Buying the parts

Now it's time to start spending some cash! I approached this problem like software design, I'm using iterations of my parts list to get the best possible setup. Before I start listing parts and buying anything I need to list my requirements.

Requirements:
Highly overclockable
SLi supported motherboard
Modular PSU
4GB of RAM
Fast I/O HDD
8-series card to support DX10
Cool looking case with lots of front ports
Get as much EVGA parts as possible

The reason I said I want as much EVGA is possible is because I've had nothing but good experiences with them. The one time I did have a problem they helped me out with RMA and sent me a new card and let me send the defective one back AFTER I received the new card. Plus I just want to have everything be the same if possible.

Alright so obviously I want the most overclockable machine possible. In order to achieve this I'm going to go for the Intel Core2Duo E8400. The reason I chose this is because it's a 45nm die which means less power consumption more room for overclocking. If you're wondering why I didn't go with the QXxxx series it's because well... they're way too expensive right now. I'll probably upgrade to a QX (quad core extreme) sometime in the future when they get below $300.

So now we've got the CPU choice out of the way I need to find a decent motherboard that will be future-proof as possible. For this I'm going to go with the EVGA 780i SLi motherboard. This supports 3-way SLi and DDR2-800. This was the best Cost:Future Proof ratio I could find. Yes, I know the 790i exists but it costs too much and will probably also upgraded the mobo when I get the QX cpu in the future.

For the power supply I wanted to have it be modular so I could not use cables that aren't needed making cable management a lot easier and keeping the inside of the case cleaner for both aesthetics and cooling. At first I wanted to go with the OCZ GameXStream 700w power supply than I noticed it wasn't modular and the quality wasn't as good. In the end I went for the CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620w modular power supply.

So now onto ram. After doing a lot of research about RAM and the best speeds vs costs I settled on CORSAIR XMS2 4GB(2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400). Being DDR2-800 I can take my CPU FSB to 400MHz (400*9 = 3.6GHz) to get a 1:1 without having to overclock my RAM.

Hard drives can be a tough decision you can either go with smaller capcity faster drives (Such as Raptor X) or go for the bigger drives. I happened to find a happy medium that actually is the best of both worlds. I found the Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s hard drive. This puppy gets more throughput on I/O bandwidth than the Raptor X (10k RPM drives) do. It has 2x320GB platters as opposed to the 100GB or 133GB platters on most other drives. This means it has higher data density meaning less power and less noise while getting more throughput. Now it doesn't have the seek latency like the Raptor but I can live with 3ms difference.

To follow with the EVGA theme I want to go with the EVGA 8800GTS 512MB G92. Not much reasoning behind this other than it's a G92 with PCI Express 2.0 and is EVGA. Also at the price it is well worth it. There is also a EVGA 8800GT "AKIMBO" model that has a higher clock speed with an insane cooler but it has 16 less stream processors so I stuck with the GTS.

So for my last requirement I wanted a decent, cool-looking gaming case. For that I went with the obvious choice. The Antec Nine Hundred gaming case is a visual appealing case with lots of room and lots of fans. The big plus is the 200mm (yes, 20cm) fan at the top of the case to help pull out the air. It also positions the power supply at the bottom of the case making it less top-heavy and allowing for better cooling.

Accessories:
ZALMAN 9500A (blue LED) CPU cooling unit to handle massive overclocking.
Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound.
LOGISYS 2x 12" Blue cold cathodes for looks.
LOGISYS 2x 15" UV sound reactive cold cathodes to help the UV parts of my rig glow to the beat of my music.

That's it, everything is ordered and on it's way. I'll create a post to track status of each shipment. Note that I had to order the CPU from TigerDirect, I paid $20 more but I wanted to make sure I could have this rig built by the end of the week.