Noob needing help

[cshaw419]

I have been checking out this forum (along with a few others) for a week or so. Everyone seems very helpful and knowledeable. So if you could help me out with building my first higher end PC I would be very grateful. So this is what I have in mind:

Case: RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WBP Black SECC STEEL ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811156062
Mobo: ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131045
Video: eVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130071
PSU: OCZ GameXStream OCZ600GXSSLI ATX12V 600W Power Supply - Retail http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817341001
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115003
RAM: A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model ADQVE1A16K
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820211066
HD: Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822136012
Monitor: SAMSUNG 941BW Black 19" 4 ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16824001088
CD/DVD: ASUS Combo Drive Beige E-IDE/ATAPI Model CB-5216AG - Retail http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16827135075
CPU cooling: ZALMAN 7700-AlCu LED 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835118018

Now what I really need help with is whether or not all of this will be compatible. Also, am I missing anything? Fans? I was unsure about the RAM as I have never heard of the company before, anyone have any experiences with them? Do I need the PSU or will the PSU on the case be enough? If the PSU on the case isn't enough should I be looking at a different case or do all cases have a PSU on them? I am trying to stay under $2,000 and so far I have been able to.

Basically I just want people to tell me I am a noob, what I am not thinking about, where I have made blatant mistakes so that I can learn from it. I have tried researching everything to the best of my abilities prior to posting this but I assume most the people of this forum have a lot more experience with the building of computers.

I have speakers, I actually have several other CD/DVD RW drives that I can use, OS is covered, keyboard, mouse.

Thanks in advance.

 

[alexsabree]

Well... i wouldnt suggest buying a cheap brand when it comes to ram. Usually they are more prone to becoming incompatible or defective.

I also wanted to point out that you got a raptor....
Im not a fan of raptors so let me say this, raptors dont increase game FPS (frames per second) nor game performance in general. They only increase how fast something can be written on the harddrive. Example: moving files and music

The cd drive you got doesnt burn DVD's and most combo drives dont play dvds that well. So just get DVD burner... they play and burn regular cd's too.

Optional:
Sound Card... i like the Xfi-XtremeMusic, so if you have any extra money left over i would consider buying an xfi or audigy zs

 

[Nukem]

agree with the raptor... I have a few of them, but the timing is the only advantage... you could get 2 of these and RAID them... not only have money, but increase storage as well...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148144

A data is ok, but you could go with this and get better sticks.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227124

better monitor for a couple of more bucks... (if you don't order by the end date)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824236016

also recommend this... the heatpipes make for better cooling
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118003

 

[cshaw419]

Thanks for the advice so far, I didn't know that about the HD's. I have never set up or had RAID, is there anything I need to know about that as far as what else I would need to purchase? Also, it seems like I could save money buy moving to an AMD over Intel, anyone have any thoughts about that? By making that move I could get a better monitor which would obviously be great.

 

[Private_Shon]

na core 2s are great right now, they overclock and use little power. if you wanna save money don't use raptors, the performance increase is like 2ms over a 500GB 7,200RPM. not much difference at all if your gaming.

try dropping back from the HDD and spending the money on some good brand RAM and ur monitor.

 

[TriEclipse]

I don't trust A-DATA, go with the 2 x 1GB G.Skill DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 kit.

Drop PSU to Antec True Power Trio 550W, you won't need any more.

Keep the Raptor, Games are the one place where they shine, I have no idea what Shon's talking about.

 

[cshaw419]

Thanks again for the replies. I have another question (again I am a noob so bear with me), what benefits does ASUS P5B Deluxe have over the ASUS P5B-E and the regular ASUS P5B?

 

[TriEclipse]

The P5B-E is simply an enhanced/improved motherboard over the vanilla P5B. The vanilla version is nothing special, basically. The P5B Deluxe has SLI capability over the P5B-E, as well as being able to take the memory voltage as high as 2.45v, compared with the relatively complacent 2.1v on the P5B-E. The higher voltage can be useful in overclocking the memory, although should not be a major factor if you already own DDR2-800 memory spec'd to run at 2.1v.

 

[cshaw419]

The P5B-E is simply an enhanced/improved motherboard over the vanilla P5B. The vanilla version is nothing special, basically. The P5B Deluxe has SLI capability over the P5B-E, as well as being able to take the memory voltage as high as 2.45v, compared with the relatively complacent 2.1v on the P5B-E. The higher voltage can be useful in overclocking the memory, although should not be a major factor if you already own DDR2-800 memory spec'd to run at 2.1v.

Thanks for that. I also found a a review (after lots of searching) that compared all of the P5B boards. Here is the link just in case anyone read my question and wondered the same thing:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/408

Any opinion on which one I would need with the set up I had listed above? If I wanted to set up RAID it seems like the P5B-E has more options but I would assume I would be setting up RAID-0 and that is supported on all of them. I would assume that with the 8800 GTS I wouldn't be using SLI anytime in the near futured, so I think I will rule out the Delux and concider either the P5B or the P5B-E.

 

[TriEclipse]

Rule out the P5B, its just not a motherboard that I would recommend.

That's for the link. It looks good, I'll read through it in the morning (3:26am).

Even though you have an 8800GTS, do you think you'll want to add another one in the future, if the card starts to lose it's top-end position? If you do, then get the P5B Deluxe. If not, then go ahead and get the P5B-E with only one PCI-E slot. Yes, I'm very sure that RAID 0 is supported on all of them.