Drool

Budget is somewhat of a concern. I don't want to spend much more than my IRS stimulus payment. This prices out right around $1200-1300.

Any feedback is highly appreciated.

ANTEC, Nine Hundred Black Mid-Tower Case, ATX
ANTEC, NeoPower 650 Blue High Efficiency Power Supply, 650W, 24-pin ATX12V EPS12V, SLI Ready

ASUS, P5N-D, LGA775, nForce 750i SLI, 1333MHz FSB, DDR2-800 8GB /4, PCIe x16 SLI /2, SATA RAID 5 /4, HDA, GbLAN, FW /2, ATX

INTEL, Core™ 2 Duo E8400 Dual-Core, 3.0GHz

CORSAIR, 4GB (4 x 1GB) XMS2 Xtreme PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHz CL4 (4-4-4-12)

eVGA, e-GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 650MHz, 512MB GDDR3 1900MHz, PCIe x16 SLI

WESTERN DIGITAL, 320GB WD Caviar® SE16 (WD3200AAKS), SATA 300MB/s, 7200 RPM, 16MB cache

SAMSUNG, Super-WriteMaster™ SH-S203B Black 20x DVD±R/RW Dual-Layer Burner, SATA, w/ Software, OEM

MICROSOFT, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition w/ SP1, OEM

Gaige

I wouldn't get an SLi mobo unless you're going to use SLi, Antec power supplies generally suck assholes.

Rest is fine.

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Drool

Would you go X38 for the PCIe 2.0 or just forget about that as well? I can cut my cost by going P35 with a 8800 GTX I suppose.

Corsair PSU alright?

Gaige

P35 for sure, X38 is a waste imo. Also go DDR-2 not 3. I wouldn't get an 8800GTX though I'd get a 9800GTX from a vendor with a trade in and switch to the GTX 280 in June for the difference in cost. If you meant 8800GTX that is, if you meant 8800GT like in your first post stick with that.

Yes, Corsair PSUs are one of, if not the best. HX520 or 620 would be fine.

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Flipmode

I would avoid the 700 series mobo at all cost. There is a huge issue with video corruption and nvidia cards. Nvidia blames the board manufacturers and vice versa.

My advice is go with the x38 series mobo from intel. Gaige is right, the x48 isnt worth it as DDR3 memory prices are insane. Also in regards to SLI, it seems better to get the best single card than have SLI. SLI has its own set of headaches to say the least.

Drool

Besides PCIe 2.0, what other advantage is there to getting a X38 right now over a P35? And when are P45s due out anyway? Is it worth waiting?

I am totally set on the E8400, 8800 GTS (G 92), and Vista 64-bit. All I need to figure out is the mobo and timing of DDR2 RAM. ;)

Flipmode

None really besides future proofing your equipment. Every thing else you suggested looks good. ATI is set to unveil its 4000 series card on the 31st and from what i read the 3900 series bests the 8800 too. Depending on hoe fast you wanna build this it may be best to wait a couple weeks and see who releases what.

Gaige

X38 is only PCIE 2.0, which is literally nothing. Do not get X38 over P35.

For ram timing just get DDR-2 800 that does 4/4/4/12. That will let you overclock and keep ram in spec.

ATi sucks, ATi has sucked for awhile and it isn't going to change. Nvidia's GTX 280 features a 512bit bus and 1gb of ram.

The "good" ATi card is a paper launch anyway, with sparse availability even into July.

Isn't possible.

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Drool

So far the majority of people tell me to just build a P35 core and not worry about "what might be" next year or beyond. I am hung up on the PCIe 2.0 thing because I don't wanna get bottlenecked on my VPU in less than two years.

Unfortunately I can't afford to build a new gaming PC every few years.

Gaige

PCIe 2.0 is just bandwith and cards are backwards compatible anyway.

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