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I'm (still) trying to finalize my specs for a new PC (yay for new builds!) I haven't been an OCer in the past but I want to try my hand at it with a buddy over a beer-filled weekend building a new PC.... but I'm a bit short on knowledge to finish up the pseudo-spending spree. This is meant to be a gamer rig, non-SLI/CF with serious updates to my old spec (Athlon 64 3800+ w/ 2GB RAM and a Radeon 9800 256MB), which is 2 years old. There will be no salvage from an old PC--this is all new parts, as I describe below....
(I tried to truncate the entries a bit, but left enough in so it could still be recognized what I am interested in)
- GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 Motherboard
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
- G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) (CL4)
- SAPPHIRE 100177L Radeon X1950XTX 512MB GDDR4 PCI-E x16 CrossFire-Ready
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 7200 RPM SATA (Perp. Tech)
....this gets me to around $1200, and I want to keep it under $1500 (under $1400 would be a nice bonus, but not necessary).
Two questions based on the items above:
1. Is the video card over the top? (I'm guessing not, but can never be too sure) It's currently the most expensive piece in the entire setup, and that just feels "weird", for lack of a better term. Not sure why it's making my hairs stand up all funky but some reassurance or insight wouldn't hurt at this point!
2. I listed my current$ vs. cap$ up above, and there should be sufficient space to fit in a power supply, a case (windowed seems to be the direction I'm leaning, for obvious cosmetic reasons) and I'll probably need a good heat sink to replace the stock one (and $5 for the AS5 =] ) The case and power supply seem to be the biggest points of contention between me and the guy who's tossing suggestions my way--every time I find a case it's too expensive because it comes with a crappy PS, and every time he finds a nice bare-bones one it's over-budget because it's TOO cosmetic and doesn't leave enough in the budget for a good PS and the other accessories. The video card I have listed is going to require 30A on the +12V, and with these newer PS' out there I'm having a difficult time understanding some of the 'splitting' involved, and how that changes whether or not the PS is what will be required for the video card. (Finally the question) Suggestions/recommendations/personal experiences on a PS and Case?
3. (the hidden bonus or 'X' factor) I have a $150 gift card for Circuit City that doesn't add in to my final total above.... that I can use !!IF!! I can find something at Circuit City that fits in with this setup. (I spent over an hour walking through tonight and didn't come up with anything except a DVD Writer, but didn't buy it since I still can't decide what color the case should be)
Ideally I want to finish up my Newegg cart and get this ordered so it can be here by next Friday at the latest. Asking for suggestions isn't something that comes easy to me--I prefer to do my own research, and after browsing over the power supply FAQ's and reading through spec after spec I decided to defer this to the forum jockeys in the hopes that someone can sway me one way or another.
Thanks for any advice provided!
(I tried to truncate the entries a bit, but left enough in so it could still be recognized what I am interested in)
- GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 Motherboard
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
- G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) (CL4)
- SAPPHIRE 100177L Radeon X1950XTX 512MB GDDR4 PCI-E x16 CrossFire-Ready
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 7200 RPM SATA (Perp. Tech)
....this gets me to around $1200, and I want to keep it under $1500 (under $1400 would be a nice bonus, but not necessary).
Two questions based on the items above:
1. Is the video card over the top? (I'm guessing not, but can never be too sure) It's currently the most expensive piece in the entire setup, and that just feels "weird", for lack of a better term. Not sure why it's making my hairs stand up all funky but some reassurance or insight wouldn't hurt at this point!
2. I listed my current$ vs. cap$ up above, and there should be sufficient space to fit in a power supply, a case (windowed seems to be the direction I'm leaning, for obvious cosmetic reasons) and I'll probably need a good heat sink to replace the stock one (and $5 for the AS5 =] ) The case and power supply seem to be the biggest points of contention between me and the guy who's tossing suggestions my way--every time I find a case it's too expensive because it comes with a crappy PS, and every time he finds a nice bare-bones one it's over-budget because it's TOO cosmetic and doesn't leave enough in the budget for a good PS and the other accessories. The video card I have listed is going to require 30A on the +12V, and with these newer PS' out there I'm having a difficult time understanding some of the 'splitting' involved, and how that changes whether or not the PS is what will be required for the video card. (Finally the question) Suggestions/recommendations/personal experiences on a PS and Case?
3. (the hidden bonus or 'X' factor) I have a $150 gift card for Circuit City that doesn't add in to my final total above.... that I can use !!IF!! I can find something at Circuit City that fits in with this setup. (I spent over an hour walking through tonight and didn't come up with anything except a DVD Writer, but didn't buy it since I still can't decide what color the case should be)
Ideally I want to finish up my Newegg cart and get this ordered so it can be here by next Friday at the latest. Asking for suggestions isn't something that comes easy to me--I prefer to do my own research, and after browsing over the power supply FAQ's and reading through spec after spec I decided to defer this to the forum jockeys in the hopes that someone can sway me one way or another.
Thanks for any advice provided!
Though, I'd wait wait for the 8800GTS still. If anything, it'll push current prices down.