Hi, I'm looking to build a new gaming pc in the very near future somewhere in the 1500-1900 price range. If there are any good computer boutiques that can offer me almost on par specs and good service I would be interested in that as well.

Here's what I'm looking at

MOBO: Asus Striker II Formula (Open Box From newegg 230) or Asus P5N-T Deluxe (Open Box from newegg 185)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tracer 4GB (2 x 2GB) 800 (120 at newegg)
Processor: Core 2 Quad Q6700 (270) or Q6600 (210)
Video Card: Not quite sure what will get me best performance? 2 x 9800 GTX maybe ???
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD753LJ 750GB (120) would also consider a VelociRaptor if it really would be that amazing of a performance gain
Case: Antec Nine Hundred (120)??? Any Suggestions?
Power: COOLER MASTER Real Power Pro RS-850 (200) or PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750W (125) depending on what you guys think is necessary
Optical: SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R (27)
Cooling: COOLER MASTER RR-CCH-L9U1-GP 92mm Hyper TX2 CPU Cooler (25)

Well, that's what I'm considering as of now. Is all of that stuff compatible? What combination and upgrades will get me the best all around performance? How much should I overclock? Anything I really need to wait for? Anything that will really get me better performance? Also, I haven't gamed in a while because my current PC sucks so I've been using a Samsung 32in HDTV as my monitor, which I absolutely love. I would really like to keep using that. Is that an absolute no no for gaming? I will be dual booting ubuntu 8.04 and I'm guessing vista 64 bit for the 4gb recognition? I'm a very experienced software guy but haven't done much in the hardware realm. I'm guessing I should be just fine building all of this on my own since no water cooling is involved, am I right? Well, I welcome your hopeful onslaught of suggestions

http://img295.imageshack.us/my.php [...] er2pi1.jpg
http://www.directron.com/u120e.html
http://www.directron.com/af12025pwm.html

You'll be able to overclock that e8400 past 4ghz without a sweat. You will be able to max settings on nearly every game that's out, and will have a damn nice system for a few years. It'll be a little over $1500 after shipping and tax. Any suggestions from others?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119137 $84.99
COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139006 $129.99 ($119.99 after $10.00 Mail-In Rebate)
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CE, CB, TUV, FCC, CCC - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115018 $199.99
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003 $36.99
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233019 $6.99
XIGMATEK ACK-I7751 Retention Bracket - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131294 $249.99
ASUS P5N72-T Premium LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231192 $94.99
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130350 $204.99
EVGA 512-P3-N872-AR GeForce 9800 GTX Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130350 $204.99
EVGA 512-P3-N872-AR GeForce 9800 GTX Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136073 $79.99
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827106263 $23.99
LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 0&Tpk=mx-2 $6.99
ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound - Retail

Total
$1,314.89

OK the second build posted has some problems compared to the selection I made. The antec 900 is a better case in terms of quality and options, that's for one, so paying the extra is justified for that item.

The motherboard I picked out, while overclock the e8400 much easier compared to 780i, but that's not the only issue with it. DFI offers a much more feature rich bios which will only lend itself to a great experience when reaching high clocks on the core 2 duo. The X48 is also going to handle 4850s, of which, require 1 less 6-pin power each than the 9800GTX. Also note that the 4850 does out perform a 9800GTX in just about all cases.

You aren't going to need a 750w of power for 2 4850s, and the psu I selected from pc power and cooling is more than sufficient for the system requirements of my build. (what's up with people thinking they need way more power than they really do )

The ram is another issue. G.Skill makes cheap ram, it won't take to overclocking, or lowering the latencies very kindly, in stark contrast to the corsair dominators. The one's I picked out is ddr2 1066, which will in no way bottleneck a 4ghz+ overclock on the e8400; whereas ddr2 800 will require some pushing to break the 4ghz barrier comfortably.

The Xigmatech heatsink is fine, although I believe the TRUE+120mm Artic Cooling fan will offer lower temperatures on load with near silent operation.

The differences in the harddrive is the cache, with the seagate you get twice the cache for 10 dollars more, which you trade off for the cooler operation *temp wise* of the western digital.

Also, in the previous build, the operating system was not included in the price from what I can tell.

I'm not saying there is anything WRONG with the previous build, but the difference in price, compared to the difference in quality and performance in my build needs some addressing.

I Refer you to this thread http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] nice-price

Corsair Dominator is on sale for really cheap.

1) I couldn't read what you had on there for the fact that screenie you took shows up too small to read the print.

2) If that antec 900 is a better case than the cooler master 690, then pigs can fly. The cooler master not only has more room to work with for set ups like SLI/Crossfire, it has much better airflow, and holds up to 7x120mm fans. The antec 900 is a fine case for people who don't need alot of room to work with, and like pretty little lights to stare at.

3) yes I agree that intel board are better than nvdea boards all the way around.

4) that ram will clock up to 1066 speeds without a problem, and I highly doubt he's going to push a quad all that much.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3338&p=14

Antec Nine Hundred is great. Look for CF 4850.

You can pass by with a 650W for 4850CF.

Well, here's a couple of things. Unless ATI offers a very nice performance/price advantage over nvidia, I would prefer sticking with nvidia cards for easier linux support, which has been a huge pain for me with my **** ATI 9600 xt (yes... that's my current card). Also, I am a bit of an audio enthusiast and even dabble in production if I am in the right mood, so when I heard that the Striker motherboards have special onboard sound I got pretty excited. Also, I chose a Quad core over a dual core because this will not always be primarily a gaming pc and I want all around great performance. I picked the Samsung Spinpoint HD because: 1. I saw the HD performance chart here on tomshardware showing great performance 2. I want atleast 750GB for my 2-3 OS's and hefty media collection. Also, I'm still wondering how my 32in Samsung HDTV which I have at 1360 x 768 will fare in the gaming department. Thanks for your input