My first build, and I could use some advice

[xbolt]

I'm researching parts to build a new computer, my first home-built one. I've been running around in circles the past week, with lots of different advice from lots of different people. It's going to be primarily a gaming rig, and my budget is around $3000. Here's my list as it stands now:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115037

Motherboard: ASUS P5N-E SLI Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131142

RAM: Corsair 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145184

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB Hard Drive (Two of these)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148288

GPU: EVGA 512-P3-N841-A3 GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB (Two of these, hooked up in SLI)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130312

Sound Card: Creative SB X-Fi XtremeGamer
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102006

Power Supply: Corsair TX CMPSU-750TX 750W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139006

Disc Drive 1: SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S203N
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827151154

Disc Drive 2: Sony DDU-1615 DVD-ROM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827101131

Modem: Rosewill RC-403 Conexant 56Kbps PCI Bus (Plug & Play) Modem
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16825164001

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021

OS: Windows XP Professional SP2 32-bit - OEM / Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit - OEM (Going to dual-boot the two)

Monitor: ViewSonic VX2835wm Black/Silver 28" Widescreen LCD Monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824116084

Speakers: Creative Inspire P7800 7.1 Speaker System
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16836116153


What I want to know is, does everything fit together? Will all of this work together nicely? (Especially the CPU. It's one of the new Wolfdale processors, so I'm not sure if it'll work with the motherboard.)

Something I'm not sure on, is the sound card. I've been hearing lots of bad things about the drivers for Vista, with lots of BSoDs and stuff like that. Any recommendations for another card, that works with Vista?

[Dave21]

Welcome to PCMech!
- The processor should work with the motherboard once you update the bios.

- I don't recommend going SLI, not much perfomance boost (roughly 30% boost). Go with a asus p5k board with a single powerful video card.

- The 9000 series nvdia cards are coming out soon, so if you want to wait a bit and get the 9800 for I'm assuming the same price as the two 8800GTS in SLI. The 9800 will have 30%+ power than the 8800 ultra.

- The sound card is fine, but if you want to go up a notch, get the fatality series from Sound Blaster

- You don't need the modem, unless you will actually use it.

- 2 gb of ram is sufficient, if you get the 4 gb, only about 3 gb will be recognized by windows xp.

- You really shouldn't get the the 64 bit vista as there a lot of drivers issue and so forth. Just get the 32 bit, upgrade when there is actually use for the 64 bit os.

[hitchface]

I second all of that. However, if you do decide to stick with Vista 64, then keep the RAM at 4 gigs.

As for the speakers, Altec Lansing has some nice ones at that price range. FX501 I think they are called.

Samsung is on a roll right now with monitors. See what you can snag from them and compare. Samsung models have a really high contrast ratio, which will be sweet for clear picture in games.

The other thing to consider is your choice of optical drives. Do you actually need 2? LG and LiteOn both make really nice multi drives, so you might want to go with one of those.

[Dave21]

Originally Posted by hitchface I second all of that. However, if you do decide to stick with Vista 64, then keep the RAM at 4 gigs. As for the speakers, Altec Lansing has some nice ones at that price range. FX501 I think they are called. Samsung is on a roll right now with monitors. See what you can snag from them and compare. Samsung models have a really high contrast ratio, which will be sweet for clear picture in games. The other thing to consider is your choice of optical drives. Do you actually need 2? LG and LiteOn both make really nice multi drives, so you might want to go with one of those.

Yea, I think you should consider the 226 samsung 22 inch monitor or the 24 inch monitor. Viewsonic generally have not been a leader in regards to LCD monitors. They were good with CRT, but samsung is the way to go.

hitchface, as for opticals, i recommended someone getting just one multi drive, and then I think glc said that they are so cheap nowadays, so you might as well have two. Lol.

[hitchface]

All depends on your stance. If you like burning CDs at the same time as playing a game, then I guess it is useful. Otherwise it is just a wasted slot and 35 bucks that could be put to something else.

[alex530]

In my opinion, Samsung and HP both make excellent monitors. I'm still on the fence about the 64 bit version of Vista, I've heard that recently many of the driver issues have been resolved. Check out This Article for some pro's and con's, about half way down. I recently purchased a Lite-On DVD burner and have been very satisfied with it. It's not too loud like some people have complained. Also make sure to get some quality blank media such as Verbatim. Also, the DVD-ROM you selected is IDE, you probably want to go with SATA.

[alex530]

Also, if you plan on overclocking, consider an aftermarket CPU cooler.

[Katreat]

I agree with just about everything above, but if you are set on SLI I would look to the new 750i and 780i boards. The 650i chipset is quite old. The new 7XXi chipsets are designed to support the faser 1333 FSB CPUs and will most likely be a much better fit.

Kat

[doubledragon5]

One thing to remember that if you do any OC and you damage you cpu it is not covered under your warranty.. Try doing mild OC with the stock heatsink, and if your successful then consider getting another cooler.. Also do lots of reading before you do any OC first..

[xbolt]

Well, I wanted to go SLI, because I need all the boost I can get to run that huge monitor.

My current monitor is a ViewSonic 21" LCD, and so far I've been pretty happy with it.

And I don't really see any point in waiting for the 9800, because when that does come out, it won't be long before another card comes out that's even better than that one.

I do need the modem, as I'm still using dial-up.

Like Dave21 said, optical drives are pretty cheap nowadays, I might as well get a second one. As for getting a SATA drive rather than IDE, how about this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135143

And I'm not going to be doing any overclocking, so I don't need to worry about that.

And thanks for the tip about the 780i boards vs. the 650i. But if I upgrade to this one, it will put me at the absolute limit for my budget...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813141005


EDIT: Just for fun, I tried going to the Alienware customize thing on their website to see how much a similar computer to the one I'm going to build costs. As I expected, it was much more. However, when I added the dual graphics cards, it said that a 750W PSU wasn't enough to power them, and recommended getting a 1000W PSU instead. So I thought, "Ok..." And I looked for a kilowatt PSU. Unfortunately, Corsair, my brand of choice, doesn't have a kilowatt PSU out. They're currently developing one, but no release date has been announced yet as far as I know. So, should I trust the advice of Alienware, and get a different brand, or stay with the 750W and hope they're wrong?

[shadowpr]

http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_psu.html

According to that, the Corsair 750 that you choose should work.

[Aerandirel]

lol you have almost the same build as me, case, drives (HDD and optical), CPU and PSu are all the same for mine.

Biggger difference for me is either im going to get a regular 8800 GT because theyre cheap and only behind the GTS (sometimes ahead) and even the GTX by a few percent points. Im gonna wait for th 9800s to come out though and read some reviews on them and if theyre good and worth their price ill get one of those, im not going SLI though, too much of a waste in money for performance imo.