christoph80

I'm giving a go at building a new computer that is a good for high end games, but also one that can be upgraded in the future as needed. The following is what I've picked out after some in depth research. Let me know what you think I should change or if something may give me more bang for the buck.

Case- Cooler Master Stacker 830 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119103

CPU- Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4 ghz (comes with fan)

Mobo-ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131142

PSU- OCZ GameXStream 700W 100-240V http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341002

HDD- Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM 16MB SATA 3.0
Considering the Wester Digital 10,000 RPM Raptor possibly, and at some point will get two for RAID
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148262

VC- Looks like 8800 is in and scrapping the 8500s XFX GeForce 8800GT Extreme 512MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146565

EVGA GeForce 8500GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16
I will get two of these to run SLI, or may get one 8800 GT and then get another one at a later time
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130285

Memory- Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146565

Opticals: ASUS 20x DVD+R SATA and a ASUS SATA 16X DVD ROM drive

The CPU and Video card come with fans. No plans of OC'ing at the time. These fans should be good enough right? The 700 W PSU should be adequate to run SLI 8800 GT if I go that route?

OS- Currently have Windows XP Media Edition, not sure if going to get Vista at this point. I know if I get Vista 64 I'll have to go up to 4 gb ram. Advice on the OS is also appreciated

imsati

Keep the stock CPU HSF, but I'd scrape off the crappy Thermal pad that comes with it and grab a tube of AS-5 - it will keep things much cooler.

I noticed the case came with a rear fan, but does it also have a front fan? If not, I'd grab 1 (or more for those side-panels (wow!)) go get a nice airflow.

__________________
--Jay
Gigabyte EP31-DS3L | E4500 | Masscool HSF paired with AS-5
80 GB SATA2 x 2 | e-GeForce 7100 GS | CM Elite 330 (gorgeous!)
Triple Boot: Ubuntu 7.10/XP Home/Kubuntu 7.10
Also, I can kill you with my brain.

The Great Forum Challenge
http://www.computerforum.com/114761-...tml#post922619
(And you follow his advice why, exactly...?) (Funny Thread though!)

Kilauea

Forget about the P5N-e, get an Asus P5K-e or Gigabyte P35-DS3R
Already, you'll save some money there. With that money, scrap the 8500GT, it won't do u any good even in SLI. Either get the 8800GT or the 8800GTS 512mb. Then forget about SLI, just upgrade to the next good card when your no longer gives u what you need. It will perform better and cost you less.

The case is a little pricy, but that is more of a personnal choice.

Edit: what is your budget and what games are you thinking of playing ?

__________________
5½ years old rig ?
P4 1.7Ghz
MSI MS-6547E
768mb RAM
ATI Radeon 7200
40Gb Seagate HDD w/ Xp
7Gb Maxtor HDD w/ Linux
TigerPlus 300 Watt PSU (never heard of such company)
Broken LG CD-rom drive that seems to work sometimes

Interest

get a cheap case/power supply and get a better video card

Interest

o nvm sorry now i c it. it says comes with fan

ComputerGuru64x2

Get that 8800GT because it is one of the best performing cards on the market for the price. Benchmarks, FPS, and GPU clock are really good. And forget about SLI. It is not worth it unless it your doing some intesive 3D CAD applications.

__________________
Gaming System/Media Center
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Windsor @ 2.2Ghz Socket AM2
MB: Abit AN-M2HD nVidia GeForce 7050PV nForce 630a HDMI mATX
RAM: 2Gb(2 X 1Gb) OCZ Platinum Revivsion 2 PC2 6400 @ DDR2 880 (3-4-4-15)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar 80Gb 7200RPM IDE
GPU: MSI GeForce 8600GT 256Mb DDR3 128bit
OD: LG DVD-RAM Black Sata
Case: nMEDIAPC HTPC 200BA Black
Speakers: Logitech X-240 2.1

oscaryu1

Get the Gigabyte X38...

8800GT or the 8800GTS G92...

And Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB DDR2-800 for $38 after rebates @ Newegg...

__________________

lovely?

er to keep the same price at about 200$ go with the 3850 512MB version. lots more power then two 8500's

__________________
E4500 @ 2.93GHZ
ASUS P5K-DELUXE
2GB OCZ Reaper CL3 @ 800MHZ 3-4-4-15
eVGA 8800GT
OZC GameXStream 700W PSU
320GB WD Caviar SATA, 80GB WD Caviar IDE

Sometimes scientists make things alot harder than they need to. All they've gotta do is put a big spring on the ground where they think it's gonna land, or send a mission to the moon to erect a sign that says "Welcome to Earth".

ramodkk

You could also consider the HD3870 which performs very close to the 8800GT which is its Nvidia competitor. Last time I checked they one in Besbuy for ~$215 I believe.

__________________
"If at first you don't succeed, you're not Chuck Norris"
E2160 @ 2.7GHz
AC Freezer 7 Pro
Gigabyte P35-DS3L
2GB BallistiX Tracers DDR2-1000
Sapphire HD3870
Rosewill RD500 500W
Rosewill Modded Case
3DMark06: 10,017
Winner of Photo Tourney: What were they thinking? & Grass

christoph80

Thanks for the recommendations thus far. It seems 8800 GT 512 MB is the way to go, just not positive which brand I'm going with yet.

Several saying SLI isn't really worth it, so I'm considering the motherboard change atm.

I guess right now Crysis like graphix (games that will use CryEngine2) is a game I'd like to be able to play comfortably, although max settings is not a requirement.

The case is a tad expensive, but I've really started to like it after looking it over and seems to offer the space for expandability and upgrade when needed. (comes down to $109 with $60 rebate though)

Budget is 1000-1200 dollars. With what I got set right now, Total with shipping-mail in rebates= 1,025.45 at current prices (thats with the 8800 GT that I just exchanged for the two 8500s.)