Building a PC

[Doball{MEOW}]

So hopefully I will be building a gaming machine. There's one big thing that I need to reserve my income tax return for, but I expect I'll have enough left over to build a PC. I understand I'm not getting the newest components out there , but keeping in the price I'm at now has sold it to my wife. I'd like to know what you guys think about my selection of components. I came up with this list with the help of a couple of guys I work with that keep up on this stuff and have built their own machines. I understand I could improve in a couple of areas, but I also took product reviews under heavy consideration.

I posted the big items, but am also getting a 250G HD, DVD burner, and a better CPU fan.

All this for $814 after mail in rebates.  Should I get extended warranty with the big stuff? 1 year or 2?

Model  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059
Brand GIGABYTE 
Model GA-P35-DS3L 
Supported CPU
CPU Socket Type LGA 775 
CPU Type Quad-core / Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo / Pentium Extreme / Pentium D 
FSB 1333/1066MHz 
Chipsets
North Bridge Intel P35 
South Bridge Intel ICH9 
Memory
Number of Memory Slots 4×240pin 
Memory Standard DDR2 1066 
Maximum Memory Supported 8GB 
Dual Channel Supported Yes 
Expansion Slots
PCI Express x16 1 
PCI Express x1 3 
PCI Slots 3 


Intel  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115029
Tech Spec
Core Conroe 
Multi-Core Dual-Core 
Name Core 2 Duo E6750 
Operating Frequency 2.66GHz 
FSB 1333MHz 
L2 Cache 4M shared 
Manufacturing Tech 65 nm 
64 bit Support Yes 
Hyper-Threading Support No


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130290
Chipset
Chipset Manufacturer NVIDIA 
GPU GeForce 8600GT 
Core clock 540MHz 
Stream Processors 32 
Memory
Memory Clock 1400MHz 
Memory Size 512MB 
Memory Interface 128-bit 
Memory Type GDDR3 
3D API
DirectX DirectX 10 
OpenGL OpenGL 2.0


Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021
3 120mm inlet fans
1 200mm exhaust fan


RAIDMAX QUANTUM RX-700 ATX12V 700W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152033

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098
Not Corsair, but has the best rating for 2 x 1g on newegg

[NighEve*{MEOW}*]

I know very little about this.. but I would sayyou have enough fancy smancy words and technical numbers to make a great machine there. 

Tee Hee just kidding. but with the guys like FeFe, Smooth, TK  and others here, you posted in the right place.

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

Looks pretty well rounded Doball.  Though I'm not sure you have the correct memory there.  The MB says DDR2 1066 and that G-skill is 800.  I haven't really kept up on that stuff, but I'm sure someone else here can tell you if that's a compatability problem.  Also, be aware that the 9 series GPUs from Nvidia are due to be out soon this year.

[Kitty*{MEOW}*]

well not a huge fan of the gigabyte board. Haven't had much luck with those. i personally use EVGA Boards or Asus. But thats because i have had very good luck with those and the warrentee on the EVGA stuff is unsurpassed.

[Felix*{MEOW}*]

Just gave it a Quick look  When i saw gigabyte i got that cold feeling up the back of my neck..lol.
EVGA has a great warranty.

Look in to a Asus mother board though. might a few bucks more but well Worth it. Never heard of RAIDMAX P/S. Ernermax makes a great one.  I haven't built a new PC in a while someone might have some more info for your P/S.
talk to Crazy as well. He's great at getting deals on stuff.
Don't let him talk you out of that CPU though..hehee.

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

As far as PSU's go, I'm an OCZ Tech fan.  I have a 600W OCZ Powerstream in my machine, which are not being produced anymore, but it's been reliable.  PC Power & Cooling and Enermax also make good ones.  Most important thing is to go with a brand name PSU.  I can also vouch for Asus MB's.  A little more pricey than competitors though.

[Doball{MEOW}]

Ok thanks, for the quick responses. I'm stuck with the ram. It fits the budget to well, but I didn't catch the MB 1066 for the ram, thanks.

So how about this for a mobo.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188017

And a question about the PS. If the MB is a 24 pin, will a 20+4 PS work?

And what about warrantes? Are they worth it? My thoughts are it's either dead/defective right out of the box, or it's gonna give out in the first 30 days.

[Doball{MEOW}]

Figured out the answer to the PS pin question. So I'm going with the OCZ 700W PS.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341002

Those were some good changes. Now I'm looking at $803 after rebates. And my buddy's selling me his 6 month old 19" LCD for $100.

[Gilmo{MEOW}]

Yup. ASUS mb's are great and they have very good tech support on them.  I have one in my machine now.  4years and running strong(and the games I want to play too)

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

When I build mine I just went with the standard warranties.  EVGA offers lifetime as long as the component didn't break due to end-user overclocking.  OCZ also offers lifetime.

Oh, and yes to the 20+4 question.  My PSU has that 20+4 connector and it works with my Asus' 24 pin socket.

[WildKatZ*{MEOW}*]

atleast u got away from that gigapoop . had nothing but major problem's withem . 

[Felix*{MEOW}*]

I haven't used EVGA mobo's so i can't tall ya if there any good  i can tell ya this though.. don't cheep out on a mother board get a good one. Or better Quality i still say Asus or bust.


Gilmo said

ASUS mb's are great and they have very good tech support on them

Yup our niece is still running a 733 i gave her years ago
and my work PC has one too that thing is at least 5 years old.

[Kitty*{MEOW}*]

I have 2 EVGA boards. They are Great Boards and EVGA has one of the best if not the best warantee's in the business. I also Run EVGA Graphics cards. LOVE evga. Tech support is AWSOME!!!!!!


  I blew my old 6800 up somehow i hooked power cable up backwards to it (wife was yelling at me had to kids bugging me and wasn't paying attention) and needless to say when i turned power on a flame came out of the video card and out the side of PC. well I called EVGA and they said no problem send it to us. If u give them your Credit card # they will even ship U a new card without receiving the old one first eliminating half the down time which was great. As if they get the old card back within 30 days U don't even get charged for the other card. So this is what won me over on their products. I still got first EVGA board i bought in spare PC and working great never had a problem from it. Crazy has the same board and never had a problem from his either. Great Products.



I did notice the EVGA board u picked above supports DDR 800 which will do U fine its cheap right now and works great. So make sure U don't get the DDR 1066 like the old board wanted.

I bout the EVGA 8800GTX SSC edition 640 Meg Video AWSOME it even does DX10 if U got windows Vista. (which I do)

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

If u give them your Credit card # they will even ship U a new card without receiving the old one first eliminating half the down time which was great.

I think they stopped cross shipping recently Kitty.  Could be wrong, but I thought I read that somewhere.

[Doball{MEOW}]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. With any luck I'll be able to order everything tonight.