I NEED a new rig. PLEASE read and help?!

since you're going to be overclocking, there's no reason to get the 4200+ instead of the 3800+.

that case is REALLY expensive. it looks like a nice, easy to work on case though. the super lanboy (for example) is only half that price, and smaller.

i don't know if you have fry's near you, but you can surely buy your pata hard drives locally for less. if you don't have fry's, there's always the sunday paper ads from worst buy, jerkit city, crap usa. wait till there's a sale (after rebate) and you can get those then. newegg's tax and shipping always kills me in CA. although, that's a pretty decent price for the 2 drives you selected.

again, i'm not a gamer but i bet you could shave some off your total by selecting a different card.

people around here are having really good luck with the OCZ ram i linked in my first post in this thread. it's a little cheaper than your selected ram too.

Here's my thoughts that'll drop your cost and retain performance.

Thermaltake SHARK VA7000BWA Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail [/b]
Model #: VA7000BWA
$169.00

Antec Performance Plus PlusView II Black ATX Mid Tower

ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: A8N-SLI Premium

SAPPHIRE 100149 Radeon X1900XT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - OEM
Model #: 100149
$519.00

Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: TPII-550
$89.99 1

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4200BVBOX - Retail
Model #: ADA4200BVBOX
$360.00

Get the A64 X2 3800+, you can easily OC it to 4200 speed.

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 500 (PC 4000) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX2048-4000PT - Retail
Model #: TWINX2048-4000PT
$229.00

2 Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: WD740GD
$155.00 x2 = $310.00

Forget RAID 0, not worth the hassle, get one Raptor and put your OS and Games, whatever you want to load fast on it.

2 Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6L200R0 200GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: 6L200R0
$89.00 x2 = $178.00

Get one 400 or 500GB drive.

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
Model #: ARCTIC SILVER 5
$5.99
THERMALRIGHT XP-90C CPU Copper Heatsink - Retail
Model #: XP-90C
$58.99

Antec 75002 92mm 2 Ball Case Cooling Fan - Retail
Model #: 75002
$8.99

If you're going to OC get the Enermax 90mm adjustable speed fan. And put the fan above into the HD cage.

Okay, so, to cut costs I made some changes.

Instead of the AMD x2 4200, I'll get the 3800.
Instead of an ATI card, I'm getting an SLI ready, 256mb, GeForce 7800GT nVidia card, so if I really want 512, I can SLI later. (Plus, it can overclock well by itself)
Instead of two Raptors for RAID, I'm just getting 1, it should be enough by itself, I don't keep THAT many games installed at once anways.
Instead of the Corsair RAM, I am getting the mushkin extreme performance. Reviews said it would overclock great with the 3800 x2 on the a8n-Premium.

The new sub-total is around $1520 instead of $2060.

Any complaints or additional suggestions/opinions?

For clarity, I can post the revised cart if anyone wants to know specific models.

you can always add another raptor at next format time

you might want to re-think the mushkin ram. i have a friend here with much the same hardware as you're getting and he's struggling getting a solid OC with that ram in his setup. tough running 250 @ 1T
http://www.sharkyforums.com/showthread.php?t=280830

At this point, I think I really need to just settle on a different case and different ram and I am good to go.

The cases and RAM that you guys recomended did not far well with reviews at NewEgg, hence why I shyed away. The Antec case looked nice, but the front door is reportedly cheap-as-crap. The OCZ RAM is being rated as a not-so-good overclocker.

Since I want to try and take the 3800 to 4200 speeds, I need good ram. My current system could go to 2.4 if I had better ram, I don't want to run into that roadblock again.

Lemme get this right, you think the reviewers a newegg.com are more knowledgeable than Sharky Forum members? That right?

your ram doesnt lower your oc... use a divider. people at newegg are 95% morons

savings $350

Get the A64 X2 3800+,

Get one 400 or 500GB drive


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822144423
$203.00

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD4000KD 400GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

Average Latency: 4.2ms
Average Seek Time: 8.9ms
Average Write Time: 10.9ms
Cache: 16MB
Form Factor: 3.5"
Manufacturer Warranty: 3 Years

Model #: WD4000KD
Item #: N82E16822144423
** This item is warranted through the product manufacturer only.
In Stock
$4.99 Three Day Shipping

get one raptor raid is over rated.

get the xt not the xtx

Get a case and power supply combo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowIm...y%20-%20Retail


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129158
$124.99
SpecificationsModel
Brand Antec
Series PERFORMANCE TX
Model TX1050B
Spec
Type Server
Color Black
Case Material Steel
With Power Supply Yes
Power Supply 500W ATX12V v2.0
Motherboard Compatibility 12" x 9.6" ATX
With Side Panel Window No
Expansion
External 5.25" Drive Bays 4
External 3.5" Drive Bays 2
Internal 3.5" Drive Bays 4
Expansion Slots 7
Front Ports
Front Ports 2 x USB, 2 x Audio, 1 x IEEE1394
Cooling System
120mm Fans 1 rear 120mm Tricool fan with 3-speed switch
Side Air duct Yes
Physical Spec
Dimensions 20.6" x 8.1" x 18.6"
Features
Features meet Intel's Thermally Advanced Chassis (TAC) design guide