All Input's Welcomed

[TurcoLoco]

Uncle Sam will be coughing up some of my hard-earned $$ he took from me in 2007 so I am considering to waste it on a new system. Despite the fact that I am nowhere near the gamer I was a few years back, I still do play single player games on occasion so it won't be a whimpy system.

Surprisingly enough all the best prices for each one of the main component was at NewEgg (compared to previous years) and also, to my recollection, this is the first time I will be paying more for the mobo than for the CPU.

Check them out and let me know if oyu can suggest better alternative or a cheaper place:

Mobo: ABIT IX38 Quad GT LGA 775 Intel X38

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W
(sorry AMD, I like your stuff but Intel surpassed you in the dual CPU race)

RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
(I might be getting 2 sets of these to have a total of 4GB)

Power Supply: Antec TPQ-850 ATX12V / EPS12V 850W

Hard Drive: 2x Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache (RAID-0....did you think I was going to mirror these beasts?)

Video: 3DFx Voodoo 3000

....just kidding!

I will be doing my usual mod'ing on a case I got a while back in CA. Of course it is going to have the low-tech 10+" external box for the best over cooling solution, a wicked paint job and god knows what else I feel like doing...

[Gizmokid2005]

Looks like a nice setup...not even going to hound you for going intel instead of AMD.

[cauzomb]

mix it up! get a phase change unit

[TurcoLoco]

mix it up! get a phase change unit

What the heck is that??

[acruxksa]

Looks like a great system to me. I might question the need for 2 raptors in raid rather than one raptor for system and a standard sata-3 for data. It wouldn't be because of performance, simply a bang for the buck argument along with the fact that raid-0 will increase the odds of a hdd failure. All of which you already know so.............................NICE CHOICES!!!

[TurcoLoco]

Looks like a great system to me. I might question the need for 2 raptors in raid rather than one raptor for system and a standard sata-3 for data. It wouldn't be because of performance, simply a bang for the buck argument along with the fact that raid-0 will increase the odds of a hdd failure. All of which you already know so.............................NICE CHOICES!!!

Over the years, the only time I experience problems with SATA or even IDE RAID-0 setup was due to crappy drivers or crappy mobo chipset.
I am currently using 2x74GB Raptors on my GA-K8NSNXP-939 mobo which are running flawlessly.

If each of them cost another $30 or more, I would stick with only one but with prices this low, why not? Then again, I might just get one since I am no longer a hardcore gamer (if I would ever be considered one).

I just donated my AMD XP-1900 system with Soltek mobo to someone at work but now I am back to 6 PCs again. I will have to give away one or two more system to make room...

[cauzomb]

Thats nice. phase change unit = direct cpu refrigeration.

[TurcoLoco]

Thats nice. phase change unit = direct cpu refrigeration.

People don't believe me but the $8 10" Wal-Mart Box fan keeps things might cool, no costly water cooling or CPU refrigeration is needed.
I will create a small photo album and put the links when all parts come in and I start building them.

Oh by the way, despite my initial rejection, I decided to go with this 1KW PSU from Antec so it is the same price as the 850W without the rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371012

I still can't believe how expensive the PSUs has become and furthermore, how power hungry today's PC components are. I mean, my last system has a 500W PSU in it and it does a good job, I think even an 800Watt unit would've been fine but I got the 1KW one just in case I feel like oc'ing this bad boy...

[TurcoLoco]

I got so many old and somewhat old parts that I really should be getting rid of since I really do not use them. This way I will get a few bucks for them and someone can make use of them perhaps? I just hate to deal with all the buying/selling crap, I rather get reinbursed for the S&H and give the item away to someone who needs it and can't afford it.

[cauzomb]

Have a look at my post here It covers some concerns regarding performance, but I think you already know about the motherboard/cpu situation, read the part about CPU clocks and videocards.