Rate a noob's first build

[GRX40]

And please offer suggestions!

I'm a complete noob regarding building pc's but I've decided to build a solid machine that'll last me a good 4 years or so. I'll be using it for a variety of things, but I'd like to focus a little more on gaming as well. Also I'm keeping with my budget of 1500 CDN ~ 1300USD.

Intel Quad Q9450

750Gb seagate barracuda hard drive

PNY XLR8 GeForce 8800 GT Video Card

Corsair XMS2 DHX Dual Channel 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz

Antec Case

My question is what PSU/Mobo do you guys recommend for this rig? I'm clueless in this department.

I've heard alot of talk here about matching FSB of the CPU with the speed of the RAM, so I went for the higher clocked RAM.

Recommendations would be greatly appreciated as well!

[Masaki 7-11]

I heard that tigerdirect has bad service, have you tried ncix.com? It's a Canadian website so it has the prices in Canadian Dollars and ships to Canada. I'd suggest going for a 8800GTS 512MB since it costs about the same and offers a good improvement in performance. Do you plan on overclocking? If not, the processor you have will work fine, but if you are planning on overclocking, go with a Q6700 since it overclocks better and costs less. What kind of motherboard were you looking at for your rig? If you aren't sure about the motherboard, take a look at the P5K-E from Asus. For a power supply, take a look at this one: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...acture=CORSAIR.
You don't need 750W, but it will give you a decent amount of headroom for upgrades and costs about the same as other good quality 600W power supplies.

[shadowpr]

Get a 7200.11 series hard drive instead. http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...acture=Seagate

Cheaper video card: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...nufacture=eVGA

Might even want to go with this one: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...nufacture=eVGA

ram: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...acture=CORSAIR

For a power supply, I would get this: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...acture=CORSAIR And that gives you headdroom too.

Don't forget a mother board: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...nufacture=ASUS

And dvd burner: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...facture=Liteon

Also need an operating system.

Not sure what that comes out to total, but you can add it up, and we can adjust from there.

[GRX40]

Wow thanks guys.

Actually that tallies up to just where I'd like my price range to be. (I did exclude the OS and dvd burner since I have them covered already)

A few questions though:

Whats the difference between the original ram I had and the ram shadowpr suggested?

lastly, is the geforce 9600GT a step down from the 8800GT/GTS models?

Also I don't plan on overclocking right now but I wouldn't rule it out in the future when I've had the rig for awhile.

[flanzig1]

The difference in the 2 ram types is the CAS Latency rating. Intel CPUs work better with CAS 5 ram. The stuff you had would be more for the OCer and tweeker.

[DarkPacMan77]

Adding on, the difference is that the RAM you chose is faster, but for less money, you can get the RAM that shadowpr suggested and you won't notice a real-world difference.

Unless you plan to overclock or tweak some settings like flanzig1 says, the Corsair XMS2 modules will get the job done wonderfully. If you're thinking you may want to get some extra juice out of your system down the road, you may opt for the RAM you chose with tighter timings of 4-4-4-12 instead of 5-5-5-18. I should also mention that the XMS2 series should be able to overclock to tighter timings that may satisfy you as well, and for almost half the price, you can use the extra money to treat yourself to possibly a better motherboard than the P5K-E, or even add more RAM. Keep in mind that 32-bit operating systems can only recognize 3gb of ram minus the graphics memory, though.

-DarkPacMan77-

[Katreat]

Originally Posted by DarkPacMan77 Keep in mind that 32-bit operating systems can only recognize 3gb of ram minus the graphics memory, though.

If I am not mistaken, I think a 32 bit OS recognizes 4 GB of ram minus the graphics memory, which is why for practical purposes on average it sees about 3.2 GB.

Kat

[shady]

I notice that Amazon is quoting 1 to 2 months for that CPU. Can you wait that long? Also, the price may have dropped by then

[liambl]

The 9600GT is a tad bit slower than the 8800GT. I have one and it impresses me, the fan is very quiet too, even on full load.