!! NEEED HELP !! e8400 build

maybe look at the tiered list of PSUs if you havent already. I don't remember seeing that PSU on the list of tier 1 or 2 PSUs, which is what you want.

Some of the more popular choices for PSU would be PC P&C 610 or 750, Corsair 550, 620, 650 or 750. the 620 is modular which is nice. they are all quiet.

The E8400 is nice. Where are you going to buy it from though? Most places are out of stock atm and newegg will list an expected by date if it is coming in 2 weeks or less, and there is no date listed.

About SLI - either do it or don't do it when you build it. Most people don't wind up adding a second board later because by the time they are ready to upgrade to a better graphics card, a single card has been released that is better than adding a second card of the prior generation. And as for doing it when you build it, the only way i can see doing SLI over a single card is if you are going to go with two 8800ultras. If you decide not to do SLI you can save $ on your mobo (for example, GA-P35-DS3L is a good stable OCer and is inexpensive because it lacks RAID and SLI.)

PCI-e 2.0 won't do much for you. PCI-e 1.1 is fine. This is like expanding from a 4 lane to a 6 lane highway, but there is only enough traffic to fully use 3 lanes.

RAM - ram is practically free now. Get 2x2GB or 4x2GB or even 4x1GB. Crucial ballistix is always a safe choice. If you like you can check the mobos approved RAM list to makes sure what you pick will work (it will probably work even if not on the list).

Cooler - educate me. why did you pick nirvana? Are you a huge Kurt Cobain fan?  

My old favorite was thermalright, my new favorite is:

XIGMATEK HDT-RS1283 120mm CPU Cooler - Retail $39

Looks like the thermalright ultra-120 extreme, but actually beats thermalright's benchmarks and is cheaper and comes with its own fan which is attached using silicone mounts, not a poorly constructed clip.

Here is the review with comparisons to all the other heatsinks on page 5: FrostyTech's CPU Cooler Review

For just slightly more than a 8800GT + aftermarket cooler you could have an 8800GTS (G92) 512K which on most benchmarks is slightly better than the 8800GT.

case? Antec nine hundred = excellent cooling (200mm fan on top!), you will probably hear some fan noise - great choice for OCing. Antec P182 = good cooling, very quiet (according to silentpcreview). Silverstone and Lian-Li cases are nice but expensive, Coolermaster cases are also very nice choices.

optical drive? HDD?

oh, and 800MHz is fast enough by the way.

1) an 8800GT SLI setup? - I myself would go for something better
2) My experience with Crucial is love/hate. I love their DDR2 800 sticks, but hate there 1066 stuff.
3) PCI-E 2.0 isnt the best "bang for buck" as some of the boards are rather overpriced and the benefit of 2.0 isnt profoundly sound over your last generation PCI-e boards. Your going to see new lines of CPU's in a year and possibly a new pinset as well, so honestly waiting that long isnt the best choice imho.

Nothing wrong with a P35, I have an Asus P5KC and a Gigabyte DS3L; solid and havent given me much to complain about.

Samsung SH-S203B SATA

(Get the "Retail" version of the optical drive in order to get software with it. This will include the decoder you'll need to watch movies on it.)

Good solid highly rated mobo:

ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

Where is this for sale?

Ham hit it head on...... I concur.

As stated, my e6750, 2 320 HDs, 4 gig ram, x-fi, watercooling, and 2 dvdr's draw 126 watts at load. My 8800 GTX pulls another 135ish at load from a 5.25 bay psu. So, less than 350 watts total.

650 should be plenty for SLI.

I have the 680i board, and it is way hotter and more power hungry than any intel chipset board I have had. (14 and counting). Stability was better in the ram dept, but nothing else vs the intel boards.

Anandtech just reviewed a $105 sli capable board from ASRock that had the PCIe 2.0, and is Penryn capable. Really good bang for the buck.

Intel chipsets typically bench slightly higher than the nvidia based boards, YMMV.

OK UPDATE GUYS
i really listened to what you guys had to say and i def changed my mind so here is the new direction of my rig

CPU:e8400
GPU:8800gt
PSU: Antec earthwatts EA500 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16817371007

RAM:Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16820146565

MOBO: ASUS P5K-E LGA 775 Intel P35
Cooler:.. up in the air between the nirvana 120mm or the xigmatek 120mm rifle cooler

with the money i saved i picked up
Soundcard: x-fi xtreame gamer 7.1 (overkill i know but i love sound and expensive headphones so its a must)
hard drive: seagate barracuda 7200 sata 250gb for 69.99



OK so now I NEED TO FOCUS ON RAM!!!!!!!!! i going to be over clocking this cpu to 4ghz (hopefully) im willing to spend 80 bucks on ram!! so please help me if you dont think my crucial ballistix 800 will do the job