New computer (1500-2500$)

[starshine]

Hello!
My amd athlon 1500+ is getting old and i will finally buy a new computer!

Restrictions:
-I have to buy in the next week. (Can't wait for the new cpu that come out in january)
-I will never overclock
-I can't spend more than 2500$

Part that i know for sure:
-Quad core (Q6600E0)
-8800GTX
-4Gb ram

Here is a build i did on the webiste of the store where i'll buy:
S775 INTEL DG965SSCK 965G PCIE
INTEL CORE 2 QUAD Q6600 2.40G/1066/8M/S775
OCZ 1000MHZ DDR2 NO-ECC 4096MB REAPERX KIT
SATA 150.0 W.D 10K 16M RAPTOR WD1500ADFD
500W POWER ATX ANTEC NEO HE500
Video Card XFX PCIE GF8 8800GTX 768M BOX 8800GTX 600MHZ

(I know nothing about motherboards, i just picked one randomly)

My questions:
-Is one brand of 8800GTX better than the others (Stability, performance).
-What is a good motherboard for a q6600 and 8800gtx (i will never overclock)
-I don't need a big hard drive. Should i get a raptor 150gig.
-What kind of power supply do i need, is 500W enough?
-Is a cheap 4gb 1000MHZ better than any 800MHZ?

Thanks for helping a noob.. i have been reading techpowerup for quite some time, but there are so many different parts to choose from, i'm a little lost

 

[DrunkenMafia]

a couple of things: Dont get a GTX, get either a 512mb GTS or a GT. Dont buy an antec psu, they are crap imo. I would go for one from either - corsair, silverstone, ocz to name a few.

You have a fairly high budget for a pc build so you could easily afford a X38 chipset mb.

Have you thought about a dual card setup???

Q6600
X38 mobo
4gb DDR2
2 x HD3870 gfx cards
150gb raptor
etc...

That would make for a pretty quick setup..

Of course if you rather nvidia you could swap out the X38 mobo for a 680i mobo and get a couple of GTS' or GT's..

 

[PaulieG]

Here you go. DON'T waste your money on a GTX. The new GT's or GTS's match GTX performance without the price...right around $1500 total here. This DFI board is the BEST p35 board, in my opinion..

edit: Drunenmafia beat me to the GTX comment...

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136037

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231145

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139002

Video Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150261

HD's
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136033
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148261

 

[starshine]

hello again!
Thanks a lot for the help, i really appreciate. I read some reviews about that new video card (8800gts 512mb) and it looks pretty amazing for the price. And the 2 hard drives idea is pretty cool!

Thanks a lot to both of you, that will really help me

 

[PaulieG]

always good to hit the thanks button!! Happy to help!

 

[kwchang007]

Can you buy from newegg? Like are you in the us? And do you need a case, os, monitor, etc?

 

[DOM]

I would get one of these mobos

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131219

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131227

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131218

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131235

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128068

 

[kwchang007]

dvd burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118003
case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146038
2x hdd (you really only need one) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288
2x gfx http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130312
psu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151028
4 gb ram http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231145
680i mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131073
q6600 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017
+ os (100+)

$1956 if you get vista home premium with that.

 

[starshine]

Hi.
I live in Canada. I am not able to build a computer by myself, but the store where i will buy the computer have almost everything and they will order a part if they don't have it.

Yes i will need a case and a monitor.. i didn't really start to think about it to be honest
The design of the case is not important to me, the cheapest one will be fine. But for the monitor, i would like a 19". I just don't know much about the quality and different brands.
I will have to buy an other windows xp too, since i'll give the old computer to my gf.

 

[starshine]

Oops, i didn't see your last post before replying
I love the 2 graphic cards idea! Two GTS would just rock, i'm going to buy that!

I was wondering, is the raptor hard drive really worth it? I really don't need much storage space, i have been using a 30gig hard drive for the last 5-6 years and i never filled it, so the only important thing for me is the speed.

 

[hat]

You can't build a PC yourself?

Is this just lack of self confidence? If so, please build your own. Really. It may be somewhat time consuming, but it will be much cheaper, and you don't have to screw around with all that propriatary prebuilt shit if you ever want to upgrade. I know a friend with an HP computer and there are absolutely no drivers for his shit except from HP's website, but they don't work cause he bought xp home edition to install on it.

 

[kwchang007]

Oops, i didn't see your last post before replying
I love the 2 graphic cards idea! Two GTS would just rock, i'm going to buy that!

I was wondering, is the raptor hard drive really worth it? I really don't need much storage space, i have been using a 30gig hard drive for the last 5-6 years and i never filled it, so the only important thing for me is the speed.

Well with a computer like that and lots of games and what not. You'll probably want at least 250-500 GB. Or use two hdds (2x250) and that will outpace the raptor in raid. The drawback to raid is it can be corrputed easier than just one drive so you should have a backup. In terms of speed, I wouldn't know, I'm on a laptop because I need portability over speed (unfortuantly).

 

[starshine]

Ok, thanks a lot to everyone. I'll try to use all these new infos and make a good choice. I'll sleep on that, thanks again

 

[theonetruewill]

Here you go. DON'T waste your money on a GTX. The new GT's or GTS's match GTX performance without the price...right around $1500 total here. This DFI board is the BEST p35 board, in my opinion..

edit: Drunenmafia beat me to the GTX comment...

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136037

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231145

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139002

Video Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150261

HD's
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136033
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148261

Woah woah woah, what cooler are you intending to put on that motherboard. The Northbridge heatsink looks far too close to the CPU socket to me for anything large and powerful bar water/phase.
I would get an Asus Maximus Formula and this RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148069

 

[PaulieG]

Woah woah woah, what cooler are you intending to put on that motherboard. The Northbridge heatsink looks far too close to the CPU socket to me for anything large and powerful bar water/phase.

A Zerotherm Nirvana 120. I know it fits, just put one on a customers DFI board.

 

[theonetruewill]

A Zerotherm Nirvana 120. I know it fits, just put one on a customers DFI board.

That's good to know.
I'm still not in favour of a DFI board for someone who's not a 1337 overclocker. It's a bit hardcore.

 

[PaulieG]

Touche..maybe a Giga DS3 then..

 

[theonetruewill]

Touche..maybe a Giga DS3 then..

The DS3P is nice and overclockable, although perhaps we can stretch to something a bit better considering the budget. (*DQ6! he shouts, a DQ6!*)
I want to avoid the DS3R as some seem to have problems.

 

[PaulieG]

The DS3P is nice and overclockable, although perhaps we can stretch to something a bit better considering the budget. (*DQ6! he shouts, a DQ6!*)
I want to avoid the DS3R as some seem to have problems.

Mine has been rock solid, and the problems he could possibly have are not an issue since he's not planning on really tweaking....though a Dq6 would be nice..

 

[theonetruewill]

Mine has been rock solid, and the problems he could possibly have are not an issue since he's not planning on really tweaking....though a Dq6 would be nice..

Probably a revision thing. If you think they're fine with Rev. 2, then by all means it seems like a good idea.