New Build - Need Suggestions

I have been looking around the forum for quite some time and i think i am ready to built my first PC now. I'm planning to overclock the processor to around 3.2-3.4ghz. My Budget is around $1200-1300 including a Monitor. I already have vista 64bit, keyboard and mouse.



GIGABYTE GA-EP35C-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128082

ECS N8800GTS-512MX GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814134037

i think im going to wait for new cards to come out, hopefully they will cut down 8800gts price.


Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450
http://www.microcenter.com/single_ [...] id=0287628

OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227199

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148288

Acer AL2216Wbd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor with HDCP support
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824009094

XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003

Corsair TX 650W ATX12V Power Supply
http://www.buy.com/retail/product. [...] 24&loc=101

Lexa Blackline Classic Series Midtower Chasis - Black/Red
http://www.buy.com/retail/product. [...] 82&loc=101

Agreed! That retention bracket saved me almost 30 min. last time not to mention the heatsink feels a whole lot more secure after using it. Those push pins suck.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 0&Tpk=mx-2 $6.99
ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound - Retail

Add that thermal paste to your build also. It's about the best $7 you will spend on a build. It's non conductive, it has no set up/cure time, it last for years, and it's easy to work with not to mention it brings the temps down better than Artic Silver 5.

btw, that build of yours is nice nice nice! You really did a great job on finding super bargains on quality parts.

thanks for the response guys.
I have added
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835186020
and
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233019
to my list.

kad, which X38 or X48 motherboard would you recommend?

Im already little over my budget so i will stick with my DDR2 800 ram and im more then sure about my processor choice in fact i already ordered Q9450 last night.

Im still open to any motherboard recommendations.

Those boards are going to put you even further over your budget. You have a decent board seleted as it is. Unless your trying to set all time highs for 3dmarks, alot of people seem to suggest hardware that's totally unnecessary.

btw how far do you plan on overclocking that cpu ?

Consider a p45 board. P45 chipset overclocks as well as x38/48, for half the cost. At $99.99, it's even cheaper than many p35 boards.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813130181
It also use PCIE2.0, like x38/48, the only drawback is no crossfire support.

Q9450 runs on 8x multiplier. 1600mhz = 4x400 -> 8x400 = 3.2ghz. So at 1600mhz fsb, your q9450 would be running at 3.2ghz. Do rest of the math.

Both x38/48 and p45 runs at 1600mhz fsb stock, and reliably oc to 2000mhz. P35 runs at 1333mhz fsb stock, and reliably oc to 1600mhz.

I like that Asus P5Q Pro. The reason why is it allows for Crossfire and you never know then ATI will come out with some kind of super vid card that over takes the Nvdea's. It might not ever happen, but if it does you will be set up to use dual ATI vid cards just incase. It's worth the extra $20 in my opinion. Also those Asus boards look like they have way better cooling than the Gigabyte board.

for $20 more, I would go with the P5Q Pro, lots of good reviews.

I just explained it in my previous post. "Crossfire"

Not bad, not bad. My only suggestion would be to look at the 8800GT if you want to save a few bucks and not have to worry about a rebate.

im not planning to use crossfire. Single card for now.
which one is better? 8800gts or 4850?

Myself I say the gts for the fact I do alot of gaming and Nvidea vid cards rule the roost when it comes to gaming. Better drivers, and better FPS.

Spotted on newegg.com

Can't comment much on the brand new cards, but 175$ seems like a good price. I'd go for it and stop worrying

Lol, almost the same price as 8800gts now. They're really dropping prices aggressively. Just remember to manually set the fan speed. The ATI driver set that small single slot fan to only 20% on idle, which results in 80 degrees C idle temperature. Manually override it until good driver comes out.