Raiden

Right now what I have;
Dell XPS System (about 2 years old)
Pentium 4 640 Prescott CPU, 3.2GHz
512MB Dual Channel Ram, (4-4-4-4, DDR2 266MHZ)
Nvidia 6800GT, 256MB 400MHz

I want to upgrade to new system like this;
-Create a Gaming Rig (Vista Compatible)
-Price Range; $700-$1,000.
-Watercooling to ease overclocking/noise.
-Single graphics card (No SLI/Crossfire)
-I want to overclock the E8400 from 3GHz to 4GHz

So far I've decided on this;
CPU: E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 Processor $195
Motherboard: GA-EP35-DS3L $60
Video Card: EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 512MB PCI Express 2.0 $230
Sound: Creative Audigy SE 7.1 Channels PCI - OEM $28
Case: Antec Three Hundred $70
Power Supply: Antec 850Watt Power Supply $120
DVD/CDROM: SATA Samsung WriteMaster SH-S203N $30
RAM: I'll go ahead and try experimenting with EricM9104's suggestion.
G.SKILL 2x 2GB DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit $105
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm $32

(Wishlist url - Does not include Case + Power Supply Combo discount.)
Subtotal: $862.70
Shipping: $31.86
Grand Total: $894.56

I'm also interested in using a H220 Kit in the future. But a Tuniq Tower $50 for now sounds fine. (Or maybe even the Xigmatek HDT s1283? $37)

Note: I have updated the setup! I'm open to other suggestions. I'm not new to custom building a PC, but I am new to watercooling and overclocking, which is why I have been reading this forum over the past 2-3 weeks. Thanks for any help!

SergeRY

there are plenty of new motherboards that will perform better than a p5b. Is the price of the loop included in the $700-1000?

Edit: The new p45 boards for example, are 2 generations in beyond the p5b. The P5Q @ 134.99, or the P5Q Deluxe @ 209.99 are Asus' replacement for the p5b and would do nicely.

A cheaper alternative is to go with a p35 board from the previous generation. Like Gigabyte p35-ds3L @ 83.99

get 2GB of ram. Speed/performance is up to you, something like a 2GB set of kingston @ 55.99 would work well. Of course RAM is pretty cheap these days so you may consider a 4GB kit like this Corsair Kit 86.50, but also with a rebate.

Get your case and the rest of your components/watercooling supplies. Lots of options case wise. You should look around to get an idea of whats available and then get something big enough to put your watercooling loop in.

Then get the most card you can afford reasonably. Nvidia 8800gt's and ATI 4850's can be had for around $150. start there.

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Currently thinking about: when is that hydra engine gonna be available for buy??

Recommended Fallout 3 Mods

Dezixn

$1,000 for a whole (or mostly whole) new PC with watercooling sounds strange.
You could get the kit you mentioned, but if i remember correctly it performs about on part with high end aircoolers. (correct me if i'm wrong)
IMO spend your money on better components, not watercooling, not at the budget.

SergeRY

I agree that your first priority should be on quality components. You can find very reasonably priced but good performing air coolers, like the Tuniq Tower which will be much easier to set up and perform better than that kit.

Also make sure you get a reliable power supply. These are often neglected and cause headaches. A Corsair 750TX is as reliable as they come, and this one has plenty of power for a single card overclocked cpu. Almost overkill but the price is ridiculous right now @ $109.99 after MIR.

__________________
!!! [TOTAL] !!!

Currently thinking about: when is that hydra engine gonna be available for buy??

Recommended Fallout 3 Mods

Raiden

Thanks for the input, I have been reading the stickies in the overclocking forums, but not the update threads! $700-1000 for total cost is what I'm looking at, I haven't purchased anything yet. I'd upgrade my Dell machine, but everything inside of it is proprietary. I tried to install a extra gig of ram (Kingston 533 DDR2 1GB Dual Channel Kit, Model# KVR533D2K2), and ended up getting BSOD (blue screen of death) because the newer ram was not compatible at the slower clock rate. Anyway, I've just about had it with trying to upgrade my dell, it's messy, and not really fun without paying for Dell-verified components that are over-priced. Besides.. I miss custom building my pc.

I have read somewhere that watercooling *can* be quieter, use less power (because of not having as many fans), and provide better heat dissipation. However, cannot I prove it! I do want to be more familiar with watercooling at any rate. So, I won't get into a debate of which is better, just for this initial build, I really want to try a solid water cooling solution that isn't extremely expensive. In this case that kit I mentioned is $200. I will definitely do more research about this issue.

I will definitely look at the specs on that Tuniq Tower 120 P4 vs. the kit I mentioned. As for your input on the PSU, I totally forgot to add that into the list. Sorry about that.. I knew I forgot something :P

I'll try to rewrite this tomorrow evening, thanks for the replies!
Edit: Sent out some positive reps too

skatingrocker17

With your price range you can do MUCH better than a 6800GT

k1t

water cooling actually use just much fans as you do for air cooling setup (take a look at the case mod section and you know what i mean.

as for board, i think the asus P5Q-pro gives a good balance for price-to-performance.

__________________

A Russian :D

get a 4850 for a vid card, its a really nice card for the $$

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RonindeBeatrice: It clearly isn't... Where do you get off misinforming people?
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you're doubting a guy named A_Russian about an AK47?! omg just when you thought you heard it all

dragosmp

I am on a different note here, you can do much better for a gaming rig.

I see it this way, for a gaming rig you need a great VID card, not so much a great CPU. From this perspective I recommend this:
1. Motherboard ABIT IP35pro (not saying it's better, but I just now it's great) - 110$
2. CPU keep the prescott (free)
3. VID card Radeon 4850 200$
4. 4GB of ram (2x2gb kit) around 80$ depending on weather it's OCing ram or not
5. Sound card Asus Xonar DX - around 100$: solid value, great sound, not Creative

This goes to around 500$, leaves you room for the rest of things. Buy a good Tuniq 120 as CPU cooler and take it to 4GHz. The rig I proposed will leave in the dust the other while gaming is concerned. The VID card makes 80% of the hard work and the 4870 is 10x better the 6800 (no kidding).

Cheers and good luck with the new rig!

__________________

Mini-ITX Acrylic build log (soon to come)


Nice guides:
How to: Silence any HDD with 1$
Driver modd: SB Live! and Audigy Value/SE/LE/24bit in X-fi Xtreme Audio
Driver modd: enable Crystalizer and X-Fi console on Audigy EMU cards

Dezixn

It can be quieter and use less power. But most of the time it's the same if not more.
Water cooling is very interesting and I understand why you want to get into it, I did the same thing hah.
For $200 I would be you could build you're own custom loop that would outperform the pre-built system. It would require some thrifty shopping, some help from the water cooling gurus here, and maybe some use of the for sale forum here, but it would be a better experience and perform better.
Just make sure you are ready for the commitment!