i need input on this system under 2000

antec 1200 case $145
2 silverstone f121 120mm fans (for optional fans) $34
asus p5q-e mobo $147
sapphire radeon 4870 1 gig $300
corsair 650w psu, crossfire ready, $100
muskin ddr2 1066 4gigs ram, $120
WD velociraptor 150gb, $180
logitech g15, $90
razer lachesis, $80
samsung dvd burner, $27
zalman cnps9700 110mm, $55 XIGMATEK HDT, 32
q6700 oem, $220
acer 24" 2ms $340

total up to $1838 without tax or shipping.

is there anything that would be better in their, or do I really need to add anything like a sound card? and is there anything bottlenecking the system or any component that is too good for the system?

also, i have heard that the i7 920 will be in the 350 range.. is it worth the money and the extra money on ram/mobo compared to what components i have now. This computer would mostly be used for gaming, not really any photo editing or anything else.

Welcome to the forums!

I would get another heatsink. Not bad what you chose, but there is better.

Top 5 heatsinks:

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 67-12.html

Top 5 Low Profile Heatsinks on Frostytech

http://www.frostytech.com/top5_low [...] tsinks.cfm

optional fans come with the case

i would get second hard drive for storage (500-750gb) and use the 150gb for os

dont forget the vista 64bit for that ram

save money and get ddr800 since there is no noticeable difference




i have read that the optional fans sometimes come with the case, maybe it would be a better idea to wait until i get the case to determine if i should get the fans or not, considering they are not of that high of importance.

also, how difficult is it to put 2 150gb raptors in raid 0, i was looking at the prices of a 500gb harddrive on newegg, and it looks like they go for around 70$, I do not use that much memory considering i am using a laptop with 20gb harddrive right now and never really had a big problem with space. Would it be worth the extra 100 or so if i got 2 raptors and put them in raid zero, or would it be more benifical to get 1 raptor and 1 500gb seagate (7200.11)

Is there really no benifit in getting the higher clocked ram even if i eventually plan to do some overclocking? i would really like to know this because i might get some more ran then, or is 4gb enough to handle anything for today at least.


i have also changed my heatsink to a xigmatek HDT instead of the zalman 9700 led

i have heard that the price increase to i7 isnt worth it because the performance increase isnt as great, especially in gaming.

is the q6700 a good quad core processor to get, or are there other processors that are better in the 200-250ish range?

and yes im getting vista 64 bit, but i dont think ill get a bigger monitor, i believe i might get a second monitor as an upgrade later.

how much of an increase would it be from the 4870 to the 4870x2, and would it be wortht the extra 230. (would it be bottlenecked by any of the other components like the cpu?)