Help me with my new build mostly gaming

[freakyflow]

Building a new rig for mainly gaming but also use it for media work ( photoshop being the most heavy).

I have 2 builds more or less, my budget is 1500$ no monitor (already have one), having a good case is important to me with a ton air cooling. I will overclock if Im comfy.


First build from ncix:

• Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.16GHZ 1333FSB
• Zalman CNPS9700 LED Copper CPU Heatsink 110MM Fan LGA775 AM2
• EVGA Nforce 750I SLI Ftw LGA775 ATX DDR2 2PCI-E16 1PCI-E1 2PCI
• Corsair XMS2 DHXTWIN2X4096-6400C4DHX 4GB DDR2 2X2GB PC2-6400DDR2-800
• Visiontek Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 PCI-E 2XDVI-I Video Card
• Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 ATX 9 Drive Bay
• Corsair HX620W CMPSU-620HX ATX Triple12V 50A 24PINATX Modular
• Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition 64BIT
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 160GB IDE ATA100 7200RPM
• Samsung SH-S223F Black SATA DVD+RW

This ones about 1470$ seems good but Ive never had an ati video card, also unsure about the motherboard.



Second build from XI, has slightly better chip, better video card, probably a better case and larger power supply:

• Intel® Core®2 Duo E8600 3.33GHz 45nm 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache Dual-Core VT
• 4096MB DDR2 800MHz PC2-6400 2x2GB exp. To 8GB Dual Rank Interleave
• nVidia® EVGA/XFX GeForce® GTX 280 1GB DDR3 PCIe SLI-Ready Dual Head
• 160GB 7200RPM SATAII 300MB/s 8MB Cache 9ms
• Vista™ Home Premium Edition 64Bit on DVD
• Nvidia® nForce 750i-FTW 2xPCIe 16x 2.0 3x PCI DDR2 800/1066
• 700W OCZ™ Quiet 12cm Ball Bearing Fan UL
• DVD 16x40x Reader
• Xi® MTower™ 1x25cm Monster Fan + 2x12cm Quiet Fans -Front Grid
  

Appox 1600$
I think Id actually make this one cheaper by getting the Geforce 260 Instead of the 280, thus dropping the price to about 1400$


So more or less the same price, one ati, other is nvidia, also slight differances in case , power supply, and chip.

One thing im not sure of is the motherboard, for now 1 card is fine but I want the option to use a 2cd card down the road ( sli or crossfire?).

Any advice on whats better or price cutting would be really appreciated. thanks.

[sswilson]

You've got an IDE drive listed for the NCIX build.

The only real suggestion I'd make is to bump up the HDD to at least a 250G. The 250G Seagates are now shipping as a single platter drive which is pretty damn speedy for the price.

I much prefer the PSU you've chosen in the NCIX build.

[miggs78]

Quick suggestion, I would get an ATI 4870 card for starters, down the road buy another and crossfire. It is really better than a GTX260, single card performance the GTX280 is probably the winner, but the 4870 comes really close to it, and that 4870 is a really nice card to be honest.

Are there any other motherboard options, not a big fan on the 680/750/780/790i boards, the P35, P45, X38 and X48 boards are quite much better to be honest. If you can get a good P45 board as a replacement, your fine. Also because that motherboard only supports SLI.

In the NCIX build; For the heatsink, that zalman is not bad, but for cheaper value the OCZ Vendetta 2 is a really good option, if you can try it out. sswilson is right, but I would go one step forward and encourage you to get a SATA 2 drive, people hardly use IDE drives, and imo SATA2 are much better.

Are you getting ncix to build it for you. You know it would probably be cheaper to get the parts individually so you can pricematch to save bunch of money, you will be amazed really. You can still ask them to build it.

[3.0charlie]

And the second build is missing a HSF, while the first build has the Zalman 9700. I would choose the TRUE120, or even the OCZ Vendetta II.

[freakyflow]

Getting it pre -build at ncix is only an extra 50$, I will most likely go with the ncix build then thanks guys.

Ill check out the other hsf's. I heard artic colling is good and its really cheap.

I will need some other MB though that supports crossfire, I will check what you suggested, any more detailed MB brand names you can recommend?

Also is the Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case any good, I dont care about looks I want funtionality and the XI M-tower is quite sweet with a full mesh front that can have a huge dust filter plus 1 large fan and 2 small ones, not sure how antec would compare, space is not an issue but noise is.


thanks!

[Dwayne]

I have the Antec 900, with the fans on Hi they make some noise. The ATI HD 4870 is pretty noisy too. You may be better off looking at the Antec P182, I understand it is a good cooling case and pretty quiet. I am sure there are other cases that are quieter, but the P182 has a good rep for builds too.

We also have a Coolmaster CM690 and it is not too bad for fan noise. I added one fan on the top and one more on the side and it cools very well and not too loud at all.

If you buy an ATI video card you should try and get a Crossfire board, just in case you decide to CF at a later time. SLI for the Nvidia cards.

[geokilla]

They look fine to me except that I'll get a SATA 640GB hard drive, since they're the best bang for buck, at least to me. And you might wanna get a P45 motherboard instead, such as a ASUS P5Q Pro.

Also, look at the OCZ Vendetta 2 and the Xigmatek HDT S-1283. They're better and cooler than the Zalman.

[freakyflow]

OK this build is getting cheaper lol:)

New build from ncix:

• Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.33GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB
• ASUS P5Q Pro ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 2PCI-E16 Crossfire
• Diamond Radeon HD 4870 512MB
• Coolermaster Extreme Power 600W
• Thermaltake V1 Copper Heatpipe CPU Cooler LGA775
• Mushkin XP PC2-6400 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-800
• Vista Home Basic Edition 64BIT
• Western Digital SE16 320GB SATA2
• Samsung SH-S223F Black SATA DVD+RW
• Antec P182 ATX Black Mid Tower Case

Comes in around 1400$


I have another 100$ to spend what should I upgrade to make this even better? Or should I just leave it at that? Ordering this tomorrow so thanks again for any advice.

Also is the 600w enough power if I add another video card down the road?

[miggs78]

Change the power supply back to what it was before.. That Corsair 620w is a nice one. The cooler, as we suggested Xigmatek S1283, OCZ Vendetta 2, Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme (mind you this one could be expensive, it doesn't come with a fan either, I would suggest you to stick with either of 2 mentioned).

You could always add the option to get ncix build the PC, $50, even if you select individual parts, only reason I suggest is because you could save yourself enough money to keep to buy yourself another present. But it is up to you, if you want to pay those high prices for ncix, go ahead.

[slntdth93]

Agreed, take the OCZ Vendetta 2 or Xigmatek S1283 along with bolt-thru kit and a high performance fan (such as noctua P12 or Scythe S-Flex F)
I believe u like good looking/fancy coolers?