First build in years, need your opinions!

[MechBFP]

Hello everyone, first off all the information you will need for the couple questions I am going to ask is listed below.
I am planning on buying a new computer, and the components I have listed below are what I ultimately ended up decideding on. This computer will be for gaming foremost but will also do some browsing, coding, web hosting, maybe run a linux distro, you get the idea. I am not reall an overclocker, but it is something I might toy with at some point when the hardware gets older. I am looking for the computer to perfrom very well with modern games like Bioshock, Crysis, Fallout 3, etc. But I am not a performance freak and as long as I can get something like 40 to 50 FPS or better (I don't mind using lower resolutions) with the best settings in games coming out this year, I am happy.

What I want to know from you all is if there are any MAJOR problems with my setup, taking into consideration the information I have provided so far. As far as I can tell it should be compatible. (The RAM was verifed by Gigabit on the motherboard for instance.) If there are going to be any issues that you can foresee, please let me know.

As well, if you have any suggestions on other components I should use, or something I should add, etc, please let me know as I have been out of the loop when it comes to hardware for at least 3 years.

All prices in Canadian $'s.

CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Socket 775 Processor Price: $220
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R - Intel P45 (Core 2 Duo/Quad) PCI-E Socket 775 Motherboard Price: $150
RAM - OCZ DDR2 PC2-9200 Reaper HPC Edition - 2GB Dual-Channel Kit (DDR2-1150) Price: $120
CASE: Antec Nine Hundred Price: $110
POWER SUPPLY: Antec TruePower Trio 650W Power Supply Price: $116
HARD DRIVE: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB - SATA 3Gb/s 32Mb Hard Drive - OEM Price: $70
DVD BURNER: LG GH22NP20 (Black) PATA/IDE 22x DVD±Writer *FREE Verbatim DVD+R 3-Pack* - OEM Price: $30
VIDEO CARD: Will use a Geforce XFX 8800 GTS I already own.

Total Cost: ~$816

Video Card: Power Consumption = 280W
CPU: Power Consumption = 105W
RAM: Power Consumption = 10W
Mother Board: Power Consumption = 170W
Hard Drive: Power Consumption = 11W
DVD Drive: Power Consumption = 20W

Total Power Consumption: ~600W Absolute MAX possible, so PSU should more than suffice.


Thanks for taking the time to read this post, and hopefully I didn't leave out something obvious!

 

[acura_speed]

If you order from Newegg you can get a combo deal with the q6600 and the PSU you chose for $234.98. The only thing is it's the OEM version of the q6600 you'll have to get a CPU cooler, but it should still be a pretty good savings.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Another thought, if you don't want to overclock, you might consider an AMD chip/mobo to save a little money. Then maybe load it up to 4 or 8 gb of ram.

 

[chaosgs]

Here is what i would change:

Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128337

Why spend $150 on a mobo when your not sli-ing/crossfiring.

Ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141298
Get 4 of these, (i used to use 2 of these when they were fricken $90 each) in quad channel and are really good, but if you dont trust a 2.1 voltage than i suggest this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231136

The ram is only slightly slower but since its going to be in a quad channel it should be almost on par with the ram you suggested, plus its 4 GB not 2 GB. Crysis eats ram alive so get at least 3 GB.

If you get these you will save $70 and will be just as fast. If that 8800 GTS is the 320/640 MB version you can expect high detail on crysis on a low resolution but very high would be improbable..

 

[MechBFP]

Thanks for the feedback!
Well one change I am going to make is switch my mobo to this:
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L - Intel P45 (Core 2 Duo/Quad) PCI-E Socket 775 Motherboard Price: $115

Saves me $35 and I don't lose anything I want.
I am keeping the RAM because it is the only kind I can get from the site I am buying the parts from that I *know* is compatible with my mobo. I likely will overclock at some point, so I don't want components that have no chance of doing that, such as cheap RAM.

Other than that, I think I am set on these parts for various reasons. The only thing I want to know now is if there is any problems with my case, mobo, PSU, and RAM when it comes to power connectors, mobo mounting, size, things fitting, yadaa yadda. There is nothing more I hate than ordering the perfect components and realizing they don't work for some very simple overlook. As far as I can tell, it all *should* work, but if anyone can give me a thumbs up for go or a thumbs down for stop, I would be grateful!

 

[MechBFP]

Oh ya, one more thing. What is good software for benchmarking my system? Not sure what is good any more. I may want to immediately tweak some settings as well. (For instance I will mostly likely need to tweak my RAM settings in order to get the manufacturers guaranteed speeds).