a noob looking for a hand with a new gaming system build

[hofstra66]

Hey everyone, i recently won a decent amount of cash on a scratch off (who knew you could win on one of those) and decided to take that money and invest it in a new Gaming computer. Basically i am looking for a beast of a machine, but trying to cut corners when possible. I have most of the machine picked out but im a little shakey on what Mobo to go with. Any way here are the specs. please feel free to comment, if i am better off shaving or spending a little more to increase overall quality.

cpu - Intel Q6600 Prob going to OC to 3.0 or even 3.33

Motherboard - Thinking Asus P5Q Not sure if that is best option though

Video cards - 2X diamond 4870 Radeon in crossfire

PSU - Rosewell RX950-D-B 950W is this Overkill?

Case - Cooler Master Cosmos 1010

Hard Drives - 2x Western Digital 500gb Caviar SE17

Memory - 4gb G.Skill DDR2 800(PC2 6400) Is 8gb overkill?

After Market Cooler - Zalman 9500A

Disk drives - Two disk drives not sure yet..DVD burner/lightscribe

And prob going to go with Windows Vista home edition premium X64

Here is my cart - http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/ShoppingCart.aspx?Submit=view

Any suggestions to help make this rig better/make my first build easier would be a God send.

Thanks

 

[the last resort]

at least a new powersupply:
like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703009
or this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153038

also a better and slightly cheaper cooling:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233023 and add http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233020

EDIT: for the case, might try something cheaper like the Antec 1200, and could maybe step the processor up to Q9550 or Q9650?

 

[hofstra66]

I was looking at that Cooler. the Zalman is $55.00 with delivery. The xigmatec with the extra retention bracket is around $65.00. Is the xigmatec better for the cash? I figured they were pretty much equal, or atleast for what i need no real difference.

 

[wip99gt]

I have owned both and the xigmatic is better but both coolers are good. 65$ seems high for the xigmatic though.

 

[hofstra66]

The 65$ was for the extra retension bracket and shipping for both pieces. Shipping for two pieces was like 15 bucks.

 

[hofstra66]

To be honest my real concern for this build is what the best motherboard for this build would be. I was thinking the Asus P5q pro but have been hearing many other options as potential mobos.

 

[jpdykes]

Hi hofstra66

- What resolution are you planning on using?

- Heed the advice on power supplies - corsair, enermax, pc power and cooling

- 4Gb is all you need for RAM. But use Vista 64bit.

- Try for a 45nm cpu, they have a different instruction set and operate more efficiently.

Jeremy

 

[shortstuff_mt]

You will want a X48 chipset motherboard since you'll be running crossfire. The P45 chipset supports crossfire, but at slower 8x speed.

Rosewill is not a quality PSU manufacturer. Look for a quality 750W - 850W PSU from Corsair, PC Power & Cooling, Seasonic, Antec, OCZ, Zalman, etc...

Diamond is also not known for their quality. Visiontek offers a lifetime warranty, I believe. Asus, MSI, & HIS also are pretty good options.

The WD6400AAKS is only $5 more, is quite a bit faster, and has an extra 140GB.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218&Tpk=wd6400aaks

I own that Zalman cooler and it's nice, but the Xigmatek cools quite a bit better and is not as loud.

I just bought this Samsung DVD burner and have been very happy with it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151173&cm_sp=DailyDeal-_-27-151-173-_-Homepage $26.99