Comment on my custom PC parts list

Go for the e8400 if it's in stock. The prices are insane because of demand (it should be less than a e6750), but it's worth it. It's one of Intel's new 45nm processors and offers a very large performance boost over the older, comparable 65nm ones. The thing can easily OC to over 4 GHz on air with no problems.

Just too bad everyone and their mom wants one. A sub 200$ processor is now going for 250 or more. Even the lower end 45nm processors are insanely over priced.

If you're not going to use crossfire I would go with a P35 board instead of a X38. You will save some money and not really see a performance difference. New chipsets are around the corner though, since Intel's new nehalem will require a new one and wont work in current LGA775 boards.. But that could be Q3 or Q4 of this year. *shrug*

Also, you sure that power supply is okay? I would go with a Corsair or PC power & cooling unit, but that's me..

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Megalith

Ok. I think I will downgrade my motherboard to a P35, then use the additional money for a good Antec power supply...unless someone has justification for the X38's PCI-E 2.0 capability.

And my last question...the motherboard already has a "LAN chipset." This is equivalent to a NIC, correct?



Well, I may have to get an X38 afterall...

EDIT: Wait, hold up. I did a search, and practically every source is saying that the more rails you have, the worse off you are. Apparently there's bottlenecks and poorly distributed power, and what not. Funny thing is that the most expensive power supplies are the ones with the most rails...and all Antecs seem to have multiple ones. So I may just get a Corsair.

Video cards are not even saturating the previous PCIe spec, let alone the 2.0 one. I wouldnt worry about support for PCIe 2.0, because by the time you have a card that would absolutely need it you will have to upgrade your board anyway to step up to Intel's new processors.

In regards to the power supply problem, more rails do tend to cause more trouble. This is because it's hard to balance the load accross every rail (not to mention confusing, since you dont know which cable is on what rail). It's generally better to just have one big rail than a bunch of smaller ones. It makes things simpler.

The whole reason some power supplies have multiple rails was to meet some spec that was supposed to prevent fires and damage from one big rail overloading or some shit. The problem with that idea is that your components would have fried long before the cable melted down. So the whole thing is pointless.

Just go with trusted name brands, Antec, Corsair, PCP&C. Look at the amps on the 12v, 5v, and so on. If you plan to upgrade down the road or run a beefy system get a higher wattage PSU to cover future upgrades. If you plan to stick with what you got.. get a supply that's enough to meet the demand of your system.

When it comes to power supplies you do get what you pay for. Put as much money into it as you can. It powers the whole of your system. If it goes belly up so does the rest of your expensive components.

If you want to know what I went with when I built my system, I got this PSU -> PC POWER and COOLING 750 Quad (Black) S75QB Power Supply Retail at ZipZoomfly

Also, any Corsair TX should do good too. I'm not so sure on Antec models though, sorry. ;(

There's nowhere I can't reach.