New Build - New Builder

[Patric10]

Hi Guys,

This is my first build (ever) and I am looking for advice and confirmation that the parts I've selected below will work well together. I have been reading through the forums here for a few weeks now and have tried to select the items that are most recommended, so hopefully you won't see any surprises in the list.

I will use this rig for heavy gaming and 3D rendering and am trying to stay in the $1500 range.
I am not planning to overclock.

I know that no one is really recommending the quad processor for gaming, but some of my 3D software is supposed to take advantage of it, so I want to give it a try. From reading here, I understand that the prices for the Intel Core 2 Duos are supposed to drop soon, so I am waiting until that time to buy it.

I already have these items:

Monitor: Samsung 226BW
Case: Antec P182 (this was on sale at a local store last week, so I picked it up)
Keyboard and Mouse

I am planning to get these:

Motherboard: ASUS P5K LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Video Card: EVGA 320-P2-N815-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
PowerSupply: CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply - Retail
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail
Memory: CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model VS2GBKIT667D2 - Retail
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
DVD Drive: LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model LH-20A1S - Retail
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2B 1 Pack - OEM (I'll upgrade to Vista later)

The thing that I am most unsure about is the motherboard. There seems to be a few ASUS P5K motherboards that are similar, but it looks like this one gets recommended most here.

I've already gotten a ton of help from you guys just by reading what you have recommended for others, but I would appreciate any advice or suggestions you have for this build.

[Cricket]

Your parts selection look fine to me.

Cricket

[freakitchen]

Looks excellent to me to, we appreciate you doing your homework! The price drop news that I've heard suggests around the 22nd of July, and that the Q6600 will be dropping quite significantly. A lot of builders seem to be holding out for this one.

[blue60007]

Originally Posted by Freakitchen Looks excellent to me to, we appreciate you doing your homework! The price drop news that I've heard suggests around the 22nd of July, and that the Q6600 will be dropping quite significantly. A lot of builders seem to be holding out for this one.

To the tune of $266 I do believe. That's a 40% reduction. Sounds like a deal to me.

[Patric10]

Thanks for the replies. It is good to have some confirmation that I haven't overlooked something.

Yes, the price drop for the Q6600 definitely seems worth the wait. I'm wondering if NewEgg will have enough in stock to handle the demand on or shortly after the 22nd.

I'm thinking about upgrading the graphics card to the 8800 GTS 640MB version after reading that it may be better for monitors over 19". NewEgg is currently out of stock on the 32OMB version anyway.

[Patric10]

I noticed this morning that prices on the Intel Q6600 have dropped by about 20%. Do you think this is the big price drop we have been waiting for or do you think prices will continue to drop? I think the general buzz had been that they would drop by closer to 40%.

[Mavman1]

Originally Posted by Patric10 I noticed this morning that prices on the Intel Q6600 have dropped by about 20%. Do you think this is the big price drop we have been waiting for or do you think prices will continue to drop? I think the general buzz had been that they would drop by closer to 40%.

If ya can.....try to hold out till next week-(starting on the 22nd), I've kept my eye on the Q6600 and the price has dropped 3 maybe four times in the last few days over at newegg.com.....My thinking is that their trying to lure people in with the decrease, before it drops down to about 266 or so.

keep in mind, this is all speculation on my part....but that's what I'm gonna do.

[andper10]

You could probably get by with the 520 Watt version of the Corsair PSU. Buy.com has it much cheaper than newegg (and free shipping): http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-520w...203270716.html

That looks like a very nice build!

[Patric10]

Originally Posted by Mavman1 If ya can.....try to hold out till next week-(starting on the 22nd), I've kept my eye on the Q6600 and the price has dropped 3 maybe four times in the last few days over at newegg.com.....My thinking is that their trying to lure people in with the decrease, before it drops down to about 266 or so. keep in mind, this is all speculation on my part....but that's what I'm gonna do.

I am in no great hurry, so yeah, I think I'll wait too...thanks.

Originally Posted by andper10 You could probably get by with the 520 Watt version of the Corsair PSU. Buy.com has it much cheaper than newegg (and free shipping): http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-520w...203270716.html That looks like a very nice build!

Thanks. You are probably right that the 520 Watt would be enough for this build. I used one of the calculator utilities and it came out to under 520 Watts. I don't know how accurate that was though. I am planning to add another hard drive and maybe a 2nd DVD drive later, so wanted to leave some headroom for those or anything else that I may want to add later.

[Patric10]

Ok, I ordered all my stuff. I hope it will all be here by end of week and I'll try to put it together this weekend.

Here's what I ended up ordering:

Motherboard: ASUS P5K LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Video Card: EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail

PowerSupply: CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply - Retail

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail

Memory: CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model VS2GBKIT667D2 - Retail

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

DVD Drive: LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model LH-20A1S - Retail

OS: Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2B 1 Pack - OEM (I'll upgrade to Vista later)

I got my Q6600 for $299.00 - It looks like NewEgg just raised the price to $320.00. Hmmm...

Thanks again for the advice. I'll let you know how everything goes together.

[Patric10]

It has taken me a while to send this update, but I wanted to let everyone know that it all went together well and I am very happy with my new pc.

The only small problem I had was that I didn't get the processor heat sync and fan securely attached to the motherboard the first time. I powered up the pc and after about a minute it shut off. I powered it up again and it shut down immediately. I figured it must be something overheating - the first time it took a little while to get hot enough, but the second time it was already hot, so shut down right away. I checked the heat sync and although it felt like it was attached, one of the pins wasn't all the way through the motherboard. I had to really put a lot of pressure on it to get it to snap in place - I thought I was going to break the motherboard. Once it was in place though, everything worked perfectly. It has been running for about 4 weeks now with no problems.

I am happy with all the parts I got and especially like the case. It is big and heavy, but was very easy to work with. The power suppy is great also - the modular design makes things much cleaner; you don't have a bunch of extra cables to bind up and hide.

Thanks again for all the help in selecting the right parts.

[blue60007]

Great to hear! Yes, those Intel heatsinks are really hard to snap in. That's a heck of a system you have there