we are not very technical but we'd like to try to build our own comp, we like games but aren't heavy gamers, can you advise, we've tried to do our research both on these forums and others, what do you think?

Antec nine hundred case
seagate barracuda ata 1000 7200rpm 16mb cache
EVGA e 8800gt nvidia 512mb pci-e graphics
silencer 610w eps12v
crucial ballistix 2 x 1gb ddr2 pc2 8500 mem
lite-on 20A1s 11 dvd
asus pk5-e intel p35 lga 775 motherboard
intel core 2 duo E6750 cpu

We have a laptop with vista, but much prefer XP, so that is the OS we would use, is there any difference between the home edition and pro for the above? thanks in advance!

i would suggest the new 45nm E8400 CPU instead of the 65nm E6750. the E8400 is around $215 or so.

if you do not plan to do RAID or run two graphics cards in SLI, i would suggest the cheaper GA-P35-DS3L motherboard which is highly rated and costs $110 or so.

the antec 900 case was on sale a week ago for $70.

im not sure how much benefit pc2 8500 memory is over the usual pc2 6400 800MHz memory which is cheaper.

if you go with XP 32 bit, 2 gb of memory is fine (max is 3), but if you go with XP Pro 64 bit, I would suggest getting 4gb of memory since more memory is usually more important than faster memory. but since memory is so cheap, why not get more and faster memory.

also, if you plan to overclock, which is not hard to do (read the sticky in the overclock section), you may want to get an aftermarket cooler (zalman 9700 is popular, thermalright 120-ultra extreme is the most expensive but runs the coolest). Also, look for suggestions for parts that are overclock friendly. for example, the antec 900 case is very overclock friendly, as is crucial ballistix RAM.

nice PSU.

emmm, it looks like your hdd is an ata (ide) one - get one that is serial ata (sata) with a 16mb cache as possible...

and drop the e6750

The number in PC2-xxxx refers to the bandwidth, and in general DDR2 800 PC6400 translates to

400MHZ with a maximum bandwidth of 6,400 MB\s

So to find the clock speed of ram you divide the number in half, this is true to DDR, DDR2, and DDR3.

So we see a minute benefit of going with pc2 8500 if the ram had the same timings.

Now I know personally that the PC6400 ram has some great timings available, and they make a world of difference if you have poor timings.

It has been a while since I read about memory, so I could be wrong about the DDR2 and DDR3 clock speeds.. but I do know that it holds true to the original DDR memory modules.

Drop the RAM to DDR2-800.

Change the HDD to a SATA. Seagate 7200.11 500GB, for example.

Upgrade to 800GTS G92 512MB or downgrade to HD 3870. Either way, it will be a quieter card and you'll avoid overheating issues.

An Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro would help a lot. It's the best cooler out there if you want silence and don't try for an overclocking record. It's cheap and extremely easy to install. Read the review at http://anandtech.com/casecoolingps [...] i=3210&p=6

If you do want a massive overclock, get the PC2-8500 after all and a Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme/Scythe SFF21F.

He is right! I wouldn't build a rig with out that cpu cooler... even if I was going watercooled I would buy one as a backup and keep it in a closet for emergencies.

Do you have cooling problems that bad?

pc2-8500 is ddr2-1066 - the point i am trying to make is that 1066 is overkill because you can push an E8400 to 4GHz with DDR2-800 that you OC to 890, or you can push it to 3.6GHz with DDR2-800 at 800. It does not hurt to buy 1066, but I would rather get 800 and use the money saved toward a CPU cooler or other goodies.

Stock:
Data Rate = 1333 MBytes/sec
FSB = 1333 / 4 = 333.25 MTransfers/sec (you divide by 4 since the FSB is quad pumped = 4 transfers per clock cycle)
CPU speed = 9 x FSB = 2999.25 GHz
RAM speed = 2 x FSB = 666.50 GHz

OC a little:
Data Rate = 1600 MBytes/sec
FSB = 1600 / 4 = 400 MTransfers/sec (you divide by 4 since the FSB is quad pumped = 4 transfers per clock cycle)
CPU speed = 9 x FSB = 3600 GHz
RAM speed = 2 x FSB = 800 GHz

OC a little more:
Data Rate = 1777.77 MBytes/sec
FSB = 1777.77 / 4 = 444.44 MTransfers/sec (you divide by 4 since the FSB is quad pumped = 4 transfers per clock cycle)
CPU speed = 9 x FSB = 4000 GHz
RAM speed = 2 x FSB = 888.88 GHz

Assuming 1:1 FSB:Memory Bus ratio.

thanks for the replies, some of it is way too technical for me, I think I will downgrade the memory, I don't think we're going too need that and because we're not heavy gamers I feel the E6750 would be ample for us. I see what you mean about the hdd. Could someone give more info regarding the graphics card ie 8800gt against the gts, also I'm sure I read somewhere if we want windows XP we would need a floppy drive? All in all would this be upgradable without having to shell out for the lot every two years or so!!

8800GTS G92 512MB is about 14% faster than the 8800GT and has a better cooler and overclocks better. Avoid the 8800GTS 320MB and 640MB, those are an older generation and not worth buying any more IMO.

You don't need a floppy drive for XP. I'm using XP and don't have a floppy drive.

Upgradable: that's hard to answer. Let's assume you upgrade in February 2011. You will not be able to use the latest CPUs in that mobo because they will use a different socket, not LGA775. The latest video cards will be PCI-E 2.0 or 3.0. They will (probably) work in that motherboard, but slower than they would in a PCI-E 2.0 slot. My guess is you'd want a new motherboard at that point too. All you can really do is get a good PSU that will be able to handle even the video cards of 2011, so you can reuse it. That Silencer is a great choice. You could also get a big case, because video cards of the future will (probably) be bigger even than today's 8800GTX and may not fit in today's mid-tower cases.

cheers for that!

do not get the E6750. for the same price, the E8400 is faster (3.00 ghz vs 2.66), and will last longer, not to mention it is more efficient... it basically is much better...

later down the line you will thank yourself for not getting an older, slower processor

Since it appears the E6750 price has dropped down, choosing that over the E8400 makes a bit more sense for some users (like yourself, perhaps). But I'd probably do a few things before downgrading the processor. Like downgrading the memory to PC2-6400 memory instead of the PC2-8500, or even downgrading the hard drive from 1 TB down to a 500GB drive. I'm assuming that's what you mean on the hard drive line by "1000". You seem like relatively undemanding computer users, so a terabyte drive seems like way overkill, and there's a large price premium for that ($275 on NewEgg, vs. $195 for the 750GB or $120 for the 500GB).

Actually, I'd recommend downgrading those parts anyway...

The 8800GTS (512MB model) is close in performance to the 8800GT. I bought the GTS because it came with a game that I was going to buy anyway, and it has a better/quieter cooler. If I hadn't got the GTS, I probably would have shelled out an extra $20 to $40 for an upgraded cooler for the video card, which may not be something you want to do.

For that matter, you say you're not heavy gamers, but you're spending more on your video card than any other part of your machine. I would have thought that to be a sign of someone planning a system to play games. I'm not recommending downgrading the card, but if games aren't a high priority for you, you could think about downgrading to an ATI 3850 card.

And finally, I've been using Vista since it was released, and wouldn't switch back to XP, but that's your choice. There was a learning curve, but once I got used to it, it's hard to go back to XP.

Clint