Computer build advice

[Murderous1]

Hey all this is my first new build and i just need some advice on components. Its going to be used for moderate gaming and some overclocking. My budget is around $950

Processor-Intel Core 2 Duo-E6300 $183
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115005

Motherboard-Gigabyte 965P-DS3 $123
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128012

Graphics Card-Geforce 7900GS Extreme $135
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814150202

RAM Sticks-OCZ Gold Series DDR2-533 $96
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227075

Corsair Power Supply 520w $119
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817139001

Cooler Master Centurion 5 ATX Mid Tower Case $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811119068

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB HD OEM $75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822144701

Samsung Black DVD Burner Sata OEM-$40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827151141

1. Oh btw my board says Power Pin: 24 pin but the psu is 20+4 pin...is it still compatible?

2. Am i going to need a floppy drive to install anything?

 

[wilcoxon]

Looks pretty good for your budget.

I think you should be able to afford DDR2-800 RAM and still stay in your budget (quick mental add gets me $850-ish on your current setup).

If you can spend a little more, I'd suggest looking at an 8800GTS 320MB. It will run you around $300 though.

 

[alcattle]

With some overclocking you really should get DDR2-800, 1 gig is good to start, if you find the rig page swapping too much, add another gig or trade the 1 gig for some 2x1gb sticks, you can find some now for ~$140
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2

 

[akhilles]

3rded. 800mhz ram would be minimal for the o/c setup. See, P965 o/c's cpu & ram synched/linked. If the ram is the bottleneck, the cpu won't go higher. If you want to o/c cpu only & buy cheap ram, get ASUS P5N-E SLI 650i for about the same price as DS3. O/c's like mad with cheap ram.

 

[skyguy]

Agreed, but with a twist:

Get the 4300 and 667 RAM instead. That will let you hit a decent overclock and you won't need 800 RAM

And for the bit of extra money, you should seriously consider 2 gigs RAM. Seriously. Prices are finally getting affordable, and you can get 2 gigs G.Skill at a very good price. Dropping the 6300 to a 4300 will save some money to help make up the difference too. And the 4300 is still a FAST chip at stock, but if you do some moderate overclocking then you won't even notice a performance diference at all.

4300 and 2 gigs G.Skill. Highly recommended, you won't be disappointed.

 

[cattbert]

As you are not loading your OS onto a raid, you will not need a floppy drive. I am assuming you already have an OS license (as I did not see it on your list).

 

[Nossy]

For OC, need some RAM headspace, 667 or 800. You could get by with 533 if you went with Allendale E4300 (Starts at 200MHz FSB)

24 pin = 20+4 pin

stock cooling is fine.

I'd cough up another $80-100 and get a 1900XT series video card

Try a 600W/550W Rosewill SLI PSU for $60. Works fine.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182032
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182030

 

[shebitme]

you might need a floppy to install sata drivers in xp, so i dont knoe

 

[skyguy]

Rosewill = garbage. It's Newegg's no name, in-house company rebadges PSU's. Don't bother, it's hit and miss.

The Corsair he's showing is a very good PSU. There are other options, but I certainly wouldn't knock the Corsair he's picked.

 

[geofelt]

Looks good as is. ---but----
1) Can you wait until the april anticipated c2d price cuts?
2) FSP makes the best price/performance psu's Look at
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104034
for $85. check out the psu101 link to compare quality psu's with the same output. http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=1491365#1491365
3) Find a way to get 2gb if you can. Any speed from a quality vendor will do.
4) If your intended use is gaming, then get the best VGA card that you feel comfortable with. You can get a 8800gts-320 for near $250. Check http://www6.tomshardware.com/2007/03/06/the_best_gaming_video_cards_for_the_money/ for a good list
---good luck---

 

[adapa]

if I'm recalling correctly the e6300 will be staying about the same price maybe droping 20 bucks or so on 4.22.

Op, some things to think about;
If you're concidering upgrading to a quad chip in the next year or so you might want to get a bigger psu. I found this to be helpfull
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp

I'll add my voice to the MORE RAM camp

Does a 250GB total seem really small to anyone else or is that just me?

 

[alcattle]

Core2Duo prices Q2 2007
The RAM would be my first upgrade
250GB is a good size on a budget, the 320 might be priced close enough to consider