Desktop rig

Ok, since I am officially done school for the summer and shall begin work in a couple of weeks, I shall be saving cash for a desktop. My budget is 2000 dollars Canadian with a monitor, however I dont mind stretching it a bit for the monitor part. I buy all my stuff from TigerDirect.ca cause their warehouse is close to me. So far I have come down to this:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4 Ghz OEM CPU - 299.97 CAD
OCZ Platinum Revision-2 2048 MB of DDR2 Dual Channel RAM - 174.99
PNY GeForce 8600 GTS 256 MB GPU - 285.99
EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard - 285.99
Ultra X-Pro 750 watt SLI PSU - 199.99
Ultra Grid ATX Mid-tower case - 113.99
2x Seagate 160 GB 7200 RPM HDD's - 86.99 each

1534 CAD before tax - 1734 CAD after taxes. Processing power wise, that seems like a pretty powerful computer for gaming on. I dont play a ton of hardware intensive games, although this rig should run Oblivion fine enough until the 8800's come down in price I would imagine. I am mainly an RTS and FPS kind of guy, however I like adventures and I really want to play Oblivion. So 1700 for a gaming PC that will be DX10 compatible seems like a good price. Besides I have to get a monitor for it as well and thats not going to be cheap either.

Oh yea and you say you want to rock Oblivion, take a glance at this: http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2970&p=6

Keep in mind that is only 1024x768, max settings but still, you're getting a new monitor and probably won't be looking at anything less than 1680x1050, so take that into consideration.

Ok, since I am officially done school for the summer and shall begin work in a couple of weeks, I shall be saving cash for a desktop. DSgamer64

You're lucky I'm starting my finals on friday.

My budget is 2000 dollars Canadian with a monitor, however I dont mind stretching it a bit for the monitor part. I buy all my stuff from TigerDirect.ca cause their warehouse is close to me. DSgamer64

Did you try to check the prices with NCIX? Usually I can get stuff cheaper from them.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4 Ghz OEM CPU - 299.97 CAD >>>> Why not an E6300 and then overclock it?
OCZ Platinum Revision-2 2048 MB of DDR2 Dual Channel RAM - 174.99
PNY GeForce 8600 GTS 256 MB GPU - 285.99 >>> Why would you want to use such new hardware? Let other people be the beta testers. I would just use a 8800gts 320MB, which is sooo much faster, or even a 7900gs since DX10 is not used today.
EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard - 285.99 >>> Personally I would use something cheaper like an MSI P6N SLI-FI. 680i is just too costly.
Ultra X-Pro 750 watt SLI PSU - 199.99 >>> Ultra is scrap for PSUs. No need to buy such poor quality for the price. Also your system don't need 750W of power. Did you look at the Corsair PSUs? They look perfect for your system, or you could even use some Seasonic S12 or Enermax Liberty in the 500 - 550W range.
Ultra Grid ATX Mid-tower case - 113.99
2x Seagate 160 GB 7200 RPM HDD's - 86.99 each >>> You can generally purchase 250GB or 320GB HDDs for less cost by GB.

These are just general comments.

1.) If you are just starting to save, realize that prices are always changing. That CPU might drop in price soon.

2.) You probably don't need that high-end a motherboard. A 650i SLi would do.

3.) That PSU is overkill, and not from a top-tier manufacturer.

4.) An 8600GTS is not much better than a X1950Pro. in the States, an X1950 is over $50 cheaper after rebate.

Sucks you live in Canada, cause the gap between the 8600 and 8800GTS's are minimal here, while the performance difference is extreme. If you're just now starting to save, don't set your decisions in stone. ATI has yet to release their mid and high-end DX10 cards, and hopefully they aren't as disappointing as Nvidia's. If buying now, imo you'd be far better off getting a cheaper 600w psu and a 650i mobo, that should give you the extra needed for a 8800GTS, which would improve the performance drastically. BeavermanA

What is the difference between 650i and 680i motherboards? The 8800 GTS is almost 100 dollars more then the 8600 GTS, although I would agree that looking at the performance benchmarks, there is a huge improvement. Maybe it would be within my best interest to go for the 8800 GTS after all instead of cheaping out. Well I am just saving now, so I might not be able to get the parts for another month. I might order the case ahead of time, however thankfully I only need to buy a CPU fan since the case comes with two 120 mm intake and exhaust fans on the front and back for airflow.

http://www.nforcershq.com/article7529.html

Click on the "Techspot" link at the end of the paragraph to view the entire comparison.

[QUOTE="DSgamer64"]Ok, since I am officially done school for the summer and shall begin work in a couple of weeks, I shall be saving cash for a desktop. cummingspatrick

You're lucky I'm starting my finals on friday.

My budget is 2000 dollars Canadian with a monitor, however I dont mind stretching it a bit for the monitor part. I buy all my stuff from TigerDirect.ca cause their warehouse is close to me. DSgamer64

Did you try to check the prices with NCIX? Usually I can get stuff cheaper from them.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4 Ghz OEM CPU - 299.97 CAD >>>> Why not an E6300 and then overclock it?
OCZ Platinum Revision-2 2048 MB of DDR2 Dual Channel RAM - 174.99
PNY GeForce 8600 GTS 256 MB GPU - 285.99 >>> Why would you want to use such new hardware? Let other people be the beta testers. I would just use a 8800gts 320MB, which is sooo much faster, or even a 7900gs since DX10 is not used today.
EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard - 285.99 >>> Personally I would use something cheaper like an MSI P6N SLI-FI. 680i is just too costly.
Ultra X-Pro 750 watt SLI PSU - 199.99 >>> Ultra is scrap for PSUs. No need to buy such poor quality for the price. Also your system don't need 750W of power. Did you look at the Corsair PSUs? They look perfect for your system, or you could even use some Seasonic S12 or Enermax Liberty in the 500 - 550W range.
Ultra Grid ATX Mid-tower case - 113.99
2x Seagate 160 GB 7200 RPM HDD's - 86.99 each >>> You can generally purchase 250GB or 320GB HDDs for less cost by GB.

There is a reason why I want two HDD's of the same size. For one, I know that sometimes internal drives can die out, not to mention with gaming you can put a lot of stress on them and one is going to be for all my music (recording needs a fair bit of storage). Also the E6600 is not that much more expensive then the 6400, however I know jack squat about overclocking, however I do know that the 6600 is can be overclocked due to the RAM that I have chosen is 800 Mhz and that is what the CPU requires for an overclock. However the 6600 is the same price for the OEM right now as the 6400, although that could change quickly. If I go for this configuration, its only about 1700 after taxes with all my drives and an 8800 GTS:

2x Seagate HDD's = 173.98
Ultra Grid case = 113.99
OCZ Revision-2 2GB RAM = 174.97
2x Lite-On drives = 133.98
USB PCI card = 19.99
wireless NIC = 29.99
PNY GeForce 8800 GTS = 378.99
Asus P5NSLI mobo = 132.99
Intel C2D E6400 = 279.99
600 watt PSU = 69.99

Looks great as of today. Month or two when you have the money there will be better options, such as the E6420 for instance, or the E6600 for ~$75 USD less than current prices. The best AMD DX10 gfx card would be out of your budget, and I haven't really read anything about their other offerings, but their GTS equivalent might be better, so again don't finalize your decisions until you are very close to having the money in hand. The rest of the stuff looks good, nothing really going to change besides maybe a slight drop in prices, which I'm sure you won't mind.

Also a $70 CAD 600w PSU makes me kinda anxious, especially if you're going to be oc'ing. Alright now I noticed something else you may or may not be aware of. Know you wanted a 680/650i board, the P5N-SLI is a nforce 570 board as far as I know, the P5N-E SLI is the 650i chipset.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4 Ghz OEM CPU - 299.97 CADDSgamer64

Whoa, where'd you get that for THAT price? Does OEM make it cheaper or something? 

[QUOTE="DSgamer64"]Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4 Ghz OEM CPU - 299.97 CADnorwish

Whoa, where'd you get that for THAT price? Does OEM make it cheaper or something?

Wow yea that is a great deal, TigerDirect.ca has it, they must already be dropping the prices cause that's only $265 USD. OEM makes it a little cheaper, mine was only $5 USD less I think when I bought it, but may as well have saved the money since I never intended to use the Intel HSF.  

[QUOTE="norwish"]

[QUOTE="DSgamer64"]Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4 Ghz OEM CPU - 299.97 CADBeavermanA

Whoa, where'd you get that for THAT price? Does OEM make it cheaper or something?

Wow yea that is a great deal, TigerDirect.ca has it, they must already be dropping the prices cause that's only $265 USD. OEM makes it a little cheaper, mine was only $5 USD less I think when I bought it, but may as well have saved the money since I never intended to use the Intel HSF.  

The OEM doesnt come with a CPU fan, however I would rather buy my own and get a good quality one that will be able to help disspate the heat better then the run of the mill generic brand that you get with the CPU.

The MSI P6N SLI motherboard is 650i and its 12 bucks cheaper then the Asus and other brands that have the 650i nForce.