I am building my first computer from scratch. I have been working with comptent replacement and such for years, such as installing new hard drives/power supply's/processors but this will be my first bottom to top solo build. I have compiled a list of components from newegg.com and want to make sure that someone who knows a lot more than I for sure do aggrees that this will be a good build and all my components are compatible and will talk well. Also if anyone see's a potential bottleneck or has any sugguestions beyond weather or not this rig will work they would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks ahead of time for your help!!!

Components are as follows:

APEVIA MX-PLEASURE-BK Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply $119

MSI P45 Neo3-FR LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard $119

PNY XLR8 VCG98GTXXPB GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card $199

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 $189

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) $89.99
(Should I get 8 gigs, is it worth it?)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $79.99

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-06 $31.99

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD - OEM $99.99

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler $26.99

Total for list shipped: $989.00

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

It will work perfectly fine together.

Awesome! Thanks man! Anyone else?

Have a great time building. Come back if you run into any trouble.

Some tips:

1. Put the CPU HSF on the motherboard before you put the motherboard into the case.

2. Put the PSU in first.

3. Use all the standoffs your motherboard allows and make sure each one gets a flat screw in it.

4. Run MemTest86+ on your RAM once you get the system working to make sure your RAM is good and doesn't error.

5. Download CPU-Z to make sure your CPU is running at right speeds and download Core Temp to see CPU temp so you know you put the CPU HSF on right.

6. Update BIOS, install Nvidia drivers from Nvidia.com. Install latest drivers for everything.

It's just that people can't be on the forums all day. I check the forums at least once a day, but I got other stuff to do.

I'd say go to the Q6600 and OC to 3ghz (does it on air) It isn't that much more and will offer a better bang for your buck. And possibly upgrade to a better known PSU, antec, power pc & cooling, ocz, etc, check around, the PSU is usuaully the most overlooked thing, most people think that any PSU will be fine, but alot of times they fall on their face, something with some really good reviews, and maybe a second optical drive if you ever have the need to do disc copies.

8gb of ram is worth it if you are running any virtual machines, but if not, then no. Vista x64 idling will use about 1.5gb-1.8gb of ram w/ swapfile off, it does for me anyways. Also when one goes to 8gb of ram, some device drivers still are not up to par with the new memory mapping (my tv card comes to mind). Also vista x64 (I am using vista x64 ultimate) will not load unless I drop to 2gb or under of ram, goofy, but when you patch it, you will be all good.

Also do you have any plans of doing sli? If so, may want to use a different mobo.

Since I am starting upgrading my own computer (for the 5th time with no1 being a self-built PII 300 MHz expensive as he** rig back in '97...) I do have some input:

1) Have you considered the new ATI 48xx series? I have just ordered a Sapphire 4870 myself, and according to the reviews I have seen it eats the 9800 GTX alive.

2) Motherboard: The one you picked does not support SLI but Crossfire, so perhaps my point 1 is more relevant than I first thought... Is there any particular reason why you picked that one?

3) Do you intend to run SLI/Crossfire in the future? If so, I would go for a more powerful PSU than the one in your list.

4) When it comes to 8GB RAM, well if you don't see any issues running 64bit version of Vista (driver issues etc.) I guess it doesn't hurt. RAM (DDR2) is cheap these days but whether or not it will be a performance increase worth mentioning is another matter. If you run several memory intensive applications at the same time it's probably a good idea with 8GB. The below link could be a good read
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,1775.html

5) CPU: I am torn myself between the E8400 and a quad like Q9300. Overclocking comes into play of course where the 8400 is really good. The multiplier on Q9300 makes it less attractive for OC than the old Q6600, but on the other hand 4 cores are attractive for obvious reasons. Are you going to overclock much?


That's what I can think of right now. Hope it is not only confusing but a bit helpful.

Get at least a 550W PSU
Think again of 4850 and 4870
Get 8 GB of RAM

This will be a gaming only rig. I bought the 9800 gtx because sli'ing 2 8800's seemed like a pain in the butt, and the 9800 was super cheap at the time. From what most of you are saying the games aren't going to utilize 8 gigs so i'll stick with 4. I have a 600 watt psu on my current rig that i'm going to cannabalize to this rig. I have thought about overclocking the 8400 in the future, but i want to do a LOT of research before i even attempt it, i have no false illusions about my technical level lol. Is there a competent step by step guide anywhere for me to follow when the parts come in?