Building a new rig, need help(im new)

[NoobLordSpud]

Hey guys, I have found this site through DirectCanada.
Wow you guy are a helpful community and for CANADIANS!!!! Thank god Ive found this forum. Really.

Alright, I wanted to build a rig that im gonna order just after the weekend.After a lot of searching I have come across a build but didnt knew where to order the parts, directcanada had good prices and free shipping and ncix had some cheaper prices on 'some' stuff then directcanada.
So heres the deal.

Ordering from DirectCanada:
Corsair CMPSU-620HX 620W Atx Triple 12V 50A 24PIN Atx Modular Power Supply 120MM Fan 2X PCI-E 149.76$

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 8.9MS Hard Drive 3 Year Mfr Warranty 62.99$

Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 Atx 9 Drive Bay No Ps Top USB2.0 1394 Audio 108.28$

Gigabyte N650SLI-DS4 Nforce 650I LGA775 ATX 2PCI-E16 3PCI SATA2 RAID Sound GBLAN 1394 Motherboard 145.95$

Subtotal is 472.49$>>>with free shipping and taxes its like 502 $$

---------------------------------

Ordering from NCIX because of cheaper price and price match for the e6600 at 243.99$:

OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL5-5-5-12 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit 114.99$

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition 32BIT DVD OEM 118.98$

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Dual Core Processor LGA775 Conroe 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 4MB Retail 243.99$ price matched

EVGA E-GEFORCE 8800GTS 500MHZ 640MB 1.6GHZ GDDR3 Dual DVI-I HDTV Out HDCP DIRECTX10 Video Card 419.99$

A SAMSUMG 37$ DVD BURNER.

20$ shipping and grand total to like 1040$

That way im saving some money fro shipping cuz If I order all from NCIX, its like 62$ for the shipping and also the mobo and psu is a little cheaper at direct canada. So im saving like 110-120$ by ordering from these 2 different sites.

Is my system good?
Should I order all from one site(im already a little over the budget BTW)?
Can I go a little cheaper on the PSU?
Is the mobo and RAM compatible, I dont have any ohter RAM at home if it doest boot the first time(Volt issues and stuff) because it is my firt build ever.?
Oh and is DirectCanada reliale, how is the free shipping?
Those were my questions, I know its a big post(just saw it now ).Sorry for that.

Thanks a lot guys.

[MacJunky]

You, like many others including myself may very much regret going with a cheaper PSU. imo it is very important to get a quality PSU.

This is just personal opinion, but I personally might go with a 500GB+ Seagate Barracuda, I have had some bad luck with western digital drives in the past but Seagate drives have always seemed to be nice. However, not everybody has the same experiences. Honestly though, that 250GB is going to get filled fast. You may not think it now, but it will happen. If you really cannot get anything bigger now just be prepared. Make sure you backup your data too, I cannot stress this enough.

Yes, I know you are on a budget. That was just my opinion.

Regardless, if you have a job perhaps you could considering waiting until next payday for a little bit of extra cash? Got any other computers you might be able to scrounge anything out of?
Don't buy stuff solely based on what I say though, wait for some other members to reply.

[mo' power]

If you can hold off for a few weeks, Intel has a price drop scheduled on processors.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/rumor...july-22nd.html

[pscout]

ditto on the wait if you can for intel price cuts.
And if you are going to oc, a 6420 will be as fast as a 6600.
Or depending how cdn prices go, a q6600 should be a lot closer in price after the cuts.

also, not sure how much you expect to be oc'ing but if you are you might want to look around for some faster/cheaper memory. I got 2gb ocz 6400 platinum rev 2 last week for $98 including tax after $50 rebate.

For a great oc'ing mobo the asus p5k works great ... i just set up my first one.
I used the vanila version since i didn't need raid and it can be had for a similar price to your 650i mobo.
Not sure if you are planning to use raid in the future but i noticed your mobo supports it although i have heard of issues with the nvidia raid? ... but all my rigs are intel chipsets so i don't have any first hand experience with nvidia.

There are other sources that internet sell too that i buy from localy. since i deal with them in person, i am not sure how good they are to deal with on the internet. PCVillage is ususally where i get my cpu's (other the ebay), mobos and memory. They usually beat Canada Computers by $5-10 or more. Infonec is another i use but mostly because of availability, not often on price. These 3 are all in gta but i believe they all ship.

I find that researching a build takes a lot more time/effort than building but makes the building a lot more fun and rewarding.

[cujo]

why does everyone like the 650i so much? the p5k is far superior.

i echo the ram comments above.

beautiful case.

try and get the "aaks" model of your hard drive. they are latest gen and superior performance.

stick with the power supply you have picked.

also, vista home premium is for your parents. vista business is the enthusiast version.

really well laid out post though. two thumbs up from me. i wish more people were as clear and formatted as you.



pscout, where do you find cheaper stuff local than infonec?

edit - nm i see pc village. no locations on the west side of toronto... i'm a mississauga native. just checked their c2d cpus and infonec seems to be consistently cheaper...

[sswilson]

It might help if you listed your location just in case somebody knows of a great deal on individual pieces close to home.... :)

I second the suggestion on an E6420 vrs an E6600 based on current pricing (If you plan on OC'ing). The recent E6600 don't seem to be OC'ing any better than the E6420s.

If you plan on OC'ing I'd also suggest ponying up a few extra bucks for an aftermarket cpu cooler..... I know you're already a little over budget, but even a $30 aftermarket cooler would be a good investment.

Other than that, it looks like a good build. I don't know much about the 650i chipset, but if it has the ability to run the mem freq apart from the cpu freq (like its big brother 680i), it would make first time OCing a lot easier.

[pscout]

Originally Posted by cujo

pscout, where do you find cheaper stuff local than infonec?

edit - nm i see pc village. no locations on the west side of toronto... i'm a mississauga native. just checked their c2d cpus and infonec seems to be consistently cheaper...

I buy almost all my cpu's on ebay. But for memory and mobos they are usually cheaper (no shipping cost, ebay may end up costing full tax, although i get maybe half of them for no or little tax) than anyone else and ebay. Also immediate access if in stock or 1-2 days if not. I buy a lot there so i often get a deal as well and they will match anybody else, or at least they do for me.

I am in thornhill so when i am looking for a bulk deal, i deal with the manager at the markham location or the north york one (he manages both).

PC village doesn't carry all the products that infonec or CC does so they are my next choices.

I tried to get a frequent buyer deal with infonec and can computers but they weren't interested so pc village gets most of my local business since they know me.

All are chains so they have decent volume and as a result usually better prices. I have been building 5+ rigs a year for the last year or 2 so there is an incentive for them to have a relationship with me. And I trade oc'ing/folding info with them. Infonec and can computers don't seem to be interested in my puny volume. I get very good service from that pc village store but i don't know if the others would be as good.

If you buy much/often, try to build a relationship with a local outlet that has volume cuz it saves a lot of hassle and $ overall. But it needs to have people that care about building a lasting relationship and don't demand exclusivity.

[cujo]

definitely, i'm in infonec mississauga all the time. the guys all know me and i always get discounts.

[Eldonko]

I would recommend 2 changes:

1) http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...acture=MUSHKIN

2) http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...nufacture=ASUS

[sswilson]

I really liked that PSU as well, but there is apparently an issue with bottom mount cases like the 900.

That said... it looks like Muskin might provide extension cables for free!!!!!

NCIX FORUMS - Mushkin 650 in a Antec Nine Hundred Case - Mushkin XP-650 650W ATX 12V 24PIN ATX Po...