Hows this build?

[tipmen]

Media roms
Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model DVR-215DBK
$30.99


LG Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM & 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model GGC-H20L
$164.99 (I use my computer to watch movies off of)

Case
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$119.99


Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$79.99



Video cards
VisionTek Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready
2x ($189.99 each) For crossfire


Power supply
ZALMAN ZM850-HP Continuous 850W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V V2.91 Modular Heatpipe-Cooled SLI Power Supply
$169.99



Memory
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
2X ($89.99 each) total 8gb



Motherboard
BIOSTAR TForce TP45HP LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
$129.99 (If you got a better one)


Processor
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor
$194.99


Heatsink (If you got one that works better tell me)
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler
$31.99


Total cost $1,482.88 Don't really want to break $1,600 this was built on newegg.com

I already have my LCDs 2x Samsung syncMaster 226BW 22'' Trying to build a computer that will be able to play Crysis on 1680 by 1050 on max or close to it

 

[aevm]

Avoid the WD 500GB, it's WD's last effort before they finally introduced perpendicular magnetic recording. The WD 640GB (WD6400AAKS) is much faster. The 750GB version (WD7500AAKS) is also great.

Get an X38 or X48 motherboard, because it's better for Crossfire. E.g. GA-X48-DS4
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1472/intel_p45_vs_x48_crossfire_performance/index.html

You can save some cash from the PSU with a $120 Silencer 750W (newegg) or a $100 750TX (www.buy.com). The Zalman 850W is overkill, and the Silencer gets the best reviews anyway. Also, get only 4 GB of RAM (for now) if the budget is strict. I assume you have a 64-bit Windows, otherwise more than 4GB is a waste anyway.

Cooler: HDT-S1283 (and there's a retention bracket for it that's also available at newegg)

Are you sure you want the Antec 900? I like the RC-690 more, and it's cheaper. With the Antec 900 you get a nice light show, but it can be annoying when you want to watch a movie in that room, or sleep.

 

[tipmen]

I do have a 64 bit vista. I just want to make it run faster by getting rid of the paging file option

I also am wondering how the 45nm quads do i can't find charts on them
Thanks for the new HD idea. I could save on the other power supply and i will check the other case

 

[shadowthor]

If you plan to get the 45nm quad, get the Q9450 instead of the Q9300.

 

[aevm]

In general, Q9300 is OK if you don't overclock, but if you do it's the worst choice of quad because it has a low multiplier. It also has a smaller cache than the rest.

Also, QX9650 and QX9770 are best avoided because they'd blow your budget at $1000+ without much benefit.

With luck and patience and a good MB/RAM combo you can get a $200 Q6600 to 3.6 GHz, a $330 Q9450 to 3.6GHz, or a $270 Q6700 to 4GHz. Think of them as Q6600 at 3.6, 3.9 and 4 respectively, if you want. That is, the Q9450 at 3.6 is about as fast as a Q6600 at 3.9 - it's got some improvements that make it better at the same clock. (This totally depends on benchmark.)

I think the Q6600 is best bang for the buck, but they're all close. There is one exception - if you do media encoding a lot and have new software with support for SSE4, then the Q9450 is the best choice, it can be 100% faster at those things. Also, most times any of these 3 will run at way less than 100% anyway because the HDD or video card will reach its limit first.

 

[tipmen]

I checked the prices i don't really think its worth it go an extra 120

I changed my MB to ASUS P5E WS Professional LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard
and the HD to WD 640GB (WD6400AAKS) its a bit more but i get an extra 140 gbs

 

[aevm]

I checked the prices i don't really think its worth it go an extra 120

I changed my MB to ASUS P5E WS Professional LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard
and the HD to WD 640GB (WD6400AAKS) its a bit more but i get an extra 140 gbs

You get an extra 30% more speed too. I know because I have WD5000AAKS and WD7500AAKS both in my box and the difference is very annoying. The WD6400AAKS is even faster than the WD7500AAKS.

I'm not sure about the "WS" motherboard, that's a workstation thing. You pay more for a PCI-X slot (and I'm not sure what it can be used for). I'd save $48 and get the P5E Deluxe X48 instead. TBH I'm not that interested in Asus motherboards, so I'll let you research and decide, OK?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131317

 

[tipmen]

Ok, I didn't see that MB I haven't had any problems with Asus in the past I will check reviews and see the overclocking on it so far that has replaced the other one. I am also sticking to the Q6600 it seems pointless to go $60 for an extra 200 mhz for the Q6700. Paying $130 for the new 45 nm is the same thing unless there is a big difference but thats only in video encoding which I would do rarely if not at all so waiting a bit more once in a while for it to get done won't kill me but this seem pretty good so far. How does the Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale do in games compared to the Q6600 games like Crysis, Half-life games, UFT 3, and Call of Duty 4?

 

[aevm]

Those games don't use cores 3 and 4 much, if at all. The stock E8500 will have two cores at 3.16 GHz, while the stock Q6600 will have two idle cores and two cores at 2.4 GHz. Theoretically, the E8500 will do 33% better. With overclocking, say 3.6GHz for Q6600 and 4.2GHz for E8500, the E8500 wins by 17%.

Of course, this assumes there are no other limiting factors like network connection, GPU, HDD.

 

[tipmen]

What about for the future gaming that will be built to use 4 cores

 

[aevm]

If future games do use quads properly, then the q6600 will beat the E8500. You can see it now in FSX.