New Computer

For anyone interested in the specs of the computer I just built, here they are:

CPU: Intel Core2 Duo E6600. I was originally going to go with the x6800, but after looking at benchmarks I realized that the performance increase over the E6700 wasn't worth all the extra cash. Then I dropped another level to the E6600 to save a little more money. I currently have it overclocked to 2.85 GHz.

Motherboard: EVGA nForce 680i SE SLI 775 TR.

Memory: 2GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2 PC2-6400.

Hard Drives: (2) 160GB SATA II Hitachi Deskstar. Right now I have these drives set up in a RAID 0 array.

Graphics: PNY 8800 GTS 320MB PCIe. It's the bottom line of the 8800 series. I may get another one of these cards in 6 months to use for SLI.

Power Supply: 580W Hiper Type-R. Modular power supplies are the way to go. You don't have those unused wires taking up space in the case anymore. This PSU came in a nice plastic toolbox that's great for storing all my extra cables, screws, and other hardware.

Case: Antec Nine Hundred.

CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9700 NT. This thing is more massive than the pictures would lead you to believe. It keeps my CPU at 30C idle and 44C under load.

Monitor: Samsung 225BW. At first I was looking at 24" monitors, but I thought that might be too big so I went with a 22". Now I think 24" might not have been so big after all.

I'm still using my old mouse and DVD burner. The only other new piece of hardware I got is a Merc keyboard.