lehighace06

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Components I do not need:
Case (antec 900), Monitor (using dual monitors), mouse and keyboard, OS, optical drives

MoBo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131326

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041

GPU, 2x with SLI: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009

RAM, 2 kits 8gb total: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227286

HDD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284


Please critique my selections, using the PC primarily for WoW, multitasked with video and downloading; may expand to other games such as fallout 3.

Also, my case is an Antec 900, and I intend to watercool and perhaps OC down the road, but for now I will be using stock settings; will I need additional cooling equipment?
 

hecto

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Wrong memory type, your need DDR2 for that motherboard. The stock CPU cooler is fine if you don't plan to overclock until later.
 

lehighace06

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Thank you for your advice on the fan.

As it pertains the the memory, this is obviously a bit of a snag since I thought I was just about ready to buy. What change would you suggest? An upgraded motherboard, or a downgrade to the memory? How about my choice of CPU? Is that compatible with the board I've selected? How about with whichever board you'd suggest I upgrade to?
 

hecto

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I missed that you were planning on SLI. The EP45 chipset from the motherboard you selected does not support that, though it would be possible to Crossfire two ATI Radeon 4870s at a very similar level of performance. You didn't state your budget, but a Core i7 build would leave open the option of SLI using an Intel x58 chipset based board. The Core 2 Quad motherboards that allow SLI using an nVidia chipset don't have a great reputation.
 

lehighace06

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Now that I know my board is not only incompatible with my memory, but also the video card setup I'd chosen, perhaps I should choose a different board. Can you suggest a board of similar quality that will support DDR3 memory and SLI?
 

hecto

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I don't think there are a lot of options for LGA 775 socket boards supporting DDR3 RAM and SLI. It would probably have to be an nForce chipset board, which again, don't have the greatest reputation for stability.
 

lehighace06

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So, what type of board should I be looking for, if not an LGA 775?

I'd like to do an SLI setup, and from what I've read I don't see a reason to downgrade to DDR2 memory. My budget stands at between $600-800 for processor, board, video card and memory, so I don't believe I can up the ante to an i7 setup. Is there something in between? Or is there no way of getting DDR3 memory without an i7 processor?
 

lehighace06

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I think I've finally figured out the setup I'd like, and I'm pretty confident that it'll all work together. I've dropped the idea of SLI since I'm having serious trouble finding a motherboard that fits my needs (enough SATAs, enough memory allowance, etc) while still being an LGA775 and in my budget.

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041
MoBo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131334
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130480
RAM: 2x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227286
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284

Again, please give me a critique of these choices, particularly if there are any compatibility issues. Thank you.
 

lehighace06

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Perhaps my way of thinking is not the norm, but based on newegg reviews (number of as well as actual rating) I'm thinking it is ... I selected the components I did because I want to stay with brands that I know to be high quality, even at the cost of the highest tier benchmarks.
This is important to me because I do not have the money to gamble on a lesser quality part that 'should' work just as well, but 'could' burn out much sooner. Given that I'm fairly picky about manufacturer, how does this build look?

Also, most importantly, are all of the parts compatible, ram with motherboard, etc. Thanks again
 
Your build still doesn't really make any sense. The only reason to go with an expensive X48 motherboard is for full speed crossfire. Pairing it with an Nvidia GPU is a bit silly. You could go with a much cheaper motherboard and not loose any gaming performance. Are you anti AMD? You're options are currently better with an AMD build in the mid-range segment.
 

lehighace06

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Once this rig is built, i have no plans on changing it except to add watercooling and/or to OC. My next chance to upgrade will probably not come for roughly 3 years, by which time all of my parts will be well beyond EOL, so I don't much care if I'm at EOL now or not, as long as I get the performance I'm looking for. Does the monitor I linked two posts ago work just as well with the rest of my setup? I did not notice any significant differences but it is $65 cheaper.
 

eylee86

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+1 on bored_killer's suggestion. 3 years in computer world is a long time. i suggest you buy the i7 system.

but if you're just looking for the answer if the system you suggested is good enough for the games you stated above, yes, it'll be good enough. except change the mobo to nforce to sli and you can get cheaper rams like gskill.

also if you do decide to go CF, i'd say save some money and get P45. X38/48 will not give you that much performance gain over P45's. I use to have Asus X48 Rampage Formula. Looking back, I should've saved over $100 and buy P45 board.
 

lehighace06

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In the same thought process as choosing an EVGA video card and ASUS motherboard over cheaper competitors, I think I'd prefer to stay with a more highly regarded brand of memory as well. While I do not disagree on the length of time I'm suggesting I'll have the same rig, I also know that my budget likely won't allow for any upgrades no matter how much I'd like to make them. I'll definitely do some homework on an i7 system, can you guys provide me with some suggestions? my vendor of choice is newegg, if you haven't noticed (i'm not closed to other options, i just prefer their site)
 

ambientmf

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I'm Canadian, so the choice of retailers for me is a little different...While I like newegg for searching different models and checking (some) reviews, you should definitely shop around to get the best deals. [/captainobvious]

As far as choosing a "highly regarded brand of memory", as long as the memory you get isn't DOA, you're pretty much set with most brands. Some of them include Mushkin, G.Skill, Corsair, Crucial, Patriot and OCZ. Unless you're planning on a $200+ set of Corsair Dominators, there's not much difference between the brands. Get whatever is the best value for the speed/type you want.

If you expect to have a system for as long as possible, I'd go with a Core i7 system. With 6GB of RAM in triple channel at decent prices, the choice of either Crossfire or SLI for a multi-GPU setup and an 8-threaded, 4 core $300ish CPU, you'll be sitting pretty for quite some time. Just make sure to overclock that i7, even just a little, so you can get all the performance you can out of it.
 

lehighace06

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my budget is about $800 for cpu/gpu/memory/board ... i'm also buying a psu and hdd but those are already picked (and linked above) my preferences are intel and nvidia, but as mentioned above i'm also fairly picky about brand name as well as chipset, I'm not interested in an ASrock board or a Sparkle video card, for example. i lean fairly heavily toward asus boards and evga cards.
 

Helloworld_98

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CPU - i7 920 $200 in-store at microcenter
Mobo - P6T SE $195 @ newegg
Memory - Patriot 3x2GB 1333Mhz $96 @ newegg, add an extra $17 for the 1600MHz version
GPU - HIS 4890 1GB $190 @ newegg

$681 total, or $698 with $1600MHz ram.
 

lehighace06

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I'm not completely closed off to either AMD or ATI, but I do prefer Intel and Nvidia. With either choice, however, I am sticking to one of only a couple brands, including Asus or XFX for motherboard, Asus, XFX, EVGA and BFG for video cards, with my preference being an Asus motherboard and EVGA video card.

Given these preferences, can I get myself a better setup for cpu/mobo/gpu while staying under $700 for those three. I've been given quite a bit of advice steering me toward i7 and ati video cards, but all of the suggestions seem to include components from brands that I'm less comfortable with.

At this point I'm asking two things, firstly, can I make the upgrade toward i7 and still stay in my budget WITHOUT moving away from the brands I'm comfortable with, and secondly, am I basing my choice of brand on the wrong thing, I'm mostly going by newegg's customer ratings, is this a faulty way to choose a brand?