First thanks for looking.

Second. Im looking to build a long lasting upgradeable gaming rig. Ive decided to go with the 8800GTX and the E6600. I dont think i'll ever use SLI so no need there. I keep my rigs for several years so i will OC when the time calls for it. Budget for this rig is $2500.

what i have so far $1501

Antec 900 $135
eVGA 8800GTX $580
OCZ gameXstreme $165
Intel core 2 duo E6600 $316
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA3.0GB 320GB $95
SAMSUNG Black 18X DVD+R $30
Hanns·G JC-199DPB Black 19" 8ms DVI LCD Monitor $180

any suggestions for the best motherboard for these components and compatible memory. PLEASE help me. Im ready anxious to hit the buy button. Im upgrading from a low budget Dell from '98. Help me get away from this thing. Thanks again

could use the addition of a motherboard

EVGA 680i SLI, ASUS P5B, Gigabyte p965 DS3

without it you aint goin nowhere

Thats what i was asking advice on......the motherboard and compatible memory

i'll look at those boards Thanks for the reply

any comments on Intel boards? more specifically http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813121059

I would go for any of those motherboards: Just remember OCZ RAM and ASUS motherboards do not mix.

eVGA 680i SLI motherboard
Gigabyte GA-965P DS3 motherboard
ASUS P5B motherboard

I dont know much about RAM but from what Ive heard these are good choices: 2x 1gb I assume-

Kingston HyperX 2gb DDR2-800
G.Skill DDR2-800
Corsair XMS CL4 DDR2-800
Corsair Dominator DDR2-800 CL4
Corsair Dominator DDR2-1066
Buffalo Firestix DDR2-800
Crucial DDR2-1000
Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800
Patriot DDR2-800
SUPER TALENT DDR2-800

I dont actually know much about RAM but these are all high performing choices.... If I were you I would check with one of the more informed people on the forum... good luck attracting them

Remember, If you want to OC' your CPU get a good cooling system such as the Arctic Freezer 7 Pro, or the Zalman CNPS7700-CU.

Heck Im excited about getting a second gig of RAM a evga 7900gs and a Bluegears b-enspirer sound card...
just have to wait 4 days until the gpu is back in stock at the egg

The Intel Board isnt a bad choice, its just that for the money the eVGA 680i is better.

Another Good choice is this MSI 975X based one: MSI 975x


good luck on all of your choices

OK here's some additional help.

Take this memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820609026

It achieves DDR2 1000 max when others might go up to 1066 but does that with almost half the price and low voltage. It's stable and since you getting 6600 with 9X multiplier you won't need above DDR2 900 no matter what.

Get the DS4 mobo over the DS3 cause it's cooler and better overall with a very slight price increase.

E4300 is also 9X multiplier and great overclocking cpu with half the cache of 6600. Consider it cause the performance diff is minimal and the price Half!

If you got the money, DFI with RD600 chip is a great mobo.

Peace. 8)

As you are not going to SLI, I would recomend either the DS3, or the P5B Delux.
They are bouth verry good boards and when you decide to overclock, they are bouth verry capabile.
The 680i based MB's are verry nice also, but most of the extra $$ you spend on it is for SLI support.

Don't ususaly do this, but the Intel board might be good for you.
They usualy arn't as nice as most others, but I hear they last forever.

The E4300 would be a decent choice for you.
Only downside is that it would need to be overclocked the whole life of the rig to match the E6600.
If you are planing on keeping this rig for several years, the E6600 would be the better choice.

Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 would be a good choice for your ram.
Corsair's ram is top notch and can be overclocked nicley.

Also, if you have some room left in your budget, you could get a bigger moniter.
The 8800GTX is to powerfull for a single 19" lcd
Go with something like a Samsung 22" widescreen.
You won't regret it.

In my opinion, some of that budget would be well spent on a larger monitor. An 8800GTX will drive 1680 x 1050 (22'') quite easily in almost any game. It's significant overkill at 1280 x 1024 on a 19'' LCD.

My 2 cents (Canadian at that)

I agree muchly

Heck I recommended that ram as well as the SUPER TALENT above.

As before I dont know much about this stuff but I can repeat what Ive heard.

Personally I would never buy a 6600, I would go for the 6300 or the E4300 when it gets to the rumored $133. I would either get the Gigabyte P965 mobo or I would seriously consider the 680i because I am a selfish pig. My case of choice now Is the Antec Nine Hundred its got 3 120mm fans and a 200mm one. Also the neon is a great bonus.

For the PSU my favorite is the OCZ GameXStream 600w and 700w. Also the Enermax Liberty 500w is good. I would probably get either the SUPER TALENT or corsair DOMINATOR ram. The most GPU that I could possibly convince myself to buy would be the 8800gts for $370 after MIR. Most of the time I would aim for the eVGA 7900gs which I just ordered an hour ago!
I would get a discrete sound card, again just personal preference. I also ordered one of those an hour ago, the Bluegears B-enspirer:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16829127002

Its got the new OXYGEN HD audio processor and is supposed to sound great without the never-ending drag of creative's driver woes.

Dont forget to invest in quality peripherals. If I were you I would throw a lot of money into that category even at the expense of other hardware. I personally have had a Logitech MX3100 wireless keyboard and mouse for over a year and I love it. It came with the great Logitech MX1000 mouse that made a massive difference in my computing experience.
I would recommend the Logitech G5, G7, and MX1000 mice. Or, alternatively if you are a left hand or finger pointer user, the Razer series of mice. The Saitek Eclipse 1 and 2 are excellent keyboards as well as the Logitech G15 and G11, for the budget minded figure, the Logitech Media Elite.

One specific sound configuration to keep in mind is the RAZER Barracuda AC-1 sound card with the RAZER Barracuda HP-1 surround headphones. Paired, they are supposed to be superb.
Im a Sennheiser boy and probably will always be. I fully recommend the HD212 pair they sell for 60 now but were at 36 not that long ago. Ive got three of them. For less, my friend got the HD202 for $22. Alternatively there is the Icemat Siberia pair for 50 dollars. Also dont forget the mousepad. I still use the Dell one that came with my system, my desk is too small for a fancy pad. Also for a small hint... Lightscribe kicks some serious a@#

What kind of hard drive are you planning to get. My favorites are the Western Digital SE16 250gb which my friend got. Other excellent picks are the Samsung 500gb which retails for only 150, and the Western Digital Raptor 150gb 10000rpm for 200 that is faster than 2 7200rpm hard drives in RAID 0.

Basically I would cut back on the CPU and GPU in order to splurge on peripherals.

Ah the screen. For a 19" lcd, my friend got a great deal on a Rosewill 19" 4ms display for $180. Ive heard good things about other displays too I guess. What I would never buy is a non-standard resolution screen such as a 19" widescreen which has a native res of 1440x900. Heck many older games such as Battlefield 1942 don't even support 1280x1024. I would invest in a good screen though up to a full WUXGA 24" display for arou8nd 650.

Have a fun time deciphering my crazed babble. Good night and good luck to all.

That was obscenely long

thats why i love this site............alot of good sound advice. thanks for all the replys. The info is great for me since i have been out of the tech world for a while. Like i posted before im updrading from a low profile low budget Dell comp built in '98

current twig....cant even call it a rig
Dell dimension 4500s
Intel Pentium4 2.00ghz
512MB Ram
Visiontek Radeon 9100 64mb
Maxtor 40GB HDD
16x CD-R
15" CRT 800x600@75hrz

this thing is SCREAMIN to be donated to a public school

Thanks again for all the replies. I'll post the final buy

My final..................Input before i hit the BUY button??


1 Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811129021
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$134.99

1 SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write, LightScribe Technology Black IDE Model SH-S182M/BEBN - OEM
Item #: N82E16827151136

$29.99

1 Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
Item #: N82E16835100007
$5.99

1 CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4 - Retail
Item #: N82E16820145034
$40.00 Mail-in Rebate
$262.00

1 NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16821152005
$6.25

1 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822148140
$94.99

1 Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2B 1 Pack - OEM
Item #: N82E16832116056
$89.99

1 HIPER HPU-4B580-MS ATX12V v2.2 580W Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817128001
$89.99

1 eVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814130072
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$589.99

1 ASUS MW221U Black-Silver 22" 2ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail
Item #: N82E16824236011

1 ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
-$10.00 Combo
-$40.00 Instant
$579.98
$529.98

1 Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115003

UBISOFT Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter - OEM
Item #: N82E16800992001
-$49.99 Combo
$365.99
$316.00
Grand Total: $2,150.16

I wouldn't put your system down too quickly, one guy on the forums has an AMD K6 with maybe 128mb of RAM.

My first computer, a Dell 8200 laptop that I bought 4 years ago before I knew anything about computers (hell what do you expect, I was 13) was ordered with only 128mb of RAM. After I gave it to my little sister 2.5 years ago, she wont let me near it to upgrade the RAM. So sad, its not such a bad pc, just badly needs reformatting, another 512mb of RAM, and a clean Windows XP install.

I appreciate your appreciation of my rant above. I would not be too quick and perhaps hasty on your ordering of the parts. I would wait maybe a week or two while discussing what would be best for you with the forum greats; two of which come to mind DaSickNinja and ILoveTacos, by the way who are 18 and 14 years old by my last count. As I said before I would personally be more careful before spending so much on a computer. So far in my life I have always rushed when customizing PCs from Dell for myself (2/2) and as a result I have grievously overpaid. On the good side, I spent literally YEARS researching parts for my buddy's budget gamer, which he 2006)Please take my advice as someone who knows something about wasting cash.

Well I shall now take a quick peek at your system specs.
Case: love it
DVD Burner: good love my Lite-On w lightscribe, dont forget a good software DVD decoder such as Power DVD6 which came with my dvd burner, unfortunately right after installing it I lost the install CD. It had nero on it

Arctic Silver: ah youre thinking, good
RAM: This is the most touchy subject of all, I would ask around a LOT before choosing RAM, take a close look at that Super Talent stuff
Floppy: good, youre not bad
Hard Drive: whatever rocks your boat
XP Home: wtvr... like you have a choice there
Hiper 580w psu- Ive heard its good but I would look around a LOT before getting that one. I told you before, I would get the OCZ GameXStream 700w. I learned tow days ago that its not the Watts, but how many Amps on the 12 volt rails the PSU produces. Your PSU of choice has... lets see dual 12V rails, one with 20amps and one with 18. This is I guess ok, but if I were you, and take this advice seriously, I would invest heavily in a proper PSU. The OCZ PSU that I was talking about is usually 124 after a small rebate on the egg, however it is currently out of stock. However it does possess 4 12 volt rails each with 18amps, ending up with around 70 percent more total amps than the HIPER. The short version of the amps story is that over the past several years PC power design has shifted greatly to GPUs and CPUs using the 12volt rails and thus raising the amperage necessary. For example, an 8800gtx requires something like 30a.

For a wonderful look at my first learning all this visit my still active thread:
Upgrading My PC

On we go...

GPU: I suppose the ultimate choice is yours but I would save on the GPU by going down to shock the 8800gts, which only yesterday was 370 after 30 dollar MIR from evga at the egg. Other very appropriate choices are the 7900gs that I just ordered which is only 155 after 20 dollar MIR.

LCD: good, have heard good things about it: it is certainly attractive enough. You might want to ask around about it though it only has 12 reviews. I recall a SPECTRE screen of the same size with many more reviews, well I cannot find it, but that would definately be a subject to discuss.

Motherboard: youve got me here, I dont know more about the differences between the motherboards that I have recommended. I fully recommend that you research this much more extensively.

CPU: again a personal preference, but I would save and get a 6300 or 6400.

Now, my good sir, did you read any of my above rant in which I basically tell you to buy some good peripherals. I see no keyboard, mouse, sound card, speaker system, OR headphones in your cart. From my several years of computer experience, I will tell you to break away from your old Dell Ball Mouse and PS2 Keyboard. Please, If you know whats good for you.

Well good luck, and remember that I have poured hours of my time into you, please dont go rush out and buy stuff at a whim.

Good Night and Good Luck

P.S. This has to be the longest post that I ever wrote, and I am finishing at 2:01 AM exactly my time. I have to wake up at 6:10. So Appreciate me please.

Is it to late to change some things??? First, is there a reason why your not also getting a raptor disk? You still have some $$$ left, so you have some room for extras. I would add a soundcard and a raptor drive in that order. Also, while some people like HIPER, I do not. You had an OCZ listed before, why the change? Stick with OCZ, PCP&C, Seasonic, etc. You can't go wrong with those. Other then that, looks good.

You just quoted him you didnt read what I wrote 9 minutes before.

READ ME!

I'm sorry, I don't see where you tell him to get a raptor or a harddrive. (we both picked on the PSU.) The only thing you wrote about the harddrive was,

Here is what you said about a soundcard.

So are you upset that we agree about the PSU??? I'm confused. I did read your post, but felt that a few more things could be said.