New gaming pc on sub $400

[Guest]

I've chosen to use intel e8400 (3Ghz) processor and most likely geforce 8800 video card. what mobo do you guys recommend, and what power supply?

after i get everything running correctly, i may consider overclocking in the future, so i guess i should take that in mind when choosing mobo and power supply, right?

what about ram? 800 Mhz enuff?

I mainly play non-FPS shooters (but i will play some, left4dead, re5 when it's out) and plan on doin ps2 emulation with pcsx2.

i want to keep this build cheap and simple, but i don't think i'll go anything less than an e8400 since i want my pc to be relevant for the time being, even if i have to increase my budget

 

[DatmanII]

CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P

800 MHz RAM will be enough.
Get a nice CPU cooler also, I like the Noctua NH-U12P.

 

[MykC]

Recommended motherboards:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128357 Giga G31 mATX $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131288 Asus G31 mATX $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359 Giga P45 UD3R $115 -$15MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131299 Asus P45 $120 - $15MIR (xfire)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358 Giga P45 UD3P $135 - $20MIR (xfire)

If you can live with an mATX board then I'd take that, its the cheapest. For full size board, the UD3R is $15 cheaper than the UD3P because it doesn't support crossfire, which for you doesn't matter as you've chosen a nvidia card.

DDR2 800:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184 2x2GB Corsair DDR2 800 $45 - $25MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146731 2x2GB Mushkin DDR2 800 $45 - $10MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209 2x2GB G.Skill PI Black DDR2 800 $45

I'd recommend the corsair give the price, but if you want a little bit faster the other options are good as well. Its all up to how you want allocate your budget.

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817611006 550W PSU $80 - $40MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341010 OCZ 600W PSU $70 - $20MIR

A good 400W is all you need, 450W is what the manufactuer recommends, 550W could give you the room you need for a future power hungry card, but who knows what the power requirements will be when you choose your next video card. Either option above is good, the OCZ is a better "brand" but the reviews on the Tuniq 550W were good.

 

[MykC]

If your open to an AMD build:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.165025 Phenom II 720 with Biostart 790GX motherboard $185 MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184 2x2GB Corsair DDR2 800 $20 MIR

$205 after MIR

You can upgrade to to a Phenom II 810 for $35 or the Phenom II 940 $85.
Thats leaves whatever you want to spend on a GPU.
You can go with a 4830/4850/4870 to leave the option for a xfire upgrade path down the road, or a GTX 260 216 core for $170.

Given you budget this AMD build will give a significant performance advantage mainly because the cost/performance of the CPU/motherboard/RAM which frees up money to dump into the GPU.

CPU Cooling:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186020 Artic MX-2 Thermal Compound $7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003 Xigma $37 - $10MIR (AMD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029 Xigma Dark Knight $40 (Intel)

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-overclock-athlon,2161.html

 

[gkay09]

For the mobo, get this P43 mobo better than the G31s and is cheaper than the p45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128380
Should give you good value

And as for the PSU, +1 for the Corsair 550...but to keep the budget down, even an Antec EA500 would be enough...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007