Endless Paradigm

I've come back with a new build for my future PC.
I already got a case from my friend, so just need the internals!

Take a look at these components, tell me what's good, what's bad, and if it's not compatible.

Thanks ! :

Final Specs

XFX 680I LT edition SLI Socket 775 Nvidia 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard

XFX 9800GT 512MB DDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card

Seagate ST3500320AS 500GB Hard Drive SATA II 7200rpm *32MB Cache* - OEM

Optiarc AD-7200S 20X DVD±RW/DL/RAM Internal SATA Bare Black Drive - OEM

Kingston 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Memory Non-ecc CL5 Unbuffered 1.8V

Arctic Power 500W PSU With PCI-E 2x SATA, 20+4 ATX12V 8pin +12V Connectors - Retail Boxed

EV Black Mid Tower Gaming Case with Massive 14cm Front Fan - No PSU

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket 775 (3.0GHz) 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor

everything but the cpu looks good!  2mb cache is TERRIBLE and the e4xxx series are plain garbage compared to the new generatin of cpu!!!

I would recommend the e8400..its the new 45nm cpu and has 6mb cache and 3.0ghz and a front side bus of 1333mhz for $50 more...

not sure what part of th world you are from, but at work wee hav been ordering everything from newegg or tigerdirect due to their extremely low prices!

e8400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819115037

you have a great selection of motherboard and video card, why slow things down with a crappy cpu?

also if you are planning on running vista, i would recommend vista 64bit and up your self to 4gb ram!  2gb is fine for xp 32bit, but vista 32 or 64 will choke on 2gb and make you think your computer (and vista for that matter) sucks, when in fact it doesn't!

Yeah, i thought it looked a bit small, I'm not too clued up about all of this.

I'm in the UK, i'd love to order from NewEgg, I've seen the prices.

And as for the RAM, I'm only planning on using XP, i hate vista, so ... yeah.

Does anyone know if i can somehow put 360 fans into my case for extra cooling? I just replaced mine, they're still fully working though, so didn't want to waste them.

what Schmilk said.

plus, I'd add more RAM, say 4GB, if you plan on running Vista. and a 21" screen.
and only one hdd? u can get two and set them up in RAID 0...

rest seems decent..

Pyro Wrote:Yeah, i thought it looked a bit small, I'm not too clued up about all of this.

I'm in the UK, i'd love to order from NewEgg, I've seen the prices.

And as for the RAM, I'm only planning on using XP, i hate vista, so ... yeah.

Does anyone know if i can somehow put 360 fans into my case for extra cooling? I just replaced mine, they're still fully working though, so didn't want to waste them.

maybe this is lame, but are you saying 360 numbers of fans or an 360's fans"?

instead of that many fans, you can fix a 12" fan in you cabinet side panel. Plus, get a motherboard that has stock water cooling. Also get a liquid cooling apparatus for the GPUs... your coolng solutions will be taken care of..

I've already got a Cooler fan on the list aswell as PSU fan. I just have some of these fans :
http://consolextras.com/images/360_dualfan.jpg

and i wanted to use them up.

I don't have a huge budget for this, so can't splash out totally. I might grab another HDD.

why raid0 set up with 2 hds

why not 1 big hd
im using a 750gb it does everything

Like i said, my budget's not huge.

squee666 Wrote:why raid0 set up with 2 hds

why not 1 big hd
im using a 750gb it does everything

because 2 HDD are cheaper together than a single HDD of same capacity. and pairing them in RAID 0 makes them faster than the single large volume HDD.

feinicks Wrote:

squee666 Wrote:why raid0 set up with 2 hds

why not 1 big hd
im using a 750gb it does everything

because 2 HDD are cheaper together than a single HDD of same capacity. and pairing them in RAID 0 makes them faster than the single large volume HDD.

plus it'd be a good idea to have a separate HDD .. if one gets broken :D

(or maybe that just applies to me ... i break things easily T_T)