Critique this prospective build :)

[JT11]

This is the first time I've decided to try and build a computer (It's about time I get a new one and I want control of what goes in it). Since my 4-5 year old comp isn't really cutting it anymore I'm looking to build something new. I'm looking to build a fairly high end gaming machine for under $1,200.00 (It can go over).

So basically I want you guys to pick apart my list. Please don't be gentle with this list because I know there's most likely at least 1 part that could be replaced by something better.

Anything indented is something I considered but for one reason or another decided not to buy. The reason is listed next to the product.

CPU $322.00
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115003

MOTHERBOARD NOTES: I would like something with quad core support.

MOTHERBOARD $129.99: Newegg is out
ASUS P5N-E SLI Socket T (LGA 775) NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131142

MOTHERBOARD $126.99
ASUS P5B LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131030

RAM $259.99: Not so sure about this choice.
G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL6S-2GBMQ - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820231111

VIDEO CARD $279.99
eVGA 512-P2-N637-AR GeForce 7950GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP KO Superclocked Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130066

HARD DRIVE $149.99
SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822152052

DRIVES:???

POWER SUPPLY $99.99: Found out Raidmax is a bad choice (Note to self: CHANGE THIS PART!!!)
RAIDMAX RX-630A ATX12V/ EPS12V 630W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817152026

POWER SUPPLY $184.99
SILVERSTONE SST-ST75ZF ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V 750W Power Supply 90 - 264 V OCP,OVP,SCP,NLO - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817256006

CASE $69.99
APEVIA X-CRUISER-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811144151

KEYBOARD $44.99: Pretty cool gaming keyboard
Wolf King Timber Wolf KBWOLDK2588U Black & White 87+40 Normal Keys 8 Function Keys USB Ergonomics Keyboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16823146003

MOUSE:???

HEADPHONES:???
_______________________________________________________________________________

TOTAL (So far): $1,434.93 (Without MIRs)
_______________________________________________________________________________

I was aiming to get under $1,200.00, but I got pretty close. It was fairly important that I had a better motherboard for future quad core expansions and what not.

Actually I just check again and the total is $1,217.94. Some of the prices changed around slightly. There may also be rebates I didnÂ’t take into consideration.

Updated some of the partsÂ…heh, didnÂ’t make it as close to $1200, but thatÂ’s the cost of a better graphics card .



NOTES:
______
-I want at least 1x2gb stick of ram (1x2b is more preferable than 2x1gb...seing as how I'll eventually upgrade to a maximum of 8gbs of ram...even though it will be a while until software requires it).
-I plan to use the drives off of my old comp.-Scratch that, my bro wanted my drives to burn some DvD (Yay piracy), yes heÂ’s ****ing retarded. O well, IÂ’m giving him the comp anyways.
-I plan to create Flash cartoons, so possibly a soundcard

A nice set of wireless headphones would be cool too. Any ideas?

Also looking at gaming mice and keyboards.



P.S. The fan the power supply of my old comp died so I took the side off and am currently running a fan on it . I tried replacing it with an older power supply my brother had tried, but it didn't work. Then he wanted me to try another but I figured I would just put my original one back in and figure out the problem (at the time I didn't know it was the fan , I thought the power supply was just dying). Ended up running it and looking inside of the comp with a flashlight. I soon noticed the problem and did some tests to see if it would overheat and shut off. It did. So I grabbed a fan and ran it on the power supply, with the case off, to see if the lowest setting would help, it did (Although, I am not running the fan on the lowest setting). Lol.

I would say this happened about a week ago.

P.S.S. I revised this post a few times before I posted it (Especially after reading your forums). Hehe, Raidmax.

P.S.S.S. (lolz) For some reason I favored Intel over AMD, secretly, for a whileÂ…I always thought the system I ran on was Intel, turns out to be AMD, lol. No wonder my 1.8ghz chip kept me playing games for so long .

I revised this a few times in Word soÂ…it probably doesnÂ’t make some sense. I also refused to revise certain parts of it. Weird, I know (I basically just added onto it instead of editing it (except in some places)Â…so it probably contradicts itself). Just tell me if you need something elaborated.


Questions:
WhatÂ’s better, 2x1gb or 1x2gb when it comes to ram? IÂ’m assuming 1x2bÂ…but eventually I would have to replace them with 2x2gb sticks to achieve the max of 8gb.


Cure me of my ignorance.


I'll make this a bit easier to read in a bit.

 

[b1gapl]

2x1gb is better because, unlike 1x2gb, they'll run in dual channel. You can always sell them later and upgrade.

Heres a nice gaming mouse:
Logitech MX518 931352-0403 2-Tone 8 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB + PS/2 Wired Optical Mouse - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16826104178

A 750W power supply, is too much for your system. Get this instead:
OCZ GameXStream OCZ600GXSSLI ATX12V 600W Power Supply 100 - 240 V CB/CE/CSA/UL/FCC - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817341001

lol....that 500GB for only $149.99 is kinda too good to be true. But...not bad reviews. I don't know about samsung's reputation for hard drives.

 

[JT11]

Ya, I'm trusting the reviewers there...5 golden eggs...

 

[FourTwenny]

Good processor, same one i chose.

The evga 680i supports quad cores.I read about the issues with the evga and the solution is flashing your bios and updating the drivers. So i recommend the evga motherboard.

I am under the belief that the more memory the better, but i think there is a limit to what todays motherboards use anyways. I am not positive about this so please read into a bit more before buying. If i remember right i think the most memory you will ever use with the e6600 is 3.2 gigs. Like i said though i am not positive on this. Even if you were getting a quad core now 2 gigs would be enough. Its not just the size either, it's the speed. You chose 800 mhz speed. Thats a **** fast speed, but they just came out with 1200mhz memmory. If you looking for somethign that you will still have when you get a quad core i recommend getting 2x1gig sticks of that 1156 or 1200 mhz ram. OCZ makes water cooled flex ram.

Good video card, kind of middle of the road though. Not the best out there and not all to cheap. Personally i would either go with a 8800 or a 7600, to either go all out or actually save some money.

I don't care what anyone says about samsung hdds. I got one in the computer i am using right now. I beat the **** out of it for over 3 years now and it still works flawlessly. Awesome pick on hdd.

I have never heard of silverstone before, not saying they are bad. When buying a power supply ( psu ) the main things youw ant to look for are A - Its around 85% efficient. B - Your 12v rails have at leaste 30 amps. Honestly the more power the better. With a quad core if you get one down the road and sli gpu you will need a lot of power. Personally i am going either with a 750w supply and 250w drive bay, or a 850 w monster.

Lol i just ot that exact case in the mail except mine is blue. Awesome case. Feels a bit flimsy and a little cheap but looks awesome and is strong enough. Good airflow set up in it too.

Keyboard mouse and headphones is all a personal thing. Well the mouse has specs, just get something with a high dpi and that looks pretty to you, seeing how you chose the same case as me you might want to look into Razer Copperhead, caught my eye plus 2000dpi.

 

[Phrantic]

You're thinking about getting a soundcard, just a word of advice, most Creative soundcards work really bad with Nvidia chipsets. Your motherboard has a Nvidia chipset so you might want to do a little research on that, or get another soundcard (or another motherboard of course).
From what I've read the P5N is alright, the P5B is the start of something special but for a really good quality overclockable board you should take it a little step higher at P5B-E or P5B Deluxe.

That memory is very pricey for those latencies in my opinion. But I guess that is the cost of wanting to have one 2GB stick. But do you really want that? Why don't you just buy 2x1GB and run dual channel, I can assure you that you will not need 8GB for a looooong time. And by the time you need it, you might be thinking about a whole new computer upgrade. I know you're fairly demanding with memory, but I think 4x1GB would be a good enough solution. I've recently learnt (on this forum ) that smaller memory overclocks better, so that's another thing for ya; dual channel, low timings and high overclockability. This would be a fantastic set but maybe the board won't boot with that memory by default since it requires high voltage. Otherwise this set should be nice.

The power supply is a little pricy, this will treat you right. It could easily run SLi probably at a lower wattage even, but this is just to make sure that it's future proof.

That would make...

Core 2 Duo E6600: $318
Asus P5B-E: $151
G.SKILL PC2-6400 2x1GB: $230
eVGA 7950GT 512MB: $280
Samsung Spinpoint 500GB: $150
Hiper 580W SLi: $85
Apevia X-Cruiser: $70
Wolf King Keyboard: $45
_______________________

Total: $1,329

If I were to save money on this, I'd drop $128 for the Core 2 Duo E6300 to get to $1,201. Although you might want an aftermarket cooler then so you can overclock it to E6600 speeds and higher.

EDIT: It could actually be $1,200 since I rounded all the numbers.

EDIT 2: I'd just like to add that you might want to drop some of your demands if you want to stay under $1,200. 8GB memory is a bit unrealistic and reconsider wanting that extraordinary keyboard, wireless headphones and a soundcard. Raise your budget if you want all of that.

 

[saltynay]

unrelated to thread

WTF???? the e6600 is £200 in the uk and u can get for £107 i hate living in the uk and building a pc it barely makes it worth it i result in a computer which is £150 cheaper whilst u save tons of cash.

Matt

 

[JT11]

I hope you converted the math to pounds.

 

[JT11]

Anymore suggestions?

 

[TriEclipse]

Here are some suggestions that will help you shave off a few dollars (except for the motherboard) while offering better performance;

Motherboard - ASUS P5B-E ($151) - Neither the P5N-E nor the vanilla P5B are especially great overclockers.

Memory - 2 x 1GB G.Skill DR2-800 4-4-4-12 ($225) - Better than the one you have listed, but for cheaper. The one you're getting right now is painfully slow at 6-6-6-18.

Power Supply - Hiper 580W ($85) - The one you have listed currently is way overkill for your system. Even this one is overkill, but its still sensible. Read this if you're still unsure.

 

[JT11]

My only concern is that the P5B-E doesn't support quad cores.