Building a new computer would like some advice

[Altrus]

Hey, i'm building a new computer. which I've never done before.
I've been looking through parts for about a week or two now and reading alot of reviews about different hardware and want to know if the parts I picked out are good.
I'm building this comp completely for gaming.
I'm also kinda interested in overclocking even tho I don't know much about it.
this is what I've picked out so far.

Evga Nvidia 780i
Geforce 8800 GT 512Mb
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz
mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS 1TB
-Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3160815AS 160GB
Antec Twelve Hundred Case
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit
ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler


((all the parts are from newegg))

I already have a Rosewell 600watt powersupply in my old computer but don't know if this will be enough

((My currest graphics card is a 8800 GTS 320mb))

I'd like any advice on the parts I chose, if I left anything out, if I messed anything up, etc.

~Thanks

 

[Merlin]

Looks good so far......
The EVGA 780i is a great board for overclocking.
The Q6600 is a quad core @ 2.4 GHz, you may do better by price and clock speeds by getting an E8400 @ 3.0 GHz with 12 mb cache ( a better CPU )....unless you run programs specific to having a quad core CPU.
That would bring the price down and have a better machine.
Also the 8800Gt is an excellent GPU ( I play Crysis on high with just one card ( evga 8800GT OC ))
Unless you have a huge monitor, ( 30" or larger ) you wont need to run SLI.
Yeah, It does look cool to have the two cards in there with lights all over the place.
But realistically.....you usuallly dont need two cards.
I use a 20" monitor and the other one is 24", I run one 8800GT in each one with great results and overclocking.
The 600w PSU should do the trick for you, check to make sure you have a GPU ( PCI ) power connection for the video card.
You really dont need the raptors..... a good SATA Seagate will do you well, somme of the fast speed raptors burn out at those speeds.....save a little more
Caution,,,,, building your own system is habit forming, then over clocking your machine ensures that you totally will never return to a normal life.

Also, a good cooling source for you CPU would be a Zalman 9700 LED ( 53.xx bucks ) and great cooling.
Mine run almost as good as water cooling rigs ( 28*C to 32*C ) ambient at 79*F inside house.

Have some fun, look at reviews and google your propposed parts as XXXX problems or as reviews.
You have to remember when you go to newegg and see the reviews, some people are morons ( to put it simple ) and dont know what they are doing...leaving reviews of DOA parts when they don't know how to install.
Thanks for asking here at Techgage...all of us a eager to help...just ask

:techgage::techgage: Merlin :techgage::techgage:

 

[Altrus]

Ok I'm going with a
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz
and the Zalman 9700 heatsink that Merlin suggested

I'd also like to know its worth the money to get a terebit of memory right now?
((it seems like to much but I'm tempted for some reason))

 

[Merlin]

Ok I'm going with a
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz
and the Zalman 9700 heatsink that Merlin suggested

I'd also like to know its worth the money to get a terebit of memory right now?
((it seems like to much but I'm tempted for some reason))

You'll be happy with that one.
For the drives, and I'm sure most would agree, to get two drives, one for the operating system ( 180 gigs ) and then a larger drive, a terabite drive, if you like.
I got the Hitachi 1tb drive for my network backup and I like it so much, I'll get another soon.
That drive you can get cheaper than the 300 gig raptor around 229.00 USD
Then you'll have a system for most to envy

:techgage::techgage: Merlin :techgage::techgage:

 

[Altrus]

Two hard drives?
Whats the reason behind this, does it allow the operation system to run better?

 

[Merlin]

Two hard drives?
Whats the reason behind this, does it allow the operation system to run better?

Sorry, I should have elaborated

You can back up your system to the other drive in case of a system failure.
Operating system on small drive and back up on the large drive.
Some run a raid system for system failure.
Then again some don't setup for a back up and reload the operating system every year.......it's up to you.
Also, having two drives allows for faster writing to the other.
There you have one drive reading and the other writing, instead of one drive doing both at the same time

:techgage::techgage: Merlin :techgage::techgage:

 

[VictoryService]

Excellent Choice on the EVGA nForce 780i MotherBoard with the wolfdale Core 2 DUO CPU. I have built more than 50 systems using EVGA nForce 780i boards and never had a problem with them.

Memory... If your going with the EVGA nForce 780i SLI Mainboard, your Max Memory will be 8Gigs.
It takes Dual Channel DDR2 533, DDR2 667, or DDR2 800 SLI Ready Memory with EPP.

We normally use Norton Ghost to Create Recovery DVD's of the system, but you can also set up a raid 1 so the system writes to both drives at the same time if they are both the same size.

This is good because if either drive fails, you just replace it & follow the prompts to rebuild the raid. You don't loose anything.

A raid 0 (zero) is useless these days as HD's are big & fast already. Raid 0 combines two drives into one large drive, but if either drive fails, you loose everything.

Keep this in mind whenever someone says Raid. with only 2 drives, the only Raid option for data protection (backup) is a Raid0

 

[Altrus]

Sorry, I should have elaborated

You can back up your system to the other drive in case of a system failure.
Operating system on small drive and back up on the large drive.
Some run a raid system for system failure.
Then again some don't setup for a back up and reload the operating system every year.......it's up to you.
Also, having two drives allows for faster writing to the other.
There you have one drive reading and the other writing, instead of one drive doing both at the same time

:techgage::techgage: Merlin :techgage::techgage:

I still don't understand completly...
So I would put the OS on the small((say 160GB)) and then use the terebit one for a backup?...does this mean the terebit would only be a backup so I'd really only have 160GB on my computer with all the files backed up on the terebit?
or
I'd have the OS on the small harddrive with all my files on the terebit so that if a file crashes the terebit I'll still have my OS on the other harddrive?

~sorry for all the questions...

 

[Altrus]

Excellent Choice on the EVGA nForce 780i MotherBoard with the wolfdale Core 2 DUO CPU. I have built more than 50 systems using EVGA nForce 780i boards and never had a problem with them.

Memory... If your going with the EVGA nForce 780i SLI Mainboard, your Max Memory will be 8Gigs.
It takes Dual Channel DDR2 533, DDR2 667, or DDR2 800 SLI Ready Memory with EPP.

We normally use Norton Ghost to Create Recovery DVD's of the system, but you can also set up a raid 1 so the system writes to both drives at the same time if they are both the same size.

This is good because if either drive fails, you just replace it & follow the prompts to rebuild the raid. You don't loose anything.

A raid 0 (zero) is useless these days as HD's are big & fast already. Raid 0 combines two drives into one large drive, but if either drive fails, you loose everything.

Keep this in mind whenever someone says Raid. with only 2 drives, the only Raid option for data protection (backup) is a Raid0

The memory I chose said DDR2 1000 does this mean that it won't work or it won't fully use the memory?

 

[Kougar]

Your memory choice is fine, don't worry about it.

Your build looks fine, just put the OS on the Velociraptor if you are still planning on getting one.

 

[Merlin]

I still don't understand completly...
So I would put the OS on the small((say 160GB)) and then use the terebit one for a backup?...does this mean the terebit would only be a backup so I'd really only have 160GB on my computer with all the files backed up on the terebit?
or
I'd have the OS on the small harddrive with all my files on the terebit so that if a file crashes the terebit I'll still have my OS on the other harddrive?

~sorry for all the questions...

You can still put new files on the large drive.
It was just a suggestion on the back up issue.

I back mine up to my external server.
You'll do fine, just fine....

Dont worry about the questions, it's what we ALL do here

:techgage::techgage: Merlin :techgage::techgage:

 

[Altrus]

humm...the 8800 GTS 512mb with the G92 chipset is only 20 dollars more and seems to deliver a little bit better performance any thought on it?

 

[Kougar]

The 8800GT 512MB uses the same G92 core, it doesn't really matter. The GTS will give you marginally better performance. It's the same card just with an extra 16 shaders enabled.

 

[Altrus]

The 8800GT 512MB uses the same G92 core, it doesn't really matter. The GTS will give you marginally better performance. It's the same card just with an extra 16 shaders enabled.

I like the paint job too

 

[Kougar]

If that means it's worth the price difference to you, then cool...

 

[madmat]

May I ask exactly what PSU it is? Specific model number...

 

[Altrus]

BX80570E8400


I have a question about that also...I don't know much about overclocking...but....would it be the same to buy a chip thats cheaper and overclock it or are the chips themselves different?

 

[Kougar]

Chips are the same. However the quality of that chip is slightly better as the price / speed goes up... It's called binning, the best quality chips are the most expensive ones, and so down the line.

It does not amount to very much though, some of the lowest bin chips can still out-overclock more expensive bin grades, so it depends on the model but most of all, simple luck of the draw. Case in point, I bought an E6300 just a couple weeks after Intel launched the Core 2 Duo, it was the lowest bin grade chip but it out overclocked most other chips it launched with.

 

[madmat]

BX80570E8400


I have a question about that also...I don't know much about overclocking...but....would it be the same to buy a chip thats cheaper and overclock it or are the chips themselves different?

That's not a power supply. I asked what the model number for the PSU was not the CPU. I could not really care about the CPU as it's not going to matter much on the wattage requirements but Rosewill has several different "600W" PSU's and some are not bad while others are better served to use as doorstops.

 

[Altrus]

That's not a power supply. I asked what the model number for the PSU was not the CPU. I could not really care about the CPU as it's not going to matter much on the wattage requirements but Rosewill has several different "600W" PSU's and some are not bad while others are better served to use as doorstops.

Woops..... SL-8600EPS