Mid-range first time build

First time builder here, I have some parts in mind for a computer and need some help with some things and just some general feedback. Thanks for the help!

Total budget for the computer itself without the price of the case should end up around 1000 + or - 200 (The cheaper the better, but I don't want to skip out on quality)

Case: Antec 900 $119 on newegg (Already own the case)

Processor: Q6600 (Already got it from my local microcenter for a bargain at $199, i plan on overclocking it to around 3GHz to start)

CPU Fan/heatsink: Zalman CNPS9500 $42
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16835118003

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059
Looks solid and was recommended by friends and seen it in a lot of similar builds but if there is better stuff for a comparable price I don't mind looking.

Graphics card: BFG Tech GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB
$269 before a $30 rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143119
I heard the g92 series now outperforms the 8800gt's so I was looking at this.

Hard Drive: This one I am not sure about. I was originally thinking maybe I would get a raptor but I can't run those in RAID on this motherboard anyway and I heard I can save a lot of money for minimal losses if I just buy a large 7200rpm hard drive.

Maybe this 250gb barracuda will do it for cheap http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148261
I do download and keep a lot of media on my computer, so maybe even spending over $100 for some more space will work well. I need suggestions here if anyone has any.

Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX by recommendation of Lilbuddy $85 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

RAM: G.SKILL 4GB by recommendation of Lilbuddy and Omsion $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

DVD/rw combo: SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW $30
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16827151154

Total Price as of now: $874. If I choose to buy Vista now and a monitor this will go up by upwards of $300. Depending on possible hard drive choices it might go up $50 or so as well.

The monitor I have right now is just a standard 3 year old CRT and I haven't noticed any problems with it and was going to use it until I learned enough to get a new one or get the money for a new one.

Windows Xp or Vista? For now I will install my copy of xp on the new computer but may buy vista or just wait. Not sure which version to buy anyway.



Thank you very much, I will update this based on what everyone seems to think!

Heatsink: can be done better for about the same price. While I wouldn't pick it, the Zerotherm Nirvana apparently does well. Ultima 90 + a good fan (I'd just pick up a Yate Loon fan, since they provide the best bang/buck out of the fans, and are very quiet to boot). Scythe Ninja with a backplate mounting system will also do well - also comes with an excellent fan (don't bother if you're not going to use a backplate-style system - the pushpins are useless in providing adequete pressure on these).

PSU: Don't really have much to reccommend here - Corsairs and Seasonics are a good choice. Others can give more reccommendations. DO NOT go with a cheap PSU here. A good 400-500W supply (ie Corsair 450VX/HX520, many choices from Seasonic) can run what you want with a bit of room to spare. Corsairs and Seasonics also have a good reputation of running quietly.

HD: Just watch slickdeals and wait to grab a 500GB something or another for <100.
EDIT: eh, **** that and just get this now for ~100 (WD 7200rpm 500GB)

RAM: I don't pay enough attention to RAM to give much reccommendations. You don't really need the high speed RAM per say, especially since you're only planning on OCing to 3Ghz, aka 333x9 on the Q6600, which means the RAM will be running at DDR2-667 speeds if you go 1:1. Faster RAM won't hurt, though, since the mobo will try to put it on a divider to reach it's requested speed. Try to get things with low default voltages, however. High volts = already factory OCed to attempt to sell at a faster speed = higher likelyhood of failure, even at "stock". Oh yeah, RAM prices are inching up again after being wildly oversupplied earlier this year...still some good deals to be found, though.
EDIT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122 are the sticks I have for $85. I've paid enough attention to know what's inside my RAM, at least . These can OC well - I've been to 500FSB 1:1 with these.

GPU: Nothing to say

Optical drive: Also have one of those. They seem to run loud. Just was playing a movie, and you could hear the drive spinning during quiet parts. Otherwise, w/e

Go with this for the memory. Good stuff and OC's really good.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

This Corsair PSU looks like the best buy:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

ip35-E instead of ds3l and lilbuddy's ram and psu you are good.

Thanks for the replies, I think I may switch the ram over to the g.skill just like lilbuddy and omsion suggested.

The corsair power supply also looks to be more than good enough and a stable choice which is exactly what I was looking for.

The ip35-e looks alright but I am not sure about making that switch. Being that this is the first time I build a computer I want to make sure that most of the parts I buy work well, and last. Seeing a lot of 5/5 reviews makes me feel more sure in my choices.

For the hard drive does this one still hold as a good choice for $70?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148262

Or would it be better to go up to 500gb? (I heard that a hard drive with more space can go faster but I don't know much about them)
Also, is it better to get a SATA hard drive or does it not really matter unless the motherboard doesn't have a lot of a certain type of connector?

Thanks for the replies I will be updating my build to show some of the changes.

Get a SATA HDD, most motherboards only have 1 IDE slot and that usually is for your opticals. Also, PATA is heading away.

Larger size HDD's aren't faster per say...it's just if you write 100gb's to a 500gb drive that 100gbs will access faster overall than 100gb on a 250gb because the speed the disc is spinning towards that inside is slower...writing more and more on the disc brings it closer to the middle and slows down access times. I would get a 320+ drive since your getting a lot more space for a little price at that point.

Everything else looks good, IP35E and DS3L are both great boards, Neither one really significantly better or worse than the other.

ajrettke said:

Get a SATA HDD, most motherboards only have 1 IDE slot and that usually is for your opticals. Also, PATA is heading away.

Larger size HDD's aren't faster per say...it's just if you write 100gb's to a 500gb drive that 100gbs will access faster overall than 100gb on a 250gb because the speed the disc is spinning towards that inside is slower...writing more and more on the disc brings it closer to the middle and slows down access times. I would get a 320+ drive since your getting a lot more space for a little price at that point.

Everything else looks good, IP35E and DS3L are both great boards, Neither one really significantly better or worse than the other.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help there, that really clears things up for me so I am going to go look a bit more into it when I get the chance.

That is a great hard drive choice, I love mine. Whether or not you need 500GB is up to you and how much room you need.

That Corsair PSU can be had for much cheaper. Click me If you can live with paying $100 for a PSU I would go with the 520HXI strongly suggest going with the 520 due to the modular cabling. You are going to need all the help you can get with cable management in that case.

I will also put in another vote for the IP35-E. I just prefer the BIOS of Abit motherboards to Gigabyte's.

I would also suggest thinking about the manufacturer of you GPU. If my memory serves me correct BFG doesn't like warranting cards that have had the heatsink replaced. So if that is something you think you may do in the future it is something to keep in mind. I know EVGA doesn't care and I think XFX is also OK with it.

Sorry, def go with the DS3L or IP35-E. I thought the first post said you wanted RAID.

The ip35-e only has a couple things better but its worth it, I have owned both boards and the ip35-E is much better. It has better bios, its alot stabler than the ds3l, it has mosfet heat sinks for better more stable overclocking, 8pin cpu power that alows you to oc quads much higher, and a remove able bios chip to save a failed flash. the only thing the ds3l has is solid state caps but the ip35-e has them were they are needed(on cpu).

Thanks for all the replies again.

I was looking more into ram and asking around and found this
It is another set of g.skill ram but for $15 more it comes at a 1000 speed. I do not plan on overclocking my ram at all so might this be a better choice? Or will the extra speed really not matter unless I overclock the processor more or change up some parts?

The extra speed won't make a difference unless you oc with high fsb.

cabose1227 said:

The extra speed won't make a difference unless you oc with high fsb.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help again. I just started reading more about this and I can see you are right. I plan on reading some more guides on ram and overclocking the cpu before I make anything final but for now looks like I am back with the $85 g.skill (not that that is a bad thing at all). Going to keep up on my research.

bearjuice said:

Thanks for the help again. I just started reading more about this and I can see you are right. I plan on reading some more guides on ram and overclocking the cpu before I make anything final but for now looks like I am back with the $85 g.skill (not that that is a bad thing at all). Going to keep up on my research.

Click to expand...

Yep. The 800s started to use the same IC chips as the 1066s around the end of November (they used to use D9s - now they use the Powerchips present in their faster brother )