Hy guys. I have been thinking about building a pc in the future but I need help on finding out on what to choose and I have a couple of questions too.
anyway...
I have had my eye locked on the intel core 2 duo e8400 3ghz> is that a good cpu
And for my graphics ive been thinking about EVGA GeForce 8600GT 512MB> Would that card be good.
and by the way on the e8400 would it come with everything i need for it. If not what would I need to keep my cpu and graphics card cool. and what would be a good motherboard. a motherboard under $300 is what I might be looking for

Nothing wrong with the E8400, but the 8600GT is a low end card these days. Depends on what you want to do with it and how much it costs. I suggest looking through a couple of guides.

The first is at Ars Technica. You should look at the Budget Box, but I think their choice of an AMD processor is misguided. Concentrate on their choices for an Intel build, and the Intel components in the Hot Rod. http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/guide-200805.ars

The other guide is at The Tech Report: http://techreport.com/articles.x/15009 I'd pay close attention to some of their selections for the Econobox.

Retail cpus come with a heatsink/fan, but many people replace them with aftermarket coolers or just buy the OEM versions that come with lesser guarantees and no heatsink. You'll just have to see what all you can fit into your budget. The retail heatsinks will certainly work...I am using one myself.

my focus is not EXTREME gaming but a little less then that. I want to play gtasa max settings with no lag. its also set towards multimedia photo editing stuff like that.

Ive considered this motherboard: Asus Skt 775 P35 ICH9R DDR2 WIFI
would that be a good model?
and if it is how would i know which case would fit it?

If you need built-in wifi on the board, I don't see anything wrong with this choice, other than the fact it is a bit expensive for a P35 chipset board these days. Personally I'd get one of the Gigabyte boards recommended in The Tech Report article I linked earlier, if wifi isn't a must have.

This Asus board is an ATX full sized board. It will fit any mid and full tower cases that can accept an ATX motherboard. What you do not want is a micro-ATX case, as they will only take smaller sized boards. Looking at Newegg, they have 600 mid tower and over 100 full tower cases that can be used with this Asus motherboard.

You also do not want any version of a BTX case. It is a completely different standard.

ok. Iv thought about gigabyte boards along time now too. The question was roaming in my min rather it should be asus or gigabyte. So i will look at gigabyte boards now. and ive been wondering about that case thing for a long time lol thanks for the answer you nailed it lol.

Why not go with the advice you got here > http://club.cdfreaks.com/f7/building...ing-pc-248191/ instead of starting another thread.

if i was to choose a gigabyte board would this be good
gigabyte atx p35 lga775 ddr2 1066
GA-EP35-DS3R this one would be $141.99

if not this I will at the next considerable boards on the site catalog
I want the full power for my EVGA GeForce 8600GT 512MB out of it.
and does this board support ide hard disks or sata hard disks
i have a current wd 320gb 7200 disk ide I would like to switch on it if it ever happens

Newegg has that board for $99.99 after a $20 rebate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128086 Good board with the P35 chipset.

It has a built in PATA controller, so it can handle your WD hard drive

will it bottleneck anything i put in it?

ive seen a video of nfs prostreet on the geforce 8600gt and it looked pretty good.

What about this partial setup
might be good for a low budgeter like me

CPU:
1 Intel Core 2 Duo e8400 3ghz $207.99
GPU:
1 EVGA GeForce 8600GT 512MB $141.99
BOARD:
1GigaByte GA-EP35-DS3R $141.99
PSU:
1 Ultra Products Ultra X-Connect 600W PSU Black $82.99

also I know this stuff would be cheaper online but I cant get anything online so I look towards other oppurtunities

the gpu you are opting for ...is it ddr2 or ddr3....i heard ddr3 gives better performance

i think that is a ddr3 card but the price at evga site is 99$ http://www.evga.com/Products/moreInf...512-P2-N757-TR

yea its ddr3

btw I was looking at atx cases but what does it mean when it says that it is "mid tower case"

Mid tower ATX cases vary in size a bit, but are generally about 75% of the size of a full tower. The mid tower cases have become the most commonly used size, and will accommodate a full sized ATX board or a smaller micro-ATX sized motherboard. If you buy a full sized board, just make sure not to get a microATX case.

so i can use mid tower?
so many selections lol. So antec ultimate gaming case would be good enough even though the hardware itself is not gonna backup thecase name lol

I have no idea what ddr2 memory i should get though. At least1gb though

and if the board has dual channel memory does that mean i have to pair it up with another stick of memory on the other channel?

ive been searching for memory 2 and according to crucial for the ep35-ds3r Each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-6400,DDR2 PC2-8500,DDR2 PC2-5300 with a maximum of 2GB per slot.*
i know ecc wont work but here is a module I have considered will it work
1GB DDR2 PC2-5300 Ballistix Tracer 240-pin DIMM
and btw what does "dimm" mean?

the antec ultimate gaming case performs well as it looks right?

dimm = dual in line memory module. It is a term used on modern memory chips where the chip has independent contacts on each side of the chip, instead of the redundant ones found on the old style simms.

You should get DDR2 800 (PC2 6400). It is fairly standard now and there are good prices for it. On a budget build, I'd get two 1gb sticks of ram. Crucial, Corsair, Mushkin and Kingston are all reputable brands of ram. Others like GSkill and Patriot. Just make sure they come with a lifetime warranty...most do.

Never used that Antec case, so I have no opinion on it. Look up some reviews on the net. Not hard to find through Google.

yea ive looked at reviews for the case and didnt see to much bad things about it. and memory is 1GB DDR2 PC2-5300 Ballistix Tracer i couldent find a 6200 but of course I didnt look really thouruogly on the catalog I will be looking more>>>

im gonna see 1GB DDR2 PC2-5300 Ballistix Tracer
2 sticks of that should be good but i couldnet find 6200


OOPS sorry bout posting that twice my browser messed up i didnt know it posted