Its been a while since I have built a PC and seem to be out of the loop as to where the power players are in hardware. I was going to spend about 1200$ on the system including monitor, mouse and keyboard. Here is the list of things I parted together.


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Rosewill R218-P-BK Black 0.5mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case -$21.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811147073

RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-630SS 630W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V Modular LED Power Supply - $79.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817152035

Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 Allendale 2.4GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E4600 - $123.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115032

MSI P7N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - $149.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813130159

MSI NX8800GT 512M OC GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - $172.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127329

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148136

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - $87.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145184

ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model DRW-2014S1T - $31.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827135165

Acer X193W+BD Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor - $159.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824009127

Logitech Internet 350 Black USB Standard Desktop Mouse Included - $16.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6823126018

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit English 1pk for System Builders DSP OEI DVD - $179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116215

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The total ends up being about perfect for the money I have. As I said im not up to speed as far as where to put my money any more so any input is more then welcome and appreciated. The system will be running Vista/Ubuntu dual boot with minor games no more the TF2 and CoD4.



Thanks for the help!

You can get better bang for your buck with a few changes:

E7200 Should actually be less than the CPU you listed.
ASUS P5Q pro or -E MB - About the same price, better more stable chipset, crossfire support.
ATI 4850 -faster than the card you listed, same price.

You do not need ultimate. Save a few bucks and get Vista premium 64.

Far better PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817341010

I forgot to say in the first post, im still kind of a Nvidia Fanboy. I know ATI has the market over them right now for bang for your buck, but I know the setup for them in the Linux distro im going to use and have not been happy when I last used a ATI card. (I was some time ago).


I switched out the CPU and PSU for the two you listed saved about 70$ and seems that the speed of the system will be higher! As far as the Mobo, why is the Intel Chip set better then the Nforce 750i? I have had nothing but issues when I go with an intel chipset. But as in my faith of ATI it was a long time ago when I last used them for a mobo. Any info into the plus of one over the other??

Other then those do you think it will be decent for basic use/basic gaming?


Thanks!

I don't have a good answer as to "why" Intel chipsets are better, but they are. For sure, no doubt, take it to the bank.

More stable, less issues. Look at all the recent overclocking records. ALL on Intel boards. You will get 0 arguments to my statement on this forum.

A recent Tom's article:
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,1977.html
(since that article the 790i has also dropped in popularity... I've heard rumors of major manufacturers stopping production on nVidia 700 chipsets)

There are 10 manufacturers on newegg selling Intel P35 boards.

There are 4 selling nVidia 700 boards.

yes, you should be happy

Thanks for your patients with me. I read over the article and looked over a couple more and switched the mobo.

Here is the one I landed on, is there anything I should know about it? I did a little searching and did not find a reason not to go with it.

MSI P45 Neo2-FR LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813130184


And from what I got I have to agree with your statement that the Nforce 790i seems to be going down over all.

MSI has some good support. I don't think their quality control is good so you are more likely to get a dud. Overall a decent manufacturer.

The board you linked is very similar to the P5Q pro, and should work out.

Thanks for all the help on it! I think im going to buy this when I get paid later in the month. I shall let you know how it works out! I was thinking of going to the dark side and flipping at ATI, but it seems there are issues with the drivers in the distro of Linux I will be dual booting so maybe next time I will go to the bad side, and do ATI! I just wish AMD would get back in the game for CPU's now.... oh well!


Thanks again!