Looking for advice on first system.

[lucky0no]

Im in the process of building my first (homebuilt) computer. I'm trying to build something for gaming, that would be easy to upgrade in the future. I'm looking for a "bang for my buck"

I made the mistake of buying a case before I did any research, and now Im not sure if the motherboard I want is going to fit. Everything is confusing the crap out of me.

Im just looking for any advice I can get. And I would like to know if everything I'm listing is compatable so far. Would appreciate any and all responses...

Here is the case I purchased

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=BLK-CP702-7&cat=CAS&cpc=CASbsc

Motherboard
ASUS P5B Deluxe Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131045

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115004

Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102067

I pretty much just wanna make sure everything is compatable before I buy anything else.

[edit] I dont really have a et budget. Im planning on buying this part by part until I have everything. I'd like something low cost, but easy to upgrade. The main things I want are a good motherboard and CPU. Im looking for a mediocre graphics card that would run World Of Warcraft and battlefield with no problem. Planning on spending more $$$ on a really sweet graphics card down the road.

But I do NEED this system to be easy to upgrade.

What do u guys think of the selection, anything I should change? And I prolly need a new case right? lol
Thanks!!!

 

[apt403]

If you like the case you can keep it, but you'll definitely need a new psu, the one that comes with that case sucks.

 

[Assman]

the case is good, but you need a better psu(as mentioned above), the rest is good. as you can see i have the same mobo/cpu and im happy with it oces really well and stays cool. Good video card but if you're building your rig part by part you might want to save up a little more cash and go for 8800gts, it'll kill any dx9 card.

 

[lambofgode3x]

yeah, i agree. look at this powersupply. might look expensive now, but considering you will not need to upgrade your power supply for at least 2 or 3 years, its a good deal. plus, it's really stable and it kicks a$$.

as for your case, everything should fit in there just fine. get some more air flow through your computer though. i recommend these. i have 2 of them and i'm satisfied. get 3 (2 in the front where your hard drives are and one in the back as an exhaust) or 4, if you want to replace the side fan that it comes with too.

when you want to upgrade your cooler for your cpu, look at the Tuniq Tower 120, or the Zalman 9700 LED. they will keep your air flow going from front to back, which is optimal.

lastly, dont forget good ram. right now, if you want to game, 2GB's are recommended. take a look at either the Corsair Dominator ram, the Crucial Ballistix, or the OCZ Titanium.

 

[redwing]

Not bad for a first build.
The MB is fairly OC'able, the CPU is one of the best value out there right now, and the GPU is actually one that's worth it's price tag. Good job.

If you're looking to reduce the price but to be able to upgrade later down the road, consider getting an x1950Pro or 1900Gt instead. Those can be found for as low as 150$ (I've seen as low as 140$) nowadays, if you spend a bit of time looking/waiting. That would save you a 100$, and you'd still have a decent graphics card that will easily handle the likes of WoW at max res/details. The main motivation here is that you might want to upgrade to a DX10 card in a year or so (probably later), whereas a slightly weaker DX9 card can still serve you well in the meanwhile.



Like already mentionned, the PSU is important. A no-name "bundled" PSU can give you lots of stability issues, best to avoid that kind of crap.

If the Allendales E4300/4400 were out by now, I'd recommend those instead. But seeing as they're a few months away from being released into retail, your overall system looks like an optimum configuration in terms of Value/Price.

Cheers

 

[Bullion]

Wow, I think I'm looking for the exact same advice as the original poster, however, I was curious about a couple other factors because I havent purchased anything yet.

I basically just decided to upgrade my system after installing BF2142 and realizing my 'vintage' video card can't handle it. So, i went to tomshardware.com to search out the famous Video Card Comparison reviews and came across the article "The Best Gaming Graphics Cards for the Money: December 2006"... in my price range, it is the same one as Lucky0no's - Radeon X1950XT 256MB <-- ok, so now i have the vid card picked out.

I just don't know where to go from here. I dont know whether to go AMD or Intel ... or what MoBo to go with for either chipset once that is decided. Although I did read the article about the top 4 m-ATX cases for the CPU (Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz ) Lucky0no picked out.

I am not familiar with overclocking at all, so in all fairness I would say that doesnt play a factor in my decision.

Also, Building a system around the original posters Processor/Mobo/GPU combo... How would it function as a home theatre set up?

Thanks in advance,

Jon

PS. Redwing mentioned downgrading the Vid Card to the X1950 Pro - for only a slight quality loss and a big savings. Since this system is going to be my main rig for awhile to come, is this also an option for me? I dont see myself upgrading the video card for another couple of years again (which will probably leave me in my current position ) however, I dont have the $600 to get the best one now.

 

[redwing]

I only suggested downgrading the video card because the OP was mentionning that he intends on upgrading his rig down the line. No sense in paying top dollar for a DX9 card now, when you can have decent performance for much less and upgrade to DX10 in the future.
If you only plan on buying one video card that will not be upgraded for 3 years, a 150$ card won't get you very far

Having said that, the improvement from a x1950Pro to a x1950xt is certainly not 66%, which is what the price increase is like. In that sense, it's a sensible downgrade. Check out Tom's charts for more details, they're pretty exhaustive. They don't have the x1950xt yet, but it's performance should be somewhere slightly north of the x1900xt.

Cheers