My new (almost done system) please assist :)

[dbrimberg]

Computer Case - BOUGHT
Antec (Nine Hundred) Steel ATX Mid Tower - $94.24 + $5.22 s/h

Power Supply - BOUGHT
Corsair (CMPSU-520HX) 520W SLI Certified Modular ATX - $99.99 + $5.22 s/h

Motherboard ??
Still undecided, but looking in to:
(Asus Rampage Formula X48/GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS4/GIGABYTE GA-EX38-DS4)

Processor - BOUGHT
Intel (BX80570E8400) Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W - $139.99 + $10.99 s/h

Fan & Heatsink - BOUGHT
ZALMAN (CNPS9500 AT) 2 Ball 92mm - $43.99 + $7 s/h

Memory ??
Still undecided
(assistance appreciated)

Hard Drive - BOUGHT
Western Digital (WD2500AAKS) Caviar SE16 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s - $64.99

Video Card ??
Still undecided
(waiting on HD 4000 series, but I want to be done with this in 3-4 weeks)

DVD Player - BOUGHT
SAMSUNG (SH-S203N) bLACK 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - $28.99

Total so far = $500.62

 

[dbrimberg]

_BUMP_

 

[shadowduck]

No need to overpay for a X48 chipset which offers basically no advantages over X38. DDR3 is vastly overpriced now and offers little speed benefit.

Look at these options:

Motherboard: Asus P5E. This is the motherboard I currently have and its great. Out of the box X-fire support and PCI-E 2.0. However, if you HD4000 series does not come out in the time frame you are looking for, look at the 9800GX2. SLI on one card, so it will work even on a X-Fire motherboard.

Memory: I use G.Skill 2GB DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 Here I had the memory running stable at around 950MHz. It is hard to beat the price since its on sale. $50 is a steal for good RAM.

 

[dbrimberg]

Shadowduck,

Thanks for your suggestions, anyone else?

 

[doomsdaydave11]

Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W - $139.99 + $10.99 s/h
$150 for an e8400??? where???

For RAM, I would just stick with DDR2-800 with some decent timings. Even DDR2-533 to DDR2-1066 will only give you like 1 more FPS in games.

 

[shadowduck]

Has to be a typo, the cheaper I can find is $189. Otherwise, show me where you can find it too!

 

[dbrimberg]

Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W - $139.99 + $10.99 s/h
$150 for an e8400??? where???

For RAM, I would just stick with DDR2-800 with some decent timings. Even DDR2-533 to DDR2-1066 will only give you like 1 more FPS in games.

You wish this was a typo. Compusa had a blow out on this processor a few days ago and I caught it on slick*deals.net. The product was sold out in a matter of 10 minutes. I was considering a different processor but saving $50 on this CPU frees up money I can spend elsewhere on my computer system.


Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Processor BX80570E8400 - 3.0GHz, 6MB Cache, 1333MHz FSB, Wolfdale, Dual-Core, Retail, Socket 775, Processor with Fan (CP1-DUO-E8400)
MPN: BX80570E8400 1 $139.99 $139.99

Total for all Items:
$139.99
Shipping & Handling: $10.99
Sales Tax: $0.00
Grand Total: $150.98

 

[shadowduck]

CompUSA is going out of business. Guess I will have to look at them for deals when I need something before they shutter completely.