I don't believe the low end Corsair Dominators are worth the money. Try using your cash on something else especially since you are hitting around the 300 USD mark (Micron D9GMH territory.) Mushkin may still have theirs for around that price after rebate.
A lot of people would argue that SLI isn't worth it if you are on a budget (or not considering SLI right away) and that you should choose the p965 chipset. Then again, I personally bought a p5n-e myself and had very little intentions of SLI (ever) on a particular build (but bought for other reasons though.) If you step away from the p5n32-e, try the asus p5b deluxe (or even the gigabyte dq6 but I believe most people choose the p5b-deluxe or p5b-e at higher price points.) You could even consider the Asus Commando but that's not really worth the asking price as long as you are sticking with air cooling. There are pros and cons to either choice so you'll have to balance it out. SLI will not give you double the performance though so you'll have to keep that in mind.
Other concerns: I believe it's not recommended to use arctic silver on the Freezer 7 Pro as the preapplied mx-1 will perform just as good if not better. Some people have reported better results with the preapplied mx-1 on the freezer 7 while others generally rag on mx-1 when compared to AS5. If you have neither AS5 or mx-1 handy, it might be nice to have one or the other regardless just in case. Also consider a Tuniq Tower as opposed to a Freezer 7 - it's quite a bit more expensive but judging from your setup, it's not as if price is a huge issue. Remember to consider other extra cooling options that you may need to purchase.
I wouldn't consider it myself at the moment but Vista Ultimate OEM (for either the 32bit or 64bit version but not both) is nearly the same price for what you are getting right now. Just FYI mostly - I'd be hesitant on buying any new OS at the moment as it's just as bad if not worse than deciding on hardware.
Check slickdeals or dealnews for some rebate opportunites. I could have sworn that there was the xtremegamer soundblaster card for 100 USD after rebate.
I'm taking for granted you are overclocking with this setup or otherwise, I really have no clue why are you getting half of this stuff.
A lot of people would argue that SLI isn't worth it if you are on a budget (or not considering SLI right away) and that you should choose the p965 chipset. Then again, I personally bought a p5n-e myself and had very little intentions of SLI (ever) on a particular build (but bought for other reasons though.) If you step away from the p5n32-e, try the asus p5b deluxe (or even the gigabyte dq6 but I believe most people choose the p5b-deluxe or p5b-e at higher price points.) You could even consider the Asus Commando but that's not really worth the asking price as long as you are sticking with air cooling. There are pros and cons to either choice so you'll have to balance it out. SLI will not give you double the performance though so you'll have to keep that in mind.
Other concerns: I believe it's not recommended to use arctic silver on the Freezer 7 Pro as the preapplied mx-1 will perform just as good if not better. Some people have reported better results with the preapplied mx-1 on the freezer 7 while others generally rag on mx-1 when compared to AS5. If you have neither AS5 or mx-1 handy, it might be nice to have one or the other regardless just in case. Also consider a Tuniq Tower as opposed to a Freezer 7 - it's quite a bit more expensive but judging from your setup, it's not as if price is a huge issue. Remember to consider other extra cooling options that you may need to purchase.
I wouldn't consider it myself at the moment but Vista Ultimate OEM (for either the 32bit or 64bit version but not both) is nearly the same price for what you are getting right now. Just FYI mostly - I'd be hesitant on buying any new OS at the moment as it's just as bad if not worse than deciding on hardware.
Check slickdeals or dealnews for some rebate opportunites. I could have sworn that there was the xtremegamer soundblaster card for 100 USD after rebate.
I'm taking for granted you are overclocking with this setup or otherwise, I really have no clue why are you getting half of this stuff.
Should be a very good rig. I like the P5W DH board myself. Other than that go for it.
Question: Are you ordering from Newegg? If so and you have a Paypal account you might consider breaking up your order into smaller orders(under $25 shipping) as you can get that free using Paypal. But only under $25.
Mike
Question: Are you ordering from Newegg? If so and you have a Paypal account you might consider breaking up your order into smaller orders(under $25 shipping) as you can get that free using Paypal. But only under $25.
Mike
Firstly, thanks for all of the suggestions, it's great to get some feedback.
I'll definitely be overclocking but not to the extent that air cooling wouldn't suffice(I think). I went with Corsair here as Crucial Ballistix was sold out, along with the Tuniq Tower, on newegg.com. Note I'm not using AC5 for the Freezer 7 Pro but I'm trying the ceramic compoud instead. I haven't seen or heard any comparisons, just thought I'd give it a shot and see what happens. The WinXP OS comes with a free Vista upgrade, I'm hoping they fix some issues between now and the time I redeem it. As far as other cooling options this is all I'm going to be building with for now, as the P180 has excellent chambered cooling. The fan on the PSU in the lower chamber will be more than up to the task cooling my HDD(s) which I plan on upgrading to RAID 0 w/another Raptor. The upper chamber will use the rear fan and front fan to creat an unobstructed front to back airflow. I will probably have to consider more cooling options once I upgrade to an nVidia 8*** SLI configuration, but time will tell.
I'll probably be making more posts in the coming week(s) until my component selection feels good enough to justify the cost. I can spend up to $3.5K but I really REALLY don't want to waste money on things not needed.
I'll definitely be overclocking but not to the extent that air cooling wouldn't suffice(I think). I went with Corsair here as Crucial Ballistix was sold out, along with the Tuniq Tower, on newegg.com. Note I'm not using AC5 for the Freezer 7 Pro but I'm trying the ceramic compoud instead. I haven't seen or heard any comparisons, just thought I'd give it a shot and see what happens. The WinXP OS comes with a free Vista upgrade, I'm hoping they fix some issues between now and the time I redeem it. As far as other cooling options this is all I'm going to be building with for now, as the P180 has excellent chambered cooling. The fan on the PSU in the lower chamber will be more than up to the task cooling my HDD(s) which I plan on upgrading to RAID 0 w/another Raptor. The upper chamber will use the rear fan and front fan to creat an unobstructed front to back airflow. I will probably have to consider more cooling options once I upgrade to an nVidia 8*** SLI configuration, but time will tell.
I'll probably be making more posts in the coming week(s) until my component selection feels good enough to justify the cost. I can spend up to $3.5K but I really REALLY don't want to waste money on things not needed.
Lazarus7
Distinguished
- Jun 21, 2006
- 138
- 0
- 18,680
A couple of things I would change (based around cooling) are : 1- get another 120mm fan and an 80mm one, the 80mm one works as a kind of vga cooler in the p180. 2- change the cpu cooler to something like the asus silent square pro or thermaltake big typhoon vx, both are much better IMO.
Cheers
Cheers
Best I can tell from Tom's VGA charts, SLI beats singles by 8-13 FPS on 2 of the 7-8 games tests. On the 3D mark06, the SLI almost double the single reading. As for the x vs x16, I am not sure but does matter as I do not believe any of the newer card use anything but PCI-E x16 slots.
TRENDING THREADS
-
-
-
Question Looking to pay around $500 for a desktop computer, what brands are recommended and is Newegg safe to buy from?
- Started by arnoldhwang
- Replies: 14
-
Discussion What's your favourite video game you've been playing?- Started by amdfangirl
- Replies: 3K
-
-
Question new network set up help with NAS, router or switch?
- Started by Colin_52
- Replies: 4
Latest posts
-
Question What would cause a computer to suddenly stop turning on completely?- Latest: Nine Layer Nige
-
-
-
-
-
Question Red CPU and orange DRAM lights on after successful boot?- Latest: SashaSanguine
-
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram