I'm trying to put together a gaming rig for a reasonable price. Other than graphics card, I don't really have a solid idea of where the bottleneck usually is in speed (faster hard drive, faster processor, etc). I've put together a list of components, but I am more than open to suggestion. My idea was to leave the option open for SLI expansion down the road.

PSU
RAIDMAX QUANTUM RX-700 700W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Power Supply ($109.99)

RAM
Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory ($134.99)

HDs
Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3500320NS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM ($129.99)
Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive ($149.99)

Video Card
BFG Tech BFGE98512GTXE GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card ($289.99)

Processor
AMD Phenom 8650 Toliman 2.3GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Triple-Core Processor ($165.99)

Mobo
BIOSTAR TPower N750 AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard($149.99)

Heatsink
ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm 2-ball UFO Bearing / Transparent CPU Cooler ($49.99)

Let me know what you think.

Thanks!

not sure how well the phenom 8650 overclocks, especially on that mobo, but maybe you could choose the dual core 5000be and overclock that. my 9500 phenom @2.2ghz overclocks to 2.5Ghz stable, anything more i gotta increase the voltages everywhere for it to be stable.

Thanks! I'm not sure how much OCing I'll be doing, but I'll take a look.

The X3 is faster than most chips in the same price range. If it's a stock pc, it's a good choice. I realize not everyone overclocks.

The most urgent change would be the psu to something in tier 1/2/3:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forum [...] p?t=108088

Unless you shop at tiger, swap the hsf out for xigmatek hdt-s1283.

What are the uses of the pc?

Based on my experience. FInger off from cheap mobos if you are goin' OC.
You don't really need WD 10000rpm editions, they don't worth the money.
As for PSU, for OCer, Corsair, Tagan, Enermax are the only choices.

Great thanks! I'll look for a better PSU and take a look at that heatsink. I wasn't sure how much of a speed jump the faster HD was, so if it doesn't help that much, I'll happily take it off. Is the same true for the serial attached SCSI?

Grab a corsair 550 - 600Watt PWS, 780i motherboard, Intel Q6600, Xigmatek hdt-s1283 heatsink, and an SE16 750GB hard drive and just partition it, instead of those two harddisks. It'll be noticably faster in games then what you have picked out and be the same price and it will still have SLI upgradability. With that other setup, you will not even max out that single 9800gtx. The Q6600 wont at stock clock speeds either, but the Q6600 is easily overclocked to 3Ghz with that CPU cooler even for a beginer. Do youself a favor and go intel, otherwise you'll be back here in a week or two wanting to know why your 3dmark is so low for a 9800GTX.

Dont get me wrong here, AMD is a good brand they make decent products, its just not the best use of money right now for pure gaming speed.

You know that the WD Raptor only has 1.5gb throuhput and if you run it with another Sata II HDD which has 3.0gb/s that it will revert to the slowest speed.

Here are a few suggestion of some other ways to go. Get 2 Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3250310NS 250GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148309
and run them in Raid 0, plus if you still wish for a backup drive use the Seagate 500gb HDD you have listed.

The 2nd option is to get the Western Digital VelociRaptor™ WD3000GLFS 300GB Serial ATA 10000 RPM $329 and use same Seagate HDD as before.
http://www.pcsforeveryone.com/Prod [...] WD3000GLFS

Either of the two options I recommend will alleviate any bottleneck you might had in the HDD part of your build.

XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail $36.99 is a very good choice for cpu cooler.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003

But so are the OCZ Vendetta 92 or OCZ OCZTVEND2 120MM CPU cooler.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835202005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835202007

Plus XIGMATEK has come out with there new XIGMATEK HDT-S1284 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler. All these can be found at NewEgg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233017

Plus here is a link on a Review on the best Cpu cooler for 2008.
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index. [...] w&id=45&It

Since you went for AMD Cpu, I would suggest if you have the funds to get the ASUS M3N-HT DELUXE/MEMPIPE AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 780a SLI HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $239.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131290
which would be better in long run, since if you decide on going SLI in future you will be able to run both Graphic cards at Full 16x speed. Compared to running 2 Graphic cards at 8x speed on the 750a motherboard.

Please keep us inform on your build choices and the end eresult of your build.

Thanks for all the advice. I went ahead and added the CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply instead of my original PSU, and the XIGMATEK HDT-S1284 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler.

I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do as far as the hard drive(s). How much does throughput matter compared to RPM? Would I be better off just keeping the 7200 RPM disk and partitioning it? Or should I go with a larger, higher RPM HD like Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive?

Also, FHDelux mentioned Intel versus AMD. Am I making a mistake not reconfiguring my setup with an Intel proc?

Again, thanks for all your help!

The performance from WD 10000rpm is not very different from Seagate 7200.11 series. And If you see it from the price, size (GB), and performance. WD 10k rpm series is a big waste!
Just go for 7200rpm and go RAID if you like to do so.


"Also, FHDelux mentioned Intel versus AMD. Am I making a mistake not reconfiguring my setup with an Intel proc?"
Note : DON'T START THE INTEL AND AMD FAN WAR!!!! JUST PICK WHAT YOU LIKE! OK?!

Two Sata II HDD's in Raid 0 is just as fast as a single first generation WD Raptor Sata (36gb, 73gb and 150gb). Plus cost is lower.

As to going with a Intel platform, that is your call and here is what most Gamers' are going for. E8400 and Evga 750i motherboard (which the Graphic Pci-e slots both run at Full 16x speed).

Intel System
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail $194.99
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6819115037

EVGA 123-YW-E175-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i FTW SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $189.99
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6813188026

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail $109.99
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6820231174

or

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail ($129.00 after $40.00 Mail-In Rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145197

Do not know how soon you will be doing your Build, but in 3rd quarter Intel will be lowering its prices on CPU's.
Intel to refresh its CPU line-up in Q3 2008

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=13394

Hope this helps you out some.

The 9800GTX is a great video card, but honestly, it is just a refresh of the 8800GTS. Save yourself some money and get the 8800GTS 512MB