Please Appraise My Desktop Build

Lycaroth

New Member
I've posted a build here before quite a long time ago, but school got in the way of me acquiring the funds for a new computer. :(

So I come back to you, finished with school and with a job asking for you to once again confirm my new Desktop Build.

This desktop will be 90% of the time used for games like Battlefield 2, Dawn of War, Bioshock and hopefully the newer games coming to PC, possibly Crysis.

And the other 10% will be web browsing, which I tend to have a lot of tabs open at the same time, and graphic designing in Photoshop.

All prices are in Australian Dollars, and will be acquired from I-Tech unless somebody knows a better place, I'm from Melbourne if that helps also.

So here are the parts, note that there is a few different choices for each section, that's why I'm here to ask which is the best choice for what I want, and if it's compatible. :D

CASE
Antec 900 - $170.00

Thermaltake Armor VA8000BWSNP - $239.00

Thermaltake Armor VH6000BWS - $269.00

Comments - I've heard great things about the Antec 900, it's nice looking and functional, but I have also heard good things about the Thermaltake Armor and it looks a bit better than the Antec 900, I want premium cooling and may invest in water cooling later, what are you experiences with these cases?

MOTHERBOARD
Gigabyte GA-EX38-DQ6 - $342.00

Comments - Alright...I just chose the most expensive Gigabyte board they have to offer, motherboards are something that I can't seem to get my head around, all I know is that Gigabyte is THE brand for a mobo, I want something able to work with the new CPU's, VGA's and RAM coming out, so a premium motherboard is key.

POWER SUPPLY
Antec TruePower 850W Quattro - $245.00

Corsair TX-750 750W - $189.00

Thermaltake Toughpower 750w - $215.00

Thermaltake ToughPower 1500w - $505.00

Cooler Master Real Power m1000w - $352.00

Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1000w - $342.00

Comments - I've heard good things about all these PSU's, and the last thing I want is for my PSU to blow and fry my expensive computer parts, so I know this is an important part, I'm aiming for at least 750w but 1000w is preferred as I have no idea what I want to add in the future, but I want to be prepared for that.

CPU
CORE 2 DUO E8500/ 3.16GHz/6MB/ 1333FSB/ LGA775 - $544.00

CORE 2 DUO E8400/ 3.00GHz/6MB/ 1333FSB/ LGA775 - $465.00

CORE 2 DUO E8200/ 2.66GHz/6MB/ 1333FSB/ LGA775 - $397.00

Comments - CPU is obviously a key component, I used to be on the Core 2 Quad bandwagon but I want to wait until the 'true' Quads are out, and I've heard the Duo's have excellent overclock ability, so rather that crazy multi-taking which I'm sure the Duo can do anyway, I want some extreme overclocking for optimum CPU speed in games, but that doesn't mean I'm not open to suggestions.

GRAPHICS CARD
eVGA 8800GT PCIE 512MB SUPERCLOCKED 256bit DDR3 - $332.00

Comments - Pretty simple choice here, the 8800GT has gone down in price massively so I'm extremely happy, and eVGA seems like the brand everybody supports so this seems like a solid choice, could possibly pick up another one down the line for SLI or a new 9800 when it's available.

RAM
Corsair QUAD2X4096-8500C5DF 4GB (4x XMS2 1GB) PC-8500 (1066MHz) DDR2 RAM - $495.00

Comments - This ram seems suitable to my needs, although I'm not sure if I can just put 2 sticks of the 4 in, because I don't have a 64bit OS yet, also is there any better alternatives?

HARD DRIVE
Western Digital WD1500ADFD RAPTOR/ 150GB/ 1000RPM/ SATA/ 8M CACHE - $271.00

Seagate ST3500320NS 3.5" CUDA ES7200.2 500GB 7200RPM 32MB SATA2 3Gb/s NCQ 5 YR - $203.00

Comments - I've had a bad experience with my HDD dying and losing all my information, so needless to say I want a quality one that I'll probably run in RAID 1 (Is that the RAID that's essentially 1 HDD but duplicates the information onto both?), so I'm leaning towards the 500gb Seagate for that massive cache and capacity, I've heard that extra drive speeds only improve loading in games and not the actual gameplay, so it's not really that important to me.

That's the majority of it! :D

Other things are just small, I'll be getting a Razer Keyboard and Mouse so that's covered, a new LCD Monitor but I'm not sure what brand makes good ones, also I'll want a Sound Card but once again I have no idea who makes quality ones and some good Speakers to go with the Sound Card.

So that's everything, sorry for the wall of text, I may have left something out but it should be fine.

So please appraise this machine for what parts would be best, or what other parts you think should be replaced, price isn't too much of an issue, although I don't want to spend over $2000 if at all possible, I will probably be buying this computer piece by piece when I have the money, so I don't spend it on other things. :P
 
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It looks good, although with 1 GPU, I would definitively go with a smaller PSU, consider getting 550watt, such as the Corsair 550VX

For the case, the 900 seems fine, but the final decision is up to u.

For RAM, you can go for some DDR2-800 and save a lot of money, I'd say get 2 of those.

Besides it seems quite fine... Just about the CPU, I am not a quad lover, but true quads or quads like the Q6600 isn't such a big deal I find. The Q6600 is a great performer and may help u in some games, but I'll leave it to others more experienced with it to help u with that.
 
wow it should be a freakin crime to pay that much for a 200$ processor!

even if it's canadian dollars that is a lot of money
 
wow it should be a freakin crime to pay that much for a 200$ processor!

even if it's canadian dollars that is a lot of money

Hey, what do you have against Canadian dollar!!! :P
The E8400 is cheaper North of the border... here is the comparison to Newegg.

Besides, the guy is from Australia, but that is another story... I guess you've got to live with where you live.
 
dude as much as your spending, id get the core 2 extreme, dual 8800GTS, 4gigs of ddr2 800, the zalman cooler, case(anything with lots of fans), and a 900W psu.
and the asus maximus
 
morton case you arnt getting that looks like alot of money but there dollar is alot different from the american dollar so technically thats normal but for them...
 
Thanks for all the suggestions people, this is a refined list for the computer.

CASE
Antec 900 - $170.00

Can't go wrong with the Antec 900, solid case and I'll probably be getting the extra 120mm fan for the side, and it's so epic looking that I'd be drooling over it if it was on my desk, rather than playing games. :D

MOTHERBOARD
Gigabyte GA-EX38-DQ6 - $342.00

This motherboard seems to be ready for the next generation of cards and such, so I'll happily spend the extra money for the future.

POWER SUPPLY
Cooler Master Real Power m1000w - $352.00
Or
Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1000w - $342.00

I'm not sure what the difference in between the two, I'm guessing the Pro is better, but it's cheaper for some reason, and I want the large 1000w's for future upgrading, just in case the 9800 nVidia cards are power hungry. :P

CPU
CORE 2 DUO E8400/ 3.00GHz/6MB/ 1333FSB/ LGA775 - $465.00

I'll be overclocking this anyway, and 3.00GHz is a nice stable number to overclock from for hopefully some high CPU speeds, maybe 3.50Ghz or even 4.0Ghz if I'm feeling adventurous on a cold day. :P

GRAPHICS CARD
eVGA 8800GT PCIE 512MB SUPERCLOCKED 256bit DDR3 - $332.00

I will get a second one pretty soon after the first.

RAM
Corsair QUAD2X4096-8500C5DF 4GB (4x XMS2 1GB) PC-8500 (1066MHz) DDR2 RAM - $495.00

I'll get this ram eventually, but I'll probably start off by buying the one Kilauea mentioned just so I can have the computer up and running sooner, RAM isn't hard to change over and I'll buy it when I have the extra money and a 64bit OS that can handle 4gig of RAM.

HARD DRIVE
Seagate ST3500320NS 3.5" CUDA ES7200.2 500GB 7200RPM 32MB SATA2 3Gb/s NCQ 5 YR - $203.00

I'll have 2 of these running in RAID 1 for the extra security, I'd hate to lose all my music and games because of HDD failure.

That's not the final version, but it's what I've narrowed it down too, I'm still open to other hardware suggestions.

Also is it possible to still get Windows XP?
 
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