Doing research on what type of computer parts to buy took me about a week to complete. I had a choice between Intel and AMD for processors. I decided on Intel’s Core 2 Duo pretty quickly. My next choice was which chipset to get on my motherboard, Intel’s P965 or 975x or NVIDIA’s 650i or 680i. I read reviews on various motherboards and loved what I read about each board. Since I own 3 IDE drives, the Nvidia boards were out. They only have one IDE connection on their boards which would have been used by my two DVD drives. That being the case, I turned to the Intel P965 and 975x chipset boards.
My first choice of manufactures was Gigabyte, since every system I’ve ever built had a Gigabyte motherboard. Gigabyte’s GA-965P-DS3 board looked nice. It had lots of features and received editor’s choice awards from a number of websites and publications. The price was about $112 which made it look even better. The processor I wanted was Intel’s E6600 and I wanted to make sure the board would make the best use of this powerful CPU.
I read a lot of articles and reviews about the 975x working well with the E6600 so I went on the hunt for the best 975X motherboard. My focus was constantly being directed towards the Asus P5w DH Deluxe. It too had received rave reviews and awards. The board had an extra IDE connection and a number of great features.
Asus P5w DH Deluxe
- Intel® Quad-core CPU Ready
- LGA775 socket for Intel Core2 Duo, Core2 Extreme
- Intel 975X +Intel ICH7R 1066/800MHz
- Dual-channel DDR2 800/667/ 533 max 8GB
- 2 x PCI-E x 16 / 2 x PCI-E x 1/ 3 x PCI
- Support ATI CrossFire graphics cards
- Intel Matrix Storage technology
- Dual Gigabit LAN
- Dolby Master Studio technology
- ASUS EZ-Backup
In the end I got this motherboard, the price was $202 from Mwave and Intel’s E6600 Core 2 Duo for $224.80 from ClubIt.
Now that I have two of my components, I started looking for a replacement for my power supply. I wanted something with enough power, low noise and a energy efficiency rating. I went with Corsair HX520 because of the reviews and the $20 rebate that was offered at ZipZoomFly. Price $105 - $20 rebate - $85.00
While reading reviews and looking at benchmarks I kept seeing EVGA’s 8800 GTS overclocked NVIDIA graphics card mentioned. From what I read the card is great. It supports Direct X 10 and as a number of other fantastic features. Sometimes I play games and this card will perform better, so they say. The choice came down to the 320 or 640 MB version. The 640 was another $70 over the 320 so I got the 320 for $274 - a $15 rebate.
My DDR2-800 memory choice was based upon reviews as well. Tom’s Hardware recommended PDP Patriot “Extreme Performance” the $50 rebate was a great incentive as well. Price $145.99 - $50 rebate, $95.99 final price.
Knowing my inventory of items to purchase, I had to find the cheapest places to get them. I had placed an order with NewEgg for all of the parts I wanted. I called them up and they made me mad so I canceled it and ordered from different stores and saved $39 by doing so. The online stores I used were: ZipZoomFly, Clubit and Mwave. They all have great service and good prices. I used PriceGrabber to compare prices on the parts.
Parts and breakdown
Power Supply: Corsair HX520W - $85.00 (ZipZoomFly.com)
Motherboard: Asus P5w DH Deluxe - $203.00 (MWave.com)
Processor: Intel E6600 Core 2 Duo - $204.80 (Clubit.com)
Memory: DDR2-800 Patriot PDC22G6400LLK - $95.99 (Clubit.com)
Graphics Card: EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked 320MB - $259.99 (ZipZoomFly.com)
Total: $848.78 for a system that should last me another 3.5 years.
I forgot to mention this but I installed Windows Vista Ultimate on a 500GB Segate HD I purchased in January. With the Asus motherboard I’m able to select which drive I want to boot from by pressing F8 when I turn on the computer. This is different from a dual boot since I have different versions on Windows on two separate drives. I like the way Vista looks, its a pretty OS. I’m still not used to it yet, most of the system is different however everything is there. So far I can say I love the new Search feature. It’s been three days so far with Vista and I haven’t loaded my old XP Professional yet.
I also installed the new MS Office 2007 Professional that I received for attending a Microsoft Launch 2007 event. This suite looks sweet. I have only used Outlook but I looked at Word, Excel and Powerpoint and they all have a visual upgrade. Once I start working with them, I’ll be able to tell if I like what Microsoft has done with them.
My Adobe Web Premium Suite arrived yesterday. I still have to get Premiere, After Effects and Encore. I may get them after my summer classes are done.
Overall I’m happy with the system I put together, it’s DCashtastic
