Hey everyone, I just want to say thanks for taking the time to look at this I really appreciate it. I am getting ready to do my first ever build. I am a college student so I will be using this for school but I want to build this computer around gaming. I am really looking forward to games like HL2 Episode 2, TeamFortress, Unreal Tournament, Haze, and of you guessed it Crysis.

I have spent a lot of time this summer researching and like so many others I am waiting for the Intel Price Cut on July 22nd. Here is what I was thinking:

- Case - NZXT Apollo Black $70.00
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6811146025

- Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R $130 http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6813128050

- GPU - a friend of mine has an extra EVGA GeForce 6800GT that I can borrow for free until the next DX10 cards comes out.

- PSU - Antec NeoPower NeoHE 550 ATX12V 550W $80.00
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6817103941
(Is this good enough)

- CPU - Intel QuadCore Q6000

- RAM - 2 or 4 gb of Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800 $70 or $140
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6820146565
(I know I will need Vista 64 bit if I go 4GB)

- HD - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB 7200 RPM $70 http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6822148144
(which is better, this or theWestern Digital Caviar)

- Monitor - ViewSonic Optiquest Series Q20WB Black 20" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor $180
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6824116075
(is this any good? I would like to get the best possible for $200 or less)

- DVD-RW - Sony
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6827152079

- Artic Silver 5 Thermal Compond

TOTAL W/O GPU after rebates = $900ish with 2GB Ram and $975ish with 4GB


Okay... now for some questions?
1. I have never overclocked, does overclocking cause the life of a CPU to shorten? I would like this build to last me several years. I would be up for overclocking but probably not right of the bat.

2. Do I need to buy a heatsink for the Q6600 if I am not overclocking? If I would overclock I know I need a different heat sink. Many have said the Tuniq tower is the best so I would go with that and then Artic Silver Paste as well.

3. Is the power supply good enough? I have no need for SLI. I don't want to skimp on this but I don't want to spend the money for a PC Power and Cooling either.

If you have any suggestions please let me know. Thanks for the help guys I really appreciate it!

Looks good. That is about what I am building. I am in a tighter budget so I am going with an intel e6750 though. It will have a 1333 fsb. However, I really want to talk about graphics. The set of middle end dx10 cards from amd/ati (2400 2600)and nvidia (8500 8600)aren't really middle ranged they're extremely low end. I would almost call some of them them garbage don't you agree?

You forgot your opertaing system. ex. vista ( home premium $120)
Get the four gb of ram if you plan to keep this build through vista.

Here is agood psu. I have it. You might want the modular cabling though.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817190007

oh yeah thats it man great choices. I too am about to put a built based on Q6600 YEAH BABY. pass ATI and go strait to 640mb GTS. I dont think E6750 is not worth an upgrade...well dependeds on what ur already working with. But that Q6600 investment will be enough for most up until maybe the 2nd generation of the Pynryn easily.

I definately agree. I will not get anything lower than a 8800gts 320 mb. I would like to get something higher. But since I am on a budget I can use my friends old 6800GT (not 8600) for free until the new stuff comes out or the prices of the 8800's drop. I know this card is out of date but it is free and I only need it till the fall/christmas anyways.

I can get Vista free through my school thats why I didn't include that in the price

Overclocking by itself doesn't shorten the life of a CPU (unless you don't have enough cooling and it fries), it's adding extra voltage that shorten life. Even so, "safe" levels of voltage don't shorten life significantly. The CPU life might get shortened from 10 years to 7 or 5, but realistically, by then you will have forgotten all about that silly ancient Q6600. As for cooling, get an aftermarket cooler anyway, it helps even at stock speeds, especially with a quad-core.

I believe overclocking does shorten the life of your CPU, especially if you have to increase voltage and/or if your cooling is not good enough.

You don't really need a new heat sink, but if you do get one it should reduce the noise and it might increase the lifetime of the CPU. I'd recommend a Thermalright Ultra-120 because it does the cooling job better than most while still being one of the quietest coolers. Scythe Ninja would be my second choice. When picking a cooler you need to make sure it fits with your motherboard and your case.

550W for a 6800GT is fine. 550W for the next high-end DX10 card, 9800 GTX or whatever, are you kidding me? Even if the 9800 GTX is done at 65 nm and consumes less per transistor than the 8800 GTX, I still think you'll need a new PSU. I'd go with a Thermaltake ToughPower 850W.

Since I am planning on buying at least 8800gts I will get a better power supply right off the bat. The OCZ GameXstream 700w for $115 would be okay shouldn't it? Again I am on a budget so I would really like to stay around the $100 mark

As for the heatsink, I'm not sure if I should get one right off the bat since I probably won't OC at first. If I do, would the Thermaltake Ultra 120 fit in my case. Would the Tuniq Tower fit (Isn't this the best)? both are $60-65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835154001

here is the link to my case again:
NZXT Apollo Black
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6811146025

Playing the new games like Crysis is a must! I know it will strongly depend on my graphics card but shouldn't the rest of my system be able to handle the games coming out to play on the highest settings (ie none of my other components will bottleneck/limit my ability to play?)

Is the monitor I have a good one? To play at I think at 1440x900 a 8800gts 320mb would be enough. But at 1680 x 1050 resolution would a 320mb be enough or would I need the 640mb at this res?

Monitor - ViewSonic Optiquest Series Q20WB Black 20" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor $180
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6824116075
(is this any good? I would like to get the best possible for $200 or less)

Thanks again for all of your help thus far and sorry for so many questions... I just want to do this right

Sorry, no idea if it fits. What if you skip the cooler for now and use the money to get a better video card, that might be the smartest thing.

The OCZ PSU looks good. It has 50A on the 12V rails, according to this:
http://www.ocztechnology.com/drive [...] _chart.jpg
That should be fine even for a Q6600/single 8800 GTX setup. Heck, it's almost good enough for 8800 GTX SLI.

well the 8600 series are pretty good when you compare them to last gen versions. the gts can compete with a x1950 pro and in some games can outperform it e.g. Oblivion, S.t.a.l.k.e.r & Flight Sim X especially when overclocked. gts is just overpriced atm.

I believe overclocking does shorten the life of your CPU, especially if you have to increase voltage and/or if your cooling is not good enough.

You don't really need a new heat sink, but if you do get one it should reduce the noise and it might increase the lifetime of the CPU. I'd recommend a Thermalright Ultra-120 because it does the cooling job better than most while still being one of the quietest coolers. Scythe Ninja would be my second choice. When picking a cooler you need to make sure it fits with your motherboard and your case.

550W for a 6800GT is fine. 550W for the next high-end DX10 card, 9800 GTX or whatever, are you kidding me? Even if the 9800 GTX is done at 65 nm and consumes less per transistor than the 8800 GTX, I still think you'll need a new PSU. I'd go with a Thermaltake ToughPower 850W.

I have the Antec NeoHE 500 (500W, not 550W) and believe me it's enough for a single graphics solution (can easily power 8800GTX), according to mpilch it lacks some extra kick in order to power SLI 8800GTX, but unless nvidia is planning on making a 9800GTX that consumes about as much as 8800GTX, I don't think you'll have a problem with that PSU

Just wanted to say thanks to all of you who have posted so far.

Will a monitor with 1680 X 1050 resolution be too much for the 8800gts 320 MB. Is it necessary to bump up to the 640mb version @ this resolution?

Would it be worth getting memory higher than DDR2 800?

NEED SOME HELP. Ok guys I would like to start ordering some of the parts now since they are on sale. I was thinking about getting everything but the CPU (obviously waiting till July 22nd) and the PSU (not sure which one I should get yet)

Here is another monitor I found. How is this for gaming? Reg $300.00 but it’s on sale for $200 after rebates so would it be worth it? Does anyone have it?
Acer® AL2216Wbd 22" Widescreen Digital/Analog LCD Monitor, Black
http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.d [...] &An=browse

I would just like to run down what I want to get, so if you could take another look just to make sure everything looks good. Please any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Thanks guys!

Case - NZXT Apollo Black $50.00
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6811146025

Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R $130 http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6813128050

RAM - 2 or 4 gb of Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800 $70 or $140
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6820146565

HD - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB 7200 RPM $70 http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6822148144

DVD-RW – Sony/NEC $32
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6827152079

Sunbeam Tuniq Tower: $55 after promo code:EMC612FTUNI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] ...MC-IGNE

Artic 5 Thermal Compound $6
http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6835100007

Is the Tuniq Tower a great heatsink or should I get a different one?
Is the Seagate Barracuda 250GB better than the Western Digital Caviar 250GB?
Is the DVD Burner I have good or can you think of a better one?
How is that monitor I listed above, should I get it?

So after I buy this stuff all I will need is the CPU and my PSU. Also, I will get my DX10 Graphics Card (at least 8800gts) later but for now just use my friends extra GPU. Thanks everyone

Anyone?