Thinking of building this... thoughts?

[Rentiak]

I'm looking to put together a machine to replace my current rig. I'm not looking for the most extreme gaming rig. My budget was in the $1000 range, and this seems to come in around $935 on Newegg right now. I haven't looked at hardware or built a machine in almost 4 years, so thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated!


LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS30

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

EVGA 896-P3-1257-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3

OCZ Titanium XTC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2T800C44GK

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8500

XIGMATEK MC NRP-MC651 650W ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V Ver. 2.92

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

 

[alcattle]

Looks like a great build. Do you plan to OC? You need to add a cooler, better than the Intel stock one.
Will you have enough HD space? 250GB is small for most of the people here.
What monitor are you going to use? You have a very powerful GPU, Lots of room to step down a notch or two to save money.

 

[Akebono 98]

If I could only change one thing, I'd substitute this PC Power & Cooling 610W power supply for $70, which is pretty hard to beat. Better than having their 750W PSU in red, which is also a great deal at $80 if you need a few extra watts.

If I could change one more thing, I'd switch to a WD Caviar Black 640GB or 500GB drive, as they are faster than the older Seagate. 250GB is a bit small going forward.

You can save a few dollars by using the E8400 instead, as the difference is quite small in real terms. The E7400 is also good value, with room to overclock.

Given that you've chosen a nVidia GPU on a P45 mobo, I'm guessing that you are not considering multiple GPUs. Therefore, you could save a bit by using the Gigabyte EP45-UD3R, which doesn't have Crossfire capability.

Since you're not building an extreme gaming rig, then for your video card you could just get the non-overclocked version (1255-AR) for less and maybe overclock it yourself later on. While it is nice to have a very powerful GPU to be future-proof, I'm with alcattle in stepping it down to save money if you don't really need it. Match it up to whatever resolution you will be using (or plan to use over the course of the machine's life). You could have a look at this article from this website as a guide: link

The Coolermaster 690 is a great case in all respects.

 

[Rentiak]

Thanks for the comments!

I really have no experience OCing except for frying a GPU once at the end of its life. So I hadn't planned to OC right out of the gate, as I'm not playing anything incredibly graphic intensive right now (WoW and CS:S/DoD:S) and I really wouldn't even know where to start.

It will be running on a 22" WS 1680x1050 monitor, so I'm not looking for precision at 24".

I hadn't thought too much about space, since 250gb seemed huge the last time I built, but I think I probably will upgrade the HDD.

I've been trying to pick pieces which I could upgrade later without requiring a complete system update. I was thinking I could add another GPU card to that board later on SLI if I needed to, but it sounds like my understanding of that may be a bit off with what I've chosen.

 

[Buksh]

ok sorry to sound stupid, i've never done this before and im just spending some serious "for me" money on a new pc.

asus p5q

4gb corsair dominator 1066

Q6600

Zotac GTX 260 896Mb 216

LG Blu ray player

does this sound ok, and how do i overclock the CPU?

 

[Akebono 98]

If you want to OC the E8500, then have a look at these two guides from the forums on this website as a starting point:

Temperature Guide

How to Overclock Quads / Duos

In that case, you'd need a good aftermarket cooler: Xigmatek HDT-S1283 or Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer, both with this corresponding Backplate, along with Arctic Cooling MX-2 thermal paste.

The catch here is if you don't ever intend to overclock, then just use the stock cooler that comes with the E8500. If you plan to overclock in the future, then I'd suggest you put in one of these suggested coolers up front, because the only way to install them is with the mobo out of the case. I.e. you would have to disassemble your rig to install it later, which is a real pain. Ergo, make this decision now. The E8500 is very easy to OC, so you might just want to do it so that you will have a faster system for the future--this is essentially a free upgrade; only your time is required once the heatsink is installed.

Given your current needs and 22" resolution, I'd suggest going with a 4850 1GB video card (look for one with a dual slot cooler with the vent out the back). That way you can Crossfire it later with that same PC P&C 610 PSU that I suggested above.

Whatever PSU you go with, make sure it has 2 PCIe power connectors to allow for future Crossfire with the 4850. If you want to go with a more powerful 4870 video card, then you will need the 750W PSUs as you then need 4 PCIe connectors for Crossfire because each 4870 card requires 2 PCIe connectors.

SLI is for nVidia cards, Crossfire is for ATI cards. P45 chipset mobos like your Gigabyte UD3P can only support Crossfire and not SLI. Therefore, although the Core 216 video card is excellent, you've closed off a potential upgrade path for the future, meaning that you will only be able to upgrade the video card by selling your old one and not just by doubling up.

 

[huron]

+1 to the 640 GB HDD suggestion and +1 to the CPU cooler suggestion if you'll overclock (check out the Xigmatek w retention bracket).

 

[Rentiak]

Ahh. That makes sense. I never would have realized that until it was too late!

Thanks for all your help with this. It looks like I'll go with the PC P+C 750W Silencer, the Sapphire 4870 1G and cooling pieces, since the price looks to end the same and I'll have the extra mile to go.

 

[Akebono 98]

Glad we could all pitch in and help you out. You've got a great build going--enjoy!