build specs

[minime10203]

im sure you all get alot of these. i tried to do as much of my own research as possible.

i already have a case , a sound card (x-fi fatality edition) and a good power supply. the rest of the to be parts are as follows:

mobo:
(p5b deluxe, $179)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131045

ram:
corsair xms2 2gb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145038

harddrive:
raptor 10k rpm ($239) sata
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136034

processor:
e6600 conroe $230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115003

cd/dvd rom:
light on sata $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106057

the only thing im missing are a monitor and a video card (other then small stuff like a floppy drive) i need help trying to find a video card, and even tough iv always ran with ati, im open to suggestions for nvidia. if you recomend nvidia, please be specific, since im not to familiar with the high end nvidias. all i know is that the 8800gts/gtx are the top end models, dont know anything about em really. and no, i dont plan on going sli so the single pciex16 slot on the mobo is fine for me.

thanks for viewing, any constructive commends/information is more then welcome

p.s: the mobo is sata (for the harddrive and optical drive) and pcie for the video card.

[Cricket]

Switch that RAM to CAS 5 XMS instead. There seems to be issues when mixing the CAS 4 RAM with the P965 chipset. And you really don't need DDR2 800 unless you're going to overclock. Corsair ValueSelect DDR2 667 works fine with that setup.

If this were my computer I'd pass on the Raptor (too expensive) and get this HDD instead...near identical performance for a third the cost, over twice the storage and way less noise.

Cricket

[minime10203]

the big seller to me on the raptor was the 10k rpm, since this is a pure gaming rig, and the faster the loading the better. since this is a gaming rig, noise isnt a problem. however i will check into that ram.

with all this information, do you have any recomendations for video cards? thats one of my biggest hang ups atm.

thanks for your tips though.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by minime10203 with all this information, do you have any recomendations for video cards? thats one of my biggest hang ups atm.

Can't help you there, I'm not a gamer and don't know anything about gaming video cards.

Originally Posted by minime10203 edit: should i get the duel channel kit when i get the ram cas5 ram?

Yes, get a Dual Channel Kit.

Cricket

[minime10203]

i see. well ill keep bumping this. im ready to start ordering everything as soon as i find a video card that will match my system well.

[Staren]

If you're building "right now", the best video card I would say would be the GeForce 8800GTS. Great fast card. It's been proven you don't need the GTX unless you have a e6700 or better because of the bottleneck problem. If this is an early spec, it would be worth it to wait and see on ATIs DX10 cards of course, but right now the 8800GTS is the best bang for the buck card for sane high end build.

[minime10203]

well, by right now, i mean i will be finishing part ordering within the next week or 2 and hopefully have the parts under construction by mid may.

even if i was to wait for ati's dx10, the price would most likely be out of my range, so i think ill go with a current nvidia. (unless ati's dx10's are releasing soon enough for me to order everything else, then wait for them to atleast drive down nvidia prices)

is there any particular brand of 8800gts you recomend i DONT get?

i was looking between these 2 8800gts cards

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130071

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127225

the first one is cheaper after rebate, the second one is cheaper up front, but no rebate. or if theres a 3rd card that you would recomend over both of those, im all ears.

[Cricket]

Get the EVGA video card. EVGA is sort of NVidia house brand. They make the prototype and engineering samples that go out to the other manufacturers.

Cricket

[minime10203]

great. thanks alot. looks like my system is more or less complete. just need to find a good monitor (flat panel) and decide if i want to use integrated nic or buy one (i was told that the killer nic from bigfoot was a rip off)

[Cricket]

I would just use the on-board NIC.

For a LCD monitor I'd look at Samsung, LG and DELL.

Cricket

[Staren]

I'd agree with Cricket on both counts. The on-board NICs on todays motherboards are perfectly capable of doing the job. You wouldn't see any real difference with a stand alone card. On-board sound until you get into the high high end are really the same way at this point.

As far as monitors go, I'm a bit of a Samsung fanboy but Dell, LG, Acer, BenQ, ViewSonic, and NEC are all good brands as well. What I'd probably do is check out the dell outlet and dell cupons real quick to see if they have a good deal running, then check your Sunday paper ads for the big box stores in your area. Monitors are one of the few components you can usually find a nice local deal running on a quality brand. I know where I live it seems like the local Best Buy always has either a Samsung or NEC promo going.

[minime10203]

one more thing i just thought of.

since my dvd and harddrive are using sata, does anything special need to be done for windows xp to read sata (itll be a while before i use vista)

someone said something about needing to load sata from a floppy or something a while back.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by minime10203 one more thing i just thought of. since my dvd and harddrive are using sata, does anything special need to be done for windows xp to read sata (itll be a while before i use vista) someone said something about needing to load sata from a floppy or something a while back.

The SATA hard drive shouldn't be a problem as long as the motherboard chipset supports SATA natively.

Not so sure about SATA optical drives as I haven't had any experience with them yet.

Cricket

[LeftyAce]

I believe as long as you get a copy of XP that already has Service Pack 2 on the CD you'll be fine.