Hey guys, I pieced together a system that will be used for gaming and daily whatever. I primarily play CS 1.6 (I know, it is overkill) but I want the option to play CS:Source (my current PC doesnt cut it) and whatever else I want to try in the future. I want to be sure that I have no bottleneck issues and that the components will function together as they should.

Not looking to SLI or anything. Just want something that can handle HL2\CS:Source without any issue.

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119068

Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136075

EVGA 512-P3-N841-AR GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130325

Rosewill RP600V2-S-SL 600W SLI Ready-ATX12V V2.01 Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817182032

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231122

EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813188013

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6750
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115029

Subtotal: $894.93
Grand Total: $997.98[email][/email]

1) Ditch that Rosewill PSU....its a cr@p brand.... get the Corsair 550VX instead ($70)

2) For $20 more get the Intel E8400 instead ($190)...its much faster and newer than the E6750

3) Since you aren't doing SLI, avoid an SLI mobo.... get the Gigabyte GA-P35 -DS3L instead ($85)

I agree with the above post change the psu for a better brand, I have found thermaltake to be good and fairly cost effective too but im sure the corsair one will be just as good if not better.
definitely dont bother with an sli mobo if your not going to run it. either a gigabyte ds3 or asus p5k (or p5k-c if budget allows) are both good choices, I have used both but found the asus one to in general work better for me.

Throw in 25 buck more an double you HD size. Wont take long and you will be glad you did.

Thanks so much u guys are awesome. I actually originally had the above gigabyte mobo selected to use but figured I would go with one that was made by the same manufacturer as my video card because I thought it would be more gaming oriented and function together better.

Do you guys think that video card is good? I was on the fence between that and the 8800 GT but figured id rather spend the extra 50 or whatever to not have any regrets. I made the changes you guys suggested, how does it look now?

Where else do you guys recommend ordering from?

The below is all from newegg, total of $856.84 without the mobo (out of stock right now) the mobo lists at $109.

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
$54.99

Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$69.99

EVGA 512-P3-N841-AR GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$259.99

CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply
$15.00 Mail-in Rebate
$104.99

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail
-$35.00 Instant
$119.99
$84.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail
$194.99

Hey you can get the MSI 8800GTS for $209 .... its just as good if not cooler than the EVGA one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127325

Also for $15 more you get the Seagate 500GB 7200.11 hard drive for $85 at zipzoomfly.com ... get it if you wish.

Can anyone vouch for MSI? I've heard nothing but good things about eVGA and I was able to find some poop reviews on MSI so I decided to stick with eVGA. Can anyone else chime in on my setup?

Here it is of now:


GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - Retail

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ

Western Digital Caviar GP WD5000AACS 500GB 5400 to 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

EVGA 512-P3-N841-AR GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply

i know 9 people who've bought the MSI GTS .... they're pretty contented with it ... the card even won an award in an Australian magazine a while ago. Theres no poop in it.

bumparoo for some feedback on my setup before I order

Bueller. Bueller.

I like the gigabyte boards. I'll vouch for them.

It's a tricky balance between dual and quad core. Some would say that the quad will deal better with all the rubbish you have running in the background - AV etc. Although dual cores with higher clock speeds do general come out on top in the benchmarks where there is a clean system. Are you taking the stock cooler for this processor? If you want to overclock you may find you need something a little better - not everyone is an overclocker (I'm not!!) but just suggesting this for you.

Have you got an OS to run on this?

Good choice moving from 160 to 500Gb. The Seagate 7200.11 are reportedly faster than the WD caviars - are they around the same price? If so you could swap to one of those.

Can't help eVGA against MSI however if you wait 2 weeks the new graphics cards should be starting to appear. They will either be a better option for the same price or should push the prices of the old cards down. Depends if you want to wait.

Hope that is helpful.
Jeremy

I probably will not be overclocking. My current PC is a dell dimension 2350 P4 1.8GHZ, 1GB RAM, with a nVidia PCI FX5200 video card that I've had since 2002 and I'm really just looking for a replacement with a bit more power. As far as connecting everything straight out of the box and running, would my posted setup be nice? I plan to run Win XP 64-bit.

As I said above, the only games I will probably be playing is CS 1.6 and CS Source. For apps, the most CPU\memory intensive would probably be Adobe photoshop. With that said, do you feel my PC setup would run good?

For video cards, I dont think I will need anything newer\better than an 8800GTS for what my needs are. I dont buy newest games that come out or anything like that (I still play cs 1.6!).

If you aren't overclocking the stock Intel cooler will be fine. Even if you did decided to later it is not an expensive part to replace.

I expect the setup you have there to far outstrip your old one. It should run Adobe well and most current games to a high detail level let alone older ones.

Jeremy

Ok, thats pretty much what I'm looking to hear. Thanks for the feedback