Criticize my build!

[The Anonymous]

Hey, I'm rather new here, as such I would greatly appreciate some advice on my current project.

I'm looking to make something capable of running today's games at decent settings, yet not totally future-proofed. I say this because of two reasons: I am currently on a fairly tight budget and I will likely be coming into a fair amount of money in ~2 years. My hopes are to build a mediocre rig that is open to future upgrades without too much modification. Without further ado:

MOBO: Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L
CPU: Intel E8400
GPU: eVGA 9800 GTX+
RAM: Corsair 4GB (2x 2GB) XMS2-6400
Case: ANTEC Nine Hundred
PSU: Corsair VX550W
HDD: Old 500GB Panasonic (Current)
Optical Drive: Generic HP DVD Burner w/ Lightscribe

I haven't had much luck finding a good overclocking article for the E8400 and therefore am not sure of my exact requirements for cooling. (I definitely won't be going above 4Ghz.) I realize these parts are all basically outdated, however, I'm Canadian, parts here are far and few between for a reasonable price. As far as the OS goes, I will likely use XP and Linux until 7 is available. The gaming I do is likely going to be at a CoD5 level (No Crysis). My future upgrades will hopefully consist of RAM, Quad-Core and GTX 295 (when the price drops a bit).

Nothing is set in stone yet, I'm flexible, so enlighten me of my mistakes.

As far as questions go:
What are my cooling needs?
Am I better off with the GTS 250 1GB?
I've had troubles with heat in the past, is there an alternative to the 900 better suited for the job?
I was hoping to stay away from SLI, is it in my best interest to go single card?

Thanks in Advance!

 

[gkay09]

Give you approximate about budget so we can get a build within that budget...
Are you open to other CPU options??? like going to AMD ???
There are many cheap and gud Crossfire boards available...so u an also look into the ATI options for the graphics card...

 

[The Anonymous]

Ya, I suppose that was pretty vague.

I was hoping to keep budget in and around ~$900 CAD ($730 USD)
I'm open with CPU options, I prefer Intel purely due to company practices rather than product quality.
I've stuck with nVidia my entire life, so ATI would be totally new to me. Would it be worth it?

 

[Why_Me]

That mobo won't do you much good for O/C on that cpu becouse of it's fsb. But it will O/C this E7400 just fine by moving up your fsb to (10.5 x 333) which gives you a nice O/C of 3.5GHz @ 1333 fsb. That psu down there is modular and it runs two 12v rails at 25A. The vid card is the new gts 250 which runs a bit better than the 9800gtx for the fact it scales better. Not to mention it's a low power consumption card that requires only one PCI-e connector.

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=29812&vpn=THREE%20HUNDRED&manufacture=ANTEC $88.60
Antec Three Hundred Mini Tower Gaming Case 300 ATX 3X5.25 6X3.5INT No PS Front USB & Audio

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022 $90.49
OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=36213&vpn=GA-EP43-UD3L&manufacture=Gigabyte $111.38
Gigabyte EP43-UD3L ATX LGA775 P43 FSB 1600 OC 1PCI-E 2PCI DDR2 SATA2 HD Sound GBLAN Motherboard

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115206 $149.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26163&vpn=OCZTVANQ&manufacture=OCZ%20Technology $32.28
OCZ Vanquisher CPU Heatsink AM2 LGA775 S939 S940 S754 92MM 800-2000RPM

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130468 $179.99
EVGA 512-P3-1150-TR GeForce GTS 250 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail / Free Call of Duty: World at War w/ purchase, limited offer

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122 $51.99
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

 

[The Anonymous]

Thanks for the help!

If the E8400 won't overclock much, is it in my best interest to go for a quad core? (Namely the Q8200/Q6600) Also, the E7400 only has 3MB of L2 compared to the E8400's 6MB, is this relevant? I realize the GTS 250 is newer, however, most of the benchmarks/reviews I've seen seem to get a few fps more on the 9800 GTX+. Do you feel it's a better card?

BTW those prices are much nicer than others I've found (well within my budget) If I were to upgrade something on that list, what would take priority? (MOBO and CPU?)

Thanks again!

 

[Why_Me]

Thanks for the help!

If the E8400 won't overclock much, is it in my best interest to go for a quad core? (Namely the Q8200/Q6600) Also, the E7400 only has 3MB of L2 compared to the E8400's 6MB, is this relevant? I realize the GTS 250 is newer, however, most of the benchmarks/reviews I've seen seem to get a few fps more on the 9800 GTX+. Do you feel it's a better card?

BTW those prices are much nicer than others I've found (well within my budget) If I were to upgrade something on that list, what would take priority? (MOBO and CPU?)

Thanks again!

The E8400 is a great over clocker, it's just that you chose the wrong board to O/C that cpu. Look for a P45 board that supports standard 1600 FSB. As far as the bench marks go for that gts 250, a lot depends on if it's the 512mb or 1 gig version.

http://techgage.com/article/evga_geforce_gts_250_superclocked/ <=== test results for the gts 250 1 gig

http://techreport.com/articles.x/16504 <=== more test results

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/913/1/ <=== more test results

http://www.ninjalane.com/reviews/video/palit_gts250 <=== more test results

 

[The Anonymous]

Look for a P45 board that supports standard 1600 FSB.

How about the GA-EP45-UD3L?

Thanks a bunch for the links, I think I will go for the GTS 250 now.
Your original links totaled ~$700, If I had another 200, where should I spend it?

 

[Why_Me]

Look for a P45 board that supports standard 1600 FSB.

How about the GA-EP45-UD3L?

Thanks a bunch for the links, I think I will go for the GTS 250 now.
Your original links totaled ~$700, If I had another 200, where should I spend it?

I would move up to the 1 gig version of the gts 250. If you look at the benchmarks in those links the 1 gig did a lot better.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127421 $193.99
MSI N250GTS-2D1G-OC GeForce GTS 250 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail
Free Call of Duty: World at War w/ purchase, limited offer

 

[The Anonymous]

Sounds good, but just out of curiosity, what would you say the most restraining part of this build is? (First to upgrade.)

 

[geofelt]

Sounds good, but just out of curiosity, what would you say the most restraining part of this build is? (First to upgrade.)

The E8400 at stock speeds will be good enough to drive a GTX285 in most games.
At a clock rate of 3.0 or better, the vga card is much more important for gaming than the cpu.
At that level, overclocking is good for bragging, but it will not net you as much increase
in FPS as a better vga card will. Today, very few games can make use of more than two cores.
Flight simulator X and supreme commander are exceptions. It is not a trivial matter to code multi threaded programs,
and game vendors will not sell too many games that require quads to run.
I don't see this changing in the next couple of years.

Net: a faster duo for the increased clock speed.


SLI/crossfire has been a poor upgrade path in the past. It should be used only by
those who will not currently be satisfied by the fastest available single vga card
which is currently the GTX295. The 4870, or GTX260-216
offer very good performance for the money now.
To get SLI. you have to spend more up front for a SLI capable mobo,a
more powerful SLI capable PSU, and better case cooling. Upgrading a single card later with a
second equal card does not get you 2x increase, it is more like 1.3x to 1.8x depending on the game.
At that time, you will still be paying top dollar for a card that is closer to
being obsolete.
It would be better to sell the old card and use the proceeds
towards a better new generation single card.
I like the GTX250 or GTX260-216.

To save a few loonies, look at the Antec 300. It costs less than the 900, and it will cool superbly.

I would spend a bit more up front to add an oem cpu cooler. Xigmatek makes a good one for not much. It will keep your cpu cooler under load, and be much quieter than the stock cooler.

For a new build, I would get a sata dvd burner. They don't cost much, but the cabling is so much nicer.

The corsair ram is a good deal, and is all you need.

Do plan on vista-64 bit or W7-64. You need it to use all 4gb.
If you are a student look into an academic license for Vista, it is cheaper.

 

[The Anonymous]

Thanks, you've cleared up a lot of my questions.

If you are a student look into an academic license for Vista, it is cheaper.

I already own both Vista and XP. So that's not an issue.

It would be better to sell the old card and use the proceeds towards a better new generation single card.

Exactly what I wanted to hear.

I've done nothing but read this entire weekend and I think I may just go with the GTX 285. From the reviews I've seen, it looks like it will be worth it. My only concern with this is: will the E8400 bottleneck it any? (If I manage a 4Ghz OC?)

Oh, and thanks for the tip on the case, much appreciated.

 

[geofelt]

Thanks, you've cleared up a lot of my questions.

If you are a student look into an academic license for Vista, it is cheaper.

I already own both Vista and XP. So that's not an issue.

It would be better to sell the old card and use the proceeds towards a better new generation single card.

Exactly what I wanted to hear.

I've done nothing but read this entire weekend and I think I may just go with the GTX 285. From the reviews I've seen, it looks like it will be worth it. My only concern with this is: will the E8400 bottleneck it any? (If I manage a 4Ghz OC?)

Oh, and thanks for the tip on the case, much appreciated.

How well the E8400 does may also depend on the resolution you will use. I have found this article to be very helpful in assessing vga needs. The cpu used was a E8400 stock. Note particularly the 60fps line for the games and resolutions you want to play at:
http://www.guru3d.com/category/vga_charts/

 

[The Anonymous]

That's much better than I had hoped. just to clarify, will the EP45-UD3L be sufficient to overclock the E8400 any amount? It does support 1600MHz FSB. Thanks again!