I know you guys get this type of post alot (3 right at the top of this forum), but I need someone to just help me go over what's best. My point with this topic is to: A) Make sure I have the best components, from a price/performance/quality standpoint, as well as make sure everything's compatible (I'm pretty sure it is). B) See if I can take off some of the total cost, as it's kind of pushing it. I've done my research, so I'm pretty sure I'm in atleast the right direction, but I could still use some guidance/confirmation. I can't shop off of newegg.com, as I'm in Canada, so I need to use the slightly more expensive ncix.com (cheaper, still, than tigerdirect.ca I believe). I don't really want to go with an unknown site, I'd rather go with a bigger one. Here's what I have so far: Case ($119.14): Antec Sonata II Black ATX 16IN Mid Tower Quiet Case 3X5.25 2X3.5 4X3.5IN 450W Air Duct 120MM Fan Video Card ($569.99):EVGA E-GEFORCE 8800 Gts 500MHZ 640MB 1.6GHZ GDDR3 Dual DVI-I HDTV Out HDCP DIRECTX10 Video Card Sound card ($123.00): Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Music 24BIT CPU($399.99): Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Dual Core Processor LGA775 Conroe 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 4MB Retail Motherboard ($166.75)ASUS P5B ATX LGA775 Conroe 965P DDR2 PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 3PCI 6 SATA2 Sound Motherboard PSU ($147.65): OCZ GameXStream 600W ATX12V 24PIN SLI Ready Active PFC ATX Power Supply 120MM Fan Black RAM ($339.99): Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400 2GB 2X1GB PC6400 DDR2-800 CL 5-5-5-12 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Optical Drive 1 ($46.57): Pioneer DVR-111D Black DVD-RW 16X6X16 DVD+RW 16X8X16 DL 8X IDE OEM DVD Burner Optical Drive 2 ($29.84) LG 16X Black DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM IDE UDMA33 INT OEM Hard Drive ($106.01): Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 8.9MS Hard Drive 3 Year MFR Warranty Total: $2047.94 Note: With combo deals, mail in rebates and sales that I will wait for, I stand to save roughly $200 dollars off of that. So I estimate it as $1847. However, that doesn't include an OS (Windows Vista Home Premium, ~$240.00) or a monitor (I'm currently looking at one elsewhere for $275.00). So what we have here, after tax, S&H and a monitor and OS, we climb over the $2500 mark. And I really can't afford that. Let me start off with what I want to achieve with this system: -Play games such as Crysis at high or ultra-high detail. -Be able to play non-demanding new games at low detail for 3+ years (I know that sounds like along time, but I think it's reasonable) -Be as futureproof as possible (Vista, DX10, see above) -Be stable, reliable, and run quiet and cool That said, I might be willing to cut a few things. Can anyone confirm that these are good buys, and that they are all compatible? Also, can anyone suggest lesser parts with only minor decreases in performance? Keep in mind, I'm wanting DX10. I'm considering, since my cost is already so high, I might need to ease off, and just get a E6400. That means $100 off, but I would like to know the performance comparison between it and the E6400. I can't seem to find one really. Also, I might need to get cheaper RAM (still 2gb's though). Can anyone suggest some? (There was recently a sale on ncix that had the RAM I had at 280 or something, a one day only thing, so I might wait for one of those.) But what do you guys think?
I know the future about as well as you do, so I can't guarantee how it will handle games 3 years down the road. Still history would be in your favor. Here's what you can do to cut the price down: -Go with an E6400 or even E6300 Core 2 Duo, as that would shave off at least $100 -Go with an Audigy 2 ZS instead of the X-Fi. Not the latest and greatest, but should be noticeably less expensive. -Drop the LG DVD drive and just have that Pioneer drive for right now. You can add a second optical drive later on. -Corsair is good, but you can shave off some $$ by going with some value-oriented stuff or another brand. This Mushkin 2GB PC2-6400 kit would do the job as well. As far as compatibility, it'll work just fine in either case.
Have any links to a comparison between E6400, E6300 and E6600? I'm found directcanada.com, and have found the prices much more reasonable. I managed to save, I think, about 300 dollars by making a prospective build there... Also, I hear OCZ has some problems with my kind of configurations. It's so much cheaper...can someone elaborate? Oh yeah, and I would really like 2 optical drives .
