Can someone critque this gaming system?

[Urien]

I have decided to build a new computer. Basically, I want something that can handle the new games that have arrived, like Bioshock, but can be upgraded later when the time comes. I am willing to spend a little over a thousand dollars. Sorry if I put too much description with the products below, I just want to make sure I got all the info in here. Here is what I have picked out so far:


MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 675 (PC2 5400)
LIAN LI PC-65 USB B2 Silver Aluminum ATX Mid Tower
PNY VCG88GTS32XPB GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150
LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler
Rosewill RP500-2 ATX12V v2.01 500W Power Supply


I know I'm missing a sound card, but I'll probably deal with that later. I'm not sure if I am missing anything else, it seems pretty solid. This is for gaming only. I have other computers for browsing the internet, office work, ripping DVDs, etc. I have used Lian Li cases before and they are always excellent in the cooling department. All this stuff came out to 1,200 on Newegg. Just wondering if I am spending too much or not getting the best stuff for my money. Thanks for any help.

 

[jive]

Depends on what is the price of your,s raptor you could consider 2 X 160gig sata in raid. The difference will be little. Raptor is good if you go raid. WIth just one got what I said you will doubble you're disk space for low cost. for the rest everything looks fond to me ... Just one last thing :did the MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 do raid ?

 

[aevm]

How about this:

GA-P35-DS3R
Patriot DDR2-800
WD5000AAKS 500 GB instead of the Raptor
Corsair 520HX PSU - don't get the Rosewill

The PSU part is important, the others not so much.

 

[Dante_Jose_Cuervo]

Hmm... your system looks pretty good overall, and I also use Lian-Li cases, very pleased with the quality.

Just as a suggestion, I'm not going to tell you to RAID the raptor as that is a very fast drive on its own but I would recommend getting a larger drive for just stuff like general storage. I wouldn't worry too much about a sound card. I personally am waiting for that new Auzentech Prelude. Hmm...

Just as a precaution, and to save you a little trouble in the future I'd get a new PSU to cope with a more powerful GPU and that soundcard in the future. I'd highly recommend that PC P&C Silencer 750.

Now just as a suggestion, I know it's kind of useless now, but in the future it will be of big help. Why not look at a decent quad-core CPU? Games like Crysis will be using 4 cores so why not?

Other than that it looks pretty cool. If you need anything else just let us know. Good luck and happy building!

 

[Urien]

People keep recommending 500 GB harddrives even though I will not be putting anything on this PC but games, which probably will never go over 40 gigs worth. I also don't want multiple hard drives in here increasing noise and heat. I want just one super fast drive that isn't too noisy and I hear the Raptor 150 fits that bill perfectly.

 

[Dante_Jose_Cuervo]

Fair enough, I knew you were going to be using this for gaming, but I figured you might be putting other stuff on there (guess that's where having those other computers comes in doesn't it?). Anyways, Yeah, then just stick with the raptor, it's a fast drive, expensive, but fast.