Critique my gaming build

[drhansen]

Advice, suggestions, and ideas for alternatives parts for this gaming build.

Looking to spend between $1500 and $2000 for everything. Let me know what y'all think! Thanks

Case:
COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Black/ Silver Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119138

Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073

Monitor:
SAMSUNG T240HD Rose-Black 24" 5ms HDMI Widescreen HDTV Monitor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001280

Graphics Card:
EVGA 896-P3-1267-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130400

Power Supply:
SILVERSTONE ST75F 750W ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V SLI Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256009

Memory:
OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2RPR800C44GK - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227267

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80569Q9550 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041

MB:
ASUS Maximus II Formula LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131319

CPU Cooler:
ZALMAN 9500A 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118223

 

[oicwutudidthar]

ok get the rampage forumla instead of the maximus 2 formula
get the corsair or pc power n cooling 750 w
get the mushkin hp 800 mhz ddr2 4gb kit
get an antec 900
geta 4870
get the 640 gb hdd instead of the 500gb

 

[auscanzukus]

What are the uses? Will it be o/c'ed? & how much?

 

[drhansen]

I'll use it mostly for gaming but I would also like it to do well in running apps. Do you think the Q9550 is a good enough performance/price increase over the E8400?

Also, im really struggling on what GPU to get.

Should I get a GX2, 4870 1gb version, or the gtx 260 with the 216 cores?

Not really planning on overclocking right now, but if I did it would only be a little bit.

 

[auscanzukus]

For games (most) that don't take advantage of 4 cores, they will run a bit slower on Q9550 than E8400 cuz of the clock speed. 2.83Ghz vs 3Ghz.

Can't generalize gaming cuz everyone plays different games. Say, this pc is only for Crysis, ATI would be the worst choice. Go through the benchmarks of the games that YOU play and decide on a gpu:

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-q3-2008/Crysis-v1-21,758.html

 

[starkie24]

I'm curious about why you've chosen that particular set of RAM?

Try these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231145

There a lot cheaper and there pretty decent sticks as well from a reputable company. They will overclock to about 1130MHz when you beef up the voltage and they will do that on C5 timings. They don't get too hot either.

Otherwise grab a couple of pairs of sticks of:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227191
if you are set on OCZ or the heat fins that i think are really not that necessary.

everything else seems pretty sweet.

Check out www.mygpu.info for some lists of reviews there is also a a ranking down the side on the homepage of best graphics cards overall and where they rank.

If you can afford it I recommend the GTX 280 its a damn good card and yea once again it does depend what games you are going to play

 

[mopman]

actually you made a good RAM choice, very good sticks. keep very cool, also i would recommend an ATI card like the 4870 (1gb model for youre monitor size i guess), they are very powerful for the price