How does this make you feel?

[Onus]

Hey Folks,
I am aiming to build a fairly robust gaming system, and I wanted to know what you thought.
I am trying to keep the costs closer to $1500 than $2k, before taking the monitor, speakers, mouse and keyboard into account.
I intend to get a 64-bit Vista , which is why there is so much RAM.
There may be SLI in my future, so I am trying to overcompensate on my power needs.

Here she is:

Case- Antec Nine Hundred Mid-Tower

Power Supply- OCZ Technology Game Xstream 700w Power Supply

Motherboard- eVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 Motherboard

CPU- Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 (now that it has had a price drop)


RAM- Mushkin 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 DIMM Dual Channel (x2)

Video Card- GeForce 8800GTS 640MB

Hard Drive- Seagate Barracuda ES.2 250GB Hard Drive(x2)

Media Drive- Pioneer DVR-115DBK Black Dual Layer DVD±RW Writer
I am under the impression that I no longer truly need a floppy drive, and the Blu-Ray/DVD will do the trick. Also, the Video Card and the Case are already purchased, so try not to rag on those parts too badly

Thanks in Advance

[flanzig1]

The CPU comes with a heatsink. The one you picked is about on par with the included heatsink. Use the retail one and you don't lose the warranty on the CPU.
Would look at the Seagates 7200.11 HDs, they have a 32meg cache verses the 16 on the WD drives.
Check on Nvidia's web site to see if the PSU you picked is certified for Sli with those 8800 video cards.
Rest looks good.

[Onus]

Thanks Flanzig. Common sense suggestions like the PSU check are exactly the thing I always overlook...

...The PSU checks out with the video card. The Seagates you mentioned are a nice bump in power, as you indicated, for a relatively small increase in price; I've updated my build accordingly. Thanks!
The superfluous heatsink is something of a knee-jerk response, since you bring it up. I have no plans to overclock my CPU anytime soon, so I can only assume that the included sink, plus the large array of fans in the case will be sufficient. Consider it gone. Also helps mitigate the additional cost of one of the Seagates

[Drunner611]

You could probably get something much better if you didn't get a sli/ddr3 board and ddr3. You could invest another $200 in a sound card and a better cpu then.

The LGA775 socket will be extinct in 9 months with the release of Nehalem so getting an expensive 775 board and ddr3 is not the smartest because the best processor you can put in it will be a Q9XXX.

[Onus]

I may wish to go SLI in the future, however. The mobo also has 7.1 surround. Also, it is DDR2. I also see no point for DDR3.
Is the sound card really worth the money, when the onboard is better than average?
...My Bad! I mistakenly wrote DDR3 on my build, when the part is DDR2! Sorry for the shenanigans

[shadowpr]

Get either a 8800gt or the newer gts which is the 8800gts 512. They both perform better than the 8800gts 640.

[Katreat]

Shadow beat me, the one big blow I see is you list the older GTS. Go with one of the cards shadow posted.

if you really want 7.1 sound I would go for a sound card. As good as sound is these days on the new MBs it still does not give the features of a dedicated sound card.

If you have a very large monitor, SLI is really nice. But if not, for the extra $150 or so you are paying for that MB and big PSU you could afford a 9800 GTX. Add in what you are going to pay for the second card and you could get a 9800 GX2. I just dont see the advantage of SLI as an upgrade path when there are better single slot cards avaliable except to help out with resolution issues on very large monitors.

Kat

[Onus]

Thanks for the responses, everyone!

Re: Video Card, The problem is I already own the "XFX 8800GTS 640MB XXX". I don't really want to spend money on another video card. That being said, I took the time to compare that card with a few eVGA 8800, and there doesn't seem to be a really big difference in the numbers

Here is the comparison.

I know I could save the extra cost by cutting elsewhere, but I don't really want to take SLI off the table. I have seen some competitive stats for my card run SLI on the TomsHardware.com VGA charts

I am not totally against buying a new video card("new," video," and card" being three of my favorite words), but I think I need to hear a more substantial case made...

Anyone have some strong feelings about this?

[Katreat]

If you already have a 8800 GTX 640 I would not replace it yet, but I also would not bother SLI-ing it either. There are just too many faster and better single cards avaliable. Buy the time you get around to SLI you might be able to pick an older 640 up cheap but you will also be further behind the curve. The 9900s are being released in June!

Check out this review/compairson on the 8800 GT and GTS 640. The GT has a significant advantage over the older GTS because of the G92 GPU.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/articl...50aHVzaWFzdA==

Like I said, if you have one it is still a very nice card and will probably give you another year or so before it has to be replaced, but to build an SLI system around it would probably not be the best use of your budget.

Kat

[Onus]

Duly noted, and quite sensible to boot. Thanks for the info.