Mid Range Gaming Rig...Please Comment

mschmidbauer001

Distinguished
Oct 6, 2006
17
0
18,510
Ok...i had a post about the AMD/Intel poll....and here is what i have finally decided on after the whole debate with SLi, AMD, Intel, etc.

My final build - please comment. I want to and probably will OC it...and i'm a nVidia and Intel fanboy...sorry to ATI and AMD people - i almost gave AMD a shot. My budget is no (or not much) more than 1200. Anywho, here it is (everything from Newegg):

Case:
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #: CAC-T05-UW
Item #: N82E16811119068
$44.99

Motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #: GA-965P-DS3
Item #: N82E16813128012
$144.99

Video Card:
eVGA 512-P2-N573-AR Geforce 7900GTO 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: 512-P2-N573-AR
Item #: N82E16814130065
$253.99

Power Supply:
Rosewill RP550V2-D-SL 550W SLI Ready-ATX 12V V2.01 Power Supply - Retail
Model #: RP550V2-D-SL
Item #: N82E16817182030
$59.99

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 - Retail
Model #: BX80557E6600
Item #: N82E16819115003
$315.00

Processor Cooling:
ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail
Model #: CNPS9500 AT
Item #: N82E16835118003
$47.99

RAM:
Patriot 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PDC22G5300LLK - Retail
Model #: PDC22G5300LLK
Item #: N82E16820220095
$249.99

Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3250620AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: ST3250620AS
Item #: N82E16822148144
$79.99

Optical Drives: (Two of these)
SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model SH-S182D - OEM
Model #: SH-S182D
Item #: N82E16827151133
$30.99 ea.

Total cost is about $1150 as of now.

So....is it good or not? I feel better about this one...I like it.
 

Norien

Distinguished
Aug 3, 2006
26
0
18,530
I am not an expert or anything but very nice. Hope it turns out well. How soon are you planning on building this? I do have on question. You mentione sli, but based on the board you are not going that route?
 

azmtbkr81

Distinguished
Oct 16, 2006
51
0
18,630
System looks good, I have the same motherboard, CPU, and HD, all work very well together.

My only suggestion would be to dump the Zalman and put the $ toward upgrading the PSU. You should be able to get a little bit of an OC with the stock heatsink and thats all you'll need for a while, you won't believe how insanely fast the E6600 is out of the box!
 

good_man

Distinguished
Jun 10, 2006
36
0
18,530
I'm building one that has the same as your CPU, HDD and GPU.

But I'm going for Corsair PC2 6400 800Mhz RAM, 320GB and ASUS P5B Deluxe.

And I wonder how good will be the PC2 6400 compaired to PC2 5300 :?: :!:
 

rwaritsdario

Distinguished
Aug 2, 2006
3,017
0
20,780
And I wonder how good will be the PC2 6400 compaired to PC2 5300 :?: :!:

You will only notice the difference at OCing.
DDR2 5300 CL4 will top at 400Mhz CL5, If you use a 1:1 ratio youll get 400*9= 3.6Ghz top speed.
But 6400 CL4 will go up to 500Mhz, giving you 500*9= 4.5Ghz top speed.
All of this assuming that youve provided excellent cooling to the CPU.

Ditch the Zalman and get TT Big Typhoon, even that a Thermalright Ultra-120 or a Scythe Infinity would perform better but will be more expesive.

OCZ Platinum Revision 2 DDR2 800 CL4, will reach 550Mhz CL5.

X1900XT 256mb, froogle it for a better price. Outrageously outperform the card youve picked now and can be OCed to the X1900XTX speeds with ease.

Rosewill PSUs are NEVER safe. Get something with dual (or more) 12v rails, <80% efficency, high amperage along the 12v rails (<30A), PFC active if your house has somewhat unstable power, and of course a reputable brand. Dont skimp on this since remmber itll be powering your whole computer and it case it fails it might not go down alone...
 

mschmidbauer001

Distinguished
Oct 6, 2006
17
0
18,510
hmmm, thanks for the tips....

i plan to build this within the next few weeks. i get paid on thursday which will cover the system - so anytime after that.

I'm thinking i'll ditch that heatsink and go with the stock for now. i'm no genius with OCing - so i don't really want to screw myself by damaging something. I'll just get the extra cooling when i decide to do all of that or have better knowledge.

as for the power supply - how about the antec truepower II...or any other suggestions.....please help me here. i'm leaning towards the OCZ here.

OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: OCZ700GXSSLI
Item #: N82E16817341002
$149.99 ($124.99 after mail in rebate)

Thermaltake W0106RU Complies with ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V version 700W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: W0106RU
Item #: N82E16817153039
$155.99


i didn't realize some things about that RAM - so how about this RAM instead...i'm leaning towards the corsair...

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400 - Retail
Item #: N82E16820145590
Model #: TWIN2X2048-6400
$280.00 ($240.00 after mail in rebate)

Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PDC22G6400ELK - Retail
Model #: PDC22G6400ELK
Item #: N82E16820220174
$299.99

Finally - here is the updated total system:

Case:
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #: CAC-T05-UW
Item #: N82E16811119068
$44.99

Motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #: GA-965P-DS3
Item #: N82E16813128012
$144.99

Video Card:
eVGA 512-P2-N573-AR Geforce 7900GTO 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: 512-P2-N573-AR
Item #: N82E16814130065
$253.99

Power Supply:
OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: OCZ700GXSSLI
Item #: N82E16817341002
$149.99 ($124.99 after mail in rebate)

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 - Retail
Model #: BX80557E6600
Item #: N82E16819115003
$315.00

RAM:
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400 - Retail
Item #: N82E16820145590
Model #: TWIN2X2048-6400
$280.00 ($240.00 after mail in rebate)

Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3250620AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: ST3250620AS
Item #: N82E16822148144
$79.99

Optical Drives: (Two of these)
SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model SH-S182D - OEM
Model #: SH-S182D
Item #: N82E16827151133
$30.99 ea.

New total for the build: ~$1400.00 shipped (~$1325.00 after $75.00 rebates)

this is $125.00 over my budget....sigh.
 

rwaritsdario

Distinguished
Aug 2, 2006
3,017
0
20,780
as for the power supply - how about the antec truepower II...or any other suggestions.....please help me here. i'm leaning towards the OCZ here.

OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: OCZ700GXSSLI
Item #: N82E16817341002
$149.99 ($124.99 after mail in rebate)

Thermaltake W0106RU Complies with ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V version 700W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: W0106RU
Item #: N82E16817153039
$155.99


i didn't realize some things about that RAM - so how about this RAM instead...i'm leaning towards the corsair...

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400 - Retail
Item #: N82E16820145590
Model #: TWIN2X2048-6400
$280.00 ($240.00 after mail in rebate)

Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PDC22G6400ELK - Retail
Model #: PDC22G6400ELK
Item #: N82E16820220174
$299.99

700W is too much overkill (and im pro for overkilling lol). Get the 600W wich is $105, youll still have PLENTY of room to upgrade. The TruePower series dont have as much quality as the GameXstream or NeoHE series.

Actually... Neither. Get two of this, theyre the lowest priced DDR2 800 with 4-4-4 timings wich is what you need to reach 500Mhz.
But if you dont think youll be OCing like crazy or wont have a need to, youll be better off with DDR2 667. Reaching 400Mhz FSB.

Unless you need two burners dont buy them. Get a DVD-ROM instead.

The key to safe OCing would be keeping a low Vcore and watch the temperatures closely. At stock Vcore youll still get some headroom and youll be quite safe.
 

mschmidbauer001

Distinguished
Oct 6, 2006
17
0
18,510
700W is too much overkill (and im pro for overkilling lol). Get the 600W wich is $105, youll still have PLENTY of room to upgrade. The TruePower series dont have as much quality as the GameXstream or NeoHE series.

True enough, it is overkill...but why not spend the extra 25 bucks and get the extra 100W - and have it for future builds that will possibly and probably need more power??? at least in 3 years i could use this PSU still - it won't hurt my system in any way by having the power...will it? (<--dumb question, but i'm banking on a no here).

consider the RAM you suggested bought. i like it. nice find. i just looked at 2GB stuff and didn't think to look at 2 1GB sticks...stupid me.

um...hmm can't think of much else...i can't wait to order it and build the mo-fo.
 

rwaritsdario

Distinguished
Aug 2, 2006
3,017
0
20,780
True enough, it is overkill...but why not spend the extra 25 bucks and get the extra 100W - and have it for future builds that will possibly and probably need more power??? at least in 3 years i could use this PSU still - it won't hurt my system in any way by having the power...will it? (<--dumb question, but i'm banking on a no here).

Actually "yes"...
PSUs become less efficiencient when they arent even decently loaded. This would only consume more power since more would be wasted in heat (heating the PSU just a notch). That PSU is actually meant to power 2 video card 6 fans/peripherals and 4 HDDs, now you see how much youll be underloading it?
Your setup will consume 400-450W so, as I said, youll have plenty of room for upgrades.
 

rwaritsdario

Distinguished
Aug 2, 2006
3,017
0
20,780
Dont, its what common sense tells you.
OCZ has Fortron hardware wich is the top notch quality and they have a good powerswap program in case youll need to use the warranty, cant beat it for the price, really.