Hello There

As the title said, this is my first building project. I have recently purchased computers from Dell and Alienware but want to make the switch over to custom building them myself. I have installed a few ram and VGA upgrades but nothing major in the past. That being said, I have tried to read as much as I could on the subject. I'm going to lay out my goals and current plan on my new computer. I would appreciate any advice that you guys could give me, especially if there are some glaring problems.

My goal is to create a top end gaming machine that has the ability to upgrade itself in the future. However I also don't want to spend twice the money for upgrades that will only give me 10% more performance. I am pretty much settled on a quad core Intel processor, as I have been reading that many of the future applications and games will be able to maximize its potential.

I also would like to dive into water cooling. Even though this is my first system build, it’s something I would like to learn how to do. I was thinking of going with a pre installed case, just to help me get started.

Another area I am anxious to explore is over clocking. I am not going to push any limits, but I do plan on taking advantage of the water cooling and at least getting a semi-decent over clock on this new machine.

Those are my goals, and after a lot of reading I have put together a system on newegg.com, which I will post below. Please offer any advice, not just limited to compatibility between the parts. If there are any major upgrades I should get, or pieces I should downgrade. Please keep in mind that I want decent, not great, value for a higher end gaming machine.

Here is the list below. I really need help with the Power supply, Ram, and hard drive options as those were the ones that I understood the least when reading about this process.

Thanks for you help


Qty. Product Description Savings Total Price
1 Sony NEC Optiarc 18X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model AD-7170S-0B - OEM
Item #: N82E16827152079
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Add this item to your cart

$33.99

1 Thermaltake Kandalf VD4000BWS Black Chassis: 1.0mm SECC Front door: Aluminum ATX/ BTX Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811133024
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Add this item to your cart

$279.99

1 WINTEC AMPX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 3AXT6400C5-2048K - Retail
Item #: N82E16820161030
Return Policy: Memory (Modules, USB) Return Policy
Add this item to your cart

-$40.00 Instant
$129.99
$89.99

1 PLANTRONICS .Audio 550 USB Connector Circumaural Ultimate Performance Headset - Retail
Item #: N82E16826265014
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy
Add this item to your cart

$59.99

1 EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813188013
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy
Add this item to your cart

$20.00 Mail-in Rebate
$219.99

1 Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822136011
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy
Add this item to your cart

$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$204.99

1 Logitech LX 710 Laser Black USB Cordless Standard Desktop Mouse Included - Retail
Item #: N82E16823126011
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Add this item to your cart

-$8.00 Instant
$64.75
$56.75

1 ViewSonic VX2835WM 28" 3ms(GTG) HDMI W/ HDCP Widescreen LCD Monitor Built in Speakers - Retail
Item #: N82E16824116084
Return Policy: [LCD] Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy
Add this item to your cart

-$30.00 Instant
$699.99
$669.99

1 Logitech G7 Black 6 Buttons Tilt Wheel USB RF Wireless Laser Mouse - Retail
Item #: N82E16826104203
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Add this item to your cart

$72.99

1 Thermaltake toughpower W0117RU ATX12V / EPS12V 750W Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817153036
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Add this item to your cart

-$15.00 Instant
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$189.99
$174.99

1 Creative 70SB046A00000 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional Series - Retail
Item #: N82E16829102005
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Add this item to your cart

$139.99
1 Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
Item #: N82E16835100007
Return Policy: Consumable Items Return Policy
Add this item to your cart

$5.99
1 MSI NX8800Ultra-T2D768E-HD-OC GeForce 8800Ultra 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814127288
Return Policy: Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy
Add this item to your cart

-$15.00 Instant
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate
$614.99
$599.99
1 KOOLANCE CPU-300-H06 Cooling Water Block - Retail
Item #: N82E16811155986
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Add this item to your cart

$39.99
1

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115017
Return Policy: Processors (CPUs) Return Policy
Add this combo to your cart


WINTEC AMPX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 3AXT6400C5-2048K - Retail
Item #: N82E16820161030
Return Policy: Memory (Modules, USB) Return Policy

-$40.00 Instant
-$15.00 Combo
$609.99
$554.99

Grand Total: $3,204.61

The RAM you would like to get would not be very reliable for a High end gaming PC, Considering you are overclocking you would want some pretty high quality corsair sticks of RAM. And for the Hard drive, 150Gb is not alot of space. 500GB hard drives performance arn't far off of the 10K Raptors, so for around $200 you could get 2x500GB In a RAID array to equal or surpass the performance of a single 150gb raptor. The Thermaltake case is pretty expensive and Even though you would like to get in to Water Cooling I wouldn't recommend it for your first build. Something a little easier and cheaper would be to get a nice Case with a good Air cooler. Everything else seems pretty much in-line so here are the links to the Parts I recommend in order.

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Memory http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145034

Western Digital 500GB 7200rpm 16mb Sata2 3G.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136073

A ntec P182 Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 5&Tpk=p182

Thermaltake v1 HS/Fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 835106102& Tpk=thermaltake%2bV1

I agree going watercooling on your first build is a bad idea. Only because it's a very involved process and the cash you'll spend on a good machine using a great heatsink you can place it on other items. I'd suggest going with a Thermaltake Armor Case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811133021) and cool your cpu with a Zalman 9700 NT heatsink. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] b9700%2bNT). Definatly go with the Corsair memory like suggested by Terror and if you want to go bigger on the HDD, the cash your saving by not going liquid cooling you can buy the new Western Digital 750GB drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] Tpk=wd7500).

Curious though. Why not nab a p35 motherboard? Or wait for the introduction of the x38's which should be right around the corner. Would be more future proofing since you want a rig you can upgrade later with more of a performance boost. Also the x38's will have pci express 2.0 which will double the bandwith of the current Pci Express 1.1 architecture. That way for future graphics cards if you want to swap you don't have to buy a new mobo to support the new formats coming out.

Just an idea. But overall looks nice. But I agree with the 2 posts above. Only thin I don't recommend is raiding two drives...If money isn't a issue you can get a raptor for the os and a second drive for storage. But last thing you want is to lose all your data in a raid 0 array (I've had it happen to me..But thank god for "Raid Reconstructor" ).

If you are planning to overclock a lot I'd recommend a Thermalright Ultra 120 extreme or a tuniq tower. Both great coolers. I have tuniq tower in my rig...Not really sure of the thermaltake posted above though. Haven't read on the latest heatsinks for a couple of months. but make sure they fit inside your case. some people have been having problems without measuring before hand.

Thanks for the Advice Guys

I need a little help clarifying some of these issues.

First , by the P35 motherboard do you mean the chipset? I looked online and saw the GigaByte GA-P35-DQ6 Motherboard is this what you are talking about? I originally chose the Nvidia Chipset because people said it was easier to overclock. I went with the EVga SLI 680i because it performed really well on the tests here at Tom's hardware. What advantages do the P35 board offer?

As for the Ram, I am also a little confused. Is it just because of the brand names? The speeds seem to be very similar if not exactly the same. The Cas Latency has to be manually set on both to reach 4-4-4-12. Just trying to understand Ram a little bit more.

Thanks for you help fellas.