Final Specs for the New System
by Mike on May.01, 2008, under Computer
So, here are the final specs for the computer that I will be building. I thought long and hard about this, and I have also taken into consideration all of the comments and suggestions from everyone. Thanks for all of your input!
- EVGA Nvidia nForce 750i Intel Motherboard
- Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.00 GHz 6 MB cache 45nm processor
- ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Heatsink
- 8 GB (4 x 2 GB) OCZ Reaper HPC Edition DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Ram
- EVGA GeForce 9600GT 512MB Video Card (SLI capable, though I won’t initially be running two cards)
- 1 Seagate 750GB 32MB cache 7,200 RPM Hard Drive
- DVD Burner and DVD Drive
- OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 12V 700 Watt Power Supply
- Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit (the SP0 version is cheaper, so I will get this version, then apply SP1)
- Westinghouse L2610NW-SP Black 26″ 2ms(GtoG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor (this is nice because I can hook my PS3 up to it via HDMI)
My rationale for the processor is that I have read a lot of reviews and benchmarking data that say that the E8400 runs much better than the Q9300. Also, I don’t think that I would ever utilize the four cores to a point at which it would be worth the extra money. Plus, the E8400 has a higher over clocking potential. Finally, although I am not a gamer, should I decide to become something of a game connoisseur, the E8400 typically outperforms the Q9300.
The best part? The total for this system is only $70 more than the laptop I was planning on getting, and that is really just because of the second monitor. However, when I initially looked at getting the Dell, I had planned on spending $1800 anyway. The new desktop is only going to cost me just over $1700, which I don’t think is bad at all!
Once everything comes, I will post some pictures of the components, and then a shot of the completed system. Plus, I will try to throw out some benchmarking data as well.
