$1500 Gaming System. Ordering Tonight. Tax Refund Arrived.

Alright, just got my tax refund its time to order up my new system.

My budget is $1500 the system will be used for Gaming.

After reviewing forums and all the other research this is what I have come up with.It's been a while since I have built a CPU so I am not sure about the compatibility of everything.
I will be dual booting XP and Vista. The new copy of XP I already have is the 64bit version.As far as overclocking, I will not be doing any from the start, however I do want to learn so the rig needs the option available. It would be minimal though as I wouldn't want to risk screwing something up.

Here it is:

GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 - 136.13
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128017

E6400 - 242.54
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115004

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 PC2 6400 - 223.48
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231087

ENERMAX FMA II EG565P-VE ATX12V 535W Power Supply - 109.24
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817194010

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB - 103.78
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148140

LG Black 18X DVD+R - 32.76
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827136108

SAPPHIRE 100186L Radeon X1950XT 256MB - $273.78
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102067

COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534-KKN2-GP - $59.68
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119106

MASSCOOL 8WA740 90mm Ball Cooler - $25.94
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835150081

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - $11.53
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835100007

SCEPTRE x22wg-Gamer Black 22" 5ms DVI HDMI LCD Monitor - $374.89
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824112005

Windows Vista Home Basic OEM DVD 32Bit - $108.77
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116196

The prices listed above include tax and shipping.
Darn Newegg opening a warehouse in the state. :x

Well I am about $180 over budget. I need to either change some stuff up to save the money without risking gaming performance or find another dealer to save on tax which would be 9.25 % saved. I like Newegg though. Any ideas on another great vendor?
What can I do to cut $180.

On the monitor what about the:
BenQ FP222W Black 22" 5ms DVI Widescreen HDMI LCD Monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824014131
327.74 with tax. However the Sceptre above has a 1200:1 contrast ratio. Worth the price difference?

I do not want to vacuum a lot. Any suggestions on another case with good cooling around that price range?

VERY smart move, don't waste your money on a 1950. Get the 8800, no question. IF you can wait If not, use your old card til you can get the 8800.

And DON'T bother with Vista Basic, you might as well flush money down the toilet. Get that new system, kickA$$ vid card, and then cripple with the Vista Basic?? OUCH.

Not sure I understand.....

What I meant is that Vista Basic is the toilet version of Vista. With your new setup it can handle much better than Basic. It's kinda like building a great new hotrod car, all tweaked out, and then you put a Hyundai Pony engine in it

Save your money for a bit longer and get Home Premium, it comes with most of the toys. By that time, drivers and program support will be better for Vista as well.

$60 won't get you much to play games on in the meantime, so depends how long you're gonna wait.

-Radeon 9250 could work in a pinch
-NVidia FX5500 as well

Crap cards, but should hold you over for a short while.

For once, why get Vista if you aren't getting a DX10 card?

EDIT: Oh sorry, you changed it to 8800GTS... It actually seems like a pretty nice build then!

Instead of buying everything via newegg, don't you have a local hardware shop that could match or even beat some of the componants you have listed pricewise? I have used newegg lots of times for more expensive items, but lets say harddrives and the like i buy locally. saves cost on shipping ect.

There's a very simple way to save yourself a few bucks, get the E4300 instead of the E6400!!!

All you do with the E4300 is set the FSB to 333 in the BIOS instead of the standard 200 and Voila! X6800 performance.

I think you're overestimating the requirements of Vista and underestimating the abilities of a new dual-core system, and especially as it relates to gaming specifically.

Ultimate or Premium *might* have a few more things running (I don't have Basic so I can't compare) but a good system will handle it. Kinda like saying, "Won't a Ferrari suffer in performance in the quarter mile because the road has a 5% incline and isn't perfectly flat?" Same idea.

Don't buy an 8800GTS unless you're getting an EVGA one.

First, unlike most of the 8800 coat tail hangers here, you're not really coming to terms with a few things:

Secondly, R600 is only a couple of weeks away, so you're paying a premium for DX10 exclusive performance, but you have no idea how the hard synthetic benchmarks will look or how ATI's counter will look.

For all you know, Nvidia's 8900GT or whatever comes next could destroy the 8800GTS in benchmarks and for lower the cost.

If you go with EVGA you can trade in for 100% of the amount you paid as long as it's within 3 months, so you get the best of both worlds.

You get the 8800GTS you want, but you also get the option of trading it in for Nvidia's next big bad boy, and for a small amount too.

Again, I don't hate the 8800GTS, all I"m saying is what everyone here knows but won't admit- And that's that you have no idea how the 8800GTS will do against REAL competitors.

By the way, regarding to the thermal paste, I'm getting THIS ONE. The reviews are brutal...

Before calling me a fool, I have to say that I never, ever suggested a CPU cooler. Maybe at the end he would buy a copper cooler, and there the Coollaboratory would fit nice. Sure, I forgot to tell "be careful because that product can't be applied in aluminium HS", sorry if I missed that point, my bad. But the product looks really great.

Sometimes being a "guru" like Tacos doesn't gives you rights to call another person what you want. Be respectful to earn respect.

Ok I went to Ewiz to save on tax. Thanks for the info on that vendor.

Here is what I came up with.

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro $18.50
E6300 $179.22
Antec P180B $128.75
Arctic Silver $2.11
Lite-On SHM-165H6S 16X LightScribe Dual Layer DVD+/- RW Drive $37.85
Seagate 250GB SATA2 7200rpm 16MB $76.73
Antec TruePower Trio 650 650W Power Supply $110.21
STT DDR2-800 2GB (2x1GB) CL4 Dual Channel Memory Kit T800UX2GC4 $212.18
GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 $111.24
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium X64 Edition $116.39
EVGA nVidia GeForce 8800GTS KO ACS3 640MB 2DVI/HDCP PCI-Express $458.35


That info was great on EVGA and did not know they had a step-up policy.

Even with the EVGA step-up program?
I could have it for about 75 days then upgrade to whatever is out then.

Chiefvalue, which is a reputable seller have the 8800GTS in 389.99 -30.00 MIR. The link is HERE. The shipping is 5.99 3 day. I suggest that site to get it.

dawg, if you want to save money, there's a $300 gts on the verge of coming out, my fellow taco's and I have known about that for almost 2 months now; if you want to save money and get excellent performance, that's where your money's best bet's at

That's a good point, but maybe he doesn't have an XP to install in the new PC... Anyway, if you are going to use the PC for gaming, as the subject says, Vista Ultimate may be overkill. And you can update from Home Premium to Ultimate anytime (just paying the difference as long as I know).

I got none, except to get difference ram than the super talent, they used to be amazing, but recently (less than a week ago) switched from micron IC to promos, so I'd get something different there, such as buffalo or crucial, that I know still have micron IC's. Then consider this case before buying the p180, I have one myself, and a lot of the p180's amazing airflow is detered by all the wire clutter it has, so if you want nice looks and cooling, get the antec 900
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129021
But if you want silence, then I guess p180 is the way to go
Also get the ds3 instead of the s3, the s3 has almost zero cooling, and if you can find it at a nice rate, the ds4 (much better cooling)

And on the os, here's what I would do, I would download a copy of xp pro x64 off their website for free (180 day trial, loving mine) and see how 64 bit goes for you driver wise, because you need certified drivers for 64 bit vista, and you always wait until service pack 1 on microsoft OSes. So tyr that out and see how it goes for you, then once vista has been out a little longer and microsoft issues patches for it, especially service pack1, then you buy vista (try to get the ultimate edition, if not, home premium actually has every feature with the exception of encryption, so it's even better than business)

I did not see a rebate for this case on their site.
Maybe it expired. Darn

I'm sold on the 900. Plus it saved me $25. Hmm what to put that $25 into...

I like the first video. The cooler is out of stock. Is it worth that much money. Surely there is something better than what I have choosen without that large of a price jump.

Ok I am sold on the Tower. My CPU keeps getting better and better.

Thanks for all of the input. I know these critique my build posts can get old.

OK. It's ordered now I can't wait to put it togethor.

Here is the final list of ordered parts:

E6300 1.86GHz 1066MHz 2MB
Arctic Silver 2.5g Tube
Seagate 250GB SATA2 7200rpm 16MB
STT DDR2-800 2GB (2x1GB)
GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3
Windows Vista Home Premium X64
SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner
ENERMAX Liberty ELT620AWT ATX12V 620W
EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower
Tuniq Tower Cooler