I've been customizing a pc at ecollegepc.com. I just wanted to check and make sure the motherboard, video card, case, psu, etc... make sense as a solid configuration for gaming. Any suggestions would be helpful. I've read many articles praising the hd4850 and 4870, and i'm a little confused as to what motherboard to pick and what psu would be best. I've read the E8400 is great for gaming, but also for $4 more dollars I can get the q6600 quad. Thanks.


3.0Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 6MB Cache FSB 1333
Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler Extremely Quiet
GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L (Intel P35, PCIEx, 8-Channel Audio, LAN, 4xSATA2, 4xDDR2, 1333FSB)
4GB (2GBx2) PC6400 DDR2 800Mhz Memory Lifetime Warranty
500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA300
20X Samsung SH-S202G Dual Layer DVD+/-RW/CDRW w/Nero
512MB ATI Radeon HD4870 GDDR5 PCI Express DVI/Tvout
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit SP1
CoolerMaster Black Centurion T05 (5 5.25, 5 3.5 bays) 2 Fans, Front Audio/USB/1394
500watt Antec EarthWatts EA500
Onboard LAN included
Onboard Sound included
Standard 1 year parts and labor

I would get the Quad. Everything else's looks good.

Every thing that you have chosen looks good. I really like the mother board that you chose. I have used it several times with no problems. The power supply, I personally would never buy an Antec PSU mainly because I really prefer PC Power and Cooling. That case...well...I don't think is very good. Spend a little more money to get a case like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119137

You may want to consider the Antec P180 or Antec 900. The Arctic coolers are good but if your are going to overclock you may want something better. Don't worry about the $4 to go with a quad core processor. Few applications are multi-threaded so you wont see a very big performance upgrade. You didn't list the manufacture for the memory but Crucial and Gskill are good brands. The video card is a good one for the price, though I think that Nvidia is still king of the hill for video cards right now. That may change in a few weeks. Try looking at some bench marks for the HD4870 there maybe other cards out there that are better for the same or better price. PLEASE save your self the trouble by NOT getting vista, go with XP Pro or Home. There are too many problems with Vista let alone 64bit. Don't bother with a 64bit operating system there is no real reason to get a 64bit OS especially for gaming.

Anyway if you have any questions post a reply.

Thanks for the help. The reason I was considering the 64 bit vista was because of the ability to have more ram than the 3 gig limit of 32 bit vista. That's where i'm a little confused. Since games are always pushing more ram, what happens when I have the 32 bit OS, and I can only use 3 gigs of ram. Thanks.

Even i am building a new system and i was planning on a 4 GB @ 800 MHZ DDR2 RAM. My reason for 4 GB ram is because i want my system to last for at least 2 years. Eventually the world will shift over to Vista in a year or so.

Also the upcoming games like Far Cry 2 , Bioshock 2 and Diablo 3 might benefit more from 4 GB than 2 GB.

Sorry to bust the Vista bubble here but word on the street (articles and other forums) is that Microsoft is going to get rid of Vista (in about 13 months) in favor of a different OS (it is pure speculation on what it is but some are saying Windows 7.) Vista has too much trouble with system resources let alone drivers for it to be used on any machine (business, home, or other wise.) No OS should EVER take up half of your memory, which vista does. Even if you turn all the appearance options off, it will still feel slow compared to XP. Yes 32bit operating systems cannot address more than 4GB of memory. XP 32 bit will address 3.5GB maybe 3.75GB. Your really stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one. Personally I would avoid Vista and 64 bit at all cost. Yes you take a hit in your total memory, but the better performance that you will get with XP is worth it in my opinion.