haven't done this for a while, upgrading from a Northwood 3.0Ghz (Oce'd from 2.66Ghz) and an FX5700LE 250/500 stock, XtreemeG Drivers, got it to 470/612, A Gig of Ram and a 80GB Hard Drive.

I want to know what you guys think of this system build I want it to be under a K but I don't mind it going over like a hundred or two. Anyways, this is what I've decided so far.

Case: Thermaltake Armor Series:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811133154

-144.99

I recommended this case to a friend and helped him build it, I loved the headroom, the look, and the amount of ventilation this case provides for components which is great because I do plan to overclock when necessary.

CPU: E8400 Wolfdale:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115037

-169.99

Power Supply: ABS Tagan 700Watt:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817814015

-159.99

Love the aesthetics on this baby, brand is pretty reliable, plus I like the modular cables and the colors as well.


Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar 640GB:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136218

-84.99

Plenty of Space, Good Price. I'll get a raptor or ssd later.


Video Card: MSI ATi HD 4850 w/quad heatpipes in the sink.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127370

-192.99

I'm debating whether to get this or an Nvidia equivalent. Even though price/performance goes to Ati, The reason why is because Nvidia has PhysicsX Support which I'm contemplating that it will grow soon because of it's integration to Nvidia cards but do you guys think that ATi will come out with something like this...maybe in cooperation with the people who made havok?

MotherBoard: BIOSTAR TPower I45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813138118

-149.99

Gotta have that solid capacitor design, reliability and overclocking options as well. I'm most likely not going to do SLi but It would be nice to keep that option open and plus I like the idea of having an extra card just for physics support.

RAM: OCZ Flex XLC 2GB:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227230

-95.99


You guy's think the size of the heat spreaders are going to prevent me from upgrading in the future?...Ima stick with XP for now but later I wouldn't want to be limited to just 2 memory banks because of the size of the sinks.

Total: 998.93 Just a buck 97 short of a K but after shipping and taxes
it comes out to $1134.37

What you guys think?

Ditch the expensive 1200 2gb ddr2 ram. You can get very good 4gb of 1066 ram for $104 or $109 such as the Corsair dominators, G. Skills 1066 variant, or OCZ's various ram types. (I myself like the dominators)

MB I would pick the Asus P5Q pro, which is also a P45 board but with x8 dual graphics if you want to put a second card in. If only one card then it's x16 like normal.

There are better, cheaper PSU but if you're really set on it than by all means get it. (Corsair 750w tx or the PC Power and cooling 750 or 610 are popular). Both are single 12v rails and so are probably not modular.

If you get the P5Q Pro you can get a combo deal with the Seagate or WD 500gb HDD and save $40 plus the $5-10 between if and the 640 WD. (Worth it IMO)

Hey Mark, Thanks for the advice, in the end I decided to go with 4GB of PC8500 Ram

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227298

That's the only change that I made, the rest of the parts I stuck with and the I've made the order on the 23rd so I should be getting it by the 26th or 27th. The total with 8.25% California sales tax and shipping came out to an almost flat $1300..Want to know if you guys think I got a good deal or not, I mean I know I could have skimped on a couple of the parts to get a better deal with least impact on performance but the way I see it, even though every computer build will have it's share of initial problems, I still think that getting quality parts will result in all less headache's later, more overclocking potential and not to mention an increased chance of a successful first start-up of the newly built system.

Can't wait to finally be able to run FEAR at full speed not to mention countless of the other PC titles that I've been holding off on because of my computer being out of date and me not bothering to save up and build a new one. I'm glad it's finally going to happen though, I might take picture's of the whole process of me building it but I ain't too sure about that since I'm going to be too excited putting the system together to even remember to document it.

I think you could have gotten a much better system for your money, namely the 4850 could've been a 4870 at minimum. Expensive powersupply, could've saved about $40 with the asus board and 500gb harddrive combo deal (imo a better board).

The PSU is pricey. It's probably not a bad PSU... but not good either.

A Corsair 750TX would have been far less and much higher quality.... but if you like the bling, I'm Ok with that.

I would have gone with the ASUS P5Q pro or -E, but the Biostar may work fine. All in all minor points, good build.