Advice on gaming build needed.

[Corvinous]

First let me say that I own the case and harddrives already and will be using them in my new build unless needed otherwise. Dvd drives are sata and not needed as well.

Case:
Antec P-180 With 4 120 mm fans

HD:
Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive
and
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKB 500GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive

PSU:
Thermaltake W0106RU 700W Complies with ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V version Power Supply - Retail

Mem:
OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2RPR10664GK - Retail

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80569Q9450 - Retail

MoBo:
ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

CPU cooling:
ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail
and Artic Silver 5

Graphics card:
HIS Hightech H487F512P Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
or equal 4870 card

Only want one card for now. Will get second card in future if performance is as expected.

Thank you.

[KarmaKiller]

Hi, welcome to TIMO.

My suggestions.
1. Drop that PSU and get this:
DEAL: OCZ Evostream 720w PSU for $55 after MIR! - ResellerRatings Store Ratings, Shopping, Deals, and Bargains
But I really think either of those aren't gonna cut it with 2x 4870's. It will be close at least.

2. There are better coolers out there. The Zalman is OK, but if your gonna be OCing you want something different.

3. You can save money on the motherboard. This motherboard is the same thing, even has a Formula silk screen on the board, but it's cheaper.

[Corvinous]

Yeah neither of them will cut it with 2 of the new cards because each card requires 2 pcie power cords. However i do not plan on doing a dual card setup for a while. What cooler do you suggest. I havent done any overclocking in quite some time and am interested to get back into it. Oh and what mobo is that in the picture?

Thanks for the advice KarmaKiller

[KarmaKiller]

The Mobo in the pic is the one I linked to in the post. (I forgot it the first time, then edited)

If it were me though, I'd go ahead and put in the good PSU now, saves some headache for later.(Of course if you can afford it now)

And for a cooler, what's you budget? The best air cooler you can get will run ~$80. A moderately good one will run about $50.
The Zalman is a good cooler at best IMO. These are much better. (In order of price)

Thermalright IFX-14 Internal Fire eXtinguisher AMD & Intel CPU Cooler (Socket AM2 / 775) - FrozenCPU.com
$80+ Fans

Scythe 5th Anniversary "Ninja Copper" Six Heat Pipe CPU Cooler - LGA775 / 478 / AM2 Ready (SCNJ-1100P) - FrozenCPU.com
$69

Noctua NH-U12P CPU Heat Sink (Socket 775, AM2, 754*,939*, 940* F*, 771*, 604*, ) - FrozenCPU.com
$69

Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme CPU Heatsink - (Socket 775 / AM2) - FrozenCPU.com
$65

Thermalright Ultra-120A Universal CPU Heatsink (Socket AM2 / 775 ) - FrozenCPU.com
$45+ fan <--"Best bang for buck"

Xigmatek HDT-S1283 Heat-pipe Direct Touch Universal CPU Cooler (Socket 754 / 775 / 939 / 940 / AM2) - FrozenCPU.com
$40

[EXreaction]

I doubt those coolers are much, if any better than that Zalman. Those Zalman coolers were the absolute best just a few years ago when they came out.

[Corvinous]

Is there a big differance between the 2 intel chipsets? I just read a lot of really good reviews about the Rampage Formula board. Also Ill get the PSU that you suggested. Ill deffineatly get that cooler you suggestion too, the one thats the best bang for your buck. I didnt really want to get one that was too expensive. Funny considering the cost of everything really.

Anyother suggestions? Is the ram good or should I choose something else?

[KarmaKiller]

The TRUE is the closest you can get to H2O cooling without going to H20. If you put 2x 120mm fans in a push - pull configuration, it can't be beat.
People report LOAD temps on overclocked Quads not breaking 50°.
There is no way the Zalman will do that.

EDIT:
PROOF

MORE PROOF

[KarmaKiller]

As far as RAM, that depends on what your getting that stuff for. You can always save some money most of the time. But IDK what your paying for it.

The only difference between those boards are DDR2 and DDR3. Other then that, it's essentially the same thing.

And for Hard drives, might check into these:
Western Digital's Caviar SE16 640GB hard drive - The Tech Report - Page 1
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives)



EDIT:
Apparently there are DDR2 X48 boards, so I guess I'm not sure what the difference is besides price.

[Corvinous]

The differance is about a $70 and supposedly its a better chipset. I will most likely keep the Rampage board though. Also thanks for the info on the TRUE heatsink. I have found a really hard time getting that heatsink on my normal sites (zipzoomfly and newegg). All of the rest of my parts are coming from thoose two sites.

(unless someone has other suggestions on where to get stuff)

[thephilosophizer]

I run the arctic freezer 7, it is a bit cheaper then some of the others, but my threshold for o'cing comes from my ram speeds, not my cpu temps, plus it comes with a 7 year warranty, great cooling for the price IMO.