I've upgraded my PC before, but this is my first real build. I'm taking a vacation for a month, so during that time I'll order parts and/or wait for prices to drop. I'm planning for it to be around $2000, give or take a few hundred, and last four or five years. So I've come here to ask for advice and suggestions. Thanks!

Current build (updated):

Minor concerns/slightly unsure/waiting
Motherboard:
ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X48
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131284
Depends on GPU

Graphics:
Radeon 4870 and/or Dual 4870s depending on if I buy a new monitor
Or Geforce 260(s)/280 depending on price drops in the next few weeks

Fans:
Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F 120mm Case Fans
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835185006
How many should I get? The RC-690 can hold up to 7 max?

Mouse:
Logitech G7 or G9?
Waiting for rebates/sales, actually.

More sure/About to buy
Storage:
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136218

Cooling:
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003

XIGMATEK ACK-I7751 Retention Bracket
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233019

ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 0&Tpk=mx-2

DVD Drive:
Samsung Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827151153

Rosewill RTK-002 Anti-Static Wrist Strap
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6899261005

Ordered/Already have
Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-E8400- [...] 685&sr=8-1 $180.49 FS

RAM:
CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145194 $79.00 AR FS

PSU:
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W
http://www.provantage.com/corsair- [...] SMC05E.htm $87.06 AR shipped

Case:
COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black for airflow
http://www.provantage.com/cooler-r [...] OOL023.htm $77.69 shipped

Monitor:
Already have a 20in one, but also looking for a new onearound 30in that also doubles as an HDTV for less than $800.

Keyboard:
Already bought a Logitech G15 from Amazon for about $45

Speakers:
Bought Logitech 5.1 5000 something or other a year ago. Logitech doesn't sell them anymore, but they're pretty nice. (about $50 at the time)

Headphones:
Got Microsoft LifeChat LX3000 for free from some MS promotional deal.

OS:
Got a brand-new Vista Ultimate 32-bit disc for free from another MS promotional deal. Thinking of selling it and buying a Vista Ultimate 64-bit edition instead.

couple of quick comments, Raptor Harddrives are overrated. only extremely hardcore gamers will need the extra rpms just grab a quality 7200rpm drive and you'll save a bundle! no need to go bigger then your 20" monitor as long as its lcd and not a 20" crt. Dual core is obviously cheaper than quad but do you really need all that extra power when you can get a x2 64 6400+ at 3.2 for under $150? If size isnt an issue id go for a full tower case take a peek at thermaltake's cases id suggest the Armor+ one because it features a sliding motherboard tray which comes in super handy when upgrading and cleaning your rig. only do watercooling if you plan on overclocking, its just not worth your time and money if your not because most full atx cases have sufficient airflow for sli anyway. Sli 8800gtx or 8800 ultra is the preferred method on the video card side but the only drawback is these cards are more costly and harder to find than gt models but are defiantly worth the effort. ram clearly depends on your mobo which in the case of a amd processor it would serve you right to pick up one that is am2 and am2+ compatible in case you ever feel the need to upgrade from 64 x2 to x3 or x4 phenom.

My OS/Programs HD Recommendation is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136074. It's a 320Gig single platter hard drive. Makes the Perfect OS/Programs drive outside of a raptor. If you really want to get really good performance get 2 of them and put them in Raid 0. You should be able to find an article somewhere on this site about this drive; it's really great.

For your Storage Drives i recommend http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136218. They are basically a dual platter version of the above hard drive. Their performance is fantastic as well, and remember less platters means less chance for things to go wrong.

For your Processor I can recommend nothing but the Core 2 Quad Q6600. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115027. Make sure you get the GO stepping, which is best for overclocking.

Those are your sure-fire best options for Price/Performance IMO. The rest is up to how high you want to scale the performance of your computer. Ether SLI or not, what type of monitor(s) you're going to be running, just gaming or more. All these things are going to effect the outcome of your computational needs.

*edited for my terrible grammar*

1) That case was made for SLI rigs. It has great airflow..side vents... up to 7x120mm case fans, not to mention it was made with exta room inside for SLI rigs. And at that price it's a steal. Cooler Master makes quality cases.

2) That PSU is on sale right now, along with a rebate, and it's what you want to power your rig if your running SLI. Corsair makes great psu's.

3) That E8400 beats the quads seven ways to sunday when it comes to gaming. Not only that but if you move up the FSB to (8x400) you get a nice 3.6GHz out of that cpu without even upping the voltage. It's the easiest overclock you will ever do.

4) That heatsink is rated #1 on most review sites. Just make sure if you do decide to get it that you order that bolt up kit also, otherwise that heatsink is too heavy for the push pin set up it comes with...it's a HUGE heatsink.

5) That mobo is a good one for SLI...great cooling, and it's a good overclocker. Read the reviews on it.

6) The memory will overclock like a beast...low latency, great timings, etc.. not only that but it has nice heatsinks so you don't have to worry about frying.

7) The hardrive has 32mb cache up from the standard 16mb, and if you want to run it faster just run two of them together at "Raid 0".

8) those vid cards use aftermarket cooling...which is a good thing seeing how the 8800's are notorius for running HOT. Google "Riva Tuner" and overclock those baby's. Guru 3 D site has that riva tuner, and it's a great proggy for overclocking your Nvidea cards.

9) The MX-2 thermal compound has arctic silver 5 beat. It not only keeps your cpu temps down lower, but it's non conductive, and it has no set up/curring time. Also it last for years, and it's easy to work with.

10) Vista 64 home premium ftw! It utilizes DX10, it reads all 4 gigs of your memory, and it doesn't have half the bugs as XP 64 Pro.

11) Mouse: If your into gaming stay away from wireless is my opinion. Constant connection ftw!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119137 $84.99
COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139006 $129.99 ($119.99 after $10.00 Mail-In Rebate)
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CE, CB, TUV, FCC, CCC - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115037 $189.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003 $36.99
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233019 $6.99
XIGMATEK ACK-I7751 Retention Bracket - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131294 $249.99
ASUS P5N72-T Premium LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130359 $159.99 ($139.99 after $20.00 Mail-In Rebate)
EVGA 512-P3-N800-TR GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
EVGA dual slot cooling design technology

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130359 $159.99 ($139.99 after $20.00 Mail-In Rebate)
EVGA 512-P3-N800-TR GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
EVGA dual slot cooling design technology

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227267 $104.99 ($79.99 after $25.00 Mail-In Rebate)
OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827106263 $23.99
LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148309 $79.99
Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3250310NS 250GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 0&Tpk=mx-2 $6.99
ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116204 $94.99
Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM

Total
$1,329.87
$1254.87 w/mail in rebates

Hi Hellic

If you have 2k to spend you can afford to build yourself a very nice system with quality components. Others may disagree, but I'd build with the best performing components I could afford. Yes, and I'm going to use that F word.....Future-proofing

Right now I would go with a MB that will support crossfire, (more on that later), and an intel CPU, so a MB with an intel chipset like the latest X48, slightly older X38, and if on a budget the P35. The X38 and X48 will offer you a full 16 lanes in both PCI-E slots if you choose to go Crossfire. The X48 will also offer you PCI-E2 which doubles the bandwidth.

If you game and don't run a lot of applications at once, or do a lot of video encoding etc, then the latest dual Intel dual core is the way to go. Price wise they are competitive with anything that AMD currently has to offer, and they will blow them out of the water. Price out the E8400 at 3Ghz.
The E6850 is also very good value at the moment and rated at the same speed, although its of a slightly older manufacturing process.
I run a Q6600, but besides gaming I also do a lot of video encoding, and it's not uncommon for me to have a few videos encoding at the same time.

If you plan to overclock in a big way, which both of these do extremely well, get yourself an aftermarket cooler, otherwise the stock coolers work very well.

As far as RAM goes, the performance difference between DDR 2 and DDR 3 isn't that significant, although why not go with the later technology if you can afford it? Again if you don't plan to overclock an affordable PC2-6400 DDR2, or DDR3-1333 on sale will work just fine for you. Patriot (Extreme Performance) is a good series of product, if you want to get into the overclockable RAM at reasonable prices.

OK....If you want the best bang for your buck, ATI has just released the 4850 cards and will soon release the 4870 cards with DDR5 memory.
The 4850's are just being made available online for 199.00 and the 4870 will be following later in the month for around the 250.00-260.00 mark. I think it might be possible these 4870's may be very close to the new (700.00) Nvidia G280's. Cannot imagine what two of these would do in Crossfire Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan boy of any of these parts, but I do appreciate good value and very good performance. Reviews are just coming out on these so Google and make up your own mind on these suggestions.

I agree, I wouldn't waste the money on the Raptor or the latest VelociRaptor. Western Digital makes some very fast 750 Gig HD's
that will give you tons a room for future storage and perform incredibly for the price.

I just bought a Corsair 750 watt PSU, after doing a fair amount of research, because it has more than enough power for two or threee of the latest video cards, and has very nicely sleeved cabling, and they are long enough to reach everything from the bottom of my case.
Also they get good reviews Oh, and I paid 109.00 online

Unless you plan on being an overclocking maniac, I wouldn't worry too much about watercooling. Later on if you get bored and want to boost the performance of your system, and feel like tinkering, then you'll have something to look forward to if you don't bother with it now.

I'm a big fan of two cases from Coolermaster...the CM690 for around 70.00 and the Cosmo, which comes in two flavours....I think around 180.00 to 230.00 or so. I use the CM690 cause it''s got great air flow, the hardrive bays are turned 90 degrees and the controls and additional ports are on the top of the case. Oh....and did I mention it's cheap? Has a lot of the features found in more expensive cases.

DVD....Samsung makes a drive that you can get w/ or w/o lightscribe. Highly rated and very affordable.

You should be able to pick up 24 inch monitors these days for between 425.00 and 600.00. Almost all of the manufacturers have gone over to the TN type panels in order to keep their costs down and their prices competitive, These have quick response times (for gaming), but can offer a little less as far as colour saturation, and viewing angles. Unless you sit on the floor and look up to your monitor, or you are a photography nut, and also do a lot creative work, you probably won't really notice the difference between a TN panel and the way more expensive panels you can buy.

I have a Saitek keyboard I love and have just bought another for my son. I game a lot and hate lag, so I use a wired Razer Diamondback which is a few years old now, but works just great.

Anyhow....I think the best advise anyone can give, is to get onto the internet, visit sites just like this one and do your research. As a matter of fact, this site has all of the resources, tests, benchmarks and articles you'll probably ever need.

Hope this is of some help! Have fun and keep your stick on the ice

Randy
(the Canuck)

That's quite a budget and it's a nice one. My current setup was only 1000 but now I find myself upgrading to the stuff I really wanted now that the 1k is payed off.

Motherboard: For the motherboard I have a 780i from XFX which is an excellent board it overclocks extremely well. Plus it has loads of features. If you are going to have your kind of budget though I'd suggest the 790i. A little more expensive but you get DDR3, which although more expensive will be usable on the coming Nehalem platform. The extra expense you pay for the DDR3 and the 790i would be worth the re-usability. Also take into consideration X38/X48 motherboards for ATI Crossfire. ATI may be the graphics king again here shortly. I'd wait to build until the release of ATI's 4870. Otherwise you;ll be like me waiting for NVIDIA to initiate a price war so I can grab 3 GTX 280's for cheaper.

RAM: Like I said depending on the direction you go with motherboard support, choose DDR2 or DDR3. You should also choose the RAM speed based on how far you intend to run your FSB. You want to keep a 1:1 ratio between DRAM and FSB speed so consider your CPU too. If your CPU has a multiplier below 9 and you want something greater than 3.2 GHz, you'll want some RAM capable of overclocking. With all of that aside I would suggest using DDR2-1066 or DDR3-1800. These will provide you with adequate overclocking ability.

CPU: If you aren't an insane multi-tasker and just need dual core your best bet is the E8400 its 3.0 GHz on 1333 FSB (333) meaning it has a multiplier of 9 so you could potentially get 3.6 GHz out of this thing and if your overclock your RAM to, I'm sure 4.0 GHz is completely possible. If you have your heart set on quad core you won't be looking at speeds as high but you will see great multitaskng results. Here you'll want the Q6700. It doesn't have the 45nm tech but it does have 10x multiplier which means you should be able to get pretty damn close to 4.0 GHz if you are lucky. Good price too.

Graphics Card: Right now this is a toss up. I'd wait a few weeks for this. As an NVIDIA fan and 780i owner I want to say with the price drops and new 9800GTX coming out go with a couple of those or even three if you can work it in your budget but ATI's upcoming 4870 looks to be one hell of a performance card at a low price.

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 Series. Close to RAptor performance for a great price.

OS: Depends on whether you hate Vista. Whether you go XP or Vista get 64-bit. You'll want it with more RAM later. I'm running 8GB of DDR2 on XP 64 and its awesome.

PSU: Get one off of NVIDIA's SLI recommendation's list and make sure its an 80 Plus Certified one.

I'm kinda tired so I might be missing some parts but you should get the jist. I'm currently upgrading my brand new rig to things I wish I got from the get go...like a better CPU etc.

I really appreciate all the advice!
So many choices...but like I said before, I'm going to start actually building in a month. What should I buy now, and what should I buy in a month? (i.e. which parts will see the largest price drop and/or will have new releases out in a month)

For video 4850 is the way to go over 8800GT. 4850 beats 8800GT is about every game tested, and can get as high as beating 260 in some games.

What games do you play mostly?

E8400 for CPU for sure.
X48 chipset motherboard with DDR2 memory. Don't buy DDR3. I don't like the "if you have the money go for it" argument presented by another posted. DDR3 is a completely waste of money.

4 or 8GB of RAM
4850 or 4870s in Crossfire
VelicoRaptors are the best hard drives, and they are faster than normal drives. $1/GB though is a terrible value.

Let's do a $2000 build. $1950.45 Shipped

E8400 CPU
ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X48 Motherboard
4GB of RAM G.Skill 4-4-4-12
500GB 7200.11 Seagate Hard Drive
Samsung 20X DVD burner
PC Power and Cooling Quad 750W PSU
Samsung 24" HDMI LCD monitor- 2493HM
Gigabyte 4850 Video Card x 2
COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Case
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
Logitech G5 mouse (best mouse ever made IMHO)

I play CoD4 and Dawn of War: Soulstorm. I'll definitely get DoW2 when it comes out, and any other latest releases (most likely FPSes).

Is the E8500 not worth the price difference?

Would those beat the GeForce 260s/280s in price/performance?

In CoD4 the 4850 BLASTS anything nVidia has to offer. It simply owns. I had not seen a benchmark on Dawn of War.

If you are going to overclock anyway, no. If you are not going to overclock no either because the speed increase would not be noticeable in benchmarks and not real world.

CoD4 with one 4850: http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] i=3338&p=7

It finishes 4th, but remember all the cards above it for $400+.

Notice 9800GTX, 8800GTX, and 8800GT finish below it.

4850 CF in CoD:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3338&p=14

$400 setup and blasts everything away. Also notice just how poor 2x0 series cards in are this test. 8800GT SLI beats both 2x0 cards. Any CF/SLI setup looks to beat the new 2x0 series cards. A real performance bust if you ask me.

Since I have plenty of time, I'll wait for new cards (4870) to come out and/or prices to drop.

In the meantime, I'm trying to decide on what RAM to buy. I don't plan on overclocking, so I think 4 gb of either CORSAIR DOMINATOR DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) or G.SKILL 240-Pin DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) should do.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145197
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] C8Junction

Which one should I go with? Or should I consider something else?

You don't need DDR2-1066, especially if you aren't overclocking. Even DDR2-800 isn't actually necessary if you don't want to overclock at all! I'd still get the DDR2-800 just for the price of it now, but all the bus speed (800, 1066, etc) means is how high you can match your processor speed to before you need to start overclocking the memory's bus speed (800, 1066, etc).

Some P45 boards will support two ATI cards in Crossfire at x8 electrical on PCI-E 2.0. I believe that should be enough bandwidth for two 4850's, but for 4870's that's where I'd start questioning it and would make the jump up to X38 boards. They have two x16 electrical slots on PCI-E 2.0, so you'd definitely have no bottlenecking on the cards. This is something I wish review sites would take into consideration more often! I'd probably buy a 4870, and add a second one down the road during a sale.

keep in mind the power requirements of two 4870's at load. I'd give them 500W at least to be safe, so I'd probably buy a PC Power and Cooling 750W PSU (at least) for it's super strong 12v single rail. Antec Quattro 1000W units have been on sale lately though @ NCIX and other stores for around $180... would give lots of headroom and better efficiency. Worth considering I think.


The E8400 is a good choice, but I would HIGHLY recommend you at least do a little FAQ reading on a mild overclock to something like 3.2 or 3.4Ghz. It's not as hard as it used to be

My fav Hard Drive now is the Western Digital 640GB. It's new and really fast, can beat some RAID setups. Check out some reviews.

I think the Samsung 22" 2253 monitor is the best 'gaming' monitor as it's got fast refresh times. But if colour is your primary concern, you'll need to jump up in price to at least $500 to got a non-TN panel. But you'll get refresh times around 5ms/6ms, which should be okay in most cases. But some FPS, racing, fast games may show some ghosting/lag.

Good luck!!

Here are my primary concerns now:

Case(?):
I know many people have recommended the COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119137 $84.99

However, I personally don't like the aesthetic design of the case. I prefer the look of the NZXT TEMPEST http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811146047 $109.99
But is the Tempest's airflow as great as the RC-690-KKN1-GP? Are there any other mid-towers that look cooler than the RC but have the same (or better) airflow (price isn't an issue)?

RAM(?):
DDR2 800 or 1066?

Motherboard?:
ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X48
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131284 $289.99

or something else?

I'll wait to decide on the GPUs and HDD(s).

Here are my primary concerns now:

Case(?):
I know many people have recommended the COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119137 $84.99

However, I personally don't like the aesthetic design of the case. I prefer the look of the NZXT TEMPEST http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811146047 $109.99
But is the Tempest's airflow as great as the RC-690-KKN1-GP? Are there any other mid-towers that look cooler than the RC but have the same (or better) airflow (price isn't an issue)?

Like the Antec Nine Hundred?
http://www.provantage.com/antec-ni [...] NTG049.htm $87.80

RAM(?):
DDR2 800 or 1066?

Motherboard?:
ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X48
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131284 $289.99

or something else?

I'll wait to decide on the GPUs and HDD(s).

Oh, if I Crossfire then should I get a more heavy-duty PSU just to be safe?