Falconise

YVW! Glad it is working out. I think you will be amazed at how fast it is compared to what you are using now. I am in Vancouver. Yes, I would build it for you if you were here too! LOL!

Jeeze, sorry about a few of these. I should have mentioned to look out for erroneous prices which are calculated AFTER an MIR! See below... Case:

Nono my friend! They are valid only as far as putting them into your cart. Once in the cart, the prices will remain for 1 week! After that, they will be at regular price. So the trouble is only in putting old priced things into your cart, not holding them there. In fact, I am pretty sure that if I had something in may cart, and posted you a link, you could still add it at sale price as long as it isn't more than a week old.

OMG, lol, that is great news! MIRs are good then, as well as no duty, brokerage or exchange rates. Yes, the SXS 600w would be a better choice. The 550w Fatality is only good if you must have modular cables. IMHO, modular cables can cause problems, more resistance due to the extra connection. Besides, it is cheaper and rated higher. Looking forward to the final price check.

Hard Drives - frusterating changes. All Seagates except their enterprise drives have 3 year warranties. No idea when they changed this, but whatever. I have 4 of these 250gig 16mb cache: http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=14120DR2390&vpn=ST3250410AS&manufacture=SEAGATE They were on sale for $49 a pop not long ago, now they are never even listed. I wanted one more so I could shuffle things around and then use 4 of them in a RAID 0 array. Nix on that for now. For a dollar less, you can get the 320gig version (which is really a 500gig drive with one side of one platter disabled because it is faulty): http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=14120DR8821&vpn=ST3320613AS&manufacture=SEAGATE That may be an option for you to save some money, if you really don't need 500 gigs. I have one 500gig 32mb cache that I was planning on eventually getting 4 of, to build another 4x drive RAID 0 array. Nix on that, because this drive is not available or in stock. It used to be $65, well worth the extra coin to upgrade from a 250gig: http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=14120DR9680&vpn=ST3500320AS&manufacture=SEAGATE Now all they have is a 16mb cache version, but a year newer: http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=14120DR8025&vpn=ST3500418AS&manufacture=SEAGATE They dropped the cache down to save money, but I have no idea if they got the speed back in other advancements. Surfing for benchmark comparrisons would be the next thing to do, but later for that. This is all she wrote for Seagate, unless you look at the bigger drives. The only option other than these is to look at Western Digital (I am mad at them because of one of my four 250gig drives is being problematic, hence my need to change the drives in the array), Hitachi (not the fastest drives on the market) and Samsung (also not the fastest). I hate it when a product disappears from availability before I am done buying them!

My pleasure! I know I don't fly with you guys these days, but I have a lot in common with you all and keep in touch because of this. The one thing I can give back is knowledge and advice, and am happy to do so.

LOL, no! Digging through this crap is part of the process no matter what or how you buy. Consider how much you have learned in the last couple days! How much is education worth to you? Cost is only time at this point! I have bought many a parts, and sometimes built complete systems in order to learn about the tech. Education to me is worth a few hundred bucks sometimes. I can recoup some of it when I sell stuff. It is minor compared to course fees or even books! Be assured, I am enjoying this. 'Tis no trouble at all. Another thing to check on is duty to cross the border. I know there is one coming up, but no idea about going down. Also, broker fees often apply to duty and cross border -- usually around $30. I checked a couple of the rebates, the OCZ is good for the US, but Corsair is Canada only. So ymmv! It may be well worth your while to take the final specs to some local stores and see if they can match it in price and components. You can also keep shopping the US sites for the same specs and see if the prices are better -- they should be because the parts have no duty tacked onto them when NCIX brings parts up here. Exchange alone should make a big difference, the canuck dollar is at 80 cents these days! The pricematches will certainly be approved, and you will get an email telling you so. If one is NOT approved, you then have the option of changing the item out for another, or cancelling the whole order. No worries there. On to your list... That PSU is nice, but at $105 (before rebate) it is steep and at that price there are better units like the Corsair 620W (not on sale this week). The StealthXStream 600w at $85 is basically the same unit except no modular cables. Modular cables can be more trouble than they are worth. Go with the SXS 600, or even the Corsair 400w if you need to trim costs. The mobo will take an NV card, no problemo. The ram is better, but costs more (considering that Corsair's MIR is no good in the US). The vid card is a great price even without the MIR, grab it! The DVD can be replaced with one of the two I posted above, save a few bucks. The HD can be replaced with the same unit I posted above, on sale. I still need to look at other options here, perhaps drop Seagate because there is no longer the 5 year warranty advantage.

Yeah, I know. I never count them up on the bill, but do mail them out. When the money comes back, it is just a gift horse. Note that a lot of them MAY be Canadian only! Once you get the list locked down and priced, I will double check your pricematches to be sure you are getting the best deals possible.

Yes Fireman, you have that right! The final spec is very good and quite common. Swap out the cpu and video for higher end ones, and you have a state of the art high powered system that will rock any game on the market at high resolutions and max details. The rest of the components don't come into play much, providing they are up to snuff to run what you have. In the meantime, you have a very competent system that will be quite fast, and overclockable to very fast, at a reasonable start price. I didn't realise the DVD I posted was IDE, shows you how easy a mistake can be made. I just didn't expect NCIX to still be selling them on sale. No, you don't want IDE, you want SATA... and IDE DVD would come into the mix only if you planned on using all the sata ports for hard drives, or have an older system. Nevertheless, they do sell the SATA version for the same price on sale. The only options they have this week are both $27: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=33902&vpn=SH%2DS223F%2FBEBS&manufacture=Samsung&promoid=1060 http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=32234&vpn=GH22NS30%20BLACK&manufacture=LGElectronics&promoid=1060 I have no preference over the two. Next week, I'd bet there will be a sata drive for $22 on sale. I am very sorry, the hard drive is wrong too. That's a 16MB cache version and seems to be the latest model (7200.12 as opposed to a 7200.11). Amazing how fast things change... for months the only 500gb seagate available was the 32mb version or the older 7200.10 16mb version). It seems that Seagate are no longer producing a 32MB version of a 500gb drive, and I also notice the warranty is down to 3 years from the previous 5 years. There is no stock in on the 32mb version, so this part is still up in the air and needs more research (it's possible the newer 16mb drive is still faster than the older 32mb drive, but I really like the 5 year warranty). Let me get back on this later... You are correct again about the PSU. The 500w OCZ is a very nice unit, although it is minimalist in features it is rock bottom price for a quality unit. It has two problems: it only has 3x SATA and 2x 4pin peripheral (??) and lacks an 8pin EPS connection. The sata power is no problem for you, with only the dvd and hd to connect. I feel that you do need the 8 pin EPS connector though. While that board will run fine with only a 4pin and dual core, it may run fine with a quad core too, but you won't know untill you try. If you use an 8 pin, there will be no problem. Upgrading the PSU later with the CPU can be undue hardship and a bit of a PITA. However, if you have something else the old PSU can be used in, it is worth considering. Getting a unit with an 8pin now may be better. Some optional units: The Corsair 400w at $65 has an 8pin EPS, 6x sata 6x 4pin peripheral. That is miles ahead of the OCZ as far as connections go. The cables are long and sleeved, the case has awesome paint, quiet fan, and underrated for a solid 400w which could actually mean 500w sustained. http://www.corsairmicro.com/products/cx/default.aspx http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=33357&vpn=CMPSU%2D400CX&manufacture=CORSAIR&promoid=1060 OCZ's StealthXStream 600w has all the appropriate connections, nothing lacking here at all (I am running two of them in different systems). At $85, it is approaching a higher end price. Cables are nice and long, and sleeved. OCZ bought PC Power & Cooling (arguably the best PSU manufacturer in the world), and PCP&P have made this unit for them all along. The biggest difference with this unit is that it will run dual video cards (2x PCIe 6pin). http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=23934&vpn=OCZ600SXS&manufacture=OCZTechnology&promoid=1060 You can see, it is still short of sata connectors! Note that the GameXStream version of this unit has an LED fan, and that's about the only difference. Stealth = no lights, Game = lights. Another one at $85, the Seasonic 500w: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=29896&vpn=SS%2D500GB&manufacture=SeasonicElectronics&promoid=1060 For a 500w unit, it has the best connector combination of the lot. Can take two vid cards, 6x sata, and 9x peripheral! Seasonic are know for very solid PSUs.

No hurry... these deals come up all the time. You've waited a long time for this already, no worries about a few more weeks.

It often goes on sale, but even then a pricematch is usually better. Price these days is $22, up a bit due to exchange rate and crappy economics. http://hardwarecanucks.pricecanada.com/detail.php?product_id=235551&sku=FREEZER7PRO http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=10450AC4602&vpn=FREEZER-7-PRO&manufacture=ARCTIC%20COOLING

Not dissing you here... The motherboard offered is a low end G31 chipset, good for surfing not for gaming. That case may look nice but it is really a POS. A client of mine has and older version of one, it's on my bench at this very moment. It is very cheap inside, and will not house 120mm fans (it takes two 80mm in the rear, loud by comparrison). The intake fan slot is empty and sevearly limited because it has nowhere to get it's air from. The USB and sound ports are in a bad location, bottom of front. The PSU is a noname made by Delta, very risky. It may be rated at 600w, but will probably only do 400w sustained load. A 600w PSU that does not have an 8pin EPS connection, Active PFC or 80% Plus certification is a bad buy. Compare it's specs to the Corsair 400w, which is a far better PSU even though it is rated at 400w: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=33357&vpn=CMPSU%2D400CX&manufacture=CORSAIR&promoid=1060

Semi agreed. The 1066MHz FSB cpu will run lockstep with ram at 1066MHz, which is less stressfull on the northbridge as well as a faster bus to the ram and cpu. However, you can run those 800MHz FSB cpus at 1066MHz easily, and even 1333MHz with a good board and cooling. That is overclocking though... If the budget does not allow an E8400 or quad core from the start, might as well get a cheaper CPU to live with until you can upgrade the CPU to a faster one. IMHO, this is always better than saving money and waiting to make the purchase because this way you can at least use and enjoy the system in the meantime.

One problem with the OCZ StealthXStream is that it does not have an 8pin EPS connection, it only has a 4pin 12V. It will probably run the P5Q Pro just fine with only the 4pin and a diual core cpu, but with a quad core cpu there is no garantee. If you go with the P5QL Pro you will be fine. Otherwise, I'd suggest the Corsair or step up to the OCZ 600w model. Better deal on the DVD here: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=35499&promoid=1060 NCIX has a weekly sale page, click the banner on the top of the main page to go here: http://www.ncix.com/promo/promosale.php?webid=playoffs2009 ... and find a ton of deals. These change every wed evening, so that link will go dead... Same with the HD: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=36050&vpn=ST3500418AS&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1060 Also, NCIX accepts pricematching. You can find better prices on components from a few other places, making the purchase at NCIX at the matched price. Believe it or not, two of these other retailers are owned by NCIX: http://www.directcanada.com/ http://www.nxsource.com/ Search for better prices here: http://hardwarecanucks.pricecanada.com/ Then, in your cart at NCIX, click pricematch, add the prices and links, and they will verify and accept them when you place your order. If one price is NOT accepted, you have the option of changing it for something else, accepting the original price, or cancelling the order. You can also save shipping costs if you watch for an item in your list that comes with a Free Shipping for Entire Order deal. Sometimes, it is worth upgrading a part for this as the shipping costs are more than the part difference cost. Otherwise, this looks like a solid build. I've seen it many times with very similar components. It is quite powerful using quality components at the lowest price range. That case comes with two 120mm fans, which should be fine. It has mounts for two more on the side panel, which would help in GPU and CPU cooling, but add in noise. I think unless you are overclocking to the limit, or running two vid cards, you don't need to fill those slots. You should be fine cable-wise, the mobo comes with everything you need. 500 watts should be fine, with a name brand PSU. You will rarely reach that 400w load.

All mobos with PCIe slots will take both ATI and NV cards. With a crossfire board, you can run two ATI cards, with an SLI board you can run two NV cards. You can't run two NV cards in a crossfire board, or two ATI cards in an SLI board. However, the latest Intel X58 chipset for the core ixxx cpus can usually do both -- it is a liscencing thing with Nvidia that was holding things back and that is now resolved. An X58 system is not cheap. One of the linked boards is not a P5QL, it is a P5Q Pro. The other is a P5QL Pro. The biggest differences are that the more expensive one has a better location for the main ATX power line, it takes an 8 pin EPS power connection rather than a 4 pin 12V (needs a better PSU, 500W and up namebrand should be OK), it hasbetter onboard cooling and heatsinks, it is a larger size board (the P5QL is narrower yet still an ATX), it has Crossfire support, and a number of other features that are lacking in the P5QL. IMHO, the P5Q Pro is worth the extra money, especially if you hold on to it long enough to upgrade your processor to a quad later. The GTS 250 is a very good card for the money. I run a 9800GTX, which is basically identical to the GTS250, yet is still more expensive. The GTS250 is a very new product with a lower price bracket, uses a smaller die process and only needs 1x 6pin PCIe power connection where the 9800GTX requires two (needs a better PSU). And yes, that processor comes with a fan. Any retail box CPU will come with a fan, and (generally) only OEM processors do not. The thing is, the stock fan performs poorly and makes a lot of noise. Temps are generally 10+ degrees higher at idle, and skyrocket with quad cores at load. Regardless of overclocking or not, the Freezer Pro is very quiet, runs a lot cooler, only costs $20, is very easy to clean, and has a 6 year warrany. It is sort of like putting a tranny cooler or BRA on your car... it will be more durable and last longer for only a few bucks. I can tell you I have a box full of unused stock Intel cpu coolers, and have never let a system out of my workshop using one. I go with at least a Freezer, and often even better if the client wants to spend the cash.

Check out this eBay store for NCIX, they ship to US, and use US prices in the bids: http://stores.ebay.ca/NCIX-com-Outlet-Store Just saw this very nice mobo sell for $42, a huge deal. I actually have this board in my spare system with an E2150 in it, overclocks to 3.2GHz without breaking a sweat. I think I paid like $60 or $80 for mine (CND incl shipping). http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400043511938&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:CA:1123 Same board, newer chipset and better cooling, sold for $67: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400043512141&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:CA:1123 These are Open Box items, but fear not, they are usually in pristine condition. I think very often they are returned because the purchaser bought the wrong board for the CPU he had or something like that. I have bought many boards off this store, and the few times I have had a problem I have either ended up with a brand new replacement board, or my money back. The prudent bidder will watch this site for a while, and see what a good price is for a given board. That way you will know what your max bid should be. Also, most winners post their bid within 10 seconds of the auction ending., often getting super deals. I only buy mobos, cpus and ram off here, HDs are a bad idea I think and all the other junk is usually over priced. Here's some upcoming to watch for: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ASUS-P5K-EPU-ATX-LGA775-P35-DDR2-Epu-CrossFire-30025T_W0QQitemZ310135965524QQihZ021QQcategoryZ108978QQcmdZViewItem http://cgi.ebay.ca/Abit-IP35-E-ATX-LGA775-P35-DDR2-Sound-SATA2-24631T_W0QQitemZ400043701214QQihZ027QQcategoryZ108978QQcmdZViewItem http://cgi.ebay.ca/Gigabyte-EP43-DS3R-ATX-LGA775-P43-RAID-HD-Sound-30496T_W0QQitemZ400043701811QQihZ027QQcategoryZ108978QQcmdZViewItem The last one is listed as a P43 chipset yet the picture shows a P45. The P45-DS3R is an extremely popular board, great retail price and performance. I think the P43 is a typo. The Abit has some issues, mostly to do with the position and combination of the expansion slots (which wouldn't matter to most here). It was a solid board though. Unfortunately, I think Abit has gone out of business. The only thing about the Asus P5K is it is an older P35 chipset and not the P45 (P5Q moniker). Hence, it may have problems with the newer 9xxx quad core cpus -- need to check on that. .

It's a slow AMD system, with slow ram and no dual channel, a very cheap older chipset mobo and cheap PSU and very cheap case. About the only thing good about it is the HD and even that is old tech. I would safely say that the Intel E5200 will blow the doors off the AMD X2-7550 and is cheaper to boot! .

I concur. I'd also avoid Tiger Direct, there are better outlets out there with better prices. The case isn't all that bad, the Apex cases I have used in budget builds have been pleasing enough, but the PSU that comes with it will only let you down. The thing is, for a few bucks more you can get a much nicer case. If you look at the inside pics of the Apex, it is pretty tinny, flimsy and cheap. Compared to a low end Cooler Master or Thermaltake there is no contest. The Antec 300 is a very decent case for the money, too. These name brand cases do not come with a power supply. Although, the Antec Sonata II comes with a very decent 500w PSU that is worth almost the cost of the case and PSU together. (prices in my links are Canadian) http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26048&vpn=RC%2D690%2DKKN1&manufacture=COOLERMASTER&promoid=1060 http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=29812&vpn=THREE%20HUNDRED&manufacture=ANTEC&promoid=1060 Also, the ram included isn't very good, you want some DDR2-800 minimum speed, preferably a 4GB kit (2 x 2GB). What they are giving you is a single stick of slow 2GB, so NO dual channel advantage - you need ram in pairs to use dual channel, which vastly improves memory performance. http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=28306&vpn=F2%2D8500CL5D%2D4GBPK&manufacture=G.SKILL&promoid=1060 The motherboard is a low end micro-atx, and will limit expansion and upgrades in the future. The CPU isn't all that bad, they are cheap and overclockable. It may not be as powerful as it's bigger brothers, but it is the easiest thing to upgrade later, simply swap it out for a better one. You just have to be careful that the mobo supports the CPUs you would be interested in upgrading to. The Asus P5Q is an excellent choice. http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=33181&vpn=BX80571E5200&manufacture=Intel&promoid=1060 I've been watching the Seagate drives lately, and the 500GB version of that 250GB drive is only a couple dollars more -- you get twice the space, twice the cache (32MB instead of 16MB), as well as it is just plain faster. Be careful of the exact models and specs, some of the 250GB drives only have 8MB cache and some of the 500GB only have 16MB cache. Lastly, add a $20 CPU cooler, the Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro performs excellent and is much quieter than the stock one. There are a lot of good Video cards in the range of $200, almost need a thread of it's own. Asus P5Q Intel E2200 or E5200 or E7200 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2-800 or DDR2-1066 memory Corsair CMPSU-400CX or an OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W power supply Seagate 250GB or 500GB hard drive Antec 300 case Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro cpu heatsink or Asus P5Q Intel E2200 or E5200 or E7200 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2-800 or DDR2-1066 memory Seagate 250GB or 500GB hard drive Antec Sonata II case with 500w PSU Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro cpu heatsink .

Sorry for the mess of formatting, and only the pricematch links work. If you PM me your email address, I can send you an email with working links and better formatting. There are rebates on some of this stuff, I didn't include them because it is too much trouble to calculate after taxes etc. I don't like to count on them anyway, while most do pay, there has been some rebate companies filing for chapter 11 recently and it is best to just figure your initial outlay and any rebates that come back are just a bonus. No super deals this week. Prices and been volitile for months now, and go up as much as down these days. The mobo comes with a free shipping deal for the whole order! Can't afford a quad core CPU in this, but that is a super easy upgrade for the future. Still lacking a display. Added a cheapo keyboard and mouse combo, gets you up and running till you can get something nice (maybe for xmas!). Went with XP Home, saves about $20. Easy enough to go with Vista is thats what you want. Had to go to Futureshop for the vid card, they have different SKUs and NCIX won't pricematch them. The EVGA 9800GTX+ SuperClock is on regular price for $210, has been for a while. Although FS site says they are out of stock. I bought one myself a while ago (before the crash) and got it for about $210 after tax. NCIXs price on this card is like $260. The card is quite competent at lower resolutions (1280x1024) with max details, AA and AF. http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10109251&catid=25617 Short List Specs: Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz AC Freezer Pro 7 HSF Asus P5Q Pro 2GB (2x1GB) G.Skill PC2-8500 ram 5-5-5-15 @ 1066MHz EVGA 9800GTX+ SC video Antec Sonata III w/ 500w PSU LG DVD/RW SATA Seagate Barracuda 500GB 32MB Windows XP Home OEM Logitech Deluxe 250 keyboard/mouse 1 x 120mm fan for inside case in front of hard drive bays Price Total: $950 before tax Copy Paste from cart: Del Item Description In Stock Part # QTY Price Ext. Price

Good point on NCIX, if I am not wrong the TigerDirect link is American. TigerDirect Canada is available, but I've never seen a deal there worth buying from them. Even from the Canadian site, you will get stung with shipping, a border Brokerage Fee, exchange, and then tax on top of all that. NewEgg now has a Canadian site, and while the prices haven't been always better than NCIX or DirectCanada, they have been fair. I always recommend buying from NCIX as long as they have the parts in stock, you can pricematch any item that comes from a Canadian site and has online purchasing. So, you get the best price, and only have to buy from one outlet. By the way, DirectCanada as well as NXSource is owned by NCIX! The best place to find the best pricematches is at Hardware Canucks, a great site, yet the prices are actually run through pricecanada.com: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/ http://hardwarecanucks.pricecanada.com/ http://www.ncix.com/ http://www.directcanada.com/ http://www.newegg.ca/ If you go to the forums at HC, into the New Builds section, register and post a thread there, you will get excellent advice on component choices, packages and pricematches. I am a bit of a regular there, but rarely have to post in that section because there are so many other knowledgable members very quick to respond. As for the package specs, it isn't that great a deal. It is old tech for the most part, and the price doesn't justify buying out of date parts. The PSU is definately a POS, beware of Ultra power supplies. NCIX has it's weekly sale coming up tonight, and they have been running a lot of barebones packages these days. I'll come back and post a couple later tomorrow. I can assume you have about an $850 CND budget? What components are you able to carry over from your old system? Like DVD or operating system? .

When you said "widdle that down" the first thing I saw was Blairgowrie's little beaver with the chainsaw.

Yes, PCIe 2.0 is backwards compatible. The only problem I have heard about is when running two PCIe 2.0 cards in a PCIe 1.0 board in SLI (not sure about crossfire). Don't know how the 2900XT will run, but it is a couple generations out of date. The biggest bang for the buck these days seems to be the Radeon 4850 and 4870. The 4870 has a lot more tech in it that the 4850, but pricewise a lot of people are using 2x 4850s in CF that perform better than any other priced dual card system and beats a lot of single card's in price and performance too. The 4870 runs quite hot though, most people modify the fan speeds to help bring down the temps even when idle in the OS. It's still the next card I'd like to buy, but depending on winter prices I may just get another 9800GTX+. .