Hi everyone,

Like a lot of this forum visitors I am also one who wishes to ask your advice about my future build. I have put together all my previous computers on my own, but somehow the technology has advanced tremendously and I don't feel very sure of the pieces I need. I don't want to spend a lot of money on the computer and the pieces I have chosen reflect my budget which is 10 000 in my national currency and approximately $820. I'll also list what every item costs in my country (Estonia) in dollars.

As I searched through the forums I've collected some ideas.

CPU: Intel Core 2 E6750 seems like the best choice, as it is rather cheap and also overclocks well as I've read. First I thought about E6600, but this one costs more. Could anyone tell me why's that, shouldn't E6750 be faster?
E6750 is $225 and E6600 is $270

Cooler: This is a hard one, don't know which one should do the job okay. As I plan on OC'ing a little then the one which comes with the processor might be too weak. Someone mentioned Arctic cooler Freezer 7 PRO in a thread. Is it good enough, only costs $25.

Motherboard: Gigabyte Socket 775 GA-P35-DS3 ($130) seems to have everything I need. Gigabyte Socket 775 GA-P35-DS3L is a little cheaper ($120), but I don't see why it differs from the other one. Or perhaps something else that doesn't have ddr3 support as I don't need one.

Memory: As much as I've read then there is no point in buying expensive memory.
A-DATA DDR2 2x1GB DDRII Over Clock Extreme Edition DDR2 800+ is the cheapest pricing $100
Kingston DDR2 PC2-6400 800MHz 2GB CL 5 (Kit of 2 - 1GB) - costs approx. $50 more.
Which one should I take..the options of RAM are somewhat limited in my country, they don't import other brands except those 2 and Corsair, which costs a lot.
I'll just add that 1000MHz A-DATA ones cost $130, should I think about that?

Videocard: Think I should go with 8800 GTS 320Mb as it is the cheapest high end card and I don't need to play games on very high resolutions nor with max. settings.
Sparkle GeForce 8 Series 8800GTS 320MB PCI-E, Dual DVI, TV-Out - that's the cheapest one in my country with a price tag of $340 Other manufacturers like Gigabyte, Club3d, XFX, Asus, MSI cost a little more (add $10-$20), but in the old times it didn't matter a lot whose name was on the videocard.
This is the most expensive item in my list and I don't feel like spending more on a videocard. Or is the one with 640MB so much better that it would justify additional 80$ making its price $420 and blowing my budget

This should be it, I can plunder from my old PC 2 SATA drives, DVD+-RW and case with PSU.
All the cheapest items in the list added together are $790 which leaves a little room. The budget is somewhat flexible, but I wouldn't want it to cross $850 margin.

I thank in advance all the people who are willing to participate and give me advice.

All your responses are important to me, so don't be shy

Hey there, get the 6750, the 6600 is older tech and intel doesn't really support it anymore. The 6750 is much better. If you plan to OC very little, that cpu cooler should be ok, but something alittle better would be recommended. What is your current PSU? YOu have to be sure it's quality or it might not run your 8800GTS, or at least not run it for very long PSUs should be one of the most important parts you buy.

Get the DS3L for a budget build. If you need Raid for your computer go with the DS3R since the L model doesn't offer it.

Good luck with your build!

Thanks for your quick reply. My current PSU is FSP Blue Storm AX500-A, is a rather solid PSU, but I'm not sure how power-hungry 8800GTS is.
I don't need raid so no need to pay more because of it

Hey that PSU should be just fine, its not bad. Have fun with your build

That's great, can keep some of my hard-earned money

But what about the memory? Is there a big difference between 800MHz and 1000MHz as the price differs only a 10 bucks.

The 1000MHz RAM is only really useful with extreme overclocking or with moderate overclocking on 1333MHz FSB chips (like the quads). But for $10 more, you might as well go for it, means you got that extra overclocking headroom for future CPUs. I am considering getting a S3L or DS3L as well, but I can't really see the difference.

Thanks...I'll think I'll get those then in case I ever want to buy a quad CPU.

Now the last thing I need to know before I go and buy my new baby is whether I need to pay any attention to the manufacturer of the videocard? XFX of Sparkle? Any ideas?

Unless you overclock it (or buy a pre-overclocked card) or are worried about warranties it really doesn't matter. Even the "low-end" manufactueres like powercolor and palit have improved alot, and both XFX and Sparkle are both good. XFX probably have a better warranty though, and will likely sell pre-overcloced cards, but you will pay more.