My New Build

[papertiger1]

Hi All,

Need to put a new machine together asap. I live in south africa so I might not be able to get some of the bleeding edge latest products and some the prices might be a bit different. This is the 1st machine I have ever put together from scratch. Any suggestions/comments would be HUGELY appreciated. I am happy to spend a bit more money and anything that is going to greatly improve performance, but don’t really want to buy a better component (e.g. E8500 over the E8400) just for the sake of it. This is what I have so far:

Intel Core2 Duo E8400 (3.0ghz)
Asus Maximus Formula
2x seagate barracuda 7200.11 st3500320as , 500gb, s-ata2 , 7200rpm, 32mb cache
Corsair TWIN2X2048-8500C5D , Dominator ddr2-1066 ( pc2-8500 )
Antec performance one P182
Antec TruePower Trio TP3-650
Inno3D 8800GT 512MB Overclocked
LG 245WP 24" LCD (Have no idea about the monitor – any suggestions?)
zalman CNPS9500-AM2 : 3 x 8-shape bending design copper heatpipe (also a little confused about this one - is this correct?)
LITEON® DVD Multi-Writer SATA, 20x+R/-R, Black + White
D-Link DWA-547 rangebooster N , 2.4Ghz ( 802.11b/g/draft n )
APC Back-UPS CS BK650ei

Anything I miss? I already have a tidy pair of speakers and kb/mouse. I am going to use this mostly for boring c programming but want to be able to play some of the newer games.

Cheers,
Shaun

 

[WR2]

Zalman CNPS9500-AM2 is the AMD version of the Zalman 9500.
You'd want this version Zalman 9500 It doesnt have the remote control device but your CPU heat output will control the fan speed automatically.

I see you've picked the X38 motherboard and an 8800GT. Both good choices in themselves but its a Crossfire board and a SLI video card. Since you're going 24" wide screen its worth considering to leave your options open for a multi-GPU setup. Either a SLI motherboard and Nvidia graphics cards or CF motherboard and ATI video cards.

Smart move picking an APC UPS battery backup and its sized right for your system.

The PSU is sized right for the options you picked but is a little bit lite for a possible future, more powerful, multi-GPU upgrade. Also it only has the 6-pin PCI-e connectors and not the newer 6+2-pin PCI-e connectors. That TP3-650 would do fine for 2x8800GT or 2x3870 though.

 

[beurling]

Looks good. I know WR2 suggested looking at multi-gpu setups, but if your mainly programming and playing the odd game, it's not worth the extra money. What you have looks great, but I do have one cautionary note. Make sure the Maximus Formula ships with Bios version 0907 or better or else your processor will not boot up. IF you have an older LGA775 processor lying around that you can use to flash the bios, then don't worry about it.

If you can't find out what bios it ships with then you can either buy a 780i motherboard or a DS3L from gigabyte. Both should work out of the box with the E8400.

 

[papertiger1]

thanks for the responses, WR2 thanks for spotting the cooling error and you have a good point on the mobo/gfx card but i dont think i will be upgrading for at least a year and i am sure by that time DDR3 will be the business and the 8800GT will be pretty dated. so I will be looking for a new mobo/gfx card anyway. i also just got an xbox so will prob be doing more gaming on that. Beurling thanks for the tip on the bios I will check that with my supplier.

Could I ask if anyone has used that monitor before and if its any good? or could you recommend something better?

again thanks for all the help.

 

[jerseygamer]

Looks good but drop the Nvidia and go with ATI's 3870 or the x2 for dx10.1 support and the Xfire upgrade option later on.