New to computer building

[Vitaminx]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and also new to computer building. I think I know enough though that I can successfully build one on my own though. I was just needing some clarification in some areas: Compatibility, stability, and gaming performance are the three big ones. Will are of these parts work well with each other? And also will I have to mess with the voltage of say the memory once everything is installed or will it be good as is? And do all of these parts have a good price to performance ratio? I probably won't be doing SLI either, I figure one video card is enough. And if you are wondering why I chose that motherboard, its because the lifetime warranty from EVGA and the price seems good for such a new product. I just wish the E8400 was available on Newegg. My budget is around $1000 - $1400. I'm open to any suggestions.

Here's a list the parts I'm looking into:

Case - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16811129021

Hard Drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16822148288

Power Supply - PC Power & Cooling S610EPS EPS12V 610W Continuous @ 40°C Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, cUL, CE, CB, TUV http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16817703005

Video Card - EVGA 512-P3-N841-A3 GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16814130312

Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16819115028

Memory - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16820146565

Motherboard - EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16813188024

CD/DVD Burner - SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16827151154

Heatsink with Fan - XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16835233003

Operating system - Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2B 1 Pack
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16832116056

[smithkt]

If you aren't going to be doing SLI, that motherboard is serious overkill. You can save some serious cash going after a P35 board instead.

The video card is a solid choice. If you don't already have Crysis and really want it, then the game bundle is OK, but it's not really free.

This is the same board without the game, $30 cheaper:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130325

[Vitaminx]

Oh. yea I was wondering what the difference was between the two. Do you think I will need to buy a heatsink or nah? If I can't get the E8400 soon, what do you think I should get in the meantime? The one I listed or something else? I was debating between the E6750 and the E6850. Tomshardware.com gives the E6750 a better price/performance ratio.

Which do you guys think is the better choice:

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

or

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119137

or

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

[signmeuptoo]

You are asking questions without giving some needed information, however:

What games will you play?

When you say performance, what exactly do you mean? Do you want to overclock? How serious of an overclock?

What size is your monitor?

I agree that a good P35 mainboard would be a smarter choice.

Also, a 8800GT might be more than enough for you, for much less, it approaches that card in performance according to what I've been told, others hopefully will pipe in.

PS is fine but might be louder than others, right guys?

I'd get a quad core if it were me, for many reasons. You didn't tell us anything about what types of applications and activities you do on a computer, so who knows WHAT you need??? Remember, folks aren't mind readers, friend. But quard core is the way to go for lots of folks. Better multitasking with less lockups if any, and some games and programs are just beginning to trickle in that take advantage of multicore systems.

I'd get 2 x 2GB of RAM if it were me. Why? RAM is so incredibly cheap, and you may upgrade in the future to, say, Vista (some don't call it an upgrade, but there is the 64 bit version that people are now drifting towards). Even though a 32 bit OS won't effectively use all of the 4 GB (due to the addressing limitations of 32 bit OS Windows and the related addressing of hardware), but rather maybe 3.5 GB, so what, RAM is so cheap right now!!!

HTH.

[Vitaminx]

I play world of warcraft and mostly use the computer for homework or surfing the web. Maybe other games in the future. Who knows. Monitor would be my T.V. which is a 20 inch Sharp. Widescreen.

[cypherpunks]

Originally Posted by Vitaminx

I play world of warcraft and mostly use the computer for homework or surfing the web. Maybe other games in the future. Who knows. Monitor would be my T.V. which is a 20 inch Sharp. Widescreen.

Then are you sure you don't want to cut your budget in half? You don't need a $1000 computer to max out WoW, and high-end components depreciate fast as they fall behind the bleeding edge. You could cut the cost drastically with only a slight down-spec and get identical WoW performance.

Even an 8800GT is really more than you need, but it's excellent price/performance, so you might as well. The only reasons to get anything more expensive are:

• A specific need for slightly more performance than an 8800GT, despite the large cost permium, or
• To advertise having more money than brains.

Combine that with a decent Core 2 duo and P35 motherboard and you've got a kick-ass computer. You don't have to get an E8400, although I can understand the desire very well.

[Vitaminx]

Originally Posted by signmeuptoo

PS is fine but might be louder than others, right guys?

I thought PC Power and Cooling was a tier 1 psu from what I read. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=108088

[Vitaminx]

Oh hey should I get

Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 2.66GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Dual-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115038

instead of the E6750?

[Vitaminx]

Should I buy a case where the power supply slot is on the bottom or top? I've heard mixed things about the placement of the power supply on the bottom. What do you guys think?

[Lemmy]

The E8200 is better than E6750.
If you decide to get a case with the PSU at the bottom, it would be best to have a separate chamber for it. Even if it doesn't have a separate chamber, from what I recall from high school physics, hot air goes up, thus away from the PSU.

But I'm no expert, I have a classic PSU with the case with the PSU at the top