New build(possibly) need critique's

[Dr. V]

Lol sounds good.

Now for the OS, media center is pretty useless in my opinion. Would you use it for the features it has? Look up XP Media Center edition, namely on the Microsoft website, as that's a very personal opinion.

As for the mobos, ASUS is the way to go just because of their reputation, and generally they have very top quality parts. However, the eVGA has awesome reviews, so again - read some reviews and decide that for yourself. I'd personally grab a 680i too. EDIT: haha I won't convince you of anything unless I'm very sure you should do it. 100% what I would convince you for really is the cooler and the hard drive setup, those are the only things I really would stress. As for the mobos, like I said, read some reviews and decide on your own which you would prefer. They're both VERY good. RAM stability on that eVGA model has been questionable, and I'm not sure a BIOS has been released to rectify it - that's the main reason. Also...it's an ASUS!

The PNY 8800GTX I posted as my recommendation is in many ways better than a 8800Ultra, so trust me - it's worth it!

Also, the other stuff you're taking my advice on - I appreciate it lol. You'll have an even faster and better experience with that HDD setup - definitely worth $10 more for that 10,000RPM Western Digital Raptor + 320GB Seagate cuda. Make sure you install Windows, programs and games ONLY on the Western Digital. For storage for ANYTHING else, I mean anything - like music, pics, files, anything - use the Seagate, that's what it's there for - only. As for the cooler, the GeminII is just so much better. It cools a lot more than just your CPU, too, so it's an all around solution for your RAM, chipset, and CPU (also mosfets and general motherboard temps).

So let us know if you get this, I know we're all interested in feedback!

And for OCing - you can get all kinds of help from us. That quad core and RAM duo, along with the amazing OCing of the 680i motherboards will make for an awesome performance gain and an overall AWESOME system.

Also, if you can fit it into your budget, I'd grab two kits of the RAM I mentioned for an awesome 4GB setup. This is simply to future proof your rig. Not that another 2GB can't be added later - it would be nice if you could grab it all at once!

[One4yu2c]

Some suggestions:

1) Pick up a Q6600 after the price cuts. Quad-core for just over $250? No contest...

2) Just a few short days ago, the best deal around on memory would have been the Crucial Ballistix 2GB for $69 shipped after rebate, and that's what I would have recommended. Unfortunately, I see the rebate's gone (though at $131, it's still a stellar deal, along with the Tracers St!x pointed out), and today I'd be pointing heavily towards this OCZ Platinum Revision 2 XTC for $76 after rebate.

3) One word for PNY; NO. If you're dropping close to $600 on a videocard, be damn sure to go with BFG, EVGA, or XFX and nab that lifetime warranty. And both EVGA and XFX officially allow you to overclock their cards and/or swap out the heatsink/fan for a third party solution while keeping the warranty intact, so long as you don't physically damage the card in the process (just be sure to register the card online within 30 days of purchase). In the end, if you're really intrigued by the higher clockspeed at stock (handy for benchmarking, I suppose), get this EVGA version for $10 more than the PNY with the same core and memory speeds.

4) The 150GB Raptor is the fastest drive out there, with the 74GB version coming in second, but outside of synthetic benchmarking, you'd be extremely hard pressed to notice a real-world difference over top tier 16MB cache drives. Seagate's Barracuda series comes really damn close in performance, but offers a MUCH higher bang for your buck with the additional storage space. Have you considered getting a single larger drive and partitioning it, a chunk for the OS, and the rest for storage?

5) Media Center XP? Serious?

[duckingzebra]

Originally Posted by ST!X

Lol sounds good.

Now for the OS, media center is pretty useless in my opinion. Would you use it for the features it has? Look up XP Media Center edition, namely on the Microsoft website, as that's a very personal opinion.

As for the mobos, ASUS is the way to go just because of their reputation, and generally they have very top quality parts. However, the eVGA has awesome reviews, so again - read some reviews and decide that for yourself. I'd personally grab a 680i too. EDIT: haha I won't convince you of anything unless I'm very sure you should do it. 100% what I would convince you for really is the cooler and the hard drive setup, those are the only things I really would stress. As for the mobos, like I said, read some reviews and decide on your own which you would prefer. They're both VERY good. RAM stability on that eVGA model has been questionable, and I'm not sure a BIOS has been released to rectify it - that's the main reason. Also...it's an ASUS!

The PNY 8800GTX I posted as my recommendation is in many ways better than a 8800Ultra, so trust me - it's worth it!

Also, the other stuff you're taking my advice on - I appreciate it lol. You'll have an even faster and better experience with that HDD setup - definitely worth $10 more for that 10,000RPM Western Digital Raptor + 320GB Seagate cuda. Make sure you install Windows, programs and games ONLY on the Western Digital. For storage for ANYTHING else, I mean anything - like music, pics, files, anything - use the Seagate, that's what it's there for - only. As for the cooler, the GeminII is just so much better. It cools a lot more than just your CPU, too, so it's an all around solution for your RAM, chipset, and CPU (also mosfets and general motherboard temps).

So let us know if you get this, I know we're all interested in feedback!

And for OCing - you can get all kinds of help from us. That quad core and RAM duo, along with the amazing OCing of the 680i motherboards will make for an awesome performance gain and an overall AWESOME system.

Also, if you can fit it into your budget, I'd grab two kits of the RAM I mentioned for an awesome 4GB setup. This is simply to future proof your rig. Not that another 2GB can't be added later - it would be nice if you could grab it all at once!

ok i looked at the mobos, and i have no experience with either brand so i figured if u have had good ones with asus, that for the 10 bucks more id go for it, plus i really like the jack sensing for 2, 4, 6, or 8 channel audio.

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by duckingzebra

ok i looked at the mobos...

Stick with the EVGA 680i...

[Dr. V]

Originally Posted by One4yu2c

Some suggestions:

1) Pick up a Q6600 after the price cuts. Quad-core for just over $250? No contest...

2) Just a few short days ago, the best deal around on memory would have been the Crucial Ballistix 2GB for $69 shipped after rebate, and that's what I would have recommended. Unfortunately, I see the rebate's gone (though at $131, it's still a stellar deal, along with the Tracers St!x pointed out), and today I'd be pointing heavily towards this OCZ Platinum Revision 2 XTC for $76 after rebate.

3) One word for PNY; NO. If you're dropping close to $600 on a videocard, be damn sure to go with BFG, EVGA, or XFX and nab that lifetime warranty. And both EVGA and XFX officially allow you to overclock their cards and/or swap out the heatsink/fan for a third party solution while keeping the warranty intact, so long as you don't physically damage the card in the process (just be sure to register the card online within 30 days of purchase). In the end, if you're really intrigued by the higher clockspeed at stock (handy for benchmarking, I suppose), get this EVGA version for $10 more than the PNY with the same core and memory speeds.

4) The 150GB Raptor is the fastest drive out there, with the 74GB version coming in second, but outside of synthetic benchmarking, you'd be extremely hard pressed to notice a real-world difference over top tier 16MB cache drives. Seagate's Barracuda series comes really damn close in performance, but offers a MUCH higher bang for your buck with the additional storage space. Have you considered getting a single larger drive and partitioning it, a chunk for the OS, and the rest for storage?

5) Media Center XP? Serious?

Ooo I really do like On4's XFX video card recommendation. Had I seen that before him, or before the PNY, I'd recommend it. The warranty is awesome. His hard drive rant is also very respectable - you should look into your needs for that too. I'd still always recommend a dual drive setup, though.

As for his last comment...LOL.

[duckingzebra]

ok heres the updated list:

Thermaltake Armor VA8000SWA Silver Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

EVGA 320-P2-N815-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail

OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply - Retail

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail

OCZ Platinum Revision 2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2P800R22GK - Retail

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

ViewSonic Graphic Series VG2030WM Black 20.1" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor with Height Adjustments - Retail

Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM

COOLER MASTER GeminII RR-CCH-ANU2-GP CPU+ Board Cooler - Retail

ARCTIC COOLING Arctic Fan 12 (AF12) 120mm Case Fan - Retail x2

Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard - Retail

Logitech G5 2-Tone 6 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Laser Mouse - Retail

price: $1938.97 after mail in and instant rebates, not including s&h.

i talked with paul and made some changes, i still might pick the evga 8800 gtx instead of the gts but im not sure... if that price comes down on the q6600 (significantly) i think i will get the gtx. but we'll see. any other suggestions?

[One4yu2c]

Also should mention that the focus here is on bang-for-buck, without killing performance...

[duckingzebra]

ok with the gts its $1938.97 (320 MB 576 core clock 1700 MHz memory clock)
with the gtx its $2158.97 (768 MB 575 MHz core clock 1800 MHz memory clock)
with the superclocked gtx its $2236.97 (768 MB 621 MHz core clock 2000 MHz memory clock)

whats everything think?

[Dr. V]

Well you won't need more than that GTS 320 IMO anyway.

If you have the extra buck, I'd still grab the superclocked...I just love high end!

[duckingzebra]

Originally Posted by ST!X

Well you won't need more than that GTS 320 IMO anyway.

If you have the extra buck, I'd still grab the superclocked...I just love high end!

ma i got that little voice in my head saying "BIGGER!!!" too, but im wondering if its practical, i mean if it'll put off me having to buy another card like at least
a year or 2 longer then if i just bought the gts, then i think im for it, but idk, like i said if that q6600 price goes down significantly i think ill get the GTX, then if that little voice is like "what a bi***..." then ill overclock the card. :)