I am planning on building a new computer very soon and would like some suggestions/advice. I have built several systems in the past, but none in this decade I will use this for general use such as internet, light photo and video editing of home pictures and video, as well as a good amount of gaming. I want to be able to play all of the modern games on my new 24" monitor at the highest resolution and best frame rates possible. I will likely overclock to a mild 3.0 GHz since I have never overclocked before and want to ensure the longevity of the CPU. I have had my current computer for about 6 years and intend on keeping this system with some needed upgrades in time for quite a while. I'm not really set on anything other than the CPU so all suggestions/advice are welcome! My budget is around $1,500, but anywhere I can save money would be fine with my wife OK, so here is what I have been considering:

*Cpu: http://clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1938452
Probably the only thing I'm not buying from Newegg since they won't guarantee it will have G0 stepping. I was holding out for the new quad cores to come out. The last I heard they were supposed to be out on January 20th , but now I am hearing that will be pushed back. If any one has any info otherwise, I may wait a few weeks.

*Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813127030
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131196
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128050
I%u2019m considering the abit ip35 pro, asus p5k-e wifi and the gigabyte DS3R. I am leaning towards the ip35 pro since I have read rave reviews and it is supposed to come with great software to overclock, although I have heard there is a problem with vdrop with this board ( not really sure what this is though)

*GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130312
I am not sure if I really need the 800GTS 512 over the GT, but with a 24%u201D monitor running 1920x1200 I figured it would help. I%u2019m really not sure if I would even use the Evga step up program since it would require me spending more money and having to remove the card, be without the pc for a while and then pay to ship it to Evga if this is how it works.

*Memory : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231145
Have read it overclocks and works well with the ip35 pro. Going with 4 gigs (2x2) so I%u2019ll likely be getting Vista 64bit, or might just use XP 32 and take the loss of some of the memory for now.

*CPU Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835186134
Great reviews. I hear the stock heat sink/fan is not that great so for the price this cooler looks great.

*Hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] WD7500AAKS
Supposed to be very quick and will have more than enough storage space. I see Seagate has a 32mb cache as well as a 16mb cache 750GB Barracuda hard drive. It seems like on Newegg the 16mb cache is a better seller, or at least has more reviews. While I want the fastest drive for the money, I am also very concerned with reliability and longevity. Bearing this in mind what is the best drive for the money?

*DVD Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827151153
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827106073
Not sure which one yet, but OEM should be fine since I don't need any software.

*Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119137
Definitely open to suggestions here. I now it%u2019s a matter of personal preference, but I have yet to find a reasonably priced case that I love. I hate the look of the antec 900. I am looking for a reasonably priced case that is well constructed, has good cooling and is reasonably quite.

*PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817341002
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817703005
I%u2019m between the OCZ gamestream 700W or the PC power & cooling silencer 610. Both are around the same price with the OCZ being a little bit cheaper and has a higher output, but is a tier 2.

I%u2019ll be picking up a new mouse and keyboard, but I haven%u2019t looked into those yet. As I said before, I already have the monitor and am looking for any input anyone can offer. Thanks!

You really did your homework, congratulations

Q6600 is overkill for what you described, but the smartest choice for long-term use.

The mobos you picked are all great. Compare specs at newegg's site and pick one that has all you need. For example the aBit allows you to insert a second video card and use it with monitors #3 and even #4.

At 1920x1200 you definit;ly want the fastest card around. Right now that title is shared between the 8800GTS G92 and its overpriced siblings GTX and Ultra. Go for the 8800GTS G92. The 8800GTS G92 is quieter than the 8800GT, and IMO it's fully worth the price difference.

You described eVGA's step-up pretty well, yeah, that's how it works. Still useful for some, but in general it's not as cool as you'd expect.

The cooler you picked (Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 pro) will do fine for 3 GHz, and it's cheap and quiet and easy to install. Good choice.

Good choice of hard disk. I tend to recommend the WD7500AAKS a lot. I also like Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB. The Spinpoint is faster when handling huge files, so it's the best HDD out there for encoding videos. The only reason why I still prefer the WD7500AAKS is that Samsung hasn't been in the hard drive business for as long as WD.

The memory is a bit overkill, i.e. DDR2-800 would do fine for what you want. Still, it's a good price, so why not.

DVD: I'd pick the Samsung over the Lite-On. If you can afford a Plextor PX-810SA it's worth it.

Case: RC-690 is good. P182 meets your criteria but costs more.

PSU: I'd go with the Silencer 610W.

Thanks for your input aevm!

I looked into the evga step up program on their website and it looks like more of a pain that it's worth. Also, from what I have read the 9800 GTS is rumored to cost over $400 without any price gouging ala the 8800GT. As such, I am now looking into the XFX PVT88GYDF4 GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB and the BFG Technologies BFG Tech BFGE88512GTSE GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB. Any opinion on these two in comparison to the evga.

For the dvd, why do you recommend the plextor over the samsung? What are the major advantages that justify the price being more than double?

Does anyone think the penryn's will be out very soon and that I should wait on this build for them?

Multiple smaller drivers are much faster than a single larger one. No RAID, just put the OS on one and data on the other(s).

Nice rig, good luck with the build. The new dual cores are launching on the 20th.,who knows what they're doin' with the Quads? You said you're heart wasn't set on anything but the CPU so why wait, if the new Quads appeal to you after their release I'm sure you could always sell it or maybe even do another build(for the wife of course).

nhobo, If I go that route, what drives would you recommend?

chuckm, Thanks!

Agree with aevm. Go for Samsung DVD over Lite-On and the PC P&C PSU. PC P&C would have been my first choice if I hadn't gotten 2 Antec TP3's (550 and 650 w) on sale each better than 30% off in new boxes.

AC Freezer, I think, is one of the best economy HSF's available. But even with a G0 Q6600, I doubt if you will be able to get much past 3.0 GHz with all four cores loaded. At reasonable temps, I was able to get my E6600 up to "only" 3.3 GHz with one. And a Q6600 is simply a pair of E6600's in one package.

I trust XFX, BFG and eVGA about the same, and more than other brands. I'd just look at prices, any included games, clocks. BFG will probably include a (really ugly, IMO) black t-shirt.

The Plextor is very expensive, true. It doesn't make sense for everybody. Here's how it compares to my other drive (an LG GSA-H62N):
- a bit quieter
- better burn quality (this is mostly a theoretical thing, shown in special analysis software. The LG does burn disks, and I can read them back with no errors, so I don't really think this is a serious difference)
- rips DVDs in 9 minutes instead of 25 (for a 7 GB disk)
- it does well when reading scratched disks

Agreed with nhobo about the disks. For example if you are compressing a video and you can have the source and target on different drives, things go MUCH faster and the wear and tear on the drives is much less.
WD has perpendicular magnetic recording only on the 750GB model or higher. I'd go with Seagate for smaller drives.
Look at this chart for some ideas:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/stor [...] 6&chart=49

The only real difference I see between the three different cards is the clock speed. The xfx has a clock speed of 650, the evga 670 and the bfg 675. I like the fact that the xfx has a double lifetime warranty, but how big of a difference will be seen with the lower clock speed. I have never overclocked before, but is this something that I could overclock easily to get to that same higher clock speed?


I guess I would only need a small drive for the OS? What drive sizes would you recommend for my uses, )S- windows XP pro or vista ultimate and for storage to be able to hold a couple of games, lots of music and pics and some videos.

I see theses two drives says they have perpendicular recording, but I thought only the larger drives had it? I would want a fast drive for both I guess, since my games would be on the storage drive and a slow drive would effect performance here as well as the OS drive. This would definitely be more expensive than the WD 750, but would the speed increase be worth the price? Thanks again for the help!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148288

You won't notice a difference in real life between 650MHz and 675MHz.

Overclocking: download and run nTune, move some sliders up a bit, play for a while. If you get artifacts or crashes go back and restore to the last stable values. nTune even offers to analyze and find the best values for you.

How about this: get a WD 750 now, make a 100GB partition for Windows. Add another disk later when you have more cash. It's not a perfect solution but you do get more GB/dollar that way. The special partition for Windows will help keep OS and data separate, just like a separate physical disk would.

Edit: on second thought, if you don't have Partition Magic or similar software, make the O/S partition 200GB. If you install 10GB games in C:\Program Files you'll fill 100GB fast.

WD 2500KS / AAKS. 3200AAKS if you want to more.

OK, i'll get the WD 750 now, but I'd rather add the second hard drive now. Which drive would you recommend for the O/S?

Does anyone know if I should add any fans to this case, I know it has the ability to add a few. And will the silencer 61o definitely work with this case?

Edit: aevm, I just saw your last edit. If I have a second drive or a partition why would the games be installed to the c :\program files directory? Couldn't the games be installed to the second drive/partition thereby keeping the files off of the O/S drive/partition? I have never done this before so I may be entirely wrong.

Most programs will try to install themselves on the Windows partition, but of course most of them do offer a "custom" or "advanced" install and you can tell them to go to D: instead of C: and so on. There are also some annoying programs that let you move them to D: but then also install a bunch of files on the Windows partition, maybe even under Windows's folder. Anyway, just make sure you leave enough room for Windows and its patches. Somebody was complaining yesterday in another thread that they had 50GB for Windows and it stopped working after some recent patches, out of room...

Here's a company that sells assembled PCs with the RC-690 and a Silencer 750W.
http://cgi.ebay.com/TWO-8800GTX-in [...] dZViewItem
This means the 610W will fit too.

Here's a nice deal for another good PSU, if you're interested:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Prod [...] e=10006757

The RC-690 comes with 3 fans and room for 4 more. 7 fans are useful for 8800GTX SLI and overclocked quad. You don't really need 7, for what you are planning to build. Read through the newegg reviews of the RC-690, some will be useful. I'd just use the 3 stock fans for now, and monitor the temps of the CPU and video card with software like Coretemp and nTune. If the temps are acceptable, there's no point in spending money and increasing the noise with more fans.