No Fuss Conroe Gaming System

[Yuritomo]

My Sager laptop is on its last legs and I have decided to go back to the world of desktops. I am relatively new to the custom PC scene and just wanted some input on my build. First, allow me to give you all some information:

- Budget = $2000 USD

- Plans for the future - I basically buy a computer with the best components I can at that time and use it for about 2-3 years before I replace it again. I won't be upgrading CPUs or to the new DX10 cards before I buy my next PC in a couple years.

- Usage - Gaming (MMO, RTS, FPS), photo editing for fun, movies

- No Fuss - I want the best performance that I can get without having to OC anything and I want my components to all be fully compatible with each other. I don't want to pay extra for the "deluxe version" of a component because it will OC easier or better. Some might say that if I don't want to OC, then I might be asking the wrong people on the wrong board but to them I say this: would you rather take car advice from someone that was absolutely crazy about cars or from someone who only used them to go from point A to B?

My rig:

CPU

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (~$350.00)

Processor Fan

Tuniq Tower 120 (~$50.00) I heard the stock fan leaves much to be desired.

Paste

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound – OEM - $4.99

Video Card

Open Box: SAPPHIRE 100149SR Radeon X1900XT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - OEM ($319.99 New Egg)
Should I be worried about not getting all the cables that I need to set it up? Should I just buy the retail version for peace of mind.

Video Card Fan

ZALMAN VF900 – CU 2 Ball VGA Cooling Fan/Heatsink – Retail ($33.99
New Egg)

Storage

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive – OEM - $99.99

Motherboard

Asus P5B - $160.99
Like a lot of other people, I am unsure about the Mobo situation. But, Asus has a good name and it has onboard NIC and sound which is nice. Don't mind going 965 because I'm not looking to OC.

Memory

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model F2-6400PHU2-2GBNS – Retail - $149.99

Power Supply

Antec TP 2.0 - $99.99

Case

Lian Li PC-7B - $89.99
Wanted a case with two 120mm fans (intake/exhaust). Should I buy a couple sturdier fans to replace stock?

Monitor

ViewSonic VX2025WM Black-Silver 20.1" DVI 8ms gray-to-gray (avg.); 16ms white-black-white (typ) Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 800:1 Built in Speakers – Retail - $329.99


Thanks for any feedback in advance.

 

[The_Prophecy]

Suggested Changes:

CPU Heatsink: Since you aren't going to be overclocking, lose the aftermarket CPU cooler. The stock cooler will work fine, especially if you're getting some Arctic Silver 5.

Video Card: NEVER get open box products just to save money. The person who returned the product probably had a good reason for returning it. Go for this Sapphire Radeon X1900XT

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 <--- Little bit cheaper than the P5B, but just as good.

RAM: OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800 <--- This set has better timings: 5-5-5-15 (G.Skill) vs. 5-5-5-10 (OCZ).

Monitor: ViewSonic VP2030B <--- Much better specs on this one (specificly there's a constant response time of 8ms).

Total before taxes and shipping (but after applying the changes i've suggested): $1834.91