I'm going for a more mid-end build with intentions of doing minor upgrades every now and then

CPU- Core 2 Duo e6750

CPU Cooler - Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro

Case- Cooler Master Centurion

Hard Drive- Seagate Barracuda 500gb

Monitor - Samsung Syncmaster 940bw

Ram- Mushkin HP2-6400 DDR2-800 2x1gb High performance series 4-5-4-11(996533)

Motherboard- Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R

PSU- Corsair HX Series CMPSU-520HX 520w

Video Card- XFX Geforce 8600GT 256mb GDDR3 - Will upgrade later

This is costing me approximately 1150-1250 CAD

Please recommend any changes for a final build, thanks

Edit: Ok guys final question before i go out and buy this set, should i spend an extra $20 and get a ati radeon x1950 pro 256mb over the 8600gt?

Nice build.

The 520HX can handle an upgrade to 8800 GTS, for example. However, if your upgrade plans include a quad CPU and an 8800 GTX then get a 620HX instead.

Edit: maybe get a cheaper video card if you're going to replace it soon anyway. Even better, try to get an 8800 GTS 320, that should do very nicely at your monitor's resolution (1440 x 900) and you won't need to upgrade it for 2 or 3 years.

1) I installed an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro cooler on top of an E6600 and wasn't thrilled with it. The clips were very hard to get on; and even after getting it on; I wasn't satisfied with the cooling. Stock temps were say 28 or so...

After overclocking the E6600 to 3.4 the system would not be stable. about the best OC'g I could get was about 3.1 - 3.2 depending on ambient temps.

I switched out the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro and replaced it with a Theralright ultra 120 extreme.

Now I I have the system OC'd at 3.7 and it's rock solid. Idle temps are anywhere between 24 - 29 & full load comes in anywhere between 49 - 55.

Here in a couple of weeks when I get some time I'll pull this system apart and lap the CPU & HS. I've read where after laping you can get another 10 degrees out of the CPU.. but you need to be very careful...

So I"d change out the HSF first.

Second as it relates to power and PSU's

Go here:

http://www.extreme.outervision.com [...] orlite.jsp

Determine what you are LIKELY TO PUT INTO YOUR MACHINE and WHEN; and then figure out how large a PSU you are going to require.

I use PCPOWERANDCOOLING PSU's... I look in their specials area and get the refurbs because they are every bit as good as the new ones!

Alright guys thanks for the tips, I'll most likely upgrade the psu(thanks for that calculator), but the graphics card will stay the same and just be upgraded when needed. For the cooler thanks for the tip, I'm deciding how much i want to overclock now though, i don't think i'll even go past 3.2ghz . I've never really overclocked before and i don't want to put too much strain on the cpu

Also anymore advice from anyone else would be highly appreciated before I go out and buy this next week, Thanks

If your use is for gaming, then the power of the vga card is much more important than the cpu power for most games. See if you can trade some cpu$ for more vga$.

Ok thanks geo i thought about what you said, but i decided to leave it how it is, since i'm not too big on having the latest and greatest graphics, and would rather have more processing power now and upgrade later. I'm a happy camper with mid-low graphics settings

Nice setup. I would suggest getting yourself a more efficiency PSU, like a Thermaltake Toughpower 750W. I would also suggest you get yourself more efficent RAM. Get yourself some DDR3 RAM.

DDR3?!? Don't even think about that. Way way too expensive. Maybe in a year or two.

Hey guys question these are the Power Supplies within the same price range i can get, any recommendations?

More Costly
OCZ (OCZ600GXSSLI) GameXStream 600 Watt Power Supply, Dual GPU, SLI compable


Thermaltake Purepower W0129RU 600 W SLI/Cross-Fire ATX 12V 2.2 version.


Corsair HX Series CMPSU-520HX 520W ATX Triple Power Supply 120MM Fan 12V 50A Continuous 24PIN ATX Modular


Less Costly


OCZ (OCZ600SXS) StealthXstream 600W Gamers Power Supply


Antec TRUEPOWER TRIO 550W TP3 ATX12V 120MM FAN 4 SATA 2 PCIE FCC


Mushkin (550200) HP-550 550W Peak 650W ATX 12V 24PIN SLI Ready ATX Power Supply 120MM Fan


Enermax FMA II EG565P-VE ATX 2.2 535W SLI Power Supply ROHS SATA, PCI-Express x 2 and Convertible 24P Connector. $91.99 Add to cart


SilverStone SST-ST50EF-Plus 500Watt Power Supply with Active PFC- True 80 Plus Efficiency and RoHS




Thanks in advance!

I think everything looks perfect. Just make sure you buy compatible ram for that motherboard. I have the same motherboard and have cold boot issues which I believe is due to the memory I chose.

If you are getting a centurion case get the 534 series. Since the hard drive stick out to the side panel. You would be able to fix a more bigger gpu.

Last question in topic

=== should i spend an extra $20 and get a ati radeon x1950 pro 256mb over the 8600gt? ===

Yes.