New Build - Gaming Rig Advice

[Schnarr]

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 ATX LGA775
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400
Video Card: EVGA E-GEFORCE 7900 GT KO 500MHZ
Case: Cooler Master Praetorian 730
PSU: OCZ OCZ52012U-520W
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB
Memory: Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 204B 20IN

Any advice on this build for different parts or compatibility issue, thanks in advance.

[newbuilder14]

Looks good to me. You can also look at the Asus P5B motherboard, but the DS3 should be fine.

[Mr.Ferrari]

Mobo: Its a good mobo but is very quirky/buggy. I would highly suggest the Asus P5B unless you have some experiance with building computers. Otherwise very nice mobo.

CPU: Cpu is great but if you wanna save some $$$ I suggest the E6300. E6300 is the budget sweet spot in my opinion. The difference between it and the 6400 is minimal. All your choice.

PSU: The ocz mod stream series were never as good as their Godly Powerstream brothers. I suggest you pick the ocz powerstream 520W. OR the Enhance 500W<---This is a great psu. There is no competition in the same price range.

Otherwise everything looks great.

[lostplanet]

if you go for the gigabyte DS3, check out this thread for boot issues/solutions

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=164623

Im not a great fan of Seagate products, i would choose a Western Digital equivalent, but thats just my opinion.

where are you located? as an alternative to the samsung theres a nice monitor by LG L204WT, it's widescreen though and im not sure how the costs will compare where you are.

as discussed here:
http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=165422

[Schnarr]

Okay, thanks, I'm located in Canada, and planning on getting the ASUS board instead, would a 400W fortron PSU be enough? How about the Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB for a Hard Drive? I can only find the L203WT, how's that compare to the 204?

[Mr.Ferrari]

The seagate you picked is quite a bit faster then the WD. Not to mention that it is usually taken that seagate's tend to be quieter then WD's. Atleast in my experiance. And they have hecka good customer service.

It is all your choice though. Both are great hard drives.

If you cant find the LG thats fine. The samsung is also a very nice monitor. IMO samsung is top of the line right along there with Viewsonic as well. Just get something that suits your resolution and viewing needs.

And what is the price range for the psu?

[lostplanet]

http://ca.lge.com/en/prodcompare.do?...elect+a+model#

theres a fair bit of difference between the 203 and 204 as you can see in the specs.
AFAIK the 204 is the updated version of the 203, so maybe you could contact a local supplier and see if they are going to stock them in canada.

theres a huge thread here raving about the L204WT.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread....5&page=1&pp=20

Hard drive:
Do you really need all that space? considering its a gaming rig, if your looking for speed in a hard drive and its within your budget, you could go 150GB 16mb Western digital Raptor, or RAID 0 a couple of 74's.Buy a floppy drive if you intend to RAID.

with 140GB of space, out of the 20 or so games i have, there are 6 max installed, the rest get tried/ bored/ uninstalled and are now collecting dust on my shelf.

ill let Mr Ferrari help you out on the PSU, read as many reviews as you can and don't scrimp on the PSU.

[Schnarr]

Originally Posted by Mr.Ferrari The seagate you picked is quite a bit faster then the WD. Not to mention that it is usually taken that seagate's tend to be quieter then WD's. Atleast in my experiance. And they have hecka good customer service. It is all your choice though. Both are great hard drives. If you cant find the LG thats fine. The samsung is also a very nice monitor. IMO samsung is top of the line right along there with Viewsonic as well. Just get something that suits your resolution and viewing needs. And what is the price range for the psu?

Around 100$ for the PSU, I think I'l go for the Seagate, since I have lots of video, and other content for storage. The Raptor's are just too expensive, although their performance is amazing, just not worth the price to me.

BTW, still looking up monitors.