yotenn53

Hey I've wanted to build my own computer for some time now but I'm being a overwhelmed just from choosing the parts! I'm having trouble with compatibility issues and which parts are the best for their prices. Here's what I have so far:

CPU: Intel 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0Ghz 6Mb L2 Cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115037

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128086

RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231166

Graphics Card: XFX PVT98FYDF9 GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150287

HD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136073

CD/DVD Drive: LITE-ON Black 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA DVD-ROM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106255

Power: Thermaltake W0106RU 700W Complies with ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V version
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153039

Case: Thermaltake Armor+MX VH8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Mid Tower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811133062

Since this is the first computer I'm building I didn't want to go all out in buying computer parts, hence only one SATA HD and no quad core. The parts I'm most unsure about are the mobo and the power supply. I wanted to keep a budget of around $1000, but at the same time use parts that I could use for awhile. This system will be used as a gaming pc so I plan on using SLI in the future, but currently won't be using it.

Any help and critiques on the components would be awesome, especially on the mobo and power supply! Thanks!

euphoricmix

Look at an ATI chipset HD 4850, like this Sapphire HD4850, which is actually a little faster then the 9800GTX and costs less. Also look at this Corsair 750W that is a better power supply for the same amount of money. That motherboard you have selected is a great value choice board. I along with a lot of others around here are thrilled with our Gigabyte boards.

So if you wanted to SLI in the future, you may want to look at a Crossfire motherboard as that is what you will need with an ATI video card. Quite honestly unless you are trying to impress your friends or have money to throw around SLI or Crossfire is a waste of money in my opinion. You get very little performance increase for double the money, does not make much sense to me. In a couple years when the HD4850 is obsolete a single graphics card solution will be an better option than adding another HD4850 to your system.

Make sure that you are getting a 64-bit version of whatever operating system you plan on running. Otherwise with the 32-bit versions your system will only detect 3GB's of the 4GB's you will have installed. Are you planning on doing any CD or DVD Burning? I would either get a DVD-Burner that can function as all three or get DVD-Burner to go along with the DVD-Rom you have selected.

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auditt241

The DS3R is a GREAT board. My sig rig cost about 1300 and we have some of the same parts. I don't want to get into the dual vs. quad argument but I went with a q6700 instead of the e8400 and I'm very happy. I know people say the e8400 is better but there's nothing like installing UT3, downloading another game, playing team fortress 2, listening to music and having 35 tabs open in firefox at the same time with no slowdown at all.

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yotenn53

Thanks for the help! Following the suggestions I changed the graphics card to the Radeon 4850 and power supply to the corsair. Also changed the case to the Antec nine hundred mid tower case. I did some research into quad cores, but in regards to gaming it seems that the duel cores seem to outperform the quad cores since most games can't take advantage of the extra cores. I'll definitely upgrade to quad cores in later years. In regards to SLI or Crossfire, I'll wait until I know more about it; aka three years later lol. Thanks for the help!

Any suggestions for DVD burners that can do DVD/CD burning and play DVD-Roms?

euphoricmix

No, they are really comparable. Just get a cheap retail version so you get the included software for burning and such. Like this HP 20X DVD-Burner, it is cheap and a retail version that comes with Nero.

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blind_stone

If your not going to do raid what about the ep35-ds3l, very similiar if not the same to the ds3r but no raid

*edit: I see that there is a rebate so that brings the diff down to only 10 bucks for the boards.