First serious gaming rig -- any last minute advice?

[majestikk]

So I've been lurking around the forums looking at other gaming builds and suggestions and this is what I've come up with. I unfortunately cannot purchase from www.newegg.com because I live in canada, and www.tigerdirect.com doesn't quite have everything I'm looking for so I will be purchasing from www.ncix.com. but newegg would save me some money.

1 x PC ASSEMBLY AND TESTING (PRE-CONFIG OS IF PURCHASED)free
1 x Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor LGA775 Conroe 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 8MB Retail Box
1 x EVGA Nforce 680I SLI LGA775 Conroe ATX DDR2 2PCI-E16 2PCI SATA2 Sound GBLAN 1394 Motherboard
2 x Mushkin HP PC2-8500 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-1066 CL5-5-5-18 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit
1 x EVGA E-GEFORCE 8800GTX KO ACS3 PCI-E 626MHZ 768MB 2.0GHZ GDDR3 Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out Video Card
1 x Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 ATX 9 Drive Bay No PS Top USB2.0 1394 Audio
1 x Silverstone Strider ST1000 1000W Modular Power Supply ATX 20/24PIN 135MM Fan High Efficiency Black
2 x Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 8.9MS Hard Drive 3 Year MFR Warranty
1 x Samsung SH-S203B Black SATA DVD+RW 20X8X16 DVD-RW 20X6X16 DL 18X/12X INT DVD Writer OEM W/ Vista SW
1 x Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition 64BIT DVD OEM
1 x Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Audio 24BIT Sound Card 7.1 PCI-E X1 OEM
1 x LG L226WTY-BF 22IN Widescreen LCD Black 2MS 1680X1050 3000:1 300CD/M2 VGA DVI Tilt Sw *IR-$20.00*
1 x Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard USB Black Silver LCD Panel Programmable Backlit Keys
1 x Logitech G5 Laser Gaming Mouse 2000DPI USB Bilingual
1 x Razer Barracuda HP-1 Gaming Headset 8 Driver Surround Sound Headphones Black 6FT W/ Volume Control
1 x Razer Mantis Control Mouse Pad 444MM X 355MM X 4.3MM Precision Surface

I have $100 more to spend if I find it'll help me in the long run, I was thinking maybe a heat sink to replace the stock one?
All input and criticism is welcomed

Check Out Summary
Shipping & Handling: $83.41
Shipping Insurance: $87.85
Enviromental Fee: $22.00
Subtotal: $3,099.73
PST(7%): $216.98
GST(6%): $185.98
YOUR TOTAL: $3,502.69
CAD

 

[ever17]

Total price?

 

[akhilles]

Make sure the EVGA 680i is revision A1 which is best for overclocking quads.

One more thing: when you check out, open another tab/window with http://www.directcanada.com, search for the same products, click pricematch on ncix, then copy & paste the lower prices & links.

 

[majestikk]

wow I think I might just buy it from www.directcanada.com

Payment Detail
Shipping & handling $0.00
Insurance $35.26
Sub Total $2,350.96
6% GST $143.17
7% PST - BC residents $167.04
Total $2,696.43

unless ncix price matches everything listed; I clicked start price match and the only thing I could price match was the heavy duty box. Do I need to purchase everything individually for that?

 

[aevm]

Are you planning to add a second video card later? If not, you could replace the mobo and PSU with something less expensive, like GA-P35-DS3R and PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W for example.

The Razer headphones have some special features that only work with the Razer sound card:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=22346&vpn=RZ05-001301100-R2M1&manufacture=Razer
I forgot the details, sorry, I just read a review a few months ago.

If you intend to overclock add a Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme and a SFF21F fan. (Or, almost as good and cheaper, a Scythe Ninja - this one comes with a fan already.)

If you don't intend to overclock you could save some cash by getting PC2-6400 (DDR2-800) RAM.

Add another 2 GB of RAM whenever you can. Ideally, you'd get 2x2GB now so you can upgrade to 8 GB later.

Edit: I saw a review of WD7500AAKS at PC Perspective recently. That disk was even beating the Raptor X 150GB in a lot of speed benchmarks. I'd get one of those instead of the two 250 GB versions, even if the price/GB ratio is higher. Of course, sometimes it's faster if you have two (slower) disks, for example if you encode video and you have the source files on a disk and the target on another. You decide.

 

[Onus]

I'll second what aevm said, especially about a less expensive (but still top quality) PSU and mobo.

 

[majestikk]

I eventually intend to add another gpu so that's why I went with the mobo and huge psu
I changed the ram to 2x2gb and have ~$300 to work with, I could go with 8gb ram possibly?
I picked up the scythe ninja and it looks pretty bad ass
It looks like I'll be building this bad boy myself, wish me luck

edit: oh yeah I went with the razor sound card and I think I'm going to keep the 2x hdd's

With the money I saved is it worth it to go with 8gb ram? I didn't quite have enough to buy a 2nd gpu or go with the quad 3.0ghz
I'm not sure on the OC yet but with the scythe ninja I'm open and capable to the possibility, right?

edit again: ncix will price match directcanada and because my order is > $2000 they'll assemble and test and preconfig OS for free

I think I'll be purchasing this next friday so I'll most likely be checking back here before then to see if anybody can offer anymore advice/thoughts/comments

 

[aevm]

The quad 3.0 GHz is not worth it, at $1000 or whatever.

You don't need 8 GB. Very few people need that much. Most games crash if they reach 2 GB anyway.

Keep your money. The GTX will get cheaper in a few months, and you'll save a bit more in the meantime, so add a second card when you can, no rush. In fact, no current game really needs more than a single overclocked 8800 GTX at 1680x1050, so really no rush to get the second card.

 

[akhilles]

If you can't price match online, then you're doing it wrong. You have to check out before you price match. & if it fails, you can back out of the order. The PM button is shown while checking out. There are 5 more final steps before finalizing your order. Don't worry about overpaying.

I've done it. Many times. NXSOURCE, NCIX & DC are the same company.

 

[majestikk]

Total BEFORE Price Match $3,094.35
YOUR TOTAL $2,874.38

before and after there. yeah I figured out not to use pc builder or buy pc from them, instead if I want them to do the same thing is to add the assembly and testing for $25 or the assembly & testing + os config for $50

I went with 2x2GB pc-6400 ddr2-800

So, akhilles. After I submit my order they'll first verify the price match and then notify me, AND THEN I pay them?
Also, say they reject 1 or 2 price matches for whatever reason, can I still get the other 15 or so items at the price matched quote? I've never been through this before and you said you've done it a few times

 

[pchoi04]

In my opinion if you can afford now to go with a good PSU I always recommend going that route. I think the only PC component that gives you a solid upgrade path is the PSU.

 

[eternallydead]

you should wait for Nov 16th ish, nvidia is releasing the new 780i chipset, teh new 45nm quad cores will be out, and the new graphics cards should be out (just following the release of crysis)

$3500 seems rather steep too, you should shop around, and see the prices if you built it yourself.

 

[akhilles]

You have the final say on the order. If you're not happy with the result, cancel anything. But personally, I like NCIX better than DirectCanada & NXsource.

 

[colwynstein]

yeah I would recommend waiting. New Nvidia SLI boards with PCI-E 2.0 and 3way SLI and with the new high end cards not being released till early next year this will drive the price of the 8800GTX down so you could most prolly pick up 2 and have gaming heaven(if nvidia sort out their drivers) which in theory should have you sorted for the next few years as more and more games will support 64bit as they will need more RAM for the HUGE textures and high poly counts. Goos luck with ya build, but take eternallydead's and my advice and wait, as they say all good things come to those who wait