First time builder attempts a gaming rig.

[Capper]

Theres nothing wrong with that....Personally, I tell people not to waste their money on SLI or Crossfire unless they have a 24" or larger monitor and are using high resolutions.

I hope you see my point, and my preaching on the "Big Picture". These guys that are putting out recommendations are experienced, and definitely have your best interest at heart.....and they have recommended some very good hardware......I just think that we are reaching the point where its time to start recommending the "next generation" hardware over the slightly less expensive current generation hardware......at least when it comes to putting together a brand new system from the ground up.

[garetjax]

Originally Posted by GrandSnafu

Any reason to go for the 750gb HDD as opposed to the 500gb i have listed other than storage capacity? If not i could get a second 500gb for near what the single 750 costs.

I brought the 750GB HDD into the conversation because I was making a point out of the fact that for the price of a single 150GB Raptor hard drive that you initially wanted, you could get a 750GB HDD by Seagate or Western Digital (take your pick, I'd personally go Seagate), which has five times the storage capacity for the nearly the same amount of money.

In essence, Raptors just aren't worth the money anymore, and the bragging rights that came with owning one (or several) have all but dried up. Sure, it was only just over a year ago that Raptors reigned supreme; but with larger cache sizes and larger capacities, 7,200RPM hard drives have all but closed the performance gap that the Raptors have languished in for so long.

Originally Posted by One4yu2c

And if you take nothing else out of this thread, avoid going with an NVIDIA chipset - too many incidents of quirky behavior and fried hardware (including some of my own).

Right on the mark with that statement. For awhile, I was hell bent on an SLI capable motherboard, but after doing lengthy research on the subject, and speaking to a couple people about it, (you, Rich, and Quake come to mind), I've finally settled on an X38 solution. And while an X48 would be nice, I'm not sure the extra cost would justify the new "tech" that the X48 offers, much in the same way that the 780i poorly supplanted the 680i when it was released.

[Capper]

I have the 16MB version of that 750GB HDD.....best HDD I've ever had.

[screwballl]

looks great... memory is a bit on the high side (price wise)

There are several strong DDR3-1333 kits out there:
Newegg.com - CORSAIR 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
Newegg.com - OCZ Gold Edition 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
Newegg.com - OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
Newegg.com - mushkin 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail


Unfortunately as DDR3 is still so new on the market, we only have one major review for DDR3 on the site but as they become more prevalent, the reviews should come along a bit more frequently.

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by GrandSnafu

How would these two systems compare as is?

Definitely the latter over the Wish List build. DDR2 doesn't do the X38 chipset justice (Wish List build), and you really want DDR3 to exploit the the X38's memory controller enhancements.