Looking for feedback

here you go Ticket# 184184 --- Price: $1489

Copy of Specifications:
Chassis: Cooler Master HAF 932
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Interior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Power Supply: 650W Corsair HX (Dual SLI Compatible)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00GHz (1333MHz Front Side Bus) (6MB Cache)
Motherboard: NVIDIA 750i SLI Core 2 Quad (Chipset: nForce 750i SLI)
System Memory: 4GB DDR2 800MHz OCZ
Card Reader: - No Thanks
Hard Drive 1: 320GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Hard Drive 2: - No Thanks
Raid Option: - No Thanks
Hard Drive 3: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Wireless Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX+ 512MB (Includes PhysX Technology)
TV Tuner: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: Air Cooled Stage 2 (Silent Artic Cooling Heat-sink Upgrade (Copper Heatpipes)
Internal Lighting: Blizzard Internal Lighting (Blue Edition) (Cold Cathode Tubes)
Modifications: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my processor
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Tweak Windows: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (64-Bit Edition) (For Enthusiasts)
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Install/Test Game: - No Thanks
LCD Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Desktop 2.0 (Multimedia Keyboard + Optical Wheel Mouse)
Mouse: - No Thanks my keyboard comes with a mouse
External Storage: - No Thanks
Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty

if you can make those changes, you can go back to antec if you don't want to get the haf but its a great case.

up your ram to 4GB

up os to vista 64bit

If you can go quad then do so

Edited by DST4ME - 17 Sep 2008 at 8:17pm

Ive gone as far back as Diablo 2 and it runs fine under vista 64. Any earlier or any other games i really cant tell you...so i dont even know why im posting haha.

Thanks for the feedback.

I would recommend going with a quad core since upgrading cpus are a pain. RTS games are already running multithread and future ones definitely will. Rather than going with the faster 1066MHz ram, I'd go with more ram at 800MHz.
Finally, aside from less space to hide cables inside, there's nothing wrong with the Antec 900. It's a well designed case. If you wanna save some, that can help out.

Getting the heatsink off is probably the hardest part. But its very easy otherwise.

Just line up the holes on the CPU to the pins on the socket.

Here's what I'm currently looking at - stretches my budget by $200 over plan (to $1693).  Went to the Q9550 and 8GB OCZ RAM with 64-bit Vista.  I had to go back to the Antec 900 as the space for the case is limited to just under 21 inches vertical due to the built in keyboard tray (good thing I measured).  I have good airflow front to back and some at the top with the tray pulled out.  With that in mind I went to the Air Cooled Stage 3 to help.  Also dropped the keyboard and mouse.

So no real benefit to 8GB over 4GB on 64-bit Vista?

If you don't have apps that really need 8GB of ram, go with 4GB and upgrade your vid card. I'd try to see about fitting an overclock into your budget too for the RTS games. Just a mild OC can make a difference. BTW, Assassin's Creed recommends 3GB for smooth gameplay on max, while Crysis requires less. So, currently games aren't asking for over 3GB. Vista likes to grab some memory tho...
Only people I know who have 8GB of ram do photo manipulation and 3D rendering.

Just getting back to the site and saw the GTO in the special deals (http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsavedsd.asp?id=184743).  Looks like a great deal for $2K - and I can probably swing the extra $ (and make the space under the desk for the HAF) to get this.  However, if in the future I decide to go SLI on the 280, would I likely need to upgrade the PSU or the cooling?