Looking for some advice

[Kane1124]

Hi all, first time poster here and I just want to say I think that this site is great. Lots of good info on the forums.

I'm building a new PC and I'm hoping to get some advice from some of the more knowledgeable people. I'm hoping to get as much advice as possible to make sure that everything is compatible (I'm a college student and don't have a lot of money so there's no room for error) and to let me know if there are better things (for the same price) that I may have missed. I've done quite a bit of research, but it's been about 4 years since I built my last PC and it's entirely different now. This computer will be for gaming and I have no intention of overclocking it because I don't think it'll be necessary. This is what I have so far:


Power supply: Antec earthwatts EA500 500W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6817371007


Motherboard: ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6813131299


Graphics Card: EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800 GT 512MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6814130318


Ram: 2x 2gb kit Kingston hyperx ram
http://shop3.frys.com/product/5470699


Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6819115037


Hard Drive: haven't chosen one yet (still waiting to find a deal on one)


DVD Drive: ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6827135156


I still need to figure out what case I'm going to use, after browsing on Newegg for hours on top of hours I can't seem to find one that I want to completely commit to. I know what I want it to look like and what I want it to have, I just haven't found one yet. I really can't spend more than $60-$75 on it, these are the ones that I like but am unsure about (I realize that some of them are over my budget which is also a problem, I'll show you them just to give you an idea of what I'm looking for):

NZXT Apollo Black SECC Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811146025

NZXT HUSH Black SECC Steel/ Aluminum/ Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811146035

NZXT Guardian 921 CS-NT-GD921-B Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811146050

Sunbeam Automaton IC-AUT-BK Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811166048

Rosewill R6252-BK Screw-less Dual Fans ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147078

I really loved the Raidmax Ninja case, (the last PC I built was for my brother and he didn't want it at the time) but I can't seem to find them anymore. Does anyone have experience with any of these cases or these brands even? The NZXT's look appealing but I've never even heard of them until now so I'm a little weary.

For my monitor I decided to go with the Dell 2009W but I also found this Samsung 20 inch and was wondering if anyone has or has had any experience with it? Are they comparable? Does the Ultrabright screen on the Dell really make a difference or would the Samsung be better? If the Samsung is better then it would save me about $80 which would help quite a bit.

Samsung:
http://www.frys.com/product/5164576

Dell:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...9&sku=320-6964

Thanks in advance for any advice, I really appreciate it.

[shadowpr]

First: Welcome

Second: Your links aren't working. But I'll make a few suggestions based on the descriptions you included.

You might want to see if you can get a 4850 instead of a 8800gt. (If your budget can afford it. If not, then that's still a good card.)

Ram: I would stay away from kingston. Look at a 2x2gb ddr2-800 cas 5 pack of corsair, g. skill, a-data, mushkin, crucial. (I think corsair has a nice rebate offer now.)

For $10 more, it's worth getting the e8500.

HD: The sweet spot seems to be the seagate 7200.11 500gb drive. Sata.

DVD: Make sure it's a sata drive.

You might want to increase that power supply a bit. Look at the corsair 550.

Case: I just recently did two builds with the antec 300. You might want to look at that, and see if you like it. Cases are more of a personal choice based on your taste.

[Kane1124]

I can't seem to figure out how to edit my post to fix the links. Where is the button to do it?

[shadowpr]

It should be on the bottom right of the post you want to edit. If not, then it might be too late to edit it, and you can just add another post to this thread.

[12twelve12]

shadowpr...Kingston is very good RAM. They are a top notch company in southern California, use good chips and have very, very good customer service. Of course this is my opinion based on my experiences with them but many gaming enthusiasts swear on Kingston memory.

[Studio2LH]

I bought the NZXT apollo (black) and I love it! I can't say about the others though. The apollo looks great, there's ok room to work with, however the air flow isn't the best. It looks easy to install a 120 " fan in the front, so i'd do that if it's too hot in there.

[SCKiller]

I would go with a case that has better ventilation, but that's just my 2 cents. A good case company in my opinion is Antec. Here's a case from them. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021

[Kane1124]

I was concerned with the power supply so I'm thinking of going with this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341010

Is this a good power supply? I really wanted to go with an Antec power supply but I don't know if 500 watts is gonna cut it and I can't afford one any higher than that when it comes to Antec.

This is the case I decided to go with:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811146025

It's funny because I actually decided on that one before Studio2LH recommended it.

[shadowpr]

That seems like a good power supply. I used one in a recent build, but it has onbaord video.

[Kane1124]

One other question I have is, I've read that using an aftermarket fan/heatsink will void your warranty, this is true right? I'm pretty sure it is. What about using an aftermarket thermal paste? If I put as5 on my processor instead of using the stock thermal paste then will Intel void my warranty? Is using as5 instead of the stock paste really going to make a huge difference? Is it worth doing?

[shadowpr]

If you change the heatsink, yes, it will void the warrenty.

If you're going to use the stock heatsink, then you might as well just use the thermal pad. I doubt it would make much difference. (Not sure if it will void the warrenty, but why bother.)

[Kane1124]

Ok, so the reason I was going with the 8800gt was because I was going to get another one in a few months and run them in SLI. I just noticed today that Newegg deactivated the graphics card so I'm thinking about returning it and getting this (9800GT) instead? Is the 9800GT actually better than the 8800GT or is that just wishful thinking? I think I want to go with Nvidia but I was told that the 4850 would be better? I really like nvidia better because the one time I used an ATI card I had issues with it so I'm really hesitating even though everyone is telling me that it is better. I know Asus is a good brand but I don't have any experience with them and video cards.

This is the rest of my system that I settled on, will the ATI card even be compatible?

CASE NZXT|APOLLO BLACK NP RT - Retail

MB ASUS P5Q PRO 775 P45 RT - Retail

CPU INTEL|C2D E8400 3G 775 45N R - Retail

DVD BURN ASUS|DRW-2014L1T LS SATA - Retail

PSU CORSAIR|CMPSU-620HX RT

400GB hard drive

[Kane1124]

I'm also thinking about the 9800GTX

[shadowpr]

I believe you will get better performance from the 4850.

[Kane1124]

I decided to go with the EVGA 9800GTX+.

I just can't buy an ATI card, I like Nvidia too much.

[shadowpr]

Might want to look at the 260 then.

Great performance, but more expensive.