This is a first time build for me, and the number of times I've changed this list is starting to get to me. This is the "final" list that I've come up with, but I'm still open for suggestions. The concerns I'm having are with the CPU (Dual vs Quad) and the MOBO (775 vs 1366). Are they worth the upgrade? The primary use will be for gaming and watching HD movies. I'm looking for something that's capable, not necessarily over the top, and that I won't have to upgrade in a year or so, but is scalable. CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115054&Tpk=e8600 MOBO - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188031 PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256044&Tpk=da1000 GPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130372&Tpk=896-p3-1262-ar DVD Drive - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136133&Tpk=ggc-h20l Hard Drive(s) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288 Memory - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231177 Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119138 Even though this is my "final" list, I'm still open to suggestions. Thanks.
since your mainly using this to watch HD movies, i would stay with 775 because its cheaper, and will be more than sufficient to do your stuff. right now, i would think the i7's are good for like extreme video-editors or people who can just afford them. also, for the cpu i would suggest the q6600 or q9400. its a lot cheaper than the one you posted, and is quad-core. the ghz isnt as high, but you can always OC it easily to that speed. for the motherboard, are you going to use SLI? because you said your getting the gtx260, but are you getting two of them? if not, you do not need to spend that much on a motherboard. if you do consider going SLI, i would recommend you take a look at the gtx280 before going SLI with 2x gtx260's. this should be adequate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358 for the PSU, that is WAY too much power. your running originally a C2D and a gtx260 videocard. the corsair 650tx would be considered overkill too. you should either get the Corsair 520HX or 650TX, but i think the 650 is unnecessary. this hard drive is only $5 more for 140gb more. no complaints on the one you posted though, i have the exact same one. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148335 for the ram, i still recommend staying with DDR2 instead of DDR3, and with the motherboard i posted, this ram is great and a lot cheaper. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145214 the case, i would say its a little expensive, but i really have no objection to its quality and build. the parts i suggested wouldnt make your computer that much slower or anything, but you will be saving a lot of money(especially from the ram, cpu,PSU, and motherboard) these are just my suggestions, though. thanks!
Thanks for the info. It appears that more research is in order. I remember there used to be spec for comparing CPUs that I haven't seen anywhere (operations per second or something similar). Since this will be used for gaming as well, I don't want to rule out SLI. As far as the PSU, I went off of nvidia's web site recommendation. With everything you've listed, will this set up be "extinct" in a years time? Thanks again for the help.
I was thinking the same thing dragnandy,i thought it was overkill when i saw the price of the 790i chipset motherboard, DDR3 memory, and the PSU.. I've got the same motherboard and memory dragnandy suggested and i couldn't be happier with my setup..I built my entire rig with the exception of my 4870 X2 which was a recent uprade for $857.00. That motherboard,PSU,and memory combo you have almost costs as much as my entire build.. With what dragnandy suggested you will have a build that will last you several years and you'll be to play any of the latest pc games out right now with no problems... I would also consider the Q9550, with a good cooler you can pretty easily reach 4ghz on air..I'm assuming you are planning to overclock right??
what resolution are you planning on using eztarget? if your gaming at resolutions 1680x1050 and lower, then SLI would not really do you good. you might find some improvements, i think 10-15% (correct me if im wrong). you said you plan on watching HD movies, so i assume you have an 1080p monitor? if so, SLI would be debatable. if you certainly have enough money, then by all means go ahead. if you dont plan on doing serious video editing or any sorts, then an OC quad-core cpu will last you awhile. the problem then would be the video card. how much money do you plan on spending? on the video card? also, i would suggest getting a fan/heatsink for your cpu. something like the 120mm tuniq tower one, or the arctic cooling. if your not overclocking, then you can live without these, but with them, your cpu temps would drop noticeably. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154001
Elusiv1- To answer your question about OC, the truth is that I've never messed with it. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was concerned about going too far and turning my system into a paperweight. If you could recommend a reliable source/tutorial for me to read up on, I'd appreciate it. Dragnandy- I haven't put that much thought towards the resolution, but was shooting towards 1920 x 1200. I'm still shopping for the monitor, but I have some specs I was looking for. Min 22", 1080p and HDMI. Some things that I would perfer not be on the display, but won't necesarily rule options out are USB ports and speakers. I wanted to stay under ~$400 for the video card. I know that at that budget, the gtx280 is also included in the decision. I just wasn't sure if the extra performance was worth the extra cost. The other thought was to add another gtx260 in the future sometime. I looked at the MOBO you suggested, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358 , and it looks good. Typically the deciding factor for me is customer/technical support from the manufacturer. Dealing ASUS's website, has completely ruled them out for any future products. With that in mind, I was looking at this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188026 . I called EVGA with a question, and I was off the phone with my answer in under 3 minutes.
Some things I forgot to list Memory for the board came from EVGA's Qualified Vendor List http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145214 I know the PSU is still overkill, but if you could point me in the direction of a modular version that isn't. I'd like to keep the inside of the case as neat as possible. Also, what's the benefit/drawback to a single rail system? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256017&Tpk=da750
i dont really know much about sli and nvidia boards, so i cant comment on that, but this psu is good. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139002
Is there any benefit of using a single rail 12v supply over multiple rail version? Will it make installation any harder/easier?
Taken from PC Power & Cooling website: The Corsair is a very good PSU. For the Video card, I would recommend an HD 4870 over the GTX 260. It is cheaper and performs better: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102810 If you want a GTX 260, get a Core 216 version: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150330 The Dominator RAM is great. The UD3P will read the profile and it will operate at 1066MHz, so no overclocking necessary to get to 1066 MHz.
no it will not make installation any harder or easier. i read somewhere that multiple rails do lose some power, just as jaguar quotes, but it does have its own pros and cons. but, the efficiency on multiple rails have come far enough that the power loss is not that big. thats also a quick quote i find about the pros of multiple railings. personally, i think that deciding other single and multiple railings shouldn't be that big of a deal. either way, if you getting a corsair PSU you wont be disappointed.
EVGA's motherboards are terrible, you are strongly advised not to buy one. I would recommend the following board instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359 For a build of this budget, there is no reason to consider SLI, so there is no reason to get a horrific nforce chipset motherboard.
if hes going to be playing and watching movies at high resolutions, i wouldn't shoot down the option of SLI so quickly. maybe on his budget now, he might only get a gtx260, but perhaps in the near future, he can purchase another. maybe just stay away from EVGA boards, i have no comment on them because i've never used one. the UD3R is definitely a great alternative though, and just get one HD4870, gtx260 or gtx280 if you can squeeze it in.
SLI for watching movies is ridiculous. Gaming it's certainly understandable, but note the caveat 'on this budget' - you aren't going to experience much gain right now without a big monitor, i.e. big budget build. Main reason I say to avoid it is the almost nil reliability of nforce boards beyond the 1 year mark. The only way to use SLI without one is to use i7.
First off, let me thank everyone for their input. It's nice to see that your recommendations aren't to simply buy the most expensive part, but are backed with solid reasoning or personal experiences. With that being said, this is what I'm looking at. MOBO http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358 CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115054&Tpk=e8600 PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139002 DVD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136133&Tpk=ggc-h20l Hard Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288 RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145214 GPU (This is still up in the air, but leaning towards a single card vs SLI/Cross Fire for now) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103067&Tpk=4870PE51G Case (again, still up in the air.) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119138 CPU Fan Probably going to wait until all the parts arive, so I know how much room I have to work with. That is unless you can recommend one, seeing as most of you are using the same MOBO. I'm sure that I'm gonna' hear it for not moving up to the quad series CPUs. But being as how I'm new to all of this, I'd rather save over clocking for the future (when I understand it), and stick with stock speeds. As before, all recommendations are greatly appreciated.
I have to give you an A+ if that's your final build, as for your video card that's a very good card there..You did manage to save some bucks by changing that EVGA motherboard(wise move) the DDR3 memory and the 1000 watt silverstone psu so now you have some headroom for your video card selection.. I must say i really like the Coolermaster Cosmos case, that thing is sweet... Have fun putting her all together and if you need any help with anything just give us a holler and we'll help you out..
The Coolermaster Cosmos is a very nice (if very expensive) case, and fits those components with absolute ease. The only thing I'm curious about is the E8600. It's the fastest CPU at stock, but ironically, that's not really of much help unless you overclock it (the high multiplier makes it easy to exceed 4Ghz). You could save a lot of money by using an E8500 or even E8400 and just changing the speed to 3.3Ghz yourself, you wouldn't need to change the voltages or anything.
