Thoughts on System Componenets Before I Order?

[jcorqian]

I am about to order my components and am wondering if anyone has any thoughts for improvement. The system comes out to almost exactly $1600, excluding shipping and including MIR. All parts are from NewEgg except for the Q9450 and the Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM, which are from TigerDirect.

Intel Q9450 Quad: $350. This was pretty much a no-brainer for me, have been wanting it for awhile. Superior to anything currently on the market other than ridiculously priced QX editions.

Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM: $109

2 x 2 Gigabytes Corsair DDR2 Dominator RAM at 1066 MHz: $132 (After MIR)

Antec 900: $80 (After MIR)

Western Digital Caviar 750 GB: $130

Pioneer DVD Burner: $31

Xigamatek 92 mm CPU Cooler: $15 (after MIR). Not as well known, but killer price and scored very well at Frostytech (#6 I think).

Zalman 750 Watt Modular PSU: $166

EVGA 780i Motherboard: $240

EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX SSC: $350. I know I'm gonna take some heat for this choice, but let me explain my logic. Yes, I know the 9800 GTX is hardly better than the G92 8800 GTS, and yes I know buying a superclocked version is pretty much a rip off since I can OC it myself. However, Nvidia is coming out with their GT200 soon and I plan to take advantage of this through EVGA's step up program. Now, assuming their high end GT200 card is over $350, I am essentially getting free extra performance for the time I have the superclocked 9800 GTX (which I can presumably OC slightly further) since I only have to pay the difference. Whether I get this or a 8800 GTS, I pay the same total amount when the GT200 comes out, so why not get better performance now?

Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

[Gravemind123]

Are you planning on tri-SLI? If not then don't bother with a 780i/790i motherboard. A 750i motherboard is fine for a 2 card SLI setup, and if you aren't planning on SLI then skip an nVidia chipset all together and get a good P35 motherboard instead.

As for power supply, for SLI I would get a PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750W over the Zalman, that or a Corsair TX750, whichever one you can find cheaper.

Other then that, the parts look good.

 

[ten80i]

You may want to double check if EVGA offers the Step Up Program on that video card. I was just reading it yesterday and I believe it said that they only offer the Step Up Program on standard clocked cards. I was about to buy the same card for the same reason. BFG seems to offer it on their overclocked cards but again check the website or better yet call them.

 

[jcorqian]

I picked a 780i motherboard to keep the option open, although I think I will eventually just do normal SLI presumably when GT200 comes out.

I did call EVGA and cleared up the Step Program ambiguity. You can use it with any graphics card you buy from them, including factory overclocked cards. You just can't Step Up to purchase factory overclocked cards.

 

[deathsycthehe11]

Shouldn't you buy the 120nm CPU Fan if your overclocking. I just don't think the 92nm is worth it. Plus your case is big enough to fit the 120nm.

 

[joelg88]

Thats a nice build. If you want you can change the Vista OS from tiger direct to Newegg. Same product same prices. Just saying. Nice choice on the Mobo. Some might think you should get the 750i if your only doing dual sli but maybe in they future if you have some extra money you might want to throw in a extra card never know. the 780 is a good choice anyways. Nice job