I'm building this to replace my Athlon XP based system, which simply can't handle new games anymore.

Priorities:
-Must be able to handle new games at good framerates, particularly Age of Conan. (Think Oblivion with massive-scale player battles.)
-Plan to upgrade to a G92, and possibly a Penryn quad core if it's warranted.
-Quiet is a plus, but that takes a back seat to the above two factors.
-Would like to keep the budget around $1000 for these six components, but am somewhat flexible.


Case: Antec P182 Gun Metal Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129025
-$145 after rebate
-Chosen for the combination of good cooling and low noise.

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139002
-$140 after rebate
-Chosen for reliability and low noise.

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128050
-$130
- Chosen for upgradeability to G92 and Penryn quad core.

RAM: Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820146565
-$80 after rebate

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6750 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115029
-$220
- Chosen for price/performance
-Will upgrade to a Penryn quad core if it's warranted, but don't want the G92 to bottleneck too much while I wait for it.

Video card: SAPPHIRE 100176L Radeon X1950PRO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102061
-$137
- This is a placeholder for a G92 card, probably the equivalent of an 8800 GTX.

Total: $950


Stuff I already have:
Drives: 2x 320gb Seagates (may or may not RAID-0,) optical drive.
OS: XP Pro. Will dual boot Vista when it's necessary for games.
Monitor: Have a 19 inch Viewsonic CRT, but it's aging. Will probably upgrade to a 22 inch LCD soon.


Concerns:

1. Will the 620w Corsair PSU be sufficient once I add a Penryn quad core, the G92 equivalent of an 8800GTX, and possibly an XFi and wireless card? I've read that the G92 alone may use up to 300 watts.

2. I'm somewhat intimidated by overclocking, but my apartment sometimes reaches 85 degrees before I turn on the AC. Should I invest in a Tuniq Tower or something similar? Is Arctic Silver still the best thermal grease if so?

3. Should I get 4gb of RAM now so I can eventually have 8gb, or will that be overkill for the foreseeable future of gaming? Is DDR3 a big deal?

4. I'm open to any other suggestions.

Thank you in advance!

looks like a good build. You'll need 64-bit OS to run anything over like 3GB ram. The corsair 620 should be enough for the future. The 45mm CPUs will probably consume less power and those now and its more than enough for a GTX so you should be fine .

If you have any questions msg me on aim or yahoo at Maximus9102

Sent you a pm though

You picked some great parts, but it's still a bad idea. You waste the money for CPU and GPU and may also waste the money for case/mobo/PSU.

What if the G92 requires PCI-E 2.0, you'd need a new mobo.
What if the G92 requires 1 kW of power, you'd need a new PSU.
What if the G92 is 14" long, you'd need a new case.

You could get GA-P35C-DS3R just in case DDR3 becomes useful.

The memory: you're better off with 2GB modules, not 1GB modules. This leaves you the option of getting 8 GB later. That mobo can take 4 DDR2 modules. And yeah, I'd get 4 GB for now, even if XP will only see 3.2 GB.

Honestly, I'd wait until December because there are too many unknowns. Can you just play some older games for 4 months? Try Diablo 2 or Titan Quest for example.

If you really can't wait, then go ahead. I hope you make some kid happy giving him/her your CPU/GPU when you upgrade.

Maybe get yourself a full-tower case (Lian-Li makes fantastic quiet cases) and maybe a more powerful PSU (not needed now but they will improve your chances with the G92). Also, if you wait a month and get the GA-X38-DQ6 or whatever you avoid the risk about PCI-E 2.0.

CPU cooler: get a Thermalright Ultra 120. The Tuniq Tower is also excellent. Yeah, Arctic Silver will do.

Good suggestions so far. I'm also glad to see you are nabbing a x1950 for temporary till the g92. I was expecting to see a 8800 GTX in this build which is a waste for DX10..glad to see you're waiting. I might do the same thing If I can't wait anymore..But I'm holding off my build for x38, g92, penryn (if there aren't any non extreme versions at launch...probably gonna nab a q6600 for temp).

BTW..since you're planning to play oblivion and age of conan till the g92 series comes out..I'd recommend getting a x1950xt instead of the pro..it's only about 30 more..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102067

aevm:

The main reason I don't want to wait too long is AoC comes out 10/31/07, and I don't want to get too far behind the level curve and be unable to play with my friends. Gotta hate MMOs that way sometimes.

That's good advice about the X38 board. I'll probably wait for that if it's only a month. Thanks for catching that--For some reason I thought the GA-P35-DS3R was PCI-E 2.0 compliant.

I actually have a Lian-Li PC-68 mid tower case that I may be able to get away with using until we know for sure how long the G92s will be. It's not very quiet though, and I'd need to replace all three of the fans. I've seen pics of the P182 with an 8800GTX though, and it *looks* like it could handle a couple inches more as long as the upper drive cage is removed.

I guess I'll wait for the X38 and see if there's more information available on the G92 by that time.

I don't see myself waiting for the Penryn unless they nail down a more specific date than Q1 2008. From what Solariscs says I won't have to worry about power issues with that anyway.

Thank you for the advice--Much appreciated.

I thought about that, but for me it's a slippery slope to thinking if I'm doing that I should just go with an 8800GTS. I just want something that will make games playable until I get a G92. Who knows, if it looks like they'll release the G92 early in November I may just force myself to wait for it.

Thanks for the advice.

No problem.

Yeah, Penryn will consume less than Kentsfield. They actually announced the numbers, I think it was either 120W or 130W for the 3.33 GHz $999 quad. That's the only model they intend to release in December, the rest in spring. I wanted that one but TBH a Q6600 now for $266 was too good to resist so I gave up and ordered it. Besides, I only had a horrible P3

Know the feeling about AoC. I'm waiting for Hellgate London, probably the same week... Tell me about AoC please, is it the sort of game where your character levels up and finds useful items, like in Diablo or Hellgate? Do you see your character itself from outside or do you see through his eyes? I really hate that second type, and unfortunately it seems to be very popular. It's silly, I know, I got an 8800 GTX OC2 and no game to really make it work

AoC is third person. (You see your character from the outside.) It's a standard MMORPG (like World of Warcraft) as far as leveling up and getting items. It's based on Robert E. Howard's Conan novels, so it will be mature and dark themed. What attracted me to it is the unique combat system--It's more like a console fighting game with combo attacks and such than the standard autoattack MMO system.

It will have the standard assortment of PvE activities, but will also include features like guild vs. guild PvP castle sieges. This is why I'm worried about framerate--They say the game will have Oblivion's minimum system requirements, and I can only imagine how Oblivion would be with hundreds of players fighting each other on your screen.

If you search Age of Conan on Youtube, there are a handful of gameplay and developer walkthrough movies. It should be a lot of fun.

Dear god, don't count the rebates. Rebates practically never go through correctly.

Yeah, that's the best part for me. I've read every Conan novel, not just Robert E. Howard's, and Howard's other works, even got and loved the Conan mini-series. OK, the mini-series is actually funny rather than dark, but it's still very nice. I'm glad we talked

About the rebates: I actually have had excellent luck with rebates so far. I think I got them all. OK, it always took at least 6 months, true...

Futrue proof ? well then get ASUS P5KC or GIGABYTE P35C DS3R and also a Q6600