PC Build

[beardo526]

A few months ago I posted about upgrading my current PC, but apparently I waited too long and now nobody sells the parts I was interested in, so it's time for a new PC build. I want to keep the total price around $800, so if you're going to suggest new parts, keep that in mind. I have no intentions of overclocking anything. I already have a monitor, keyboard, mouse, sound card, speakers/headphones, and OS.

Case - $55
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases
Cheap, simple, tool-less, black - not looking for much more in a case.

Motherboard - $110
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
Tons of good reviews, relatively cheap, really liked the PCI/PCIe slot layout. I don't need anything flashy here... it just needs to work.

Video Card - $225
Newegg.com - MSI NX8800GTS 512M OC GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
This is probably overkill for the games I play, but who knows... maybe I'll play something more graphic-intensive in the future. I compared this card to seemingly identical cards that were $25-30 more expensive. The only difference I noticed was the 1-year limited warranty as opposed to the lifetime warranty, and I also get a free game with this card (it probably sucks but free is good).

Power Supply - $70
Newegg.com - Rosewill RP600V2-S-SL 600W SLI Ready-ATX12V V2.01 Power Supply 115/230 V CSA,UL,TUV,FCC - Power Supplies
Don't need anything super powerful here. It got a lot of good reviews and seemed like a decent price.

CPU - $160
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - CPUs / Processors
Anything dual core is better than what I have now. Looking at the list of processors, I just went with the one that I thought would give me the best bang for my buck.

RAM - $80
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
RAM is cheap, so I want a lot. It just needs to work.

Hard Drive - $65
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives
Plenty big for my usage... I have an 80GB drive on my current computer and have about 50GB free. I also have a 500GB external drive, so space is not an issue.

Optical Drive - $25
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner - CD / DVD Burners
Never had a SATA optical drive before, and it was about the same price as the IDE drive I was looking at.

Total Price = $790 (shipping not included)

 

[objecterror]

This looks like a pretty solid build, core 2's are always nice and for your uses your not going to notice a lot of lag in your build. the motherboard seems to allow you some ability to change or upgrade later and so does the case.

Everything seems in shape, Sata drives(from what i hear) are quiet and the thinner wires leave for better airflow in your case.

 

[Fat.Clown]

I don't know if you bought your stuff yet

but, get the wolfdale
wolfdale chips are slightly better than conroe clock for clock
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - CPUs / Processors
@ 131.99 vs 159.99

X-bit labs - Wolfdale for Economical Enthusiasts: Core 2 Duo E7200 Review (page 5)
X-bit labs - Wolfdale for Economical Enthusiasts: Core 2 Duo E7200 Review (page 6)

any reason not choosing the new version of that mobo?
"Replaced by GA-EP35-DS3L with Dynamic Energy Saver"

another thing
I don't know if you are a newegg newsletter subscriber
but if you are,
Newegg.com - Antec earthwatts EA500 500W ATX12V v2.0 Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, FCC, TUV, CE, CB, C-tick, CCC - Power Supplies
Antec is has 80% efficiency
while rosewill only 72%
35dollar off promo code - EMCAFBDAD (today is the last day for promo code) $55 after code

 

[NightSurge]

Just a slight note, the efficiency ratings are >72%/>80%. So in other words, the Rosewill will have anywhere from 72% efficiency and GREATER, same with the Antec 80%. So it's not set at 72%, but actually will almost always be higher than that.

 

[beardo526]

I wish you would've posted sooner... I already bought my stuff last night. That processor seems like a really sweet deal though. Unfortunately my order has already shipped so I can't change it. I could just order the CPU you suggested and send the one back that I picked out, but that's too much of a hassle for me... I just want to get my computer up and running as soon as I can. I guess I'll just have to live with the fact that I paid more for a slightly inferior processor. To me it's not that big of a deal anyway... I don't do any super high-end gaming or anything like that to really notice much of a difference on a day-to-day basis.

The motherboard thing... I couldn't find a link or anything to the "Dynamic Energy Saver" version of the board, so I'm guessing they just automatically send it? Not sure exactly what the deal is there, but saving energy isn't one of my biggest concerns.

The power supply thing... 600 x .72 = 432, and 500 x .8 = 400, so... my power supply wins? Or is there more to it than that?