If I build it, will it run?

[unknown555525]

Wait, what?

You can only get what the motherboard supports, it will either say it supports DDR2 or DDR3.

About the video card though, If I were you I wouldn't even take a look at the 9800GTX or GX2, they are both a waiste of money. In every review, and benchmark of them both, they show no more than 2%-5% more performance over any 512mb 8800GT. And to me that isn't worth the extra $120+.

On to the PSU, normally when buying one myself, I'll just find out my price range, or what max watts I want in the PSU, and just buy the highest rated one on thier that has over 100 reviews.

For under $100, this is the highest rated PSU on newegg.com by far, Newegg.com - Rosewill RP550-2 ATX12V v2.01 550W Power Supply 115/230 V CSA,UL,TUV, FCC - Power Supplies

But aside from that, I'm not going to reccomend one myself as people always seem to have thier own favorite PSU company and will critisize anything I say.

[screwballl]

If the motherboard takes DDR3, then you need to buy DDR3 memory.
As for price versus performance, DDR2 is better right now but prices for DDR3 is going down. In some cases, it may be better to get 2GB of DDR3 now (either single stick or 2x 1GB) and then in a few months when the price drops, get a 2x2GB kit.

Relating to the video card, it doesn't matter if it has GDDR2, 3 or 4 since that is on the video card itself and has no impact on the rest of the system.

[StevieRay]

Thanks screwball, that is what I intended to say....Can I get a ddr3 gpu with a ddr2 mobo....and now I know I can...thanks!

I am going to go for an 8800gt from EVGA....partial to them.

I want to go ddr3 but dont want to overpay if the ddr2 will last me about 3 years. I am going to OC and game on this system...but having the highest benches is not what I want from it at the end of the day.

I am finding some great deals on ZZF....much better than the egg! never thought I would say that.

[unknown555525]

What's this ZZF ? link? haha, if anything is better than the egg I'd love to hear about it!

oh wait, are you talking about zipzoomfly.com? Hmm.. never been there..

[StevieRay]

Thank you everybody. I welcome all suggestions....and thank all that I have received!

HL is a great site. I am going to put it to rest for tonight and put up my wishlist tomorrow.

StevieRay

[screwballl]

For a $1200 build, may as well go with the 8800GT and a quad core and DDR2.This should hold you over for at least 2 years, and if needed, in a year or two if you like, you can replace the board and memory to DDR3...

[unknown555525]

Originally Posted by screwballl

For a $1200 build, may as well go with the 8800GT and a quad core and DDR2.This should hold you over for at least 2 years, and if needed, in a year or two if you like, you can replace the board and memory to DDR3...

Exactly.

Good luck with your build!

[JazzyJake]

Looks like a great build.
I like the sounds of that last post though
And on a side note, a power supply will only draw what's being used.
If you have a 750w PSU and a system that is drawing 450w, only 450w will be drawn. 300watts don't magically happen then disappear into the world of "capacitators"

[unknown555525]

If that were true than I suppose wattage meters are just fantasy too right?

That's like saying if I stuck a fork my wall outlet it wouldn't run up my electricity bill (if my house didn't burn down that is)

Also, efficiency is a big one to look at when finding out how much more this PSU will suck up your power.

For reference, let's use the 750w PSU with >80 efficiency. If the PSU used a constant efficiency rating of just 80% then the PSU will draw 850WH from your wall outlet whenever it's even turned on.

If left on for 24 hours per day, all month, that much power would cost me in my area about $15 per month just to run the PC, which isn't bad really, but add that to your other appliances

Disregaurd most of what I said, here, take his advice

Originally Posted by screwballl

If you have a 750W PSU and your system is using 300W, then thats all is being used from the wall outlet, 300W.

For example with my system, I have a Kill-a-watt meter that reads the current voltage, wattage, etc.... I have a 620W PSU, and with the CPU running full bore, I read less than 100W usage. Remember this E6600 is a 65W PSU so the rest of the items are barely drawing any power. Even firing up a game it still is just a touch over 100W (usually around 105W).

[StevieRay]

Man, you guys are good with this advice. This morning I found the 2 mobos below...both 279, ddr2 and quad. they both look good to me with the asus having more ghz and the gigabyte being a strong OCer. Anyone have any input on these?

GIGABYTE GA-X48-DQ6 Intel Core 2 Quad Socket 775 1333 MHz PC2-9600 (DDR2-1200) ATX Motherboard Retail $279

https://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produ...tCode=10007739

ASUS Rampage Formula Intel X48 Intel Core 2 Quad Socket 775 1600 MHz ATX Motherboard Retail $279

https://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produ...tCode=10007749