Please help first time builder

[corey407woc]

hey everyone im trying to build my first gaming computer and my budget is around 1200-1300 dollars ive been doing alot of research lately but still need some advice on what to buy i want to have the best gaming computer i can with the money i have i wanted to play games like cs:s half life 2 crysis ut3 gears of war stuff like that thanks alot and i wanted to try to overclock also but i need help doing that also thjanks

i have bought the following components

Antec Nine Hundred Gaming case - $109
EVGA 680i SLI A1 motherboard - $178

I was planning on buying these components

Intel Q6600 2.4 ghz quad core G0 SLACR
EVGA 8800 GTX nVidia graphics card

im having trouble with figuring out what i should buy for the rest i had some thoughts on these

fan
Zalman 9700
Zalman 9500
Arctic Freezer Pro

ram- i dont know what is the best ram
ocz 2 x 2gb
corsair xms2 2 x 2gb

sound card- if i should stick with onboard or buy a sound card

hard drive- i dont know what is the best hard drive
350 to 500gb if possible

dvd rw- dont know what is like the best one thanks

power supply- dont know how much wattage i need and what brand is best

os- vista ultimate or home premium dont know which one 64 bit

Mouse and keyboard- dont know which is best for gaming
i was thinking getting the g9 mouse and maybe g15 keyboard or the copperhead razer or tarantula keyboard thanks

thanks alot guys hope you can help a nood like me out

[choppy]

wait for your cpu and gpu, personally instead id buy the Q9300 (Q6600 replacement) and 9800gtx

ram, ddr2-800 is dead cheap atm, id go with corsair xms2 2 x 2gb

onboard sound is ok quality, dedicated sound if your an audiophile or want a few more fps in games

any seagate / samsung / western digital will do the job

just get a bog standard dvd-rw dual layer, go for a decent brand, samsung?

psu - pc power and cooling / ocz / enermax, you should be fine withanything above 600w

os-? im not sure, persoanlly im an XP man

ive been told mx518 is a good mouse! duno abt the rest, hopefully soomeone will fill in

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Do you need a monitor? If not, what size do you have now? If so, what size would you like?

Ill throw together something on Newegg and post back.

[corey407woc]

yeah it doesnt have to be an hd monitor or anyting really fancy just like lcd flat really thanks alot man for your help i really appreciate it

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

He cant get a 45nm Yorkfield as the 680i doesnt support it. So it would either have to be a Wolfdale or a 65nm.

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Originally Posted by corey407woc

yeah it doesnt have to be an hd monitor or anyting really fancy just like lcd flat really thanks alot man for your help i really appreciate it

Size preference? 20 inch? 22 wide? 24?

[ShadowFold]

Drop the 8800GTX and get a HD 3870X2. Get a Intel X38 board with that Q6600 and OC it

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

How do you feel about RAID?

[corey407woc]

i dont have a preference for size doesn't really matter and is the ati cards better than the gtx cause i was on newegg and everyone was saying how good the evga 680i sli board was with the 8800 gtx

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Originally Posted by ShadowFold

Drop the 8800GTX and get a HD 3870X2. Get a Intel X38 board with that Q6600 and OC it

he cant if he has an SLI board already.

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Originally Posted by corey407woc

i dont have a preference for size doesn't really matter and is the ati cards better than the gtx cause i was on newegg and everyone was saying how good the evga 680i sli board was with the 8800 gtx

Im still working on the build. Coming out nice so far.

[erocker]

Deffinitely do not get the GTX. The newer 8800GTS 512mb mops the floor with it. Or, perhaps go with two 8800GTS's or GT's in SLi? The Auzentech X-Fi Prelude(I think that's the name) is a great sound card to go with. I can't say enough how much I love my DDR2 1200 Transcend AxeRam. Just go with 2x1gb's for now with the memory, as 2x2gb kits aren't all that great at overclocking. I run my mem at 1200mhz all the time, no sweat! You will be very happy with a Zalman 9700 since it uses the best install method there is, and it cools very well. For hard drives, without getting into RAID configurations go with 3 Seagates. One for your system drive, one for games, and one for storage. Samsung 22" monitors are the way to go, unless you want resolution above 1680x1050 then go with a 24". PSU, PcPower&Cooling 750 quad is the way to enlightenment.

[corey407woc]

thanks alot guys for all your help is the new 8800 gts 512 g92 bundled with crysis good cause everyone got that too and said it was really good

[Water Drop]

Get a cheap eVGA 8800GT 512MB (about $200 USD) and use the step-up program to upgrade to a 9800GTX next month.

Some GTS models are bundled with Crysis, and some are not. Check the box or the retailer's website for information on that.

As far as motherboards go, I would not recommend a 680i chipset board. If you have to go SLI then get a 750i/780i, but otherwise get yourself a Intel P35 or X38/48 chipset. When comes to Intel builds, I have found that Intel chipsets are server-like in stability and at the same time can overclock like crazy. Many good P35 boards will hit 500Mhz FSB (x4 Quadpumped = 2000Mhz effective speed).

[corey407woc]

i read where the 9800gtx is nothing but a better 8800 gt 512 upped a little is the 9800gtx gonna be the best graphics card out

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Heres what I got going:

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819117129

HDD(s): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822135106 (for OS and apps), http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136074 (for games and everything else)

Monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150272

GFX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150272

SFX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102006

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341008

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231065

Optical: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136117

Price comes to $1291.41. With shipping, it may slightly be over 1300.

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Originally Posted by corey407woc

i read where the 9800gtx is nothing but a better 8800 gt 512 upped a little is the 9800gtx gonna be the best graphics card out

From what I have read, it gets hot as hell and isnt much better than the 8800 series cards. Its just two GTX's "pasted" together. And I use that term loosely.

Nvm. Misread it. Thought it said GX2 for some reason.

[Water Drop]

Originally Posted by CrAsHnBuRnXp

From what I have read, it gets hot as hell and isnt much better than the 8800 series cards. Its just two GTX's "pasted" together. And I use that term loosely.

No the 9800GX2 is dual 8800-G92 chips. The 9800GTX is a tuned up single G92.

The 9800GX2 should be the fastest videocard on the market when its launched and the 9800GTX will probally be the second fastest (at least of the nvidia cards).

Personally I'd get 4GB of ram instead of 2GB, my 4GB G.Skill DDR2-1000 2x2GB kit is $115 on Newegg. Also I'd recommend the Asus P5K-E or the DFI P35-T2RS (i have this one).

[corey407woc]

thanks for the great list crash and burn do you recommend that i get evga graphics card since i got the evga board and for the hdd would it be easier to just put everythingon one hard drive

[Water Drop]

Originally Posted by corey407woc

thanks for the great list crash and burn do you recommend that i get evga graphics card since i got the evga board and for the hdd would it be easier to just put everythingon one hard drive

Get eVGA for the step-up program, that way you can upgrade to a 9800 series if you want. For HDDs, if you go with a single drive, you can split it up into partitions.

[corey407woc]

on the cpu crash and burn do you not recommend the q6600 cause i read that it is the best deal for ghz 2.4 and overclocking g0 the one you recommned is lower on ghz is that a better cpu thou

[Water Drop]

Originally Posted by corey407woc

on the cpu crash and burn do you not recommend the q6600 cause i read that it is the best deal for ghz 2.4 and overclocking g0 the one you recommned is lower on ghz is that a better cpu thou

If both are same price, get the Q6600. Both are Kentsfield G0's these days and both will hit 3.6Ghz easily, often 3.8Ghz. You will need a decent cooler though to keep either one cool. I'd get which ever is cheaper, they both OC about the same at the end of the day.

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Originally Posted by corey407woc

on the cpu crash and burn do you not recommend the q6600 cause i read that it is the best deal for ghz 2.4 and overclocking g0 the one you recommned is lower on ghz is that a better cpu thou

That Xeon is essentially the Q6600 but it its on teh server side. It has great overclocking potential and it will be able to take heat better than a Q6600. The Xeon is also cheaper.

If you want to get an EVGA GFX for the stepup, go for it.

For the hard drive, that all depends. If you have your OS, games, apps, music, etc all on that 320, your going to run out of space very quick. Unless you are using hard drives from another desktop machine? If you would rather put everything on one hard drive, id get a bigger one.

[corey407woc]

yeah i have alot of options here i just want to not try to upgrade anything thing for awhile and have this thing last a good couple of years if i was going to overclock the cpu you would suggest the zalman 9700 or what cooler whould you recommend and as for the evga step up program i read you have to buy it from one of the authorized dealers and newegg wasn't on there and for the bigger hard drive any brand will do? thanks guy alot once again making this epxerience easier for me

[Water Drop]

If your gonna overclock any current Intel Quad Core, then you need a aftermarket cooler. My recommendations:

1. Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme ($70 USD) - fan not included, but its essentially the best air cooler on the market.
2. Ultra 120A ($50 USD) - same thing as above with 2 less heatpipes, fan not included
3. Tuniq Tower 120 - cheap ($40?), performs similar to Ultra 120A, and includes decent 120mm fan

There's the IFX-14 too, but no way can I recommend something that big