Rate My Build, Plz

[nomissa]

Hello,
This is my first post and this will be my first build so any comments are welcome.

Case: Antec Sonata III with 500W Power supply
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W
RAM: CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Graphics card: EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB DDR3, PCI Express 2.0
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model AD-7220A
Operating System: Windows XP Home or Windows Vista 64-bit
Monitor: 19" or 22" LCD haven't decided yet
Keyboard and Mouse: Logitech stuff

This will primarily be a gaming computer. It comes out to about $1150 including a 22" monitor and keyboard/mouse. It's a little over my desired price range (I want to spend around 1k total), so any suggestions on how to lower the price without sacrificing performance are welcome.

I was wondering if the case will have enough room/power/ventilation for the parts I've chosen. I like the look of the sonata case and I don't really want to get a flashy gamer case unless I have to. I noticed you guys suggest Windows Vista 64-bit. Is there any specific reason for this? I have windows vista 32-bit on my laptop and I'm kind of neutral towards it. I am wrong to think that windows xp would have fewer stability and compatibility issues? Also, would it be better to spend a little extra money for a motherboard that supports both DDR2 and DDR3 (i.e. GIGABYTE GA-EP45C-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX) ?

Any comments and suggestions would be much appreciated, especially on the motherboard/cpu/gpu combination I've chosen.

[RickyTick]

Welcome to the MySuperPC forums.

You put together an excellent build.

There's plenty of places to reduce price, but it may result in a small loss of performance. An E7400 is about $120, which is a good bit less than the E8500. You could also change to the E8400 which is $165, for virtually the same performance. You could go with a smaller hard drive for a little less money. That wouldn't harm performance at all, just lessen storage space some. Obviously you could get a smaller monitor and save a good bit.

You could change to a Radeon HD 4850 video card and save maybe 20 or 30 dollars and not loose anything in performance.

Here's the way I broke it down. (I changed the ram and optical drive a little, plus I'm not sure which monitor you were looking at)

Antec Sonata III $130 (Newegg)
Gigabyte GA-P45 UD3r $105 (Newegg)
Intel E8500 $187.50 (Zipzoomfly)
G.Skill 4gb (2x2gb) DDR2 1066 $55 (Newegg)
EVGA 9800GTX $155 (Newegg)
WD SE16 640gb $70 (Zipzoomfly)
Samsung SH-S223Q $30 (Newegg)
Acer 22" LCD $160 (Newegg)
Logitech G15 keyboard $90 (Newegg)
Logitech G5 mouse $45 (Newegg)
Vista Home Premium 64-bit $100 (Newegg)

Total $1127.50

This would be a great computer, but I certainly understand budget constraints. If you need to reduce it a lot more, take a look at our Budget Build PLUS+.
http://forums.mysuperpc.com/showthread.php?t=1642

[RickyTick]

I almost forgot.

The Logitech G11 keyboard is $59, and the Logitech MX518 mouse is only $40. That saves $35. Every bit helps, right? :D

[nomissa]

Thanks for the response Ricky, it was very helpful.

Is G.Skill RAM especially good? Newegg has a great deal on the corsair ram ($27 for 4GB) which is why I chose it, but maybe I should go with G.Skill since everyone seems to recommend it.

I was actually looking at that same asus monitor, probably cause it was the cheapest one on newegg, but I'm still trying to decide if I really need 22". A 19" is a lot cheaper and it's still pretty big ...

[RickyTick]

Corsair ram is excellent. If it's on sale for $27, then that sounds like a great deal, as long as it's (2x2gb) and not (4x1gb).

A 19" monitor is fine, but once you start using a bigger one, it's hard to go back.

[The Wise Monkey]

Lol Ricky, re-read that last sentence... XD

Sorry, just had to interject - nice setup btw. :D

[IceHot]

Agreed Ricky, I just got myself a 24" monitor, its amazing. I doubt I'll ever get anything smaller after how awesome this thing is. If you can afford a decent 22" monitor I think its worth the extra cost. There is no comparison between a 19"-20" and a 22" just like there's no comparison between a 22" and a 24." The difference in size and resolution is fantastic. I think you have an awesome build as well. However, I would really try to get that 22" monitor. I promise once it shows up you will not regret it!

[nomissa]

Thanks for the input guys. I did a bit more research and I've come up with my (somewhat) final build.

Case: Raidmax Smilodon Extreme w/ 500W PSU
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W
RAM: CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Graphics card: EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB DDR3, PCI Express 2.0
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model AD-7220A
Operating System: Windows XP Home or Windows Vista 64-bit
Monitor: Viewsonic VA2226w 22"
Keyboard and Mouse: Logitech Classic keyboard / Logitech LX8 Mouse

I found a pretty cheap 22" monitor and the case was a good deal too. The included power supply isn't too great from what I've read, but hopefully I won't need to replace it.

All in all, it comes out to about $990, which seems like a pretty good deal.

[RickyTick]

Looks great. I say go for it. :D