First build in 4 years, it's time for a serious update!

[mrharris]

Case: Coolermaster Slacker 830 + 1000w PSU - 400

Power Supply: Real Pro 1000w

Motherboard: MSI X48 – 250?

CPU: Intel QX9550 – 530

CPU Fan:ASUS Silent Knight - 70

RAM: Corsair Twinx DDR2 PC6400 800 MHz x 8 GB (70x2)

Video Card: eVGA GeForce 8800GTS 512MB (320)

Sound Card: Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Fatality Gamer Sound Card (136)

Hard Drive(s): Western Digital Raptor X Drive 150GB 10,000RPM x2 (170), 500GB 7,200 RPM HD (100)

Drive 1: Samsung 20x DVDRW (33)

Drive 2: Sony NEC Optiarc (18)

Misc: Arctic Silver 5 (6), Scythe S-Flex SFF21E 120mm x 9 (15), Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM (111), SilentX HDD Silencer x2 (27)


What you guys think of this build? Any better parts for the price? What's everyones opinion on the WD RaptorX in RAID0? What about the X-Fi and 8800GTS 512mb? What do you guys think about Scythe fans (1600rpm)? Finally, when are the new x48 motherboards and the quad core penryns coming out?

 

[ZOldDude]

Forget the Raptor.
The new Seagate 7200.11 (not the 7200.10) will kick it's butt and the 500GB size sales from $89-119.

I just picked up 2 (1TB) for only $194.83 USD includeing all the taxs this week.

8 GB's of ram...why?
You list alot of things you don't need (HD silencers!?) and a dual layer/dual mode Rom drive is $24 online and you only need one.
Save some money and use it on a high end PSU...PC Power & Cooling.

If you want the best cooling (air) use a Thermalright cooler and use the TIM paste that comes with it,AS is a waste of money.
If you want good fans use the Silverstone FM-121 (110 qfpm on high and come with a speed control) $11-17

The older CM Stacker TO-1 case does not look as nice as the 830 but -does- cool better.
Unscrew the rear fan grill for 100% airflow and place the HD cage with it's fan dirrectly inline with the exit fan. Your airflow will move over the CPU/Ram/Chipset and volatge regulators in a dirrect path.
You can also add the Crossflow Fan option for this case that pulls cool air from the right-outside of the case and moves a wave over the MB and GFX/sound cards (34 qfpm on high).

More fans does not give better cooling...correct airflow does.
The case can hold up to 9 fans if you want that sort of thing,and can hold 11 HD/Rom drives.
The botton is also one large grill so air is also pulled upwards.
Go look at photo's of it online.

EDIT: The case will also hold -two- PSU's and the PC Power & Cooling are not just the best but they come with an adaptor that lets you use two at the same time.
You can get two 610's for $119 USD each and have 1220 full power watts (not surge) with a total of 96/98+ Amps @ 12 volts....all on single well regulated rail and all fully useable.

Get an XFX 8800GT (one of the new low power ones) and OC the hell out of it...you end up with about the same preformance as an 8800GTX. Aslo the XFX warrenty is forever even if your not the first buyer or how many times you break it.

 

[GJX]

Why the hell are you going for a 1000W PSU when your system might use like half of that?