Spend My Money

[xtanius]

Time to build me a new PC. Haven't done this in 5 years, so I'm very rusty and completely out of date.
If any of you would be kind enough to recommend your thoughts as to the best build for my buck, I would greatly appreciate it.

Criteria:
must have 24" monitor
must be built for gaming
must be less than $1850 total.

The only thing I can bring from my previous build (if appropriate) are two 36-gig raptors

 

[WR2]

Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz $295
COOLER MASTER V8 CPU Cooler $70
ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound $7
ASUS P6T X58 Motherboard $235
G.SKILL 6GB DDR3 1333 Kit $140
EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 SSC w/FarCry2 $290
WD Caviar Black 640GB Hard Drive $80
LG 22x SATA DVD Burner $26

COOLER MASTER RC-690 case $70
PC P&C 750W PSU $90 after $20 rebate
Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit $100
SAMSUNG 2433BW 24" LCD Monitor $290

That's about $1768 with tax and shipping to my zip code.

 

[WR2]

Lets change out the EVGA GTX 260 with the XFX GTX 260 Black Edition Core 216 $245 after $30 rebate (also with free copy of FarCry2

 

[foolycooly]

try to squeeze at least a 280 into the budget IMO. The 4870x2 is again down to $399.99 after rebates.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202 $294.99

GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD4P LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128374 $259.99 - $20.00 MIR

OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365 $169.99

XFX GX285NZDFF GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150334 $349.99

CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009&Tpk=850tx $139.99 - $20.00 MIR

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319 $79.99

SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223F - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151171 $25.99

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137 $69.99

Acer P243WAid Black-Silver 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor with HDCP Support 400 cd/m2 3000:1 ACM - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009125 $329.99

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488 $99.99

Total $1,820.90 - $40 MIR's

 

[xthekidx]

I like shortstuff_mt's build, except I would use the monitor that WR2 found, Samsung is a much better quality monitor I think. Make sure you get the mobo and CPU in a combo, it will shave $30 off the total. Then take the Coolermaster V8 Cooler and MX-2 thermal compound from WR2's suggestions. That should put you just under budget and allow for a good overclock, I am using the V8 with MX-2 on my i7 OC to 3.5 atm, temperatures haven't gone over 75C on any of the cores under 100% load using Prime95.

The 850tx from shortstuff's build would allow for SLI later, but the 750w is kinda cutting it close for SLI, and you wouldn't be able to SLI anything over that GTX260 that he chose, whereas with the 850tx, you could probably SLI 2 GTX285's

 

[xtanius]

anyone care to comment on this list that someone else gave me:

All prices from The Usual Source:

MOTHERBOARD: GIGABYTE GA-EP43-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard $79.99
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8500 US$187.99
CPU HEATSINK: XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail US$36.99
RAM: CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5 $26.99 w/MIR

VIDEO: SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card $214.99 w/MIR

HARD DRIVE: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM US$119.99
OPTICAL: Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model DVR-216DBK - OEM $26.99

AUDIO: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card $90.99

CASE: Antec Solo Black/Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $79.99
CASE FAN: Scythe SY1025SLN12M 100mm Case Fan - Retail US$7.99
POWER SUPPLY: SeaSonic S12 II SS-380GB 380W ATX12V V2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply $62.99

MONITOR: Dell 2707WFP 27" UltraSharp Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor US$899

TOTAL: US$1797.90

 

[WR2]

SeaSonic S12 380W power supply is a mis-match with the HD 4870 & E8500 overclock potential. It has 1 6pin PCI-e power connectors, not the 2 PCI-e power connectors the 4870s like to have.
And at $63 it's not an especially good value even if it is from an excellent MFGR. At $70 after rebate the Corsair 550VX has 1x 6pin and 2x 8pin power connectors and is sized in keeping with the 4870's recommended PSU size (look under system requirements)

The Antec Solo Black/Silver is a nice case but its focus in on quiet computing and not cooling an OC'd gaming system. It has a single 120mm fan plus room for 2 optional 92mm fans. The CM RC-690s 3 stock 120mm fans and room for 4 extra fans is a much better match for an OC'd CPU and GPU gaming system.

 

[Arcana1]

Why SLI over Crossfire?