New Member, New build

[billy5772]

Hi. I've been looking around this forum for a bit and I've collected these parts that I think I want to put into my first gaming/high-performance PC. There are still some things I'm not sure about. If you can point out any incompatibilities, bottle-necks to component performance, I'd be very appreciative.

Motherboard:

XFX nForce 780i 3-Way SLI Motherboard - $259.99

Graphics Card

XFX GeForce 8800 GTX Video Card - FREE Lost Planet: Extreme Condition PC Game, 768MB GDDR3, SLI Ready, PCI Express - $349.99

CPU

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 Processor BX80562Q6700 - 2.66GHz, 8MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB, Kentsfield, Quad-Core, Retail, Socket 775 - $579.99 comes with fan.

CPU cooler

Thermal Electric CPU Cooler - $129.99 Is this component even necessary? I don't think I want to overclock

RAM

OCZ SLI-Ready Dual Channel 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory (2x2048MB)- $94.99

Hard Drive

Samsung Spinpoint T166 500GB Hard Drive - 7200, 16MB, Serial ATA-300, OEM - $109.99

Disc Drive

Philips SPD6104BD LightScribe Internal Drive DVD Burner - 20X DVD±R, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+RW, 48x24x CD-R/RW, SATA - $44.99

Case & PSU

Ultra Black Aluminus ATX Mid-Tower Case with Clear Side, Front USB, Firewire, Audio Ports and Ultra 700-Watt XVS Power Supply - $139.99

Is 700 Watts enough? Should I look for a standalone powersupply?

Two 120 mm fans


So that's all I have gathered so far. it amounts to around $1730 before tax.

I know that I need a sound card and monitor too, but I don't really care about sound so I think i'll cheap out on that. And a decent monitor with 1680x1050 would be nice between $200 and $300.

This is so much to ask, but I really don't want to order these and then they not work together or just make a bad decision in parts. Help would be wonderful!

 

[Gustave5436]

Get a (G92) GTS, it's only very slightly inferior to a GTX but a lot cheaper (one for $260 after rebate on newegg, for example.)

For motherboard get a gigabyte ds3l.

CPU, get a Q6600 and then you can easily overclock it to 3 ghz on stock volts and then it's better than the Q6700.

CPU heatsink I suggest an arctic cooling freezer 7, much cheaper and if you decide you want to overclock it will let you do at least some mild overclocking.

Generally I'd avoid power supplies that come with cases, if you decide to get one separate of a case a 520hx should be more than enough for a single GTS and a Q6600. An Antec 900 would be a nice case.

Edit: updated with links

 

[billy5772]

I do want to take advantage of the SLi capability in the future. I might add another graphics card down the road. Is there a better SLI-capable motherboard than the one i linked?

Also, how safe is overclocking? i'm pretty much a complete novice. Is it something that I can do easily with the right amount of cooling?

 

[stalin90]

overclocking decreases your cpu's lifetime from 100 years to 50 years(if done right) unless you go overboard, read up and ask questions, alot of questions, before you do it.

AF7 cooler like stated above will do you find why pay $130 for a hsf

also use newegg.
get the 8800gts 512 like stated above

SLI-Ready Memory just means that they slapped a sticker on it and upped the price

EDIT: and u might look into evga they have a pretty good warrenty and 90 day upgrade plan

EDIT2: get the q6600

 

[Gustave5436]

I do want to take advantage of the SLi capability in the future. I might add another graphics card down the road. Is there a better SLI-capable motherboard than the one i linked?

Also, how safe is overclocking? i'm pretty much a complete novice. Is it something that I can do easily with the right amount of cooling?

It's probably a better idea to just sell your current graphics card and buy a new one in the future if you want to upgrade, SLI isn't really that great and it makes you buy an expensive motherboard.

Quite safe. You shouldn't even have to increase the voltage to get to 3 ghz so at least you could get to that without much risk of damaging anything.

 

[Invisible]

Motherboard:

XFX nForce 780i 3-Way SLI Motherboard - $259.99

this is unnecessary because if your only on a 22'' you won't want SLI
get this mobo
Newegg.com - ABIT IP35-E LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
or this if you want RAID
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Dynamic Energy Saver Ultra Durable II Intel Motherboard - Retail

Graphics Card

XFX GeForce 8800 GTX Video Card - FREE Lost Planet: Extreme Condition PC Game, 768MB GDDR3, SLI Ready, PCI Express - $349.99

get this card its cheaper and performs just about as good
Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N841-AR GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 Processor BX80562Q6700 - 2.66GHz, 8MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB, Kentsfield, Quad-Core, Retail, Socket 775 - $579.99 comes with fan.

way overkill dude, this one is better than that one and is cheaper (its better because its G0 stepping and can OC higher)
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor - OEM

CPU cooler

Thermal Electric CPU Cooler - $129.99 Is this component even necessary? I don't think I want to overclock

if you dont wanna overclock this is fine
Newegg.com - ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail


RAM

OCZ SLI-Ready Dual Channel 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory (2x2048MB)- $94.99

Hard Drive

Samsung Spinpoint T166 500GB Hard Drive - 7200, 16MB, Serial ATA-300, OEM - $109.99

you can get a faster more reliable drive for not much more, it also has double the Cache
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA-300 Hard Drive - OEM

Disc Drive

Case & PSU

Ultra Black Aluminus ATX Mid-Tower Case with Clear Side, Front USB, Firewire, Audio Ports and Ultra 700-Watt XVS Power Supply - $139.99

Is 700 Watts enough? Should I look for a standalone powersupply?

always use a stand alone power supply, this one should power your system with ease
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Retail

So that's all I have gathered so far. it amounts to around $1730 before tax.

I know that I need a sound card and monitor too, but I don't really care about sound so I think i'll cheap out on that. And a decent monitor with 1680x1050 would be nice between $200 and $300.

This is so much to ask, but I really don't want to order these and then they not work together or just make a bad decision in parts. Help would be wonderful!

here's a wonderful monitor
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22" 2 ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 700:1(DC 3000:1) - Retail