Advice on building a computer

[PspKicks316]

It's a good motherboard if you want to go DDR3 but with a socket 775 cpu.

He already said he wanted DDR3 with a quad core.

[Saraph]

He already said he wanted DDR3 with a quad core.

What would be better, 4GB DDR2 or 2GB DDR3? I'm going by what I know with the PS3, the 256MB XDR RAM is much better and faster then the 256MB DDR3, which kinda makes the 256MB XDR the same as 512MB DDR3 with how fast it is.

[loganbyers07]

What would be better, 4GB DDR2 or 2GB DDR3? I'm going by what I know with the PS3, the 256MB XDR RAM is much better and faster then the 256MB DDR3, which kinda makes the 256MB XDR the same as 512MB DDR3 with how fast it is.

Well comparing the ps3 to the pc is alot more complicated than it seems. In this case for gaming you would probbably be better off with 2gb of ddr3. For a couple reasons, one would be that down the road you can buy two more gb of ddr3 and have 4gb. DDR3 is a lot faster and many games will not use 4gb of ram.

[Saraph]

Well comparing the ps3 to the pc is alot more complicated than it seems. In this case for gaming you would probably be better off with 2gb of ddr3. For a couple reasons, one would be that down the road you can buy two more gb of ddr3 and have 4gb. DDR3 is a lot faster and many games will not use 4gb of ram.

Duly noted. 2GB DDR3 it is. So just a motherboard that will accept DDR3 and an intel quad core processor will be fine.

[loganbyers07]

Duly noted. 2GB DDR3 it is. So just a motherboard that will accept DDR3 and an intel quad core processor will be fine.

correct.

[Saraph]

I know it's really expensive, but I have to go with it. Getting the model one lower would be a waste of only $100 bucks. I'm definitely going over on my $900 with this... maybe I'll just limit myself to one HDD then.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041

A guy on there was able to easily overclock it to 3GHz and bring the FSB up to 1600MHz. I'll probably do this. So... would it be bad to just use a 1TB 7,200RPM HDD in a PC until I can get a faster OS drive? I do want to do some extreme gaming on this beast.

Now I need a motherboard, ram, graphics card, and cooling. I will be using a wi-fi card seeing as the router I have hooked up to the main PC is really good on range and I don't want to run an ethernet cord 3 floors up.

Really though, I need help with a motherboard, and since I'm going over on my budget, I need a good cheap one that can take DDR3, this processor, and have a bunch of PCI Express 2.0 slots. The SLi set-up I will eventually get will only be 2 cards ever, not 3 or 4. I have more I want to do with that space for expansion and the GPU will already be taking up a bunch of space.

Also, I selected a wi-fi card.

ENCORE ENLWI-N IEEE 802.11b/g, IEEE 802.11n Draft 2.0 PCI 2.3 Wireless Adapter Up to 300Mbps Data Rates 64/128-bits WEP Encryption WPA, WPA2 WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833180052

Edit:

The CPU I selected has the bundle option with this power supply. It's $70 off, so I figured I would ask if it was good enough for everything I'm doing.

COOLER MASTER UCP RS700-AAAAA3 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171032

Let me know if this would be fairly future proof and if it has the right amount of connectors. Thanks!

[123sample]

No it's not a good idea forcing yourself to get them,

get what you just need it at the moment,

if you want gaming, you can get cheaper, don't go everything still at high price, think twice 3 -  4 years later will be a piece of junk

[Saraph]

No it's not a good idea forcing yourself to get them,

get what you just need it at the moment,

if you want gaming, you can get cheaper, don't go everything still at high price, think twice 3 -  4 years later will be a piece of junk

Forcing myself to get what? Right now I need a computer, period. I've worked on them, know how to put them together and take them apart, but never one to be honest. This would be my first computer that I bought myself. I've been using and upgrading my parents computer since 1999. Time to put the old horse out to pasture.

I'm mainly buying from newegg to make it easier on myself. I want to just buy all this together and have it arrive at the same time (hopefully) so I can put it together. The processor is, right now, the only thing I think I'm going overboard on, but I don't want to upgrade it in 2-3 years, so I think getting a high end one is a smart idea.

This is the only forum I trust. I like the people here and all of you are very intelligent. Which is why I'm putting a lot of faith in what you all tell me. I want to learn what makes a good component in the process as well, so don't think I'm just using you guys to do all the leg work. If anyone has other suggestions or even lower prices for the same items I've picked out at other re(e)tailers, let me know! I would love to have my dream computer (or at least 80% of it) for a much better price!

I've spoken with my father and his company orders from Staples and Office Depot. So I asked him to use his business discount to get me a monitor, mouse, and keyboard. Now the mouse and keyboard I know aren't top of the line, but they'll do and are cheap, but the monitor I would like someone to let me know if it's any good or not.

Acer P241WAD 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor

http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/p4_All-LCD-Displays_196936_Business_Supplies_1_10051_SC3:CG4:DP2000:CL142218

Says out of stock, but I'm sure I can find one in the 5 Staples in my area. Let me know if it's any good!

[PspKicks316]

Oh wow I like that monitor...same here is that one any good? I think I found the one I want too now =P

Also you can try tigerdirect.com as they're top for computer parts too. There was another reliable online retailer my friend pointed out to me but I forget it :/

[Saraph]

$199.99 Case
$119.99 HDD
$401.98 Processor Combo w/PSU
$24.99 Wi-Fi Card
$27.99 DVD+/-RW Drive

So far - $774.94

Need:

Graphics Card
Motherboard
RAM

Need a different CPU. Must be cheaper.

Definitely need a cheaper CPU. Something that can do the job for a while but definitely not as expensive as the last one I chose. I don't mind if I go over on my $900 budget, but by nearly $300 is not acceptable and as 123sample said, would be somewhat of a waste. I think I should focus on the motherboard as my main component so I can upgrade later.

Probably going to go with this processor:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

It's the more affordable one, but it's very similar to the one I chose before so in the future I can upgrade to that one when the price goes down. Is this a wise choice? I was thinking in a year or 2 I could just upgrade to the better LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor, or perhaps a better model will be released by them of that type. Doubtful seeing as the i7 is probably going to become the standard. Yet again, I thank everyone for your help!

[SN!P3R]

save money and dont get the screen. use the one your using now, then upgrade later. Alos if your inthe US, Best Buy has some pretty good prices on screens.

[Saraph]

save money and dont get the screen. use the one your using now, then upgrade later. Alos if your inthe US, Best Buy has some pretty good prices on screens.

I actually don't have a monitor now, the computer I use belongs to my parents.

Seeing as I've downgraded my processor, I felt it only necessary to make sure the motherboard can handle a better processor so I chose this one. Unfortunately no reviews are yet available for it, but it is pretty affordable. Thoughts?

EVGA 132-YW-E179-TR LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 790i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188040

Edit:

$199.99 Case
$119.99 HDD
$189.99 Processor
$24.99 Wi-Fi Card
$27.99 DVD+/-RW Drive
$249.99 Motherboard


So far - $812.94

Need:

Graphics Card
RAM
Cooling
PSU

[PspKicks316]

All motherboards with the 775 socket will handle all quad cores, all of them. No need for a better mobo for a better quad core.
That's the best quad core to get, fyi, the 6600. Easily overclockable too.

[Saraph]

All motherboards with the 775 socket will handle all quad cores, all of them. No need for a better mobo for a better quad core.
That's the best quad core to get, fyi, the 6600. Easily overclockable too.

I just received an email letting me know my money will be in my account in 2 days, so I'm probably ordering all this then. The reason why I wanted a better 775 motherboard is because I wanted room to grow. But if you see another board that will do the same thing for a lesser price, please let me know! Thanks!

EDIT:

Moving things into high gear. I found this PSU after reading several reviews. Seem okay, some people had problems though. If anyone has experience with this PSU or company, let me know. Also, please check out the specs and let me know if this will work well with what I've chosen so far. Thank you!

PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 GTX and below) CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703009

$199.99 Case
$119.99 HDD
$189.99 Processor
$24.99 Wi-Fi Card
$27.99 DVD+/-RW Drive
$249.99 Motherboard - $30.00
$119.99 PSU - $40.00


So far - $932.93
- Rebates = $862.93

Need:

Graphics Card
RAM
Cooling

[loganbyers07]

All motherboards with the 775 socket will handle all quad cores, all of them. No need for a better mobo for a better quad core.
That's the best quad core to get, fyi, the 6600. Easily overclockable too.

that is not true. My xFx 680i motherboard will not support a quad core above the q6600. Which is what I am running. No 45nm for me 

[PspKicks316]

Okay, MOST. I was wrong :/
Completely forgot about 45/65nm

[haze]

what is sli?

[PspKicks316]

SLi is Scalable Link Interface. It's the technology used to use dual, tri, or quad nVidia GPUs at once to, obviously, increase performance.

[haze]

SLi is Scalable Link Interface. It's the technology used to use dual, tri, or quad nVidia GPUs at once to, obviously, increase performance.

oh, thanks for the info.