[Jerry_03]

Well its finally time that I upgrade my comp. my budget is about $900 (which includes the parts i already purchased and my estimated shipping fees). this is gonna be a budget gaming rig. ive done all of my homework and heres what im looking at:

*Edited because purchased PNY 8800gt, removed DVI cable as the vid card comes w/ one OCZ StealthXStream 600W as PSU considering, changed to p35 mobo, added IDE to SATA Bridge

-Case: Cool Master Centurion 5 *Already purchased, grabbed it at my local CompUSA because if i ordered it though newegg i would of paid about $60 shipping (im in Hawaii). plus there was a $30 MIR.

-Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L

-CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz
Alternative CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz

-RAM: OCZ SLI-Ready 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 *Already purchased from Newegg, grabbed it early because there was a $40 MIR.

-Video Card: PNY VCG88512GXPB G92 GeForce 8800GT 512MB *Already purhcased (Comes with DVI to VGA adapter)

-PSU: OCZ StealthXStream 600W

-HDD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 320GB

IDE to SATA Bridge: Rosewill RC-204 IDE to SATA Mini Vertical Bridge

you can view my newegg wishlist here (which are basically the same items i have listed above).

im resuing my Samsung SyncMaster 931BF 19' LCD Monitor, 2x PATA DVD+RW drives, 1x WD 500gb PATA HDD, 1x Floppy Drive, Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 SE sound card and Keyboard+Mouse.

My main reason for posting this thread is because im a first time builder and i just want to make sure all i have listed is compatible. i plan on ordering this either the week before, week of or week after christmas, depending on when i have all the money.

all the mobos listed are nForce 650i SLI chipsets, im undecided on what brand i want, either the gigabyte one or the MSI one, even though the asus one is cheaper. and im getting either of those mainly because these are the only few on newegg that have 2x PATA connectors (which i need cause as i mentioned above im reusing my old PATA DVD drivers and PATA HDD).

does anyone know if there is any real difference between the core 2 duo E6550 and the E6750 besides the higher frequencies? im leaning toward the E6750 cause it does have about 300mhz more than the E6550 but i dont know if its worth $20 more...

im unsure about the PSU, but antec is a reputable brand and im pretty sure 500W is enough for this setup. i did use this psu calculator, but im still paranoid that i might need a beefer PSU. im leaning toward the earthwatts 500W but as stated above i might get the truepower trio at compusa this week.

i might get a VGA cooler for the 8800gt as some reviews says it can run hot (any suggestions for a cooler thats compatible with the 8800gt?). however i also read a simple fix to this is tune up the stock fan's rpm using rivatuner.

Thanks in advance.

Edited by Jerry_03, 12 December 2007 - 04:46 AM.

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Alrighty, to make it simple since im running late, hehe, Go with E6750, a better PSU, if you are not planning on SLI then a P35 mobo is a better option. That Video Card is out of stock so maybe an EVGA would be better, or a BFG OC2 version. I will give more detail when I get back from school.

Soorena

[SOORENA]

Alrighty, to make it simple since im running late, hehe, Go with E6750, a better PSU, if you are not planning on SLI then a P35 mobo is a better option. That Video Card is out of stock so maybe an EVGA would be better, or a BFG OC2 version. I will give more detail when I get back from school.

Soorena

[Jerry_03]

Alrighty, to make it simple since im running late, hehe, Go with E6750, a better PSU, if you are not planning on SLI then a P35 mobo is a better option. That Video Card is out of stock so maybe an EVGA would be better, or a BFG OC2 version. I will give more detail when I get back from school.

Soorena

thanks for the reply, im going with the E6750 and i might get the Antec Truepower 550W, unless i find one that is similar in price and has more watts/amps. yeah i dont really plan on sli so ill look into the p35 but as far as im aware there arnt any p35s with 2x PATA connectors (which i need as stated in my original post), thats why i was leaning toward the 650i.

Edited by Jerry_03, 10 December 2007 - 03:59 PM.

[SOORENA]

Well if you have a good mobo you can always go with something like THIS to fix the IDE problem I have the same problem, also about leaning towards the 650i don't lean too much cause it might break and you may fall, lol. For mobo go with THIS its the cheapest and best at the moment. For the PSU get THIS you will be good for a couple of years.

Soorena

[Jerry_03]

thanks i never thought about the IDE controller. i think that will do fine! i think i will get the P35 mobo after all. as for the power supply, i decided not to get the antec truepower trio 550W, im looking at the OCZ stealthxstream 600W instead. it has almost 12 more amp than the truetrio 550 after i did some research. if i get more money then maybe ill get the stealthxstream 700W as u suggested.

also i just ordered this 8800gt from newegg. i decided
to get it because i havent seen the 8800gt in stock at newegg for that price since thanksgiving. it doesnt come with company of heroes, but i aint complaining

Edited by Jerry_03, 11 December 2007 - 01:26 AM.

[SOORENA]

Glad to see everything worked out, hope everything else goes well.

Soorena

[Jerry_03]

i just ordered the Gigabyte DS3L since i saw it in stock. i also grabbed the E6750.

so all i have left to order is the PSU, HDD and SATA to IDE bridge thingy. however i might just get a SATA DVD drive, it would only be $15 more than the IDE bridge. hopefully ill have the rest of the money by next week.

[SOORENA]

For hard drive the budget is as follows:

~ $100 = 500GB + 16Mb cache + SATA2
~ $70 = 250GB + 16Mb cache + SATA2
~ $50 = 160GB + 8MB cache + SATA2

I would suggest the 500GB since its the best deal, probably a Western Digital Caviar would do the trick.

Soorena

[Jerry_03]

thanks SOORENA, you've been most helpful

ill look into getting a 500gb instead of the 320. also i was thinking about getting one of those fancy raptor HDDs. do you think its worth it in terms of performace in games (loading)? if i do get one it'd only be the 74gig one as thats all i can fit into my budget.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136067

[james_8970]

Raptors are a big wast of money, your much better off to spend some additional money on other parts.
James

[SOORENA]

Yeah I agree just add a little more and buy 2 500Gb ones or a 320Gb if not.

Soorena

Edited by SOORENA, 16 December 2007 - 07:14 PM.

[Jerry_03]

i ordered the rest of the components earlier this week, now im just waiting for it to get here

heres the final wishlist on newegg, its more updated than the one in my original post

http://secure.newegg...tNumber=9266187

i went a little over my proposed $900 budget but thats okay cause i got a little extra money for christmas.

i went ahead and got the raptor anyways because after a bit of research, it does load faster into some games by a substantial margin, i just hope i dont regret it. also i went with the ocz gamexstream 600w psu instead of the stealthxstream cause it had more SATA connections.

[james_8970]

it does load faster into some games by a substantial margin

No it doesn't.
James

[stettybet0]

In my personal experience with a Raptor X, it loads Vista about 10 seconds more quickly than my 3.5gb/s 7200rpm drive. It offers a few seconds faster load time in games like BF2, where map loading takes a while. It also performs a Windows Search a few seconds more quickly. So, if you have the extra money and don't like waiting, you could get one, but the performance increase isn't enough to justify the price increase.

[james_8970]

it loads Vista about 10 seconds more quickly than my 3.5gb/s 7200rpm drive

Exactly your drive, but with current modern technology what would you rather, a 1TB drive for $270 that outperforms the raptor slightly (aside from seek time), or a Raptor for $230 that only has the capacity of a sad 150GB. To me, the answer is clear, no raptors.
James