I have a situation on my friend's build

[dhgunit]

Here is what I had:

Also, I have a Q6600. Are the Intel April 20th price drops still happening? If so, and the Q6700 does actually get down to $270, I will probably go with that instead.

CASE: Newegg.com - RAIDMAX Smilodon Extreme Black ATX-612WEB SECC STEEL ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

MOTHERBOARD: Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

CPU: Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor - CPUs / Processors

CPU HS&F: Newegg.com - ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks

RAM: Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

GPU: Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics

PSU: Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX ATX12V / EPS12V 650W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CE, CB, TUV, FCC, CCC - Power Supplies

HDD: Newegg.com - SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

DVD Burner: 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

OS: Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - Operating Systems


That was about $1250. I needed to get it down to about $1,000. I changed the case to the same one with an included 500 watt PSU, saved about $110. That will work until it either dies or he gets paid again to buy a new one. Went from the 4GB RAM down to the 2GB Crucial Tracer RAM to save some more.

ANYWAYS.

His ex-gf is moving out and jacking his TV and computer like the .........girl she is, and he has $2000 to spend. He is going to use his TV as a monitor, but he needs to buy a TV. What $800 to $1200 TV would you guys recommend from newegg and will it work well as a monitor? Any suggestions would be great for the entire system, just keep it around $2000.

 

[aspire]

Get a 9600gt instead of the 8800gt.
Get 2 gb of cheaper ram. Tracers are pretty and all but you pay out the nose for them.

Definitely get a solid psu and trash the crappy one from the case.
A 500W one should do him fine. Look at FSP, OCZ, Corsair, Seasonic.

Get the Xigmatek rifle cpu cooler and save some more money.

 

[dhgunit]

I want to overclock the Q6600 (or maybe Q6700 with price drop) like crazy, and I thought those Tracers would be good for that. Recommendations on some cheaper RAM that will overclock well?

Believe me, I HATE going cheap on the PSU. With the $50 going down to a 9600GT I believe we gained some money for a solid PSU. I was planning on having him replace it anyways, since that PSU was basically $5.

I am a Zalman fanboy, but I will check out that cooler.


I appreciate the help, but I was wondering more about the TV aspect of it. Will the 9600GT be able to handle a 1080P TV? Here are some of the ones I have been looking at.

Newegg.com - SHARP AQUOS 37" 16:9 6ms 1080p LCD HDTV w/ATSC Tuner LC37D62U

Newegg.com - JVC GENESSA 37" 16:9 5ms 1080p LCD HDTV LT-37X688

Newegg.com - Olevia 37" 16:9 8ms State-of-the-Art LCD HDTV W/ ATSC Tuner Inside 537H

The Olevia is a 720P TV, would he be better of sacrificing the 1080P?

 

[aspire]

As long as he's no planning on running crysis at ultra high res he should be fine.

Hmmm, just noticed the no sli motherboard....

Consider a 680i A1 board or similar to get sli functionality.
Otherwise it might be smart to drop a bit more on a higher end gfx card. I.e. the 8800gts 512.

 

[dhgunit]

I did end up taking your advice on the Xigmatek, isn't it a cheaper Tuniq Tower clone with about the same performance?

I think I am going to keep the Tracers though, there is a $25 rebate with them.

Are you thinking a 9600GT won't be able to handle the 37" TV? Or the resolution of 1080P actually?

 

[aspire]

Panel size doesn't matter. The resolution is what does.

A single 9600gt might have some trouble running games at high settings at the lcd's native resolution.

 

[dhgunit]

Alright.....I am going to have some trouble fitting in an 8800GTS 512MB and the $100-$125 Corasair PSU though.

This build will probably actually take place at the end of April though, is there any price drops for nVidia cards happening soon?