Need your advice Please!

[OlympusHAXXX]

What do you guys think of these parts? Is that a good mobo for overclocking? Powersupply a good choice? I have a $2000 budget and that includes watercooling. I plan on buying either the GTX280/260 or the HD 4870 as my graphics card and I plan on only using one graphics card so the one PCI 2.0 16x slot is not a problem. Any recommendations for other parts would be greatly appreciated.

ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model DRW-2014L1T - Retail
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Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3750330AS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
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PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (Red) 750W EPS12V Power Supply - Retail
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$149.99

Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PVS24G8500ELKR2 - Retail
Item #: N82E16820220315
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GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813128344
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy
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Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115037
Return Policy: Processors (CPUs) Return Policy
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[dagger]

I'd put in a quad core over a dual for the futureproofing. For $2000, it should last longer than 2 years. Right now, games aren't cpu limited, so slightly higher clock will translate to exactly 0 fps increase. In 2 years, when programs do go multithread, quad core's lead would be massive.

 

[Why_Me]

With that set up I take it you plan on doing some serious overclocking eh. It's a nice set up but for the fact you left out the cpu heatsink/fan.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003 $36.99
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233019 $6.99
XIGMATEK ACK-I7751 Retention Bracket - Retail

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ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound - Retail


Add that to your build and your on your way. btw that's a super nice rig your going to have when it's finished.

 

[aevm]

Yes, that PSU is an excellent choice.

Good choices in general.

The poster above me missed the part about water cooling, I guess. That Xigmatek is a great choice, if you decide to go with air cooling after all.

I'm not familiar with the GA-EP45-DS3R yet. A quick comparison with GA-EP35-DS3R:
- the P45 has 2 SATA ports less (very bad, for me; may not matter to most people)
- one PCI slot less (very bad, for me; again, most people may not care)
- costs $30 more (bad)
- has Firewire (don't care)
- has PCI-E 2.0 slot instead of 1.1 (this may matter with GTX 280/HD 4870, don't know yet; pointless with 8800GTS or less)
- has higher fsb (not really important, since the P35 version can get a Q6600 to 3.6 GHz anyway)
- has support for 16GB of RAM (nice in theory, but don't really care, especially as it requires 4GB modules for it and they cost a ton)

I suggest you wait until the GTX 280 is out and reviewed and we know if it cares about PCI-E 2.0. If it doesn't, get the P35 version.

 

[dagger]

Yes, that PSU is an excellent choice.

Good choices in general.

The poster above me missed the part about water cooling, I guess. That Xigmatek is a great choice, if you decide to go with air cooling after all.

Budget water cooling will cost more than the best air cooler, and deliver lower cooling performance. Quality water cooling solution deliver top performance, but will run you at least $300 between all parts (pump, cooler, heatsinks...).

 

[shadowduck]

aevm says it all.

I don't understand why you want to watercool though. Seems like a waste of money to me.

 

[aevm]

True that. Plus, the water cooling takes more maintenance. I'm voting for the Xigmatek myself.

 

[dagger]

True that. Plus, the water cooling takes more maintenance. I'm voting for the Xigmatek myself.

I heard some people get algae growth. Those pretty neon lights are really good for photosynthesis.

As for p45, consider this one. 3 PCI slots, and at only $99.99, it's cheaper than most P35 boards. Can't beat that price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130181

 

[gators1223]

if you do a good job with water cooling it cools exceptionally well, only problem with that it it requires and ton of work and a bit of money to do