Second opinion, and some help, for a friend's new rig.

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Sagekilla

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Sep 11, 2006
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I'm planning on helping a friend build a new machine so he can get rid of his aging compaq from 6 years ago (Yuck.)

He has a budget from $1000 to $1600, and I plan on getting the parts from newegg.


I currently have this first draft for the rig, but I need a second opinion on some things.

CPU - Core 2 Duo E6600 - $313
Motherboard - See below
Memory - G. Skill 2 x 1 GB DDR2/800 - $250
Hard Drive - Seagate Barracuda 320 GB (Perp Record) - $95
Case - He said he wanted a certain case, but didn't tell me.
Power Supply - OCZ GameXStream 600 Watt - $119
Video Card - eVGA GeForce 7900 GTO - $260

Total: $1037


Is this memory kit any good? I decided to go for DDR2/800 instead of the 667 in case he wants to overclock in the future.

G. Skill: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231087

I'm not sure what motherboard he should get for the setup, seeing as I've heard so many various opinions. I had trouble picking out an AMD mobo when I built my rig 7 months ago, but this is ridiculous for Intel.

Any help or opinions would be appreciated! And I'm off to go play Oblivion..
 
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Negative528

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Before deciding on anything other than the processor you'll want to decide on the motherboard. Depending on the motherboard you choose you may have to pick other RAM or video cards (IE: It only supports X-fire but not SLI).
 
wiz83

wiz83

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After reading a lot of reviews, and personally using one, I'd recommend the Gigabyte motherboards. The 965P-S3 (non-raid/electrolytic capacitors) and 965P-DS3 (raid/solid-state capacitors) are proven great overclocker's motherboard. There are even other models, the DQ6, DS4, and so on ...

As for RAMs, I personally have great results from my Corsair modules. But then, I've read great reviews for Patriots, G.Skills, PQI Turbo, OCZ, and a few others that I can't remember at the time being ...

IMHO, I'd stick with E6300, get a great cooling system, along with good ram modules, overclock the hell out of it, save some money, and get a great video card ...
 
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Sagekilla

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Updated the list and added the GTO in place of the X1900, seeing as It's a pretty decent card for $250 and he isn't worried over having the absolute best performance.

I'm looking around at the motherboards and like WiZ mentioned earlier, the 965P-DS3 looks pretty good. I'll have to ask him what features he wants though and if the motherboard has what he wants. Same for the overclocking, but I don't think he's willing to do that since this is a all or nothing deal. If he ruins anything in it from overclocking he won't be getting a new PC.
 
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Warghost

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Updated the list and added the GTO in place of the X1900, seeing as It's a pretty decent card for $250 and he isn't worried over having the absolute best performance.

I'm looking around at the motherboards and like WiZ mentioned earlier, the 965P-DS3 looks pretty good. I'll have to ask him what features he wants though and if the motherboard has what he wants. Same for the overclocking, but I don't think he's willing to do that since this is a all or nothing deal. If he ruins anything in it from overclocking he won't be getting a new PC.
Click to expand...

Yeah it depend on what feature he want any other specific thing he might need/want but as a guide here is what I got for around 1300$ canadian dollars and im very happy about it.

GA-965P-DS3 motherboard
E6300 C2D (you can upgrade this if you want but I wouldnt, more below)
2 gig OCZ DDR2-800 ram (this totally depend on what is available at reasonable price when you purchase, mine was 265$ or close to that)
BFG 7900 GTO
Seagate 320 Go Sata
Cooler master centurion tower (cheap and had great review)
DVD writer (all so cheap right now, just pick one you like)
artic cooler 7 pro (prolly only if you plan on OC but GREAT cooler and cheap)
OCZ 520 watt powersupply (again other choice work here but id say 500W+ is safer)

About overclocking, I was one of the never OC because you dont gain that much for alot of risk mentality, but now with the E6300 its so worth it and there is a ton of guide that explain how to do it that I feel its really worth it and the risk is minimal.

anyway gl.
 
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