[ShaneBelanger]

hey all, this is primarily a gaming computer build but i'm on a budget so if I can save some $ w/o sacrificing that much performance by all means!

optical drive:
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827151154

Case:
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811133021

Hard Drive (500 GB)
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136073

22" monitor:
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16824001268

Vid Card: 9800GTX (OC):
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814130349

PSU:
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817182069

Mouse:
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16826104178

Thermal Compound:
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835100007

Ram (4GB)
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145034

Mouse Pad:
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817114203

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131280

CPU (Quad Core!!):
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103249

Any help is really appreciated... like i said i'm on a budget so...

Thanks,
Shane Belanger

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Well your spending $150 on a case?!?!? lol, you can cut back there, and do you have any old pc you can grab some stuff off?

cheaper case might mean you can afford 8gb of memory for that mother board!!!

[Timotay]

Well your spending $150 on a case?!?!? lol, you can cut back there, and do you have any old pc you can grab some stuff off?

cheaper case might mean you can afford 8gb of memory for that mother board!!!

[Troy]

cheaper case might mean you can afford 8gb of memory for that mother board!!!

...and 8GB is going to give a performance increase? The case was a good point to pick up on, Timotay. I just don't see how using the extra money to increase the memory to 8GB is going to give a performance increase for the money.

If you're interested in saving some money, you could grab this graphics card and overclock it yourself.

If you can find it in stock, the Antec 300 is a very nice case for the price, much cheaper.

I truly believe you'll get better performance from an Intel processor and motherboard combination. I suggest the Q9300 with this Gigabyte motherboard.

If you want 4GB of RAM, get it in a 2x 2GB stick set. This G.SKILL set is very nice, and would go well with the parts selected so far.

Finally, spending that much money on a Rosewill PSU is not wise. You'd be much better off choosing a high-quality unit. I would choose one of these, most probably the 750W version. There's great savings on those Corsairs at the moment. One of our own site administrators has done a review on the 750W unit, you can read his thoughts on the unit here.

Cheers

Troy

[Timotay]

...and 8GB is going to give a performance increase?

maybe.... i just like lots of ram

[ShaneBelanger]

hey, thanks a lot for the fast replies fellas! Will that processor or mobo bottleneck that gfx card? I read somethin online about how anything under 3.7 GHZ is going to bottle neck that card, but I'm not sure if the person was talkin single core of quad or what?? But yeah, thanks for the help so far guys!! Is it weird to say that I love you guys? haha :-)

Oh and how is the on-board audio with that mobo? As well as what about SLI? Is it worth it, will I ever need to do that? I dunno guys, i'm confused haha

Edited by ShaneBelanger, 29 May 2008 - 10:58 AM.

[Troy]

Hi again,

I don't believe you will experience a bottle neck with those kinds of components. Even if you do, you're still going to be getting awesome performance, and probably wouldn't notice it!

Erm yes love is weird, just say thanks...

Onboard audio these days is extremely good. Only bother with a discrete audio card if you are a complete audiophile (audio nutcase), or have a proper surround sound speaker system to connect to your computer. Seeing as you're on a budget, the onboard audio will be fine.

SLI is for users who aren't worried about budget restrictions. Don't worry about it for now, especially on your budget. If you think you'd like to add another card and run SLI in the future, just sell your current card and upgrade it to the newest one out.

And to Timotay, lots of RAM is good if you need it, but if you don't need it, adding more won't give you any more performance gains. 4GB should be more than plenty for this build. In my system, for example, I have considered "upgrading" from 2GB to 4GB, but I cannot see how it will help because the most I've ever seen my computer using was 1.6GB (and that was extreme multi-tasking and 3D gaming at the same time, to see how much I could use). So for my uses, upgrading to 4GB would mean I'd still only use (maximum)... - you guessed it, 1.6GB. Somebody else's uses may result in a different story, however, so everybody needs to work it out for themselves.

Cheers

Troy

[ShaneBelanger]

hey guys, what do you think about this cpu: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115043 compared to this cpu: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115017
Or is this an even better choice: http://www.newegg.co...x...2&Tpk=q9450

Also, I have a 64 bit windows professional sitting here should I use that or buy a new OS? (Vista somethin???)

And what do you think about this ram: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231148 compared to this ram: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231122

It looks like one is a newer model for less money??!!

Is this a better case? http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811129021

And this is the power supply that you recommended so I chose it! :-) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139006

Also you chose this mobo so it's the one i'm going with: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128337

So yeah, in a nutshell were these good swaps? (I know that some of them were because you picked them) But basically about the cpu and ram, and will they be compatible with the mobo? I also saved 50 bucks on my vid card because I didn't get the OC'd version. I'm also sticking with EVGA in hopes that when the GT200?'s come out I can use their step-up program! (if i have any money haha)

Thanks so much guys!
-Shane

Edited by ShaneBelanger, 01 June 2008 - 03:11 PM.

[Troy]

Hi there,

I would choose the Q9300 processor.

The differences between the two sets of RAM is in the timings (and therefore, voltages), the $94 set runs at tighter timings and would be my personal choice - considering your budget, however, there wouldn't be much noticeable difference in it, so grab the other set.

I would personally grab Vista x64, as XP Pro x64 was noted for its horrible driver support.

The Antec 900 is a good case, although you just have to watch out for dust! As it moves a lot of air, you'll need to clean it out fairly regularly.

And good choices on the PSU and motherboard!

Cheers

Troy

[ShaneBelanger]

seeing as this is primarily a gaming computer... would i be better off going with a dual core cpu?? I have been googling this for a little while and it seems like the faster dual cores are getting better fps on games? Sorry for throwing this wrench into the mix... :-(

And whats this thing i read about how having a fast fsb on your processor won't do anything unless you have DDR3 ram and a DDR3 compliant mobo? I did a quick newegg or DDR3 and [bleep], the timings are like 9-9-9-27, isn't that slower than say 4-4-4-12? Is it worth it? Again i'm trying to get the best bang for my buck but bringing the price down would be wonderful haha

Edited by ShaneBelanger, 02 June 2008 - 01:59 PM.

[Troy]

Hi there,

Yes - an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 comes at a standard clock speed of 3GHz, and I believe this would be a better option for you if you aren't overclocking.

The FSB on a processor always works...

DDR3 RAM is expensive, and yes - the timings are still too slow. A fast set of DDR2 would be the way to go, so I would recommend keeping the RAM you selected and choosing a different motherboard.

Cheers

Troy

[ShaneBelanger]

I'm very interested in oc'ing... would it kill the life of my components though? I have been reading a lot about it and it seems like it's pretty easy to do, just a lot of trial and error? Maybe i'm wrong though... I would love to go with a quad and kick it right up there to the GHz of one of the dual cores because obviously there is going to be quad core support for games in the near-future??