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Final Look Through

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Alright, for my first build, I have a decent idea of what parts I'm going with. I just need a "Last check" by some of the system building gurus out there, to inform me if it would benefit me if I switched up some of the parts or just generally what I should / shouldn't not be doing with my build. To start off, I'm looking to buy a $800-1,000 computer that will max out some of the newer games and get my general computing needs done. I'm on a short budget so any and all price cuts are welcomed. I'll be sticking with an Intel Nvidia rig. I guess what I'm really asking is, can you convince me to not buy these parts and if so what should I be getting?

Heres the semi-final list of parts, I'll be ordering in a week or two:

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail,
-Good reviews and cheap. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=gigabyte+GA-P35&x=0&y=0

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail
Pretty cut and dry, good OC good price great reviews.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115029

Video Card: I'm planning on picking up a GeForce 8800GT by any decent brand for under $300, Looking for a good one, please advice.

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W Active Power Supply
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10006757

RAM: Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146565

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822144417
-Theres a few HDD's by Western Digital that are quite cheaper, any reason i shouldn't buy either of those?

CD/DVD: SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151153

Case: CoolerMaster CM690 ATX Mid-Tower Case
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3198497&CatId=1842

OS: Windows Vista Home Premium, 32-bit

I'm sitting at a total of around $930 when I figured in the MIRs
I'm recycling monitor and what-nots


Thanks for any help, Its really appreciated!

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EVGA, XFX, BFG usually have their 8800GT cards factory-overclocked. May be worth the extra $50 if that's your thing. Mine is stock for $250. The other good brand is Palit which has a custom cooler & better overclockability.

The rest looks perfect.

Looks good, one of the better lists I have seen.

My only suggestion is to get 4gb up front. You should be able to get a matched 4gb kit for not much more. Sometimes the specs of memory changes over time and causes problems with adding it later.
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Can't help you, sorry. The list is too good :) 

Agreed with geofelt. Vista would be happier on 4GB. DDR2 prices are very low these days too. For example OCZ Vista Upgrade 2x2GB DDR2-800 is now $136 at my local shop. I paid $229 in July.

I'm not smoking anything!!! There's this great wine with 16% alcohol though... :D 

With that video card, I think he'd see about 3.5 GB. In my case it's worth it because Visual Studio.Net is a huge memory hog and every bit of RAM helps. It depends on what he meant by "general computing needs".

@factorydirect:
Not sure about the 64-bit version. AFAIK all Vista drivers have to pass the same tests for both 32-bit and 64-bit to get certified by Microsoft, so there's no additional risk there. However, some older programs may not work on the 64-bit version. I just got a new PC at work on Wednesday, with XP 64-bit, and it took me 3 days to get it all working again. Some programs refused to install on the 64-bit O/S (e.g TrackRecord), some gave warnings (SQL Server 2000), some installed but didn't work (Norton Antivirus - LiveUpdate just died). Usually there are 64-bit versions, but you have to buy them. Or there are free downloads with about the same functionality, but not always. Do some research before upgrading, or try dual-boot.

Edit: akhilles, how much physical memory does Task Manager show under "Total" on your machine? If your XP is the 32-bit version I bet the OP will see the same if he buys 4GB. I see 3.248 GB (3406252K), but my card has 0.75 GB of RAM instead of 0.5 so it hides more of the system RAM.

With a 32-bit OS you will see about 3.3gb. That is still considerably more than just 2gb, and well worth it in my opinion. I upgraded to vista home premium-64 and had no driver issues. The only program that would not run was civilization-2 version 2.42. The reason was that it was a 16 bit dos based program. Civ2-mge gold ran fine with a patch, so I'm happy. I now see all 4gb, and my sense is that the system runs snappier.

One other RAM option is to go with 3GB total. 2x1GB and 2x512MB for the 3GB total. But with the price$ of 4GB these days no reason not to "feed the beast".
Right now you can get the Evga 8800GT SSC video card from the EVGA website. $299 for a nice overclock & lifetime warranty.

Thanks again for the replies guys, I don't really plan on doing any heavy overclocking but if I eventually choose to will I need some separate cooling products for my CPU or will the stock fans in my case be enough? This is really the one area I'm completely clueless in. :kaola: 

The RC-690 case you picked comes with 3x120 fans which should be plenty of cooling to start out with. And it has room for 4x120 more fans just in case you fill the case up with future hot components.
The stock heat sink fan (HSF) that comes with your CPU is decent cooling and adequate for light to moderate overclocking.

You might want to get an aftermarket cpu cooler initially for two reasons:

1) If you get a good one like the thermalright ultra 120, your system will be quieter, particularly under load, even if you do not overclock.
2) Get it up front because it is much easier to install a cooler with the mobo out of the case in the beginning. It's best not to take apart a working system later if you don't need to.

Here are some charts showing the noise and performance of some popular coolers.
http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.aspx?i=3062&p=5
http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.aspx?i=3062&p=6

Note on the first chart how the Zalman 9700 becomes annoying under load, while the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme or Scythe Ninja remain relatively quiet. On the second chart, look at the temps on their X6800: 15 degrees more with the stock cooler vs with the Ultra-120 Extreme. A good cooler can make your CPU last longer.

If you want a quiet cooler that is easy to install and cheap, look at Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro.
Scythe Ninja cools better, but it costs more and it can be a pain to install.
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme cools even better, especially with a SFF21F or SilenX IXtrema fan, but it costs even more.

geofelt said:
You might want to get an aftermarket cpu cooler initially for two reasons:

1) If you get a good one like the thermalright ultra 120, your system will be quieter, particularly under load, even if you do not overclock.
2) Get it up front because it is much easier to install a cooler with the mobo out of the case in the beginning. It's best not to take apart a working system later if you don't need to.


May I hijack the thread a bit please? Geofelt, are you using the 305T with a single DVI cable? That is, can I use a 305T and a 216BW in DualView with a single 8800gtx?

@aevm: Yes, the 305T at 2560x1600 uses a single cable into one of the dvi connectors on to my single 8800GTS-640. The other dvi connector connects to a 244T at 1920x1200. I use them in dualview. Your single 8800GTX should obviously do the job. Since both monitors have the same size dot pitch, windows drag seamlessly from one to the other.
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