-e or vanilla for a little less.

if the board you get can reach 433+ fsb, get the E6300... it overclocks great. there's some g.skill ddr2-800 ram for about $210 at the egg.. I'd go for that instead. I don't think faster latency is worth $70, especially with ddr2 (you really won't notice the difference).

Seasonic PSUs are great and silent. If you're going SLI, get a 550W now, and add a 300W BoosterX GPU PSU later when you add that 2nd card in. BTW, Antec had a bad batch of PSUs go out recently, so you may need an RMA (they're great with RMAs though).

Fast drives and nice case.