Search
Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

New computer E8400, 8800GT-SLI, 4GB, 500GB ($2000)

Last response: in Systems
Share

Hi,Thanks for looking.

This will be my second own build and I've built other systems before so I'm confident at building them. I have done some research about what to get so I think I'm getting the right stuff but I thought I would check with some experts before I make a mistake. I've set the new system on a budget of about £1000 ($2000) it's mainly going to be used for games.

CPU:
Core 2 duo E8400 3.00GHz (£132.93)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139971
I hear there are rumours of a price drop in Q3, am I correct?

Motherboard:
Asus P5N32-E SLI Socket 775 Nforce 680i SLI (121.43)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132813
I want an SLI motherboard with 2x16 PCIe lanes (unless 2x8 is just a good)

GPU:
XFX 8800GT XXX edition (£135.83)
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4Y7K&SearchType=1&SearchTerms=XFX+8800GT&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0
I already have one of these so I will only be needing one more

Case:
I'm not that bothered about cases at this point in time I plan on spending £40 unless anyone recommends otherwise

Power suppy:
OCZ StealthXStream 600W PSU - SLI Ready ATX2.2 12cm LED Fan (£49.16)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127861
Is this power supply sufficient to run everything in my setup?

Hard Disks:
2 x 250GB (2 * £30)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131214

Optical drives:
2 * DVD-RW (£15.90)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139414

RAM:
OCZ 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Memory NVIDIA SLI READY EDITION CL5 (£67.41)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/138561

CPU cooler
Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro Socket 775 Processor Cooler (£15.28)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/105994
I'm not sure about which cooler to get and my current CPU cooler is from Arctic cooling I thought it would be a safe bet to go with them again.

Monitor
Hyundai ImageQuest N220W-A 22" LCD Monitor 1680x1050 5ms 16:9 Black/Silver (£139.59)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/128411

Keyboard/mouse
Logitech Wave keyboard (£29.99)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136242

Logitech MX revolution mouse (£46.99)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/117334


I will add in other stuff like: Printer, headphones, speakers and a webcam when I actually buy the setup but for now I'm not that fussed what they are. with all that added together it comes to just under £900 but with those extras I just mentioned it should easily push that up to the £1K mark.

thanks in advance for your advice, I guess it won't mind to much if I spend a little extra here and there but it would be nice if the cost didn't go up by a great amount.

More about : computer e8400 8800gt sli 4gb 500gb 2000

Register or log in to remove

Looks pretty good overall. My one gripe is the monitor. I'd recommend something with a lower response time (2ms) and higher contrast ratio. I'm somewhat partial to samsung, but there are other one's as well.

One downside to the 8800GT is that it blows the hot air into the case, so whatever case you buy must have good airflow to deal with that.

Your CPU cooler is ok, http://www.ebuyer.com/product/120876 would be a good option if you're looking to overclock any substantial amount, although it is twice the cost.

My expirience with wireless mouse is that there is a perceptible delay when playing games compared to wired ones, however the last time I owned a wireless mouse was a couple years ago, perhaps its changed.

Other than that it looks pretty good.

CL 5 for 800mhz ram is kind of slow, look for something CL 4 with like 4-4-4-15, you should be able to find that. OCZ has a 4gb kit with those 4-4-4-15 timings. If you want the best gaming performance you may want to get 1066mhz ram since your motherboard supports it.

Are you going to raid those 2x 250gb drives? If not you should look at a better OS drive such as a raptor then buy a large storage drive.
Related ressources
Ask the community

That OCZ PSU is not certified by Nvidia for SLI 8800GT's: see link http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_psu.html

This Antec is though, and it's not too much more:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/114933

Having said that, most tests suggest SLI is only beneficial with certain games, and primarily only when playing on large monitors (24'' plus) at high res (1900X1200). If I were you I'd save my money use your single 8800GT, and wait for the next generation of GPU's that come out in a few weeks, then upgrade. Those will reportedly outperform 8800 X 2 with a single card.

That way you can also save money on the MB. The nvidia chipset SLI boards are less stable than the P35/X38 or X48 intel chipset boards, such as this one: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143226

Thanks for all your advice.

I will get some CL4 800MHz RAM, or if CL5 1066 MHz is overall faster then I will get that instead.

Thanks for the link to the SLI power supply site, I'm going to settle for a Hiper PSU http://www.ebuyer.com/product/109552 my current psu is a less powerful hiper model and it's served me well with no problems (unlike my previous Tagan one)

I think buying a Raptor HDD is just a little to much over my budget, but I will keep that open as a possible upgrade in the future.

I think I will go with the Zalman cooler, I found a site with a big list of temps http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2233&page=5 and that pretty much sums up how good it is.

as for the 8800gt I will just keep the one I've got and wait to see if the GT200's or R700's are better then I will consider upgrading to those instead.

thanks for the quick reply to my post
Register or log in to remove
 
Ask the community
Read discussions in other Systems categories
!