how's this for a final build?

[jasonstrapec]

-- SILVERSTONE TJ10-BW Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case

-- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3400620AS 400GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

-- G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL4D-4GBPI-B

-- EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

-- Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400

-- Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD

-- Rosewill RFA-120-RL 120mm 4 Red LEDs LED Case Fan X2

-- ZALMAN 9500A 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

-- EVGA 8800GT X2 (currently owned)

-- Thermaltake 1000w Toughpower PSU (currently owned)

-- DVD rw drive and CD rw drives (currently owned)

What do you guys think?

-jason

 

[saltynay]

Its great although I would swap out the zalman for a arctic freezer 7 or Thermaltake ultra 120 or sunbeam core contact.

 

[jasonstrapec]

Its great although I would swap out the zalman for a arctic freezer 7 or Thermaltake ultra 120 or sunbeam core contact.

what is better about those heat sinks vs. the zalman?

 

[saltynay]

Price/performance the Zalman 9500 is ok I have one but I got it because of height limitations rather then pure performance decision. The Arctic freezer is very good and will cool a stock or slightly overclocked cpu very comfortably the other to are pretty large and are great for high overclocks.

 

[Evolv]

Do you plan on going SLI in the future? If not I would suggest a good P45 board for that E8400. 780i has a lot of vdrooping, and would only recommend if you're set on going SLI.

This is pretty much the best cooler on the market, and a good deal:
Newegg.com - Sunbeam CR-CCTF 120mm "Core Contact Freezer" CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

 

[saltynay]

I have found the 780i asus striker 2 formula to be very good at overclocking just pushed my E6600 to 3.6ghz without issues i.e. vdropping.

 

[Evolv]

I have found the 780i asus striker 2 formula to be very good at overclocking just pushed my E6600 to 3.6ghz without issues i.e. vdropping.

I had experience with a Evga 780i, and didn't like it. Had some overclocking issues caused from some vdroop and it was real picky on ram and major issues using P03 bios. I would assume the Asus Striker 2 should be good at overclocking, I've always liked Asus boards.

 

[saltynay]

There were a lot of problems with both the Asus 780i and the Evga when they first came out and more or less upto a month ago however the latest bios's are great and seem to of got rid of the bugs. Lots of people have found Asus embracing its stellar reputation to much and quality control dropped in the first half of the year so many of there products were buggy. Good thing for me as there are loads of B-grades floating around which I am quite happy to get for 50% discount.