Help me choose Gaming PC

[fameb]

Ok here are some parts...Let me know if they'll work, and if there's a cheaper substitute that's just as good.

Processor
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor LGA775 Kentsfield 2.40GHZ

Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L ATX LGA775 P35 1333FSB 1PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 Sound GBLAN Motherboard

Memory
OCZ Reaper OCZ2RPR800C44GK 4GB DDR2 2X2GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 4-4-4-15 Memory Kit

Video Card
XFX GeForce 8800GTS XXX 678MHZ 512MB 1.972GHZ DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out Retail Video Card

Case
Coolermaster CM 690 Mid Tower Black ATX Case 5X5.25 5X3.5INT No PS Front USB Sound Firewire & eSATA

Power Supply
Thermaltake Toughpower 650W Power Supply ATX V2.2 20/24PIN EPS12V Qfan 140MM Fan Active PFC

Hard Drives
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 3.5IN 500GB SATA2 8.5MS 7200RPM 32MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive

Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Audio 24BIT Sound Card 7.1 PCI OEM

Heat Sink
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro LGA775 2500RPM 45CFM

DVD Writer
LG G-H20L-S10 Black DVD+RW 20X8X16 DVD-RW 20X6X16 Lightscribe INT SATA DVD Writer OEM

Optional Fans
Arctic Cooling Arctic Fan 12025 Pwm 120MM 400-1500RPM 56.3CFM FDB 3/4PIN Speed Regulated Fan


Thanks so much for the help guys. It's much appreciated.

So would I need any extra fans?

Or Cd Drives?

[stalin90]

Originally Posted by luke992006

100 for 2gb? i just picked up 2gb crucial ballistix 4-4-4-12 for 39.99 aft MIR

ya but i was talkin really good ram, like patrio and those othere crazy companies and as i said he prolly wont want to buy those cuz hes new.

also man i have that case that your lookin at, it has up to seven 120mm fans slots it comes with two. u might look into buyin a few more fans in the future but you should get by with three

edit:
this Heat Sink wont fit on your motherboard or processor.
Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 AM2 S754 S939 S940 2000RPM 36CFM Heatsink Fan

look for the arctic cooling freezer pro 7, tuniq tower, or a true. but the af7 would prolly be your best bet because your new to building
Newegg.com - ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail

your gonna need a cd drive to load drivers and other mombo jumbo so yes get a cd drive.
you might look into some crucial ballistix but reapers are good too

[fameb]

Originally Posted by stalin90

ya but i was talkin really good ram, like patrio and those othere crazy companies and as i said he prolly wont want to buy those cuz hes new.

also man i have that case that your lookin at, it has up to seven 120mm fans slots it comes with two. u might look into buyin a few more fans in the future but you should get by with three

edit:
this Heat Sink wont fit on your motherboard or processor.
Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 AM2 S754 S939 S940 2000RPM 36CFM Heatsink Fan

look for the arctic cooling freezer pro 7, tuniq tower, or a true. but the af7 would prolly be your best bet because your new to building
Newegg.com - ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail

your gonna need a cd drive to load drivers and other mombo jumbo so yes get a cd drive.
you might look into some crucial ballistix but reapers are good too

Thanks man...Is this the right heatsink. I'm shopping off ncix.com since they ship to Canada

Arctic Cooling Alpine 7 LGA775 300-2000RPM 36CFM Heatsink Fan PWM Controlled

is 1 heat sink enough? And when I get extra fans. Should they be of the same type?

[stalin90]

Originally Posted by fameb

Thanks man...Is this the right heatsink. I'm shopping off ncix.com since they ship to Canada

Arctic Cooling Alpine 7 LGA775 300-2000RPM 36CFM Heatsink Fan PWM Controlled

is 1 heat sink enough? And when I get extra fans. Should they be of the same type?

no thats a different one. you want to arctic cooling FREEZER PRO 7 no the alpine one.
NCIX.com - Buy Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro LGA775 2500RPM 45CFM - FREEZER-7-PRO In Canada. - its off ncix
yes one heatsink is all you can fit unless you are gonna try to replace the chipset cooling(sence your new dont try that yet)

[fameb]

Ok got it..I edited my parts post

So besides that does it look good?

[stalin90]

ya man looks good but its your build, imo i would get a evga video card because they are about to come out with some new ones and you can do the 90 day step up on those. i would get the x-fi xtreme gamer fatility sound card but thats just me agin. i wouldnt get those ocz reapers cuz there expencive but some people have them here and like them. other then those it minor brand changes looks good but hey its your build and if you trust another company better then go for it. i would wait for a few more openions before ordering though just incase i missed something

edit: sorry on your extra fan you picked out its a pwm cooler witch means it has a 4pin pwm connector look for jsut regular 3 pin fans.

[fameb]

Ok this is exactly what I have in my cart to order. Waiting for a couple more opinions before I do. I'm most concerned about missing a piece.

CASE
Coolermaster CM 690 Mid Tower Black ATX Case 5X5.25 5X3.5INT No PS Front USB Sound Firewire & eSATA

PROCESSOR
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor LGA775 Kentsfield 2.40GHZ

MOTHERBOARD
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L ATX LGA775 P35 1333FSB 1PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 Sound GBLAN Motherboard

MEMORY
2 of Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 1GB DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-12 240PIN DIMM Memory Module

VIDEO CARD
EVGA E-GEFORCE 8800GS 550MHZ 384MB 1.6GHZ DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV Out Video Card

POWER SUPPLY
Thermaltake Toughpower 650W Power Supply ATX V2.2 20/24PIN EPS12V Qfan 140MM Fan Active PFC

HEAT SINK
Thermalright MST9775 Heatpipe Heatsink LGA775 92MM 2500RPM 45.5CFM 31DBA

Note: Stalin I got this one for $8 cheaper, I believe it's the same size as the Arctic Cooler 7

Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 3.5IN 500GB SATA2 8.5MS 7200RPM 32MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive

Sound Card
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-FI Xtremegamer FATAL1TY Professional Series Sound Card 7.1 PCI Retail

DVD WRITER
LG G-H20L-S10 Black DVD+RW 20X8X16 DVD-RW 20X6X16 Lightscribe INT SATA DVD Writer OEM

CD - ROM
LG 52X Max EIDE Atapi Black CD-ROM OEM

FlOPPY
1.44 MB High Density Floppy Drive

OPTIONAL FANS
5 ofThermaltake A2329 Silent CAT 120MM 1600RPM 62.2CFM 16DBA Sleeved 3PIN Cooling Fan


I already have Windows XP Home Edition, Mouse, Keyboard, Speakers, 22 inch Monitor.

What else am I missing?

[stalin90]

EVGA E-GEFORCE 8800GS 550MHZ

you are gonna want the 8800GT, the GS isnt that good

i also looked at a few review of that heatsink and they say its really not that much better then the retail box fan
and if you dont plan to overclock right away you dont need one a aftermarket but i recomend it i think mgcook overclocked his q6600 to something insanly high for a box cooler.

its not just the size of the heatsink that determines it preformance there is a science to it, and some mega huge heatsinks just really stink.
source: tested on a Intel Pentium D930


also if you are lookin to save some money your motherboard has onboard sound and you can just use that untill you have enough to buy a sound card or if you dont have a problem with the onboard just keep it that way.

[Hussein19891]

Originally Posted by fameb

I'm looking to buy a decent gaming computer for cheap. It doesn't have to be anything crazy, but good enough to play high calibre games smoothly. As well as multi task such as downloading movies, watching movies and surfing the net at the same time without choppiness or speed problems.

I found some interesting stuff on newegg.com but they don't seem to chip to Canada so I decided to go with Tigerdirect.

Anyway I don't know much about specs. From what I read an Athlon processor doesn't compare with an Intel Dual Core Processesor. Am I wrong?

Anyway to you computer experts are these cheaply priced computers any good?

The most I'm willing to spend is $1200 .

CybertronPC X-Cruiser Intel Desktop PC - Intel PD 920 2.8GHz, 1GB DDR2-667, 160GB SATA II, DL DVD±RW, NVIDIA 7300GT 256MB Video, Gigabit LAN, Windows Vista Home Basic TPCXCR0920BK in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

CybertronPC X-Plorer Intel Gaming PC - Intel Pentium D 805 Dual Core 2.66GHz, 1024MB DDR 400MHz, 160GB SATA Hard Drive, DVD-RW Dual Layer Drive, 256MB PCI-Express Video Graphics Card, 10100 LAN PCXRPD805BKBK in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

CybertronPC AMD Gaming PC – AMD Athlon 64 3800+, 1GB PC5400 (667MHz) DDR2, 250GB SATA II, DL DVD±RW, 2 Asus nVidia 7300GT 256MB Video Cards, Gigabit LAN, NO OS, SilverBlack X-Plorer, Speakers TPCXP643800 in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

Visionman X2-5000GS1 AMD Gaming PC - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+, 2GB DDR2, 250GB SATA-II, DVDRW Lightscribe, NVIDIA 8600GT 256MB, Gigabit LAN, Vista Home Premium in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

Visionman X2-5000GS AMD Gaming PC - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+, 2GB DDR2, (2) 250GB SATA-II, 20X DVD±RW w Lightscribe, NVIDIA 8600GT 256MB, Gigabit LAN, Vista Home Premium in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

CybertronPC X-Plorer AMD Gaming PC - AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+, 1GB DDR2, 250GB SATA HDD, DVD±RW Dual Layer, nVidia GeForce 7300 GS 256MB Video Card, 3D Sound, 10100 LAN, Windows XP Home PCXR643700BKSV in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

Dude my computer slaps those ones in the face and I spent like 800$ on it. Trust me I felt the same way at first, but take some time to learn the parts, and in the long run you'll save any where between 400 to 500 dollars.

Although I do have to admit some of them have nice processors. Another thing is that the 3800+ does not operate at 2.4ghz darn it. They probably just over clocked it, trust me dude you can do really good with a good 1,000$ computer. Get a nice Quad Core if you don't mind skimping on the video card at the moment. But honestly I got the True 2.4ghz Athlon 4600+ with 410 gigs of space, 4 gigs of ram, 20X DVD-RW w/Light Scribe, and the rest is in my signature. All of that for under 800$ and when I decide to make my second build, I m just going to take the second hard drive out of this out along with 2 gigs of ram, as well as my Asus Dvd drive, so that'll cut down on the cost of my next build real good.

[Trotter]

CASE
Coolermaster CM 690 Mid Tower Black ATX Case 5X5.25 5X3.5INT No PS Front USB Sound Firewire & eSATA

PROCESSOR
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor LGA775 Kentsfield 2.40GHZ

MOTHERBOARD
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L ATX LGA775 P35 1333FSB 1PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 Sound GBLAN Motherboard

MEMORY
2 of Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 1GB DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-12 240PIN DIMM Memory Module

VIDEO CARD
EVGA E-GEFORCE 8800GS 550MHZ 384MB 1.6GHZ DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV Out Video Card

POWER SUPPLY
Thermaltake Toughpower 650W Power Supply ATX V2.2 20/24PIN EPS12V Qfan 140MM Fan Active PFC

HEAT SINK
Thermalright MST9775 Heatpipe Heatsink LGA775 92MM 2500RPM 45.5CFM 31DBA

Note: Stalin I got this one for $8 cheaper, I believe it's the same size as the Arctic Cooler 7

Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 3.5IN 500GB SATA2 8.5MS 7200RPM 32MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive

Sound Card
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-FI Xtremegamer FATAL1TY Professional Series Sound Card 7.1 PCI Retail

DVD WRITER
LG G-H20L-S10 Black DVD+RW 20X8X16 DVD-RW 20X6X16 Lightscribe INT SATA DVD Writer OEM

CD - ROM
LG 52X Max EIDE Atapi Black CD-ROM OEM

FlOPPY
1.44 MB High Density Floppy Drive

OPTIONAL FANS
5 ofThermaltake A2329 Silent CAT 120MM 1600RPM 62.2CFM 16DBA Sleeved 3PIN Cooling Fan

A quad is basically overkill, but go with it if you want. An E8400 would work as good or better, as there are basically no programs that utilize four cores:
NCIX - Intel E8400, Core 2 Due E8400 Wolfdale Dual-Core Processor

or even a 6550:
NCIX.com - Buy Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Dual Core Processor LGA775 Conroe 2.33GHZ 1333FSB 4MB Retail - BX80557E6550 In Canada.

An 8800GT or a 9600GT would do you well. The 9600 is a little behind the 8800GT, but it is about $100 cheaper. The performance difference is not that huge.

A sound card is optional. Today's CPUs have enough horsepower to run the sound and not bat an eye at it. The Gigabyte has good onboard sound. Again, it is an option and totally up to you. unless you are a serious audiophile or plan on running a 8.1 speaker system or something, it is definite overkill.

If you are going to run two optical drives, either make the second a DVD drive or just get another burner. The price difference is very little. Using a CD drive would hamstring you as many games are coming on DVD now.

5 additional fans? You live in the tropics? At least they are quiet fans, though.

My advice comes from the "no need to buy what you really don't need" crowd. I try to be the voice of reason in the midst of the "OMG U hav 2 by this!!11!!1! it is so 1337!!!!1!!1" mob.