Final Build List *please take a look*

[adviceinallthewrongplaces]

I've done a lot of research on this, basically teaching myself as much as possible about each component, and reading as many user reviews as possible in an attempt to put together my first home-built mid-range gaming PC. I was attempting to stay right around <700 or so, and managed to come out right on the line.

I was wondering if there were any glaring problems I may have missed, or any obvious ways I could cut cost without sacrificing performance:

Case: Antec 300
PSU: Antec 650w
Mobo: GA-EP45-UD3P
CPU: Intel Wolfdale E5200 (cheap, and very very stable overclocking)
GPU: XFX 9800 GT
RAM: Corsair 4GB DDR2 800
HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB
Samsung 22x SATA
Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit

I plan to place order within the next couple of days, so any advice would be appreciated greatly. :lol:

 

[Zecow]

Rig looks fine, but why not get a E7200? I'd say thats a good build, but if its me, I'd get an E7200 - E8400

 

[adviceinallthewrongplaces]

Rig looks fine, but why not get a E7200? I'd say thats a good build, but if its me, I'd get an E7200 - E8400

at stock it doesn't seem like there's much difference in performance. lot's of user reviews of stable overclocking of E5200 to 3.33-3.8GHz, it's also half the cost of the E8400

 

[geofelt]

Looks good.

Consider this EVGA version of the 9800GT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130397 for a couple of reasons:
1) The dual slot cooler is very good because it will exhaust the hot vga air directly out the back of the case instead of letting it recirculate. This keeps your vga card AND the cpu cooler.
2) EVGA support is very good.

If you will be overclocking, you need a better than stock cpu cooler.
I suggest the Xigmatek S1283 cooler, it's cheap and very good.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003
I would also suggest the optional backplate to avoid those pesky push pins:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233019

---good luck---

 

[turpit]

Looks OK , however a couple of things to consider:

Large HDDs are cheap these days. For $50 dollars more you can get a 1TB drive. Check pricegrabber or equivelent and look specifically at the GB/$ ratio. You will find that the 250GB drives have a much higher ratio, meaning that relatively speaking you are getting less for more.

For EX: a seagate 1TB drive @ $114 yeilds a ratio of $0.11/GB where as the 250 GB @ $45 yields a ratio of $0.18/GB

On the power supply, check out jonny guru.com, and check which version of Antec you are looking at. More recent units have better reviews. Older varients, not so much. Even though a PS may advertise XXXwatts, that is @ 100% design efficiency. No PS functions perfectly. Some of the latest reveiws for Antecs put them in the high 80s on % efficiency....meaning the Antec 650 will likely supply around 570 watts actual, fresh out of the box. You can expect that to decrease as time passes.

On Vista 64, I would recommend against it. On the 64 bit, unless your reasearch lead you to the conclusion that you really need it for your apps, it may wind up causing you more headaches than it is worth at this time, simply due to most apps being 32 bit. Regardless of the whys, MS's next OS, Windows 7, has had its release accelerated considerably. It will be on the market next year. Not much point in buying Vista at this point in time, unless you want the eyecandy of Aero. Vista consumes more resources and only after SP1 is it beginning to approach the functional speed of XP. So if you are going to game, and want max FPS, XP is a better choice. Check out compartive reviews of XP and Vista to see which will give you the best performance for the apps you want to run. Addtionally, due to the increased resourse demands of Vista, 4GB of ram is a good choice. On the other hand, with XP 2BG of ram will be ample for the vast majority of apps.

 

[slomo4sho]

I would recomend coupling that motherboard with the E7300
http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/AddToCart.aspx?Submit=ADD&ItemList=Combo.141753
There is a current bundle promo that takes $15 off with the bundle. At the bundle price, its $23 more than the E5200

Also, that motherboard does not support SLI. Your better off going with a 4850 GPU(or 4830 if your budget limited) because it will allow you to crossfire in the future if you decide to.

 

[adviceinallthewrongplaces]

I would recomend coupling that motherboard with the E7300
http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/AddToCart.aspx?Submit=ADD&ItemList=Combo.141753
There is a current bundle promo that takes $15 off with the bundle. At the bundle price, its $23 more than the E5200

Also, that motherboard does not support SLI. Your better off going with a 4850 GPU(or 4830 if your budget limited) because it will allow you to crossfire in the future if you decide to.

is there a notable difference between the 4830 and the 4850? What about the 4850 and the 9800?

If I switched over to the 4850 the price would jump about 30$, I'm just wondering if it's worth it

 

[slomo4sho]

The 4830 provides similar performance as the 9800 GT. The 4850 is a much better card and provides a marginal performance boost vs 9800 GTX(for the sake of comparison) at the same price point.

The only real benefit of the 4830 over the 9800 GT would be your ability to run crossfire later on. If you don't plan on running two GPUs, then I recommend considering the 9800 GTX or 4850 if your willing to spend another $30 for noticeable performance increase at high resolutions.

 

[geofelt]

I think your first build is about correct for a budget of $700. If you want to spend more, many forum members will be happy to help you spend it.
If you want to save a few bucks to spend elsewhere, consider the Gigabyte DS3l.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128345
It has only one pci-e x16 slot, but you should not find it reasonable to ever update to crossfire. For gaming, the extra $30 or so might give you a better vga card, or cpu.
Keep the vista-64. For an interesting insight to why Vista is good/bad, google "mojave experiment"

 

[adviceinallthewrongplaces]

Ok guys, I took your advice and switched to a Radeon card in case I wanted to take advantage of Crossfire, in the future (which I most likely will). Thank you for pointing out the incompatibility with the 9800 gt and my mother board, I completely overlooked it.

I'm going to stick with the E5200 just because of my limited budget presently, and because I don't think it will make too much of a difference, in the meantime.

I don't plan on using many old apps, and I'll most likely be upgrading my ram in the future, so I think I'll stick with vista.


Is there any other quick tips I should consider before I place this order?