Hello all, I've parted out my PC and will be rebuilding it as an i7 upon my return to Ohio. I'm upgrading from a barely overclocked AMD64 3500+ Venice (939). I wanna make sure I do this right while staying within a reasonable budget and so I thought I would get some advice from you all.

Since I will be ordering in the states, my hardware will be coming from Newegg.com and thus all the parts on this list will be coming from there. I've link all the parts to their respective pages, but don't mind removing the links if this is a problem with the folks in the shop.

So here we go:

XFX GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB 192-bit GDDR2 - $77.99
Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.66Ghz - $294.99
Patriot Viper 3GB (3 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) - $119.99
2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB - $129.98 (for two)
EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1 - $299.99

Not so sure about the motherboard as it's really the most economical solution but it's gotten the best ratings (at least on newegg), great customer support and a lifetime warranty.

I'm also not sure about the RAM. I'd like to have a reasonable but rock solid over clock. Let's say around 3.0Ghz? (will likely switch from the OEM cooler later on) So I'm not entirely sure which is more appropriate 1600 DDR3 or 1300.

So if you would leme hear what you have to say about my part choices, especially the mobo and RAM.

I'm also a little worried that the video card I've chosen might be a little loud as it doesn't have thermal fan control? Anybody have any suggestions for a quieter solution? Within the range of power & price?

EDIT: Considering this instead: Recertified: EVGA 320-P2-N811-RX GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3, but need to find out how the warranty works out with recertified cards..

why cheap out on the video card? find an 8800gt for like a 100 bucks, twice the performance of that 9600

scrap the video card go with a minimum of a 4850.....if your going i7 you need atleast that or a 9800 or 260...anything less dont bother going i7 memory, patriot is good, mind u i havent read anything about the one u just mentioned, or anyt tri channel ddr for that matter, so im in the blind there...all i know is if your going i7 and choose a 9600 just buy a gun and shoot yourself in the foot it is quicker,,,,

Thanks for the input, so would the 8800GTS I mentioned in my edit work out?

And I'm not sure how capable of memory I need to achieve an OC to 3.0Ghz, how could I figure that out?

I wouldn't bother with a 320MB GTS either. If you can't swing more for a decent card then you should drop your sights to a C2Q with say a P45 chipset board and DDR2 which frees up more money for a card.

yeah go with a core 2 duo or quad, and maybe a asus rampage motherboard, with a 4870 with a good 4gbs of ram..

What are you using this for? Going to be a gaming?

If it's for a gaming machine, don't cheap out the video card or power supply, 2 of the important parts of a gaming rig. so if you're building a gaming rig, scrap the i7, pick up an e8400 or q9300 or better. and get a decent card. that and a good kit of ddr2 ram is not very expensive.

It won't be a gaming rig, at least as long as the 360 gaming gaming lifespan lasts. The only game I can see myself playing on it is CS:Source and a couple other games I don't feel like paying $50-65 bucks for.

I was thinking just build a nice solid computer and then put in a more powerful graphics card down the road if need be.

EDIT: Think I might go with this card as it has a combo with my mobo. After the $20 combo savings and $15 rebate (if it works) it's right around my $85 cheap ass sweet spot.

EVGA 512-P3-N971-TR GeForce 9800 GT 512MB

lol, my last graphics card was a 6600LE...

Guess some 9600GSO's can be modded to 8800GTS's

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=610

I'd like to use a long time favorite quote here:

Your system is only as good as it's weakest component.

It kinda goes for your setup as well. I also cannot see why someone would invest all that money in premium components when all they'll be playing is CS:S. I max CS:S out on my old x1650xt. If you do alot of video editing you'll notice your i7 with ddr3 will outperform pretty much anything on the market.

It's very important, from an enthusiast AND a bargain hunter's point of view, that you build each system to SUIT YOUR NEEDS. From my understanding, your new system will exceed your needs at least ten fold.

As far as your graphics card goes, I think you'll be relatively pleased with a 9800GT to compliment the rest of the components. (9800GT and 8800GT are almost identical) For example, you can expect to play Crysis at high-very high 40-50fps on a 9800GT if you have a good i7 backbone to back it up and eliminate bottlenecks.

Also not very experienced in overclocking the i7's but if you have proper cooling then I'd go for the ddr3 kit to also eliminate the bottleneck.

You make a good point. Maybe I should explain myself a little better. At this moment I use my computer mostly for multimedia (Huge music library, as well as a lot of unrar'ing if you know what I mean ) and a decent bit of creative work (PS & DW CS4). I also am into Gentoo linux which is a source based linux distro, which means a lot of compiling.

Originally I was going to just wait until the i7's came out to build myself a cheaper Quad. But lately I've been thinking why sink money into a dead architecture (ie. LGA 775 & DDR2) to save $200 or so? My last build was four years ago so I wanted to put myself back in the game for a while as I don't upgrade too often.

I've thought about building a Q9550 system with DDR3, but then I don't think I stand to save too much other than on the Mobo.

On a side note, the two WD640 GBs are for a RAID1 setup where I plan to put all my music and valuable documents. Anybody have any experience with RAID1? Any suggestions?