New Build Suggestions? Opinions?

[Max]

My hard working step son has saved enough to build a gaming rig. Here's what he has spec'd so far:

ASUS P5E3 WS Pro LGA 775 Intel ATX  $260

EVGA 8800GTS 512MB 256 bit PCI express $110

Antec TruPower 750W Continuous X-fire ready $142   

Intel Core 2 Duo Wolfdale 3.0 GHz $168

G Skill 2x2GB 240 pin DDR3 1333 $60

WD Caviar Black HD 500 GB 7200 rpm $70

SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1 PCI $95

Thoughts?
Thanks 

[Getback]

One suggestion and several thoughts. PC power and cooling Power Supply. It's cheaper and proven.

My thoughts, why such an expensive motherboard. You could go with gigabyte and get a very good board for much less. If I was going to spend that much on the Main Board I would bump up the processor to an i7. But then ram becomes more expensive and the I7 chip is about a 100 bucks more.

Personally I don't trust any Nvidia card that starts with an 8. I'm certainly no expert on those though. I use ATI currently.

Good luck on the build.

[Masherbrum]

One suggestion and several thoughts. PC power and cooling Power Supply. It's cheaper and proven.

My thoughts, why such an expensive motherboard. You could go with gigabyte and get a very good board for much less. If I was going to spend that much on the Main Board I would bump up the processor to an i7. But then ram becomes more expensive and the I7 chip is about a 100 bucks more.

Personally I don't trust any Nvidia card that starts with an 8. I'm certainly no expert on those though. I use ATI currently.

Good luck on the build.

I have an 8800GTS KO that has been flawless.   Max, that card is exceptional, mine is also an eVGA.    Ditch the Antec PSU and go PC & Cooling (I have the 750W Silencer), SeaSonic or OCZ.

[BaldEagl]

I concur on the PSU.  Get the PCP&C 750.

I'd also scale back the price on the motherboard.  There's a nice Gigabyte/Intel board for about $60 that will do the same job or the nVidia 750i series boards at just over $100.

As to the card I've got an 8800 GTS myself and it's a good card however I think he could find a 9800 at a similar price and probably with GDDR3 vs GDDR2 VRAM.  The 8800's are getting a little outdated already.

Finally, it's a matter of preference but I've had problems in the past with two different WD hard drives but never with one of my Seagates.

[FLS]

The ASUS P5Q MB is half the price.

The 3.16 Wolfdale is only a little more expensive and overclocks to 4.0 fairly easily.

Take the savings from the MB and spend twice as much for a graphic's card.

[Fulmar]

I agree, I spend in the $120-$150 range for that build.  You can use the extra money saved to get an upgraded video card where I think $100 will definitely be worth it rather than the more expensive motherboard.

[alskahawk]

  Spend less on MB and more on the video card. Try the Gigabyte EP45 series. Works good, simple layout, lots of eye candy. Some of the early ones use DDR2 memory and some of the later ones DDR3. 750 watt Antec is a good PSU but you can cut costs there by going with a different brand like a Corsair 650 at just over $100 or a PC & Cooling. These savings will open up a lot of better VC possibilities. I have a 8800GTS (early model/340 mem) it still plays games without any problems. But there are many that will perform better. The 8800s are getting a bit old(I have 3 of them) and I wouldn't recommend them for a new computer. Look at the 260s or some of the others at around $200.

 Here's a recommendation;
MB; Giga GA-EP45-UD3P $115($135 -$20 mail in rebate)
Mem; 4GB PNY XL8R DDR2 1066  $67(if you use a Nvidia card)
CPU; E8400 3.0GHz $165
PSU; Corsair 750watt $109(119-10 mail in rebate) or
       PC & Cooling 750watt $99 (119-20 mail in rebate)
Sound card; SB XFI Xtreme Audio $54 or a Audigy SE $34
WD HD 7200RPM 500GB $70
    Total cost around $600 vice $900 = $200+ for a better video card

Some other considerations...Case? Window XP/Vista OS $90
 

[Tigger29]

Yes definitely.. go with a cheaper motherboard.. that is way too much for a socket 775.

I just picked up a 9800GTX+ with 512MB of DDR3 for $99 after $40 rebate.  It also came with a free COD game AND free shipping.

From what I understand, the 9800 is the same as the 8800 except with faster memory and Direct X 10 support (although I could be wrong).

Use the money you could save on car insur...er I mean the motherboard... and put it towards a faster 10,000 RPM hard drive... like a Raptor...

[BaldEagl]

From what I understand, the 9800 is the same as the 8800 except with faster memory and Direct X 10 support (although I could be wrong).

Nope, that's about right.

[Max]

Thanks for all the great suggestions, folks. They've been passed along to Mitch.

 

[TilDeath]

 Spend less on MB and more on the video card. Try the Gigabyte EP45 series. Works good, simple layout, lots of eye candy. Some of the early ones use DDR2 memory and some of the later ones DDR3. 750 watt Antec is a good PSU but you can cut costs there by going with a different brand like a Corsair 650 at just over $100 or a PC & Cooling. These savings will open up a lot of better VC possibilities. I have a 8800GTS (early model/340 mem) it still plays games without any problems. But there are many that will perform better. The 8800s are getting a bit old(I have 3 of them) and I wouldn't recommend them for a new computer. Look at the 260s or some of the others at around $200.

 Here's a recommendation;
MB; Giga GA-EP45-UD3P $115($135 -$20 mail in rebate)
Mem; 4GB PNY XL8R DDR2 1066  $67(if you use a Nvidia card)
CPU; E8400 3.0GHz $165
PSU; Corsair 750watt $109(119-10 mail in rebate) or
       PC & Cooling 750watt $99 (119-20 mail in rebate)
Sound card; SB XFI Xtreme Audio $54 or a Audigy SE $34
WD HD 7200RPM 500GB $70
    Total cost around $600 vice $900 = $200+ for a better video card

Some other considerations...Case? Window XP/Vista OS $90
 

GA-EP45-UD3P $115($135 -$20 mail in rebate)  good board but if you get the EP45T (the T denotes DDR3) much faster FSB and memory options.
I am not a fan of PNY Memory, OCZ has faster memory in that same price range DDR2 or if you decide to do the DDR3 version of the Board about 90 for DDR3 mem running much higher speeds.  The E8400 can be had for about 130 if you shop and can easily OC to over 4GHz on a DDR3 board with a FSB of 1800 plus.  The EP45T has an allowable 2200Mhz FSB.

Your component choice is a good starting point, but could be tweaked a little for better performance.  GTX260 from EVGA can be had for about 165.00 on up depending on your budget.  THis will make a huge difference across the board no matter what MB, CPU or Mem you use.  I also like the PC Power & Cooling 750 over the Cousair

[TilDeath]

These PSU's have rebates and free shipping on my site.

http://tdcomputersystems.com/power-supplies/pc-power-cooling/pc-power-silencer-750w-quad-blue/prod_31.html  20.00 rebate
http://tdcomputersystems.com/power-supplies/pc-power-cooling/pc-power-silencer-750w-quad-black-psu/prod_29.html  20.00 rebate

[Plazus]

My hard working step son has saved enough to build a gaming rig. Here's what he has spec'd so far:

ASUS P5E3 WS Pro LGA 775 Intel ATX  $260

EVGA 8800GTS 512MB 256 bit PCI express $110

Antec TruPower 750W Continuous X-fire ready $142   

Intel Core 2 Duo Wolfdale 3.0 GHz $168

G Skill 2x2GB 240 pin DDR3 1333 $60

WD Caviar Black HD 500 GB 7200 rpm $70

SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1 PCI $95

Thoughts?
Thanks 

Since you plan on using the Core 2 CPU, stay away from the DDR3. The Core 2 CPUs dont utilize DDR3 well. Using the Intel i7 CPUs, they do a greater job of maximing RAM performance. You would be spending more money on DDR3 RAM that has very minimal performance increase vs. the DDR2 when using the Core 2.

Also, if you use Windows Vista 64-bit with the i7 CPU, you would get better utilization of memory with DDR3.

[TilDeath]

Since you plan on using the Core 2 CPU, stay away from the DDR3. The Core 2 CPUs dont utilize DDR3 well. Using the Intel i7 CPUs, they do a greater job of maximing RAM performance. You would be spending more money on DDR3 RAM that has very minimal performance increase vs. the DDR2 when using the Core 2.

Also, if you use Windows Vista 64-bit with the i7 CPU, you would get better utilization of memory with DDR3.

"The Core 2 CPUs dont utilize DDR3 well"  What are you talking about here.  DDR3 and the Core do not matter.  Memory on intel boards other then the socket 1366 is controled by the North Bridge, the Processor has nothing to do with this.  DDR3 will give you a much faster Memory and the ability to bring your FSB up much higher then DDR2 giveing you an overall performance increase.

If you built two systems with identical components other then the MB (socket 775) and Ram one being DDR2 and one being DDR3, the DDR3 system will out preform the DDR2 across the board esp in benchmarking programs, you will also see a boost in graphics programs like Photoshop and overall OS speed also.

EDIT: The i7 processors now control Tri-Channel memory and have taken the job of the NB.  An i7 processor will only work well with Tri-Channel memory.  As for the OS being 32 or 64bit.  With 64bit you get the availibility of using more ram.  You will see a slight (very slight) performance increase with a 64bit OS over the 32bit (using similar amounts of mem) but, most applications will not take advantage of the 64bit unless you have the 64bit version of the software.  There is not a lot out there that is 64bit other then commercial applications.  In AH II using a 64bit OS you will not be able to pre-load your graphics like you can with 32bit.  There are some trade offs for both, but I still prefer the 32bit for my use since most of what I do and use do not make use of a 64bit OS install and the applications will not run properly for my use to make the 64bit install worth while.

[Ruler2]

If you are gonna get a power supply,go ALL THE WAY,get a Xion 1000W power supply (6 12V rails @  V1:20  V2:20 V3:20 V4:35 V5:35 V6:20" for about 100 dollars at TigerDirect.  Now,I don't really know WHY everyone says intel is a better processor than AMD,you can get a processor with the same spec on everything as an Intel,but spend a whole heck of a lot less,Core i7 965:1000 dollars     AMD Phenom II X4 955: about 320, they're about the same,and what isn't you can always overclock,I also believe that mobos ready for AMD processors are a little cheaper too