New Gaming Build - Looking For Some Feedback

[Lieber Tarianz]

Hello all,

I'm getting ready to start buying the components for my new PC and was hoping for some feedback on my choices. I built my last rig about 6 years ago utilizing the advice from this site. It served me well but it's definitely past it's prime. Here are the main considerations (in order of importance) for my new build:

Gaming focus - I do a lot of gaming. I used to be a SWG addict but now I mainly play strategy games and some FPS (Age of Empires III / Call of Duty 3). I also play AoE3 online with friends. One of the main drivers for a new build was the fact that my current box won't play CoD4 and Halo2 requires Vista.
Quiet - My PC is located in the family room and it is LOUD. The replacement needs to be performance focused but not sound like crotch rocket winding out 3rd gear.
Multitasking - Marriage and gaming are a delicate mix. It's not uncommon for me to have a game running only to temporarily relinquish control of the PC over to my wife. The current build doesn't like to run AoE3, 3 instances of Firefox, iTunes, and Spider Solitaire all at once. If I'm running a game it can take Firefox up to 2 minutes to load.
Price - My original target was about $1500. I'm a little flexible but not willing to hand over $3K to Alienware for something I can build myself for half.
Scalability - I had full intentions to upgrade my old system as needed but aside from adding more RAM I never really did. That said, I do want to future proof as much as possible.
Overclocking - I don't plan on overclocking out of the box, but I would like the ability to play with this in the future.Proposed Build:

Antec Sonata III Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811129024)
ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131073)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115017)
ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835118003)
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835100007)
EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130318)
ARCTIC COOLING Accelero S1 VGA Cooler - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186016)
ARCTIC COOLING Turbo Module Sleeve Dual VGA Fan - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835186021)
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA804 - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820146565)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822136073)
Logitech G15 2-Tone USB Wired Standard Gaming Keyboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16823126034)
SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22" 2 ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16824001096)
Logitech G5 2-Tone 6 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Laser Mouse - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16826104191)
ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model DRW-2014L1T - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16827135156)
Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16832116202)Additional Considerations:

I went with the MB based on the possibility of doing SLI in the future. I am only purchasing one 8800GT now but may want to go 2 after the prices drop. My understanding is that the current games don't really take advantage of it, but future games will. I'm concerned that the 500W power supply won't be enough for SLI but I don't want to drop too much more on a PS and end up never getting the second card. I'm open to difference case/PS combinations but I want to make sure it stays quiet.
I'm going with 4 1GB sticks of 800DDR2 (PC2 6400) RAM. My understanding is that the PC2 6400 is top end for the MB. I also believe that I can use PC2 8500 RAM but the additional memory speed isn't really utilized. I'm good with the PC2 6400 unless there is a compelling reason to go higher.
I realize I've loaded up on some heat sinks that I probably don't need for zero or light overclocking. My hope is that the extra cooling power will help keep noise down. Some reviewers are stating that they have their case fan on low (quiet) with no cooling issues due to the additional heat sinks. It also sounds like many of the 8800GT run hot so I thought I would be proactive and not have a stock graphics card fan buzzing away at full RPM.
Yeah I swore that I wouldn't get Vista until SP1 came out. I figure it's more expensive to buy the retail box of XP and upgrade after Vista SP1 comes out then to just buy the OEM box of Vista now and be a little patient with the drivers. Have I overestimated my patience level? I suppose if it's really bad I could go ahead and buy the OEM XP and dual boot.Hopefully I've balanced performance and noise but I'd love some feedback on this build. It's currently running about $1800 (gulp:eek: ) but I'm not going to nitpick over a few hundred if I can get everything I'm looking for. With that said, I wouldn't be opposed to saving a few hundred either. So....how did I do?

Thanks in advance for any input.

FInal note: In my neverending quest to save a few bucks I decided to not purchase before xmas assuming the graphics card pricing would come down. It hasn't, but the rebates for my 226BW monitor have gone away! I think I'll probably purchase the components over then next 15-30 days looking for good deals. I just need to finalize the build specs so I don't have to make a bunch of returns due to redesigning the build as I accumulate the components.

[Jamie Nixx]

Well you have done your homewrok, makes my job a lot easier ;)

Okie doke.

SLi will always be a waste of time and money, it WON'T get better with time and future games WON'T accept it any more than current games.

Nvidia chipsets are poor in comparison to Intel, you should be thinking about a P35 chipset, not only do they support DDR2 and DDR3 memory, but the chipset is much better for gaming and they are demon overclockers, they also have a lot more features.

The PSU inside the Sonata is tosh, complete rubbish, it will more than likely blow up.

The Zalman CPU cooler has a lot of problems with warped contact plates, its highly likely you will get a defect one.

The Sonata III case is a bit on the small side, you will have a lot of hardware and a LOT of heat, if your overclocking you need a bigger case with better cooling, i have both the Antec 900 and Antec P182 as my main gaming cases and they are some of the best.

Corsair XMS memory is better and cheaper than Crucial.

The Accelero S1 is a great cooler, but if you are thinking about overclocking the video card, don't, GPU overclocking requires a ton of a lot more skill than CPU overclocking because of how unstable it becomes when the clocks are modified.



Here is what you should build.

Q6600
Asus P5K-C Motherboard
Antec 900 case
Corsair HX520w PSU
Corsair XMS memory
EVGA 8800GT
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro (CPU cooler)

Harddrive, optical drive, peripherals ect are all fine.

[Lieber Tarianz]

Thanks for the feedback Jamie. I've made the following adjustments:

ASUS P5KC LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131188)
CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817139001)
Antec Solo Black/Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811129018)
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820145177)
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835186134)I did have a couple of questions/concerns about this build I was hoping you could comment on:

Do you think this Antec case fits my needs? I'm not a big fan of the top venting cases and it is going to reside in my family room so I didn't want the "gaming case" look of the Antec 900.
Any issues with 4 sticks of DDR2 1066 memory on this board? I've read a lot of comments regarding this but it's unclear if the issue is related to bad RAM, board limitations, or BIOS limitations. Plus, it seems that ASUS is not really commenting on the problem. I know I've priced out DDR2 800 RAM (4x1GB sticks for $110 after rebate!) but I have concerns for upgrading in the future.Thanks again for your input!

[Jamie Nixx]

Everything looks good, the case is nice and suttle but good quality.

This board will run any memory fine, if however you run into problems, go into the Bios and increase the Voltage slightly and you will be fine, a lot of people don't know that virtually all Asus boards default to 1.8v, when most memory requires 2.0v or 2.1v to run well, instead of doing research they choose to slate the board, which isn't fair imo, it is likely you won't have to do a thing though.

[pcdoctor]

I was reading reviews on the 2nd picked motherboard and it's only 3 out of 5 for overall on it. I plan to build a new gaming system in the future, but I want to buy stuff that has great reviews.

[Lieber Tarianz]

I was reading reviews on the 2nd picked motherboard and it's only 3 out of 5 for overall on it. I plan to build a new gaming system in the future, but I want to buy stuff that has great reviews.

Many of the reviews that are negative have to do with the memory issues. I'm going to go on faith (and Jamie's belief) that I can adjust the voltage if there are any issues. I like Asus and have had mostly good luck with their boards. They are slow for BIOS updates and their support site sucks but they make good boards. If you are a couple/few weeks off on your purchase I'd be happy to let you know how my build goes.

[Lieber Tarianz]

I got my order placed with only a few minor changes to the build:D:

Went with the CORSAIR XMS2 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
64 Bit Vista Home Premium
XFX PVT88PYDQ4 GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150259) because it was in stockI'll be sure to let everyone know how the build goes. Thanks again for the feedback.