When I originally first started checking out which PSU to recommend, I was first going to say the Corsair 520W... But then after surfing that website and checking out the SLI-Certified list, I checked out the Silverstone.

The Corsair 620W is a great PSU. I've only been hearing good things and glowing recommendations from people that have them. You would do yourself well to buy this.

Having said that, I believe the Silverstone PSU I recommended to you is cheaper (well now that I check the link it is no longer on sale :(), has a higher wattage maximum, and Silverstone is known for having quiet parts/cases. I can't see how this PSU would do you poorly either.

BTW, like render said, having more wattage is never bad. The way I see it, a better PSU will last you over multiple computer builds, even with rising power requirements.

Well I'll most likely pick out of these two, so I'll see what deals come up on boxing day. As for the RAM, I've decided to go for the Corsair pair.

As of now, this much is certain:

Case: Thermaltake Swing VB6000BWS
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Motherboard: EVGA NForce 680I
Video Card: EVGA NVidia 8800 GTS
RAM: Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2GB 2X1GB PC6400 DDR2-800 CL 4-4-4-12
PSU: Either the Corsair CMPSU-620HX 620W or the Silverstone Zeus ST75ZF 750W
DVD-RW Drives: I'll probably pick up a pair of identical Lightscribe drives on boxing day.
Hard Drives: A chum of mine is selling me a pair of 200GB SATA drives for $130
Sound Card: Even though this has onboard sound, I'm probably gonna pick up a PCI sound card. I was originally going to get one of the higher-end Creative cards, but I'm not so sure now. Is there anything I should be looking out for in PCI sound cards (What improvements can I get over onboard sound [I've been hearing that onboard sound is just about on par with PCI sound])? It's gotta have a front I/O port with Midi/Optical/etc.

With all these parts, I'll have a 120mm fan in the back taking hot air out of the system, and a 120mm fan in the front blowing cold air in. Does the CPU come with it's own heatsink+fan? If I don't overclock anything, will I be ok to run it with that setup, or should I be buying some extra cooling?

One last thing.. can someone refer me to a site with a large selection of computer mods, akin to xoxide.com?

Thanks again!

Looks beautiful. Damn you are gonna have a kick ass system!

Heatsink/fan... The CPU does come with heatsink/fan if you buy a retail CPU. As to overclocking, you can overclock with the stock heatsink/fan. Many people have been doing this with Core2Duos without any problems. However, a better heatsink and fan will cost you usually under $60 and potentially give you either more overclocking room, or cooler running system which is a big plus. For example, I'm picking up a Zalmann all copper-heatsink for $40 that is gonna wipe the floor with my current heatsink/fan. And when I get around to overclocking, it will be worth it.

Oh, and cool heatsinks/fans is very stylish for the inside of a case BTW.

Lightscribe drives... I recommend Lite-On drives and I have for a while. They seem to be built great, work well with Nero (and come with a copy), and are slightly smaller depth wise than most DVD/CD drives. They also tend to be in the mid to low price bracket despite being among the best you can buy. Highly recommended.

Computer mods... Not my thing. Sorry but I can't really help there.

But if I don't overclock, I'll be fine with the CPU heatsink/fan and the two other 120mm case fans?

I just basically want to add a fan/led controller. I'm having a hard time finding an LED controller though; I'm looking for something similiar to this.

EDIT: One thing I forgot to add: Will all these parts fit in this case? I'm not sure of any way to know, other than buying and finding out (I'm afraid the 8800 won't fit, I've heard it is pretty long).

Yes, the stock heatsink/fan will be just fine for you. You will have no heating issues, it'll run cool.
Sorry, but I got little to no help to give ya. I would recommend hitting some of the mod and oc sites for more info.

http://www.cluboc.net/reviews/index.htm_______http://www.overclockercafe.com/reviews.htm

Your 8800GTS will have no problem fitting in that case. The 8800GTX is extra long, but the 8800GTS which you are buying is not. And the case you are buying is huge. It won't have a problem. All your other items should fit as well.

Ive just found out that there have been quite a few problems with the 680I boards. Right now I'm looking into some similiar LGA775 boards, but can you toss any suggestions my way? (I'm a bit upset, because I could have saved $100 by buying an EVGA 680I + 8800 GTS bundle). Do you think I should take a chance and hope I get one of the working boards?

I was waiting for something like that to happen. The nForce series chipsets haven't had the best track record over the last 2 years. I bought my Intel Badaxe solely based on Intel's well-known, rock-solid stability and I'm glad I did.

I use an nForce Professional chipset and it works flawlessly O_O. The best chipset for the Core2Duo will be the RD600 from AMD/ATi. This thing will wipe the floor with the Intel chipset-based motherboards although if you're in a hurry to buy, you'll have to settle for Intel. Their chipsets may be reliable but they tend to lack the features of competitors and lag in performance and overclocking options.

Damn, it's a tough decision. I'm thinking I might go for the EVGA 680I and hope for the best, and if it fails, I'll RMA it.

A couple more things I forgot:

Should I / Do I need to install XP on a seperate (non-RAID) drive? I've only planned for two 200GB SATA drives (RAID'd), but I'm not sure if windows can be installed on a RAID array.

Also, I'm running an OEM version of XP right now, but my parents are running a pirated versio. I know theirs works fine, and that they are able to do automatic updates and everything, but what are the real differences between a legit version and a cracked version?

Have I forgotten anything else? Should I pick up some thermal paste, or is there some included with the CPU?

Thanks again.

Yes you can have winxp run off a RAID array =o. I have a Raid 0 setup running on my system. Should you? That depends, security-wise its probably not a good idea to use RAID 0 to run a OS.
If you're planning to use a RAID setup you will need the drivers to set it up (also remember to press the F6 key when windows asks for said drivers during installation.) Where are the drivers? It usually comes with the motherboard, if not it will more than likely be at their website. Yeah, read the instruction manual for this or you will be spending hours toiling away at getting your RAID working.

Unless you're able to get around the WPA crap there is no real difference, as far as I'm concerned.

Since you're not OC'ing the cpu getting thermal paste would be a waste for you. And the CPU heatsink/fan comes with its own thermal pad pasted on the heatsink :).

And the only thing WPA allows me to do is to download stuff from microsoft.com, correct?

Pretty much, yes. It allows you to get non-critical updates and programs like WMP11 directly off microsoft.com.

You could look into a Gigabyte DQ6 board. They are the other high-end board/chipset that everyone is hyped about. Great build quality, features, and BIOS.

Personally, it sounds like the 680i's are spotty, so I would buy and RMA til you get a good one. They are amazing when they work right, and it sounds like most of them, or at least alot of em, don't have any issues. It's really up to you if you don't want to risk any hassle with your order, then either find something else or wait it out til the problems are fixed.

Yeah, I've been looking at other boards, and so far the only ones that are comparable are the (680I), Gigabyte DQ6, and the ASUS P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe. These are all about the same price, but the main difference is that the 680 supports Quad Core (If I eventually go down that path, it will save money in the long run).

I've also been thinking about the ratio of working to non working 680 boards, and I figure this: If you get a bad board, you are more likely to post about it than if you get a normal board. Thus, I'm gonna be seeing a lore more posts about problematic boards, so I shouldn't be overly concerned, and just hope that I can strike it lucky.

EVGA already has a beta BIOS that supposedly fixes the 680i issues. It can be found here.

http://www.evga.com/community/messag...TOPIC_ID=23034

With this available, I would say no worries about picking up the EVGA 680i, especially with their great customer service/warrenty.

Yeah, I just noticed that aswell, so I'm gonna go with the EVGA.

With that, I should be completely ready to go:
Case: Thermaltake Swing VB6000BWS
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Motherboard: EVGA NForce 680I
Video Card: EVGA NVidia 8800 GTS
RAM: Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2GB 2X1GB PC6400 DDR2-800 CL 4-4-4-12
PSU: Either the Corsair CMPSU-620HX 620W or the Silverstone Zeus ST75ZF 750W
DVD-RW Drives: I'll probably pick up a pair of identical Lightscribe drives on boxing day.
Hard Drives: A chum of mine is selling me a pair of 200GB SATA drives for $130
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Platinum

Anything I'm missing? Any last words? The NCIX Boxing day sale is this saturday (strangely enough), so I've only got a few more days to make final adjustments.

Should be an exceptional build. I'd recommend Lite-On Lightscribe drives, but others should be fine as well. I'd hit Samsung or Plextor if you go with something else.

I hope you have a good monitor/mouse/keyboard/speakers for this setup. If you don't, I recommend Logitech mice and speakers; keyboards as well I suppose. Displays it'd depend what you want.

Anyway, pull the trigger and let us know how it goes... (pics too plz :D)

Seems like you're ready =)
 

Not that you actually need the following but you might thank yourself later for getting them ;D

Anti Static Wrist Strap - I'm not exactly sure how dry it is over there but it wouldn't hurt to use one of these. Especially if this is your first build.

Cable Zip Ties - I'm a neat freak when it comes to building computers so its a must to get these. Besides you wouldn't want stray cables hitting a cpu fan would you? As for how you tie up the cables so they're away from everything, you will just have to be creative =p.

Thumb Screws - They're useful for many things (If your case came with some I guess you can skip this.) For me at least it makes installing new cd drives and other screw-required bays a breeze. Oh yeah, do not use these on the motherboard!

And did you make sure you have all your cables? You said your friend was supplying you with the hdds but does that include the sata cables? Otherwise your motherboard and maybe the case should have you coved. Wouldn't hurt to check though.

EVGA 680i comes with this...
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/images...b2s0_2_5_l.jpg
So I think he's covered :D !

As for your other suggestions, hell yeah. Zip ties are a must. Never knew they had thumb screws. Maybe I'll pick me up some.

Thanks for all your suggestions!

I forgot to talk about mouse and keyboard and everything:

I'm getting an MX Revolution Mouse, and a G15 Keyboard, as well as the BenQ FP241W display (in January). As for cable ties, I was thinking about getting those UV Flexi-tube things, unless you can think of a reason not to.

You should see what my Asus P5W DH Deluxe came with =p. (built-in wireless networking ftw!)

Heh, I actually couldn't find the thumb screws at first. Newegg seems to hide all their small computer accessories ._.

You're welcome!

Uh, I never used those flex tubes on computer cables. I don't know but I do think you'll have more versatility with zip ties =o.

All great choices. GJ finding that BenQ. It's a good one. And its really good that you are grabbing that 8800GTS, because you will need every ounce of it to feed the pixel hungry 1920x1200 display. But mmmmm... It will look good enough to eat.

Wow, thanks for all your help you guys! It's been such a long research process and I'm glad you've given me a hand. Only two more days to go untill the NCIX sale. I'm kinda nervous actually, I'm afraid all the good deals will sell out before I place my order (I'm gonna be hammering F5 all night long).

Hope the buying goes well tonite. Good luck!

Well, I just ordered from the NCIX boxing day sale, and I was quite succesful!


http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3766/orderad7.png
(I`ll save an additional $130 after the mail in rebates.)


Thanks again guys! I;ll figure out some prizes soon!