Putting together a new computer

[Thundercloud]

My friend needs a new computer and asked me to help build it.

Can you guys provide me with some feedback on these components before he takes out his credit card?

Intended role: Gaming and 3D animation thingie for school.

Going to buy from DirectCanada unless there are better deals elsewhere.

Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Dual Core Processor LGA775 1.8GHZ 800FSB 2MB (http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=12200BD3155)Retail
$135.20

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 Atx LGA775 Conroe P965 DDR2 PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 Gblan Audio Motherboard (http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11830BD3851)
$128.92
(also considering Asus P5K)

OCZ ATI Crossfire PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL5-5-5-15 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit (http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=13220BD7578)
$134.66 - $40 MIR

Evga E-GEFORCE 8800GTS 500MHZ 320MB 1.6GHZ GDDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I Hdtv Hdcp DIRECTX10 Video Card (http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11610BD2984)
$327.54
The 1.7 GHZ version is OOS ;_;

Antec P150 Quiet PC ATX Tower Case Silver 4X5.25 4X3.5INT 430W W/ 120MM Fan & Filters (http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=10370AC5990)
$144.08
(Also thinking of going with Sonata III or Solo + PSU intead...)

Total: $870.4 - $40 MIR

Still need: CPU cooling, 1-2 92mm case fan. Using existing hdd and optical drive.

[matkun]

1. Wait till July 22nd for the Intel price cuts to take effect.

2. Beef up the CPU. If he's doing 3d Animation, he'll be doing plenty of rendering probably or encoding at least. May want to actually invest in a quad core if the programs he uses support it.

[Amourek]

Does he need hard drives or optical drives? If he's re-using IDE ones, you should note the mobo only has 1 IDE channel good for 2 drives.

Add an Arctic Freezer 7 and overclock to 3Ghz.

[Thundercloud]

Alright, will wait til July 22.

I was hoping the E4300 would be sufficient if it's OC'ed to ~3.0 ghz or something. But he still has some budget left ($1400 after tax, including monitor) so I could put a better CPU in it.

The idiot bought a 160 gb sata drive for $90 few weeks ago when he didn't know his very very old computer didn't support it so he has a hard drive.

Programs he needs to run:
Zbrush
3dsmax
Torque game engine

[Crea]

sweet deal here to get a E6750 now, but u gotta get the Intel mobo together.

http://www.a-power.com/product-4148-384-1

[champ91]

Alright, will wait til July 22.

I was hoping the E4300 would be sufficient if it's OC'ed to ~3.0 ghz or something. But he still has some budget left ($1400 after tax, including monitor) so I could put a better CPU in it.

The idiot bought a 160 gb sata drive for $90 few weeks ago when he didn't know his very very old computer didn't support it so he has a hard drive.

Programs he needs to run:
Zbrush
3dsmax
Torque game engine

not to mention that's a very expensive price for a 160 GB sata HD?! if he got it at fs or bb, go return it.

[Thundercloud]

Ok, I'm looking at the OCZ ram at NCIX's sale.
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18495&promoid=1042

Since the motherboard's default voltage is 1.8v, would I be able to boot the machine up with the OCZ ram (2.1v) installed?

[ASharp]

Ok, I'm looking at the OCZ ram at NCIX's sale.
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18495&promoid=1042

Since the motherboard's default voltage is 1.8v, would I be able to boot the machine up with the OCZ ram (2.1v) installed?

If your motherboard supports that voltage (and I'm sure it probably does) then yes, it should run absolutely fine.

[Thundercloud]

The anandtech article said something about not POSTing with 2.1v ram, but also said something about bios revision solving most issues...

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2854

But how will I know what version of the BIOS the mobo will have? I do not have a spare stick of DDR2.

[ASharp]

But how will I know what version of the BIOS the mobo will have? I do not have a spare stick of DDR2.

I personally don't know much about this board but I can say that the BIOS issue shouldn't be a problem anymore. That article was written back in October 2006, it's now July 2007. The BIOS issues have probably been resolved by now and your motherboard should have a BIOS version that is relatively close to the latest if not the latest.

With regards to your previous question about supported voltage, I did some quick searching and it appears that the DS3 can support anywhere from 1.8V up to 2.5V for memory voltage (listed as Normal for default 1.8V up to +0.7V in the BIOS).

[Thundercloud]

Bought:

From NCIX Sale
DVD Writer
Antec Sonata III
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
$2 120mm case fan

From Infonec Sale
eVGA 8800GTS 320 MB Superclocked

Still need CPU and Ram.

After seeing the quadcore benchmark (http://www.behardware.com/articles/651-3/intel-core-2-quad-q6600.html) for 3ds max, my friend wants to spend a bit more and get Q6600. I know the motherboard supports Q6600, but would there be any negative impact from going with P965 instead of P35 motherboard with the Q6600?

Also, where can I find some cheap ram?