Estimated
Case = $99 Antec on sale
PSU = $139? Corsair 750 Watt
DDR2 Ram = $136 2x2gb ram Dominator with Fan
Mobo = $289 Gigabyte X48 DQ6
Proc = $ 320 - Q9450
GFX = $299x2 Ati 4870’s or 1 4870X2 @ $450? approx
Heatsink = $90 Ultra 120 Extreme
Fans = 2x Scythe Hi Output @ $19.98
Total =$1691

So im thinking of putting this together, but im probly going to wait for the 4870X2 just to see if it really does scale as good as ive heard, mostly just cause then its a single card and opportunity for CF in the future. i plan on clocking the cpu fairly high, im not to worried about noise cause i usally where headphones anyways so the the 2 scythe fans should keep it cool i think. I guess im just wondering if anybody has any thoughts on this one? its missing a few things like a HD and such but i have some old ones so i dont really care. But pretty much i wanna be able to play Crysis Very High on my 1690x1050 monitor

I have quite a similar build that I'm working on right now. I use the same case, PSU and CPU and one 4870(for now).

Just so you know, you can get the case and PSU for significantly cheaper at Provantage.

How much are you planning on OCing the 9450? I'm planning on 3.2 with mine(pretty moderate) with only a XIGMATEK 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler, which is only $37.

Also, if you don't plan on OCing your ram, you probably don't need the fan-including variety. However, you said a fairly high OC, so depending on how high, you may end up overclocking it anyway.

Just so you know, I'm not super experienced, so get some second opinions after reading this.

I didn't know the TRUE costed $90, Im sure its less than that. It looks good.

yeah i guess the fan on the ram seemed overkill, im not going to OC too much i just want to have room to grow. what are you using as Ram? The Mobo is good up till DDR2-1200 so i would like to utilize that but maintain a reasonable budget ~$1500 but i went a little over

With regards to the fan, check this one out: http://www.anandtech.com/casecooli [...] spx?i=3268

It can be difficult to find, but I think Amazon has started selling it, as well as smaller e-tailers. I have it and it keeps my Q9450 cool to the touch at 3.2.

I hope you have a 24" monitor or larger, otherwise, that graphics setup is overkill.

As far as RAM goes, you probably not need DDR2-1200. That would give you a 600 mHz FSB at a 1:1 ratio, which I doubt the Q9450 could handle(4.8Ghz lol). As far as using DDR2-1200 or whatever for upgradability, by the time you need to upgrade a rig like this, Nehalem will be out and, from what I've heard, will require a different mobo anyways. And by then DDR3 will be cheaper. I would just stick with DDR2-800, which you can get a 400 FSB, have a 1:1 ram ratio and get a modest 3.2Ghz out of your 9450. If you want to OC more than that, you can always OC your ram too, or buy higher frequency ram.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145184
This is the ram I'm getting for my similar build.

Also, like zipz0p said, 2 4870s are definitely overkill for 1680*1050. You'll get plenty good FPS with just one, while also saving $300 for one later if you decide to get a bigger monitor.

yeah the 2 4870's wouldnt happen right away i dont think your right on the overkill, and i think i understand what you mean by the ram, i didnt know that it clocked like that with th fsb, im a noob i guess haha. thanks though now i understand its relationship

Yeah the DDR2 means that the ram cycles twice every time the FSB does. From what I've learned it's best to have a 1:1 ratio(meaning ram/2 = FSB).

As far as the 2 4870s, what I meant by overkill is that you can run pretty much any game and 1680x1050 at the highest settings and not drop below 30FPS(with possibly the exception of Crysis). I define overkill with a financial lean such that paying another $300 for 100FPS instead of 75FPS is overkill(all this in the realm of 1680*1050 gaming)

I agree with the DDR2-800 and OCing to 3.2Ghz. My latest builds have been with Patriot Extreme 2x2gb 4-4-4-12 memory. It overclocks nicely up to 450 (~DDR2-900) which allows people to overclock beyond 3.2Ghz on the Q9450 if they want (3.6ghz).

Are your Hard Drives SATA2? Or are they really old? Western Digital's newish 640gb are the best drives out there at the moment (imo).

I like the Coolermaster 690 cases with a couple extra 120mm fans put in for great airflow. It's amazing what you get for an $80 case!

You can probably save a couple $ by getting an X38 board vs the X48, unless you do want to really push the Quad's OC past 3.2ghz. Then the extra OCing potential of the X48 would be worth the extra money.

If you wait for a 4870x2 and don't think you'll be upgrading your monitor, you can go down to a P45 motherboard that has one PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot for it. But if you want to add a second for Crossfire at some point because you've increased your resolution, X38/X48 is the way to go. But P45 boards overclock well and are dirt cheap by comparison!

Cheers and good luck!

Cool, thanks guys, other question would going to an E8400 make any sense, ive heard that you can clock those huge and that would save me like $100+ although would that bottleneck anything?

sorry and yeah i got sata, i think its a WD just like a 250gb, which would work for the time being i think

As far as the E8400 vs Q9450, it depends on whether you are doing solely gaming or other stuff too such as video editing/3d rendering, etc. If you're going solely for gaming, many people say E8400 since most games will respond more to the higher clock speed. However, many people will also say you "futureproof" your machine if you get a quad core.

The E8400 will not bottleneck anything as far as I know, especially if you have it at 3.6 or higher.

cool thanks dude, i think ill stick with the quadcore, cause i do some video editing, and plan to get heavier into that in the future. part of the reason i need a new pc

I was also wondering how well this system would overclock, like with a Q9450 would i be able to get like 3.4 - 3.6 easily, ive read it done i just wanna make sure im not missing anything that would be neccesary for that? i know the Q9450 has 8x multiplier so i guess im just wondering if the FSB would work up to 450mhz on the DQ6

with the Dominator Ram