New Gaming Computer

[ladykiller1]

Motherboard.........Asus P5N32-E SLI Motherboard (nVIDIA nForce 680i SLI chipset, 7.1 Channels, GB lan)
Processor.............Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
RAM....................OCZ 2 GIG PC2-6400
Hard Drive............Maxtor DiamondMax 300 Gig
Optical Drive.........Samsung SH-S182D Dual Layer DVD +/- RW
Video Card...........nVidia 8800 GTX 768 MB (maybe 2)
Case...................Cooler Master CAV-T03
Power Supply........OCZ 1000PXS
Heat Sink.............Zalman CNPS9500 LED CPU Cooler
Water Cooler........Corsair COOL Water Cooling Kit
OS......................Vista Home Premium 64-bit

One concern is I've heard this particular heat sink works very well but is on the heavy side of what is recommended by Intel.

This comes out to around $2300.

If I change the video card and run two eVGA Geforce 7600 GS 512 MB cards, the total would be just under $2000.

I'm leaning more toward the dual video cards just because I'd like to keep the cost around $2k. But I also want to run dual monitors. I could buy one 8800 now and one later.

I'm going to mainly use this computer for first person shooters (Counter Strike: Source, Battlefield 2142) and RTS (Supreme Commander, Command and Conquer). I will also be using for school. Mainly papers, power points, C++, Visual Basic, etc. Nothing very intensive.

Suggestions and opinions are appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

 

[Spartan109]

nice.i think a better processor for gameing would be a core 2 extreme but like u said,nothing too intensive.over all it sounds good,post some pics when its built!

 

[ladykiller1]

If I got the extreme, it would be another $600.

What's your opinion on the video cards? One 8800 GTX now and one later, or two 7600s?

btw, nice sig

 

[Rubber314Chicken]

great build. I would go with the 8800, or wait for the 8600, because they run Dx10.

I wouldn't get the heat sink with the led fan (have the same model with a plain black fan for $5 less) unless you think you might get a windowed case some time.
only question I have, why are you buying a heat sink if you are using water cooling?

make sure you get arctic sliver 5 to use with the water cooling, and make sure you get the water cooling kit that fits socket 775 (I see they have the same thing for 479/754/939/AM2)

 

[ladykiller1]

I looked for a release date on the 8600 but couldn't find one. So I'll just stick with the 8800.
I didn't discard the heat sink from the list when I added the water cooling.
The water cooling kit I found is for the Intel LGA775 or AMD 462.

Are there water kits for video cards now?

 

[sanka]

There are, I think BFG makes one for the 8800.

Edit:
Oh, here.

Also, I advise against the dual 7600s. Most games don't even utilize SLI. Furthermore, the 8800 has DX10, which will be imperative in future games.

 

[hascet]

ya you can buy VGA water blocks, like this one:

here is a link: http://www.crazypc.com/products/9363B.html

just make sure the barbs are the right size for the tubing you have on your watercooling setup

 

[ladykiller1]

I'm going to run the water cooling for my CPU. Is it hard to run new tubing from an existing system to a video card?

I guess I'll start ordering parts within the next couple days. The "Posting Rules" square says I can't post attachments. So I might have to send them to someone who can. But I'll let you know.

 

[Cabbs]

You have to drain the system and refill it, and leak test it again, so its best to just have everything from the start.

 

[ladykiller1]

Due to a financial situation I had to wait until this past thursday to order all the parts. They are all on their way and supposed to be here by tuesday. I'm hoping to have it built and running by friday.
I can send someone pics to post because I cannot post them.
If someone wants to post them please let me know.