Black Friday Build: My First Ground Up - Please Critique

Hello everyone.

This is my first ground up system build, one which I've put off for several months because I'm a full-time student with a limited budget, but who can resist Black Friday prices?

I'm planning on using this PC for word processing/web browsing, mild audio and photo editing, and some heavy but unfortunately infrequent doses of gaming.

I've ordered one component so far: an EVGA 8800gt superclocked, bundled with Crysis for $300. The 8800gt's are so difficult to find, I could not possibly resist purchasing the Crisis bundle. Fortunately, It appears I have 90 days to step up to the G92 GTS, which looks very promising.


Here's the list - all prices are from newegg

Case: I'm leaning toward an Antec P182 @ $150, but the Antec 900's cooling looks to be superior. Not sure on this one

Power supply: Corsair HX620 @ $170-30 rebate = 140 (I read about compatibility issues with IP35-Pro.. Any foreseeable trouble?)

Motherboard: I like the Gigabyte P-35 DS3P (DS3R + firewire) @ $145 and the Abit IP35-Pro @ 185-20 = 165. I'm really undecided here.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 @ $190

RAM: I don't think I'll ever need more than 4GB. Should I go with 4x1 (better CL) or 2x2? (better command rate)?
2x1 GB Crucial DDR2 800 CL4 @ $90 - 40 rebate = 50.. This looks like a great deal (assuming Crucial makes good on their rebates)


Card Reader: Atech Flash Xm-4U @ $20

Hard Drives: Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s @ $43 (I plan to use this for my OS's)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s @ $85 ( I plan to use this for data storage)

DVD Drive: LITE-ON 20x DVD RW @ $38

Keyboard: Saitek Eclipse @ $40

Mouse: Logitech G5 @ $47

CPU cooling: Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme @ $65

2x Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F 120mm Case Fan @ $28

Speakers: Logitech X-530 70 watts RMS 5.1 @ $55

Operating System(s)

XP Pro: $140: I'm buying this for stability and compatibility. It's important to me to be able to run some classic 16-bit games such as starcraft and Diablo II.

64-bit Vista Home Premium: $105


This comes to about $1400. After the video card is added, the total comes to $1700. I'd really appreciate any and all advice/constructive criticism. Thanks for putting up with such a long post.

looks good um, why 64 bit vista, that might backfire on you, what about video card?,

Your spending about $1000 to much IMO but it should be nice.

Excellent job. Don't listen to roadrunner, you can't play Crysis and really enjoy it on a $700 PC.

I'd get a Q6600 instead of E6750. (+$100)

I'd get the Antec 900, because the 8800GT needs the best cooling possible. This also saves a few bucks.

If you need Firewire get the DS3P. If not, DS3R or even DS3L. This saves a few bucks too.

I'd ditch both hard disks and get a single WD7500AAKS instead. It will be faster, twice as big, and only $60 more. Of course, make a small partition for Windows, etc.

Wow, very nice work.

But that's not a $700 setup, it's a $1065 setup after you include the card reader, XP, Vista and Crysis. You can't get the $270 card, unless you also add $50 for Crysis separately.

Anyway, you're right, he can cut some things and save money. For example he could just get rid of the Thermalright cooler and overclock mildly on the stock cooler (or not at all). The PSU can be replaced with a cheaper Corsair 550VX or 520HX. With Antec 900 instead of Antec P182 and DS3L instead of DS3P he saves another $50 or $100.

Thanks for the replies.

I've decided to replace the 620HX with a 520HX (it appears that Corsair under-rates their power supplies, so the 520HX should be sufficient). This should save ~40.