Hello forums!

First post here, i am hoping to get some feedback on my first major build in quite some time.

I am building this system for gaming and general multimedia use. I game on a 22" widescreen LCD in 1680x1050.

From reading these forums and just researching on my own this is what i have come up with. I am hoping your expertise as readers could point out any conflicts or bad decisions on my part.

I am a canadian and the online links are from a Canadian retailer i could potentially order from.



Intel E8400 Dual core processor

http://ncix.com/products/index.php [...] ture=Intel


Gigabyte P35-Ds3L

http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] e=Gigabyte


Mushkin XP PC2-8000 Redline 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-1000 CL5-5-5-12 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit


http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] re=MUSHKIN


Antec Truepower Trio 650W Power Supply ATX12V V2.0 Active PFC SLI Certified 120MM Fan


http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] ture=ANTEC


Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 ATX 9 Drive Bay No PS Top USB2.0 1394 Audio


http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] ture=ANTEC


e-GeForce 8800GTS 640MB Superclocked


http://www.evga.com/products/moreI [...] P2-N825-AR


I had previously purchased the 8800 gts a while back and placed into my old gaming system. It became clear i was still experiencing some bottlenecking, although i did gain some performance... so i decided i could potentially just move it over into my new build.

GPU-Z indicates its a G80 8800GTS..im not sure if this is an older version and if the new 8800 GTS are improved . I am not opposed to a totally new GPU.

I have no idea about cooling for my CPU? If anyone could recommend a cooler that would fit in with my system i would appreciate that also. I dont intend to overclock unless i am not satisfied with stock results. I also didnt list a HD as i have a 300GB Seagate 7200rpm that seems to be just fine, although if there is a HD that i need to know about , please inform me.

I look forward to any tips i can get.. Thanks Toms readers

The 320/640MB is old. Should've picked up either GT/GTS 512MB which is the new one. Not new new. Semi. The new one is 9800.

Good picks overall. Look at Freezer 7 Pro. Fits pretty much every case/mobo.

The performance gap between old g80 8800gts and g92 8800gts is quite big. 9800 only perform slightly better than a stock g92 8800gts.

9800gtx against g92 8800gts:
http://en.expreview.com/2008/04/03 [...] review/12/

This should give you an good idea of where things are:
http://en.expreview.com/2008/04/02 [...] up/?page=1
Note those pages:
http://en.expreview.com/2008/04/02 [...] p/?page=10
http://en.expreview.com/2008/04/02 [...] p/?page=11

Does the 8800 GTS G80 even come close to an 8800 GT or todays mid to high end cards? Or should i just sell this thing and start off with a new card?

There seems to be a lot of cards packed into a very tight area in terms of cash and performance....which way should i be looking for a gpu?

Dagger's links give you a good idea of what your card is like against current ones. In my opinion, you might as well reuse it for now since you already have it. ATI's new 48x0 cards will be coming out really soon (next month I've heard?), so I'd wait and see how they fare before dropping money on a new card right now if you can help it.

Your PSU is good but a bit much for a single-GPU system. If you want to save some money, go with the Corsair 550VX: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=25984

oushi is right on. Keep the gpu for now. Wait for the next big cards like 9900s & 48x0s. Should be out by June/July.

The new 8800gts G92 cards are great- you might want to look at the 8800gt or 9600gt depending on how much you want to spend / how stressful the games are you play.

I think the 8800gt is a great card- and its going into my build that is similar.

For CPU cooling- everyone LOVES aftermarket coolers for somereason, but I think the intel stock coolers are just fine. They can even handle a decent amount of OCing, but like you said, if you arent going to OC at all, the stock is 100% fine.

9600gt is not worth the upgrade over the existing card he has.