Hi All,

I'm looking to build a new system now (rather than wait untill this winter) to run the games I play now and most of the new stuff coming out in the next few months (i.e. Bioshock/Crysis/Fallout 3/Unreal Tournament 3/etc.). I'm hoping that with options I selected I should be able to handle most upcoming issues. I don't plan on overclocking and I don't trust water cooling yet. My budget is $2500-$3000.

This is what I chose so far:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Processor Q6600 at 2.40GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 2X4M Cache

Case: Undecided but probobly an Antec P190

Cooling: Vigor Monsoon TM II Lite TEC Active CPU Cooling System with Triple 120MM Case Fan

PSU: Tagan TG1100-U96 TurboJet nVidia-SLI certified 1100Watt power supply

MB: Asus P5N32-E-SLI nVidia nForce 680i SLI 16 X 2 Intel Quad Core ready

RAM: 4GB Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 X 2 DDR2 800MHz Memory (4 x 1024MB)

Main Drive: WD Raptor 150 WD RAPTOR S-ATA 10000RPM 16MB Cache Hard Drive

Storage Drive: 500GB S-ATA II 7200 RPM Hard Drive

Video Card: ATI Radeon HD2900XTX 1GB DDR4 w/PCI Express, DVI and TV out

ROM Drives: (2x) Lite-On Internal LH20A1H Lightscribe 20X DVD+/-RW + CDRW Rewritable Drive

Sound: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 24-Bit 7.1

Network: Onboard Gigabit (10/100/1000Mbps) PCI Networ card

Extra:8-in-1 Card reader

Oper System: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit

Any and all comments and recomendations will be appretiated. Thanks in advance

Looks really expensive. I don't understand the 680i SLI MB and the single ATI 2900 video card combo, but it's not me putting out the many Franklins it will take to aquire an 'almost capable' SLI set up.

Three things, I have to point out. Why do you want an HD2900XT with a 680i mobo? If anything you should be aiming for something along the lines of a BadAxe 2 mobo (Latest Xfire capable mobo I can recall).

Again on the Hd2900XT subject, if you want to play the newest games then why not go for a GTX instead? It's a much better investment now that drivers for vista have improved (especially with the 162.22).

And the last thing I wanted to point out, lose Vista Ultimate and go for Vista Home Premium 64, it's about $100 less and you don't lose any functionality.

It does look very expensive. You could do MUCH better for the money. You don't need anywhere near that much power for this system, so a less expensive, less powerful but quality PSU should be the first change for this system. A 650W unit from Silverstone, Antec, or Seasonic will cost about $200 less and still provide plenty of power. Newegg results: ( http://tinyurl.com/2p83am ) Also a dual GPU setup will not work since you have an nvidia motherboard with an ATI graphics card. The DVD burner you selected is not SATA, which means you have to use bulky IDE cables in your case. Newegg: ( http://tinyurl.com/2kju6p ) If you don't plan on overclocking, you won't need the TEC either, which is loud, power hogging, and expensive. A nice conventional air cooler will do fine. Memory is fine, but you could do two 2GB sticks instead of four 1GB sticks, which would allow upgrading in the future and the motherboard wouldn't slow the ram down (that's what many of them do when all the slots are filled). It looks like you've got plenty of money to spend, so have fun, take these into consideration, but wait until the real pros put their insight into it.

Here's my new build, it's about the same cost as what you're proposing and I like it much more:

Q6600/Scythe Ninja/Scythe S-Flex fan
GA-P35C-DS3R
WD 500 GB drives (I got 3, but they were on sale at just CAD $116)
BFG 8800 GTX OC2
Lian-Li PC-V2000
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750W
X-Fi, LG DVD-RW, 4 GB DDR2-800, etc.

That Lian-Li case is quieter than the Antec 190.

The PSU has only 750W but it's extremely high quality. What you get with the Antec 190 is a 650W and a 550W, both medium quality, with the 550W mostly unused and the 650W too close to the limit.

I picked the Ninja because it's the quietest heatsink that I could get in my city and which still cools properly. If you're in the US get a Thermalright 120 from newegg.

The BFG 8800 GTX OC2 is just like an 8800 Ultra (40 billion fill rate as opposed to 40.3 for the Ultra). It will beat the 2900 card in most cases and it's quieter (62 dbA as opposed to 75).

I'd use a RAID made of 500GB drives instead of a Raptor, but that's just personal opinion.

If you do get the Antec P190 you don't need a PSU, it comes with 2 PSUs as I mentioned.

Why the Audigy? It really won't add much over onboard audio. The two solutions that make more sense are to get no sound card at all or to get an X-Fi ExtremeMusic
(or ExtremeGamer). The audio on the P35C-DS3R is better than a SoundBlaster Live, according to a bunch of people who reviewed it. If your speakers cost $250 or less (just a number pulled out of thin air, OK?) stick with onboard audio, otherwise get an X-Fi.