Coder / casual gamer building first PC

[Zergler]

I am building my first PC and am curious to see what you think of my choices. Where I'm coming from:


I'm a very casual gamer. I don't mind just playing games that are a couple years old. StarCraft will never get old for me. I would like to play HL2, Quake 4, Medieval 2, etc., but not necessarily at the highest settings.

I will not be overclocking.

I'll also be using a lot of multi-tasking/memory-intense apps, like Visual Studio, IIS, SQL Server, Photoshop, Firefox, and so on.

I don't need the most smoking gamer components but I do want quality parts and a solid machine that'll last awhile for the purposes described above. Basically, the Honda Accord of PCs.


With that in mind, here are my choices:

Case

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

Power Supply: considering two at the moment

Thermaltake Purepower W0129RU ATX12V 600 W Power Supply 115/230 V CE, FCC, UL, CUL, TUV certification - Retail

or

FSP Group (Fortron Source) FX700-GLN ATX12V/ EPS12V 700W Quad. SLi Power Supply - Retail

Either the 2nd is overkill or the 1st is underpowered; I can't decide. What do you think?

CPU

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+(65W) Windsor 2.2GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - Retail

In this thread, the pundits convince Agent_Orange that Intel's chips are better for his price range (higher than mine). It looks like the comparable Intel dual core chip in my price range is only 1.86GHz whereas the Athlon X2 4200+ is 2.2GHz. AMD wins, no?

Motherboard

ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Memory

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

I definitely need 2 Gigs for the programming/server/database apps and probably for games too. Going with 800MHz so I can have memory that will remain high quality for longer term, and still be able to play games well for awhile.

Hard Drive

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Video Card

BFG Tech BFGR79256GSOCE GeForce 7900GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

Then I have a sound card, optical drive, etc., but I'll let those be for now.

 

[Zergler]

I should mention my current PC is Dell Pentium 800MHz, 256Mb of RAM, 30G hard drive. This should tell you how long I'm prepared to ride a machine into the sunset.

PS - the old machine is going to become my "learn Ubuntu" box once the new one is set up.

 

[Zergler]

mpilchfamily, I'm a little confused. You say the TT is under-powered with 600 W, but you show me another PS with only 450 W.

 

[Zergler]

Also, if I were to go with the C2D, can you recommend a good Intel-compatible motherboard (I'm still too much of a newbie to say "mobo") that would have all the goodies of the Asus one I've chosen?

Thanks for your reply

 

[Zergler]

Thanks for your suggestions. I'm looking over these boards. One question: in terms of upgradability, how important is it to choose a motherboard with CPU Type of "Quad-core/Core 2 Extreme/Core 2 Duo/Pentium" over one of type "Core 2 Extreme/Core 2 Duo/Pentium EE/Pentium"?

 

[Zergler]

My favorite so far is the ASUS P5W DH DELUXE. Seems like it has the most upgrade potential, even though a few bucks extra.

I may go with this one and the C2D E6400. Thanks for your help!

 

[customcomputer1]

good choice! You can't go wrong with an asus and the E6400 is one of the best CPU's in your budget! The 450W PSU seems to be very nice, a 600 watt PSU is way overkill for your system. Also no need with the 800mhz ram. I read somewhere that the difference between 800 and 667 was very minimal. Instead get the E6600 with the money saved off ram.

 

[Zergler]

Normally, I'd agree with you on the memory, casualcomputer1, but look at this: most of the 667 items are in the low $200s range, same as my choice, which will be in the same range after rebate (I'm buying it today before the rebate expires). Might as well snag the free upgrade - plus, memory is something I want to be especially high quality.

 

[Zergler]

I mean "customcomputer1", oops.

 

[customcomputer1]

Normally, I'd agree with you on the memory, casualcomputer1, but look at this: most of the 667 items are in the low $200s range, same as my choice, which will be in the same range after rebate (I'm buying it today before the rebate expires). Might as well snag the free upgrade - plus, memory is something I want to be especially high quality.

yeah sorry I had thought newegg had some 667 2 gig ram for $150 a couple months ago so I was going off that, but I guess either their deals expired or I was just imagining the $150 ram! Sorry for the confusion!