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Another "Is this a good build?"

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Hello,

Newbie here. I am building a new gaming/home use computer for the first time, and have been looking around but still don't know much about how it all works. I am getting almost all the parts from Newegg, as that is what I am most comfortable searching through. Any other sites with comparable prices would be much appreciated! I want a nice computer for < $2000 that will allow me to upgrade in the future if needed (these parts add up to about $1400 without monitor, power supply, case, cooling, and disk drives: this is the upper limit on what I can spend). This is what I have so far, I am trying to figure out if all the parts are compatible or not (they are as far as I can tell), and if there are any bottle-necks or over-kills. Also, I need to figure out what power supply I need for this- any recommendations?

All suggestions/comments welcome: I am new to this and don't want to make a mistake!
(I put links to their corresponding newegg listing underneath)

Motherboard:
Asus P5E3 WS PRO LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131282

Ram:
Patriot Viper 4gb (2x2gb) 240-Pin DDR3 1333Mhz Dual Channel with 7-7-7-20 timings
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820220286
...I am trying to go with DDR3 to make everything easier to upgrade in the future, even though I am only using a 1333Mhz FSB on my CPU.

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Q9550
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115041
...Am also considering a Q9400/9450, or possibly a Q6600. If I compromise on some of the other parts I am also thinking about the Q9650, but that is probably out of my price range.

GPU:
PNY GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB 512-bit GDDR3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814133217
...Is this over-kill?

HDD:
WD 80GB RAPTOR 10K RPM SATA 3GB/s WD800ADFS HARD DRIVE
(newegg doesn't sell this)
...I plan to put my OS's and several games on this one
AND
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 400GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148138
...for more room.

Other thoughts: I think I will be trying to run linux(several distrobutions) an dfreeBSD on it, and it needs to be OC-able. Also, later upgrades might include water-cooling it (are there any cheap blocks for the 9800 gx2's?), and more HDD's on it in raid. How big of a case do I need? Please comment!
Also, any other sites to post this question on and get more opinions would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!!

Add a reply

first off you dont need DDR3 since they are not what they are worth. get some decent DDR2 for your system. and both 9800GX2 and X38 is aging old now.get the following instead.

ASUS P5E Deluxe $220
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131317

OCZ Reaper HPC 2GB (2 x 1GB) $41
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227239
get 2 kit if you need 4GB

SAPPHIRE 100247L Radeon HD 4870 512MB $250
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102769

about the raptor drive i wouldnt waste money on that since it give out too much heat and noise and in everyday use you wont notice much of a difference but its upto you.hope you wont regrat.
if you still want to this is the new raptor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136260

OR!!!

you can get this at the cheaper price!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148278
which have alot more space and similar read/write performance.

Reply to iluvgillgill

If you are going to OC, but you are going to stick with one video card, try to get a DDR3 P45 board.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131298

Reply to Proximon

^yeah you can also do that if you only want single video card for the future.

but i recommend this over ANY P45 mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813138118

best P45 around people use this to break the world record.

Reply to iluvgillgill

Wow... thanks allot with the fast reply! That helps allot!

I am losing the raptor and I think I might save the money and go with ddr2 for a while yet. And thanks for the advice on the mobo.

So then what power supply should I get? I don't know much about them, and read that you need to make sure your power supply comes from a ligit manufacturer.

Again, thanks allot!

Reply to leehall

ok...

whats the point of building an expensive system now...

wait 2 weeks and buy nehalem....

even if its not as great a leap as it could have been... its still a nice jump in performance over todays processors...

and should be entering the market around 300 bucks... 200 dollars for boards and the only really expensive part is ddr3

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to thogrom

you wanna buy ddr3 and you want a future proof machine? look into a ssd for your os first, dont waste $ on ddr3

------------------------------ nickc07 wrote :

I dont follow any rules I just throw everything in the case.
Reply to colonelblake

For the price of that 9800gx2 you can get an Nvidia 260 or a Radeon 4870, both of which are single card solutions so you won't have to worry as much about SLi driver optimization. Anyway as for your power supply that's just going to depend on your needs. Now if you want to do something crazy like run two 4870 X2s in crossfire, just so you can play crysis on Very High at a high resolution, then I would definitely say you need at least a 850W - 1000W Power supply like this one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371012

While you can probably get by with a good 850W power supply, it's best to get a 1000W one for dual or 4870 X2s or triple 280s and also plan to run a high power CPU along with numerous drives. Well I guess since your getting an X48 motherboard it would be crossfire for you. If your going to go just with dual 4870s or a single 4870X2 then I would get a power supply around 700 - 800W, such as this one by FSP

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817104043

and no weaker than a top tier 600W depending on the CPU and number of drives I was thinking of running.

For vendors I like top end Antec and FSP PSUs followed by high end Thermaltake and OCZ PSUs.

Message edited by megamanx00 on 09-04-2008 at 07:16:48 AM

thogrom wrote :

can you show me some source that says Nehalem will come out in 2 weeks and with comfirmed prices.

Reply to iluvgillgill

I would say wait for Nehalem too if you can be patient. Looks like you got a nice budget to work with.

Even if you dont go with Nehalem, im sure the prices of the previous generation of cpus and boards will dip a little. Might be worth it in the long run to see what happens, especially when new tech is coming out.

------------------------------ Intel Q6600 @ 3.0 GHz, Artic Cooling Freezer Pro 7, NZXT Apollo, OCZ EliteXStream 800W PSU, 8800GTS 512 SLI, XFX 680i LT SLI, 4 GB OCZ SLI 5-5-5-15-2T, Seagate Barracuda 250 GB, WD 640 GB, Windows XP Pro SP3 32
Reply to billin30

^thats always the case isnt it?lol but by then better stuff will come out for example the next gen video card.

Reply to iluvgillgill

Future proof? That's like saying I am buying 1 package of boxers for the next 10 years. You will be fine for a while with your purchase, but at some point, you are reallllllly going to want to get something new...and probably sooner in the future than later.

------------------------------ The Pastafarian belief of heaven stresses that it contains beer volcanoes and a stripper factory. Hell is oddly similar, except that the beer is stale, and the strippers have VD
Reply to rubix_1011

i think people should know there is no such thing as future proof in the world specifically in IT world.

Reply to iluvgillgill

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