$750 Budget Gaming C2D Build

It has been 4 years since my last build, and it seems the hardware scene has changed significantly. The price/performance for some of this stuff is amazing.

Anyway, my brother recently mentioned he was looking for a new computer for grad school and light gaming (oblivion and CoH but he is not a resolution fiend) so I told him I would look around. He is not technically inclined whatsoever, and does not need a sick overclocked machine. His budget is around $750, not including display and audio. I assembled the following rig with some light browsing, and would love to knock another $50 off the price if possible. Any thoughts or recommendations are appreciated.

FYI: I seriously debated the X2/C2D options but decided I liked the upgrade path on the Intel side slightly better, but feel free to prove me wrong.

Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz 2M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 114.50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115013

GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard 104.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128017

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) 94.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231098

POWERCOLOR X1950 PRO 256MB 256-bit PCI Express x16 Video Card 159.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814131026

COOLER MASTER RS-500-ASAA ATX Form Factor 12V V2.2 / SSI standard EPS 12V V2.91 500 Watts Continuous Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/product/Prod [...] 6817171010

COOLER MASTER RC-330-KKN1-GP Black SECC ATX Mid Tower
http://www.newegg.com/product/Prod [...] 6811119115
Case/PSU Combo: 119.98

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive 79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148140

Sony NEC Optiarc Black 18X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 18X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner - OEM 33.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827152079

Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM 111.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116202

Total w/o s/h = 820.42 rebates will cover s/h if I ever get them

My first inclination is to cut the PSU down a little, but I like the idea of a little headroom for later upgrades.
Thanks.

Everything looks pretty good.

You might want to upgrade to the GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 for $10 more. It's currently priced at $115 @ Mwave.

.. and if you're not too picky, I got this case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811156074

.. for $50 + $15 shipping, I was very impressed. The case itself is very nice, although simple, and as far as the PSU, it seems to be working fine for me. My system is fairly basic (E4300, 7600GT, 2x1GB Ram) and the PSU is handling it just fine.


Goodluck.

Thanks for the replies.

I did have a look at the RAIDMAX case/PSU combo, and actualy think the conservative styling is probably more what my brother would want. How is the noise level on the PSU though? It looked like there were two 80mm fans on it. (the Antec on my desktop has one, and the whine is quite noticeable.)

I agonized over the DS3/S3 choice for some time... I may deliver this box with a mild OC on stock cooling for long term use, and from what I read the S3 should get me there fine. I understand the later revision DS3 boards support higher FSB speeds...Does this mean they are likely to support Penryn at a later date? What are the other major differences?

The Centurion 534 is also nice, but I dont know that it is worth the extra $10.

I also switched to a saphire x1950pro as that powercolor was miss-labled on newegg, and appeared instead to be an ATI reference design, which some people have described as rather loud.

I would also second the Centurion 534. You can check out the power supply forum since sometimes they do show great deals on power supplies.

I just wanted to update those of you kind enough to reply to the original post. The machine is up, running, and delivered in a configuration simiar to the original post, save with the C534 case. I have never had such an easy build, every thing clicked on first install. Not a single crash during the entire configuration. Vista took some getting used to, and significant time to tweak, but appears to be quite stable.

That CPU/Mobo combo is amazing, the thing runs stable @2.7 GHz with Vcore at 1.300V. Tjunct is </= 68 in TAT after 30 min, even with a toasty ambient and stock HSF.

I do have one final question, however. I left the RAM at 1:1 ratio (600 Mhz) and 4-4-4-12 since I did not have time to run a long-term stability test with a higher mem ratio. Is it worth it next time I see my brother to try and bump the RAM to 800 even if it means 5-5-5-15 timings?

This might be one of those timing vs. speed questions that can only be answered with some benchmarking but any intuitive answers would be welcomed.

Thanks again.