help me build my system

[s37]

same system setup but using the intel solution instead of the AMD puts this system at $1513. not much of a price jump. since i have not kept up much with intel, i dont know about the motherboard. i know the CPU is top of the line, but where does the motherboard fall in comparison with other motherboards as far as speed and quality?

also, if I opt for the intel setup, will I need to change my ram? currently im looking at the 800Mhz ram from corsair, but if i go with this motherboard it has a 1066/1333Mhz FSB, will I need to change my ram to make it work with this motherboard?

[SRTDodge05]

I would get a P35 chipset motherboard and a E6550 or a Q6600 cpu. Memory you have and that will work fine.

[PGIV]

[quote=as far as the cdrom/dvdrom. i have a burner in my spec, but i figured I would get a DVD RW and a CDROM, since the DVD RW will also play DVD movies, a DVD ROM would be redundant, I could go with a faster 52x CDROM for installing programs that work off of CD's. Granted, if I ever wanted to copy anything from DVD, it would be alot faster going from DVD ROM to DVD RW than to have to copy the DVD to my hard drive and then burn it to my DVD burner.

[/QUOTE]

For the few extra dollars, a DVD-ROM is more useful these days than a CD-ROM.

[SRTDodge05]

Originally Posted by PGIV

For the few extra dollars, a DVD-ROM is more useful these days than a CD-ROM.

CDrom is a waste of money, Just get the dvdrom and you wont notice a thing.

[CK8-04]

Originally Posted by s37

hey there, yes i was looking at the P182 case from antec, but for the price, there isnt that much difference, as far as I can tell.

i havent decided on the OS yet. i have been thinking of going Vista 64 bit, but i have heard people say that gaming is still better on windows xp. as such, i have reduced the memory to corsair dominator 2(2x1GB) instead. better memory, cheaper price (compared to the 4GB setup i was looking at).

as far as the cdrom/dvdrom. i have a burner in my spec, but i figured I would get a DVD RW and a CDROM, since the DVD RW will also play DVD movies, a DVD ROM would be redundant, I could go with a faster 52x CDROM for installing programs that work off of CD's. Granted, if I ever wanted to copy anything from DVD, it would be alot faster going from DVD ROM to DVD RW than to have to copy the DVD to my hard drive and then burn it to my DVD burner.

as far as the intel chip and motherboard. i have used AMD in the past, but this does not mean I am opposed to Intel. I will use whatever is the best, fastest and most reliable on the market. I do like AMD in one aspect, however, and that is because they are making a quality product at a fairly good price.

I am just trying to shave off a little cost on this system right now. ive decided against the crosshair MB, and instead am looking at the M2N32 motherboard from ASUS. with this combination, i can get the two for $326, and the intel setup you listed would put me up to $409. Now granted, if I can shave off some price in other areas, it may very well be worth my while to go ahead and get the intel setup. Both AMD and Intel make good products, really, anymore, it all comes down to price. I'll do some more looking and figuring and see if I can come down on some other prices and incorporate the Intel solution.

Funny thing about reviews, however, in one article, you see Intel dominating the CPU market, in another article, they will say that AMD has the edge. Who do you believe?

One other thing, I had planned on spending about $409 on a BFG 8800GTS 640MB 320 bit video card. The other day, a friend of mine suggested another solution. Since most motherboards today are all SLI compatible, he suggested getting two of these:

EVGA GeForce 8600 GTS Superclocked / 256MB GDDR3 / SLI Ready / PCI Express / Dual DVI / HDTV / Video Card

which list for $160 each. so for $320, I could get two video cards to work in SLI, or for $409 I could get that BFG, but im wondering about the performance.

comparing:

BFG - 8800GTS / EVGA 8600GTS
BFG - 640 mb / EVGA 256MB x2 = 512MB
BFG - 320bit / EVGA 128 bit
both the clock speed are around the same, BFG has 580Mhz, EVGA has 576Mhz.

For those of you who have messed with SLI before (since i never have), would it be more beneficial getting the 8800 single card or 2 8600 cards?

part of me is leaning toward the 8800 BFG, (or another card like it, ive found I can get some other cards (evga and xfx) for a little less, and I may, down the road, end up getting another one anyway..)

I say get a single 8800GTS and get an Intel motherboard. Two 8600GTSs won't be faster than a single 8800GTS and will only produce more heat and consume more power. I highly recommend an Intel board because Intel chipsets are "lighter" than nVidia chipsets and, by that, I mean that everything just seems so much snappier on Intel chipsets. Intel also has more experience with chipsets than nVidia, so you can be guaranteed more stability than with an nVidia chipset. As for who is faster, Intel is the current champion. The Core 2 processors run cooler and are faster clock for clock than AMD's chips.

[maverick202106]

i have the 8600gts evga, its a great card. and its quite powerfull. im running intel core 2 duo 2.33 overclocked to 2.8 and still works great. but i need a better PSU. bfg... im my opinion just suck. my father has bought 2 in the last year because they have just stoped working or burnt up.