Please critique new gaming rig

S

silentsammy

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 4, 2006
Messages
342
This will be my first system build in probably over 5 years. So I'm a bit out of the loop. I'm going to be building two rigs in the next 2 months, this first one is for a guy I work with.

Here's a few key things to know first:
- I won't be doing any overclocking on this thing. I just want it running nice and stable for him.
- Since it's been a while since I did a build (and even then I'm still a novice) I really want to keep the build simple and thus I want some reliable parts.

So here's what I've got for my proposed build:

Motherboard: ASUS P5N-E SLI $139.99
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 $316.00
Memory: Kingston ValueRAM 2GB DDR2-667 $178.99
Graphics: eVGA GeForce 8800 GTS $399.99
Storage: Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10000rpm $219.99
Audio: Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer $69.99
Speakers: Logitech X-540 5.1 $88.99
Power Supply: OCZ GameXStream 600W $129.99
Case: ABS Stealth Black $119.99

I'm especially not so sure about the Mobo I'm picking here (650i)...I was also looking at the 680 boards like the Asus P5W DH but I've heard some of you saying that the 680 chipsets are finicky. I would like a board that's quadcore ready and preferably SLI.

Any comments you guys have would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
SS.
 
Personally, I have an eVGA 680i motherboard and am very happy with it and have no stability problems. Also, you might want to look into getting some DDR2-800 RAM.
 
yeah id go with faster ram, and maybe 2 seagate 7200.10 16mb hdds instead of the wd
 
Get some better ram.
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Will there be much of a noticeable difference between 667 ram and 800 since I'm not overclocking it? The 800 seems to be a lot more expensive.

EDIT: Ok its not much more expensive for 800 so I definately will get better Ram. Do these G.Skill sticks look ok?


Not really feeling the case, but thats just a personal preference
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Totally agree :) But its the one he likes and most people who have it say its ok to work with.


Thanks for the input, feel free to keep it coming! :)
 
That RAM looks good, although i'd try and get some with tighter timings- i think G.skill have some on newegg which are around $200. Oh and, but the way, Asus's P5W DH isn't 680i, it uses Intel's 975X chipset. If you're dead-set on using SLI then there's not really any other choice than to get an nForce 680i motherboard, if so i would sugggest's the one by eVGA. I'm not too keen on that case either, but what ever floats his boat, i guess!
 
That RAM looks good, although i'd try and get some with tighter timings- i think G.skill have some on newegg which are around $200.
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Ok sounds good. As for the better timings ram I'd love it if you could throw me a link so I can tell which one you are leaning towards. I never did totally grasp timings well.


Oh and, but the way, Asus's P5W DH isn't 680i, it uses Intel's 975X chipset. If you're dead-set on using SLI then there's not really any other choice than to get an nForce 680i motherboard, if so i would sugggest's the one by eVGA
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OMG you're totally right. My bad. I've heard good things about the eVGA's so I'll check those out. I'm basically just trying to give the guy some options for things to come in the next year or so...so I was leaning towards an SLI capable and Quad Core ready board. Though they tend to be expensive (except for the 650i boards but I'm not sure how great they are).

I'm not too keen on that case either, but what ever floats his boat, i guess!
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For my own build that I'll do when R600 comes out, I'm leaning towards the Antec p180 (best part about this case for me is the lockable front cover -- my 2 year old cant get through that!!!). But he seems to like the look of this ABS case. Ah well. Should work ok.

I'd go with a 7200.10 hard drive instead of the raptor.
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That's exactly what I was just going to ask everyone. I wasn't sure how much of a boost I'd see between these two HD's. On that Seagate the 'Perpendicular Recording' sounds great but I had no idea if it really was. If there's not much of a speed difference then I'll lean towards the seagate...hell I might get 2 then :)
 
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