Suggestions / Comments on building 1st gaming computer

[Joetyme78]

Hey all. Looking to build my first gaming system and this is what I have come up with:

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.asp?ID=4685069

I would appreciate any suggestion or feedback. I am looking to stay around the price range I'm at.

Thanks

 

[ryanmission]

you cant link shopping carts.

 

[Joetyme78]

Sorry about that.

Antec P182 Gun Metal Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $149.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16811129025

EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - $259.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16813188024

ASUS EN9600GT/HTDI/512M GeForce 9600GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - $359.98 ($179.99 x 2)

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16814121229

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (Crossfire Edition) EPS12V 750W Power Supply - $169.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16817341011

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model HH80562PH0568M - OEM - $239.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16819115018

CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C4DHX - $134.00

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16820145194

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $109.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16822148288

Acer AL2216Wbd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor with HDCP support 300 cd/m2 700:1 - $229.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16824009094

SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 20X DVD±R DVD Burner - $24.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16827151161

XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - $36.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16835233003

ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound - $6.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16835186020


My total is coming up to $1722.89

Thanks

 

[aevm]

Go to www.microcenter.com for the P182, it's only $70 there.

Get a SATA burner, like SH-S203N.

Get a single 8800GTS G92 512MB and a 24" monitor. Add another GTS later (or right now, if you still have enough money). No point in SLI with a 22" monitor, and no point in SLI with mid-range cards either.

Edit: I like all the other choices.

Here's a good 8800GTS 512MB for $240, it's made by BFG and can be trusted:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143119

 

[Joetyme78]

Thanks for the info. Any recommendations for a 24" monitor. Would like to keep it under $400. Thanks.

 

[aevm]

Something like this, maybe.

ViewSonic Optiquest Series Q241wb Black 24" 5ms $340 + $16 shipping, after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116104
It would cost you 340+16+a bit more for a DVI cable.

Other promising models around $400 at newegg:
BenQ G2400W Black 24" 5ms, $400 + $17 shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824014158

NEC Display Solutions ASLCD24WMCX-BK Black 24" 5ms, $440 with free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824002359

Personally I always buy monitors from a local brick-and-mortar when they have sales. This way I don't pay for shipping and I can check for dead pixels right there. I got my current monitors from Future Shop and Best Buy.

 

[Joetyme78]

How's this look? I will browse the local stores to see about getting the monitor on sale. Any other suggestions or comment you can think of? I really appreciate the help.



Antec P182 Gun Metal Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $70.00

www.microcenter.com

EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - $259.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6813188024

BFG Tech BFGE88512GTSE GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - $269.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143119

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (Crossfire Edition) EPS12V 750W Power Supply - $169.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6817341011

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model HH80562PH0568M - OEM - $239.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6819115018

CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C4DHX - $134.00

http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6820145194

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $109.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6822148288

SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S203N - OEM - $29.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6827151161

XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - $36.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6835233003

ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound - $6.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6835186020

 

[aevm]

It looks perfect to me.

Here's a quote that might help you, from a newegg review of that Corsair RAM:

Pros: Stays cool, looks good, great price on 4GB ram, and great timings. With EVGA 780i and Zalman 9700 LED, there is plenty of clearance.

Cons: BIG, but so far has not caused me any issues. The ram is at least a full 3" tall.

Other Thoughts: It worked out of the box at 5-5-5-18 1.8v, I changed it to 4-4-4-12, and tried it with stock voltage, was a no go, PC would not boot. Changed it to 2.1v and it worked like a charm. I have since set it to 5-5-5-18 again, but running it at 998Mhz. Not 1 single bluescreen, or problem from this ram.

Maybe change the hard disk to this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218&Tpk=WD6400AAKS
It's got a higher density (320GB platters) which should lead to higher average read/writes on large files. Also, it comes to 21.25 cents/GB including shipping (22 cents/GB for the Seagate). Take this with a grain of salt, of course. I have 5 WD hard disks myself so I am a bit partial to WD. The Seagates are fine too, and have longer warranties.

 

[Joetyme78]

Anyone have a suggestion on which OS would work best with my build. Wasn't sure if I should go with Vista 64-bit or XP 32-bit

Thanks,

 

[aevm]

XP-32 bit will mean a few more fps in most games. Probably irrelevant, because you are getting a very good video card. It also means you will only see 3.5 GB of RAM out the 4 GB you are buying. Probably irrelevant too, at least most of the time.

Vista 64-bit will mean security updates and bug fixes for a long time to go, not just a few more more months like XP. That's a plus. It also means learning a new O/S. That can be annoying, but it's also a plus because it improves your chances of getting a good job whenever you need one. It also means some older devices or programs will not work. That's a big minus, but maybe you don't have any such things. It also gives you DirectX 10 (better looking Crysis and FSX and a few others).

I hope that helps you decide. It mostly depends on your old devices and programs. For example if you have some MS-DOS program you really love, XP can still run it. If you have a printer or scanner or whatever that has device drivers for XP but not for Vista, again you have to stay with XP. Otherwise I'd pick Vista 64.

 

[ZOldDude]

Get the E8400....it is online for $199 and only 2 cores but does 3.8Ghz+ on stock volts or over 4.3 @ 1.4Volts.

By the time any game uses more than 2 cores your system will have died of old age!

 

[ZOldDude]

Vista 64-bit will mean security updates and bug fixes for a long time to go, not just a few more more months like XP.

Eh...it's the other way around.
Last March MS said support for Vista ends December 31,2008 (Win 7 is slated for January 2009)....and last week on CNET MS reported extending support for XP -and new sales- untill the end of 2010.

Also if you are running Vista 64 and have it emulate/translate to run a 32 bit program/game it has NO extra security over 32 bit XP.
--->SOURCE : Steve Gibson owner of www.grc.com . D/L the Security Now podcast if you want to know the reasons this happens.

 

[aevm]

Whoa, seriously? OK, I'd better do some research here. That sounds like a total surrender from Microsoft, and it's not their style. People who already bought Vista based on promises of 5 years of support will sue them.

I've read in several places that Win 7 is more likely to show up in 2011. If that happens I guess both XP and Vista will be supported longer.

 

[ZOldDude]

2GB of ram with 32 bit XP gives me no more than 59% of ram use....running all my security programs,6 torrents and playing Frontline:Fule of War all at the same time.

 

[aevm]

Also if you are running Vista 64 and have it emulate/translate to run a 32 bit program/game it has NO extra security over 32 bit XP.
--->SOURCE : Steve Gibson owner of www.grc.com . D/L the Security Now podcast if you want to know the reasons this happens.

It might even refuse to run it at all. I've got XP-64 at work and it refuses to run some things that used to work on XP-32. I don't know if Vista 64 can run them, but I wouldn't bet on it.

 

[ZOldDude]

Whoa, seriously? OK, I'd better do some research here. That sounds like a total surrender from Microsoft, and it's not their style. People who already bought Vista based on promises of 5 years of support will sue them.

I've read in several places that Win 7 is more likely to show up in 2011. If that happens I guess both XP and Vista will be supported longer.

When MS made that Vista remark it was 90 days after Vista was onsale.
Lack of sales and demand for Vista over the past year and -more- XP sales is not like to make MS change it's mind.
People either want Vista becuase it's new or have a high end system and don't -notice- that it is slower than XP...but alot have learned to not want anything to do with it (the massive DRM in it is the biggest problem).

The other sad part is to get it o run -near- the speed of XP you need to tweek/turn off alot of things and have 2X the ram.
If you install even more ram (4GB) it will USE UP even more of it (almost a full GB if you have 4GB of ram).

 

[ZOldDude]

If you use Vista at work and do so becuase it lets you use alot of extra ram (gfx/video)...Server 2003 (32 bit) with an update lets you use over 123-127 GB of ram.

 

[aevm]

Yeah, well, that how Intel and Microsoft and a few others work together to force us to buy new computers often. As soon as the hardware gets better, the software starts requiring even better hardware, etc. It keeps the economy growing.

Anyhow, here's the latest info from Microsoft's site:
http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search/?sort=PN&alpha=Windows&Filter=FilterNO

Mainstream support (i.e. the free patches) end for XP on 4/14/2009 and for Vista on 4/10/2012, according to that. They have to be very careful about changing these dates in the wrong direction (i.e. ending support earlier than promised) because lawsuits are kind of expensive. Assuming these dates remain like that, then either XP or Vista would be fine IMO. I thought XP only had a few more months, not a whole year left.

 

[Joetyme78]

Think I'll go with XP for now. Is there much of a difference between

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116056

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116400

Thanks!!!

 

[aevm]

Check this out:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/choosing2.mspx

You said "gaming system", so I'm almost sure you don't need any of the extra things in XP Pro and you'd be fine with XP Home. Take a look at the list anyway and decide for yourself. For example the IIS support in XP Pro is very important if you're also using the PC to write or host Web apps. The Access Control part is useful if other people will also use this PC and you want a bit of privacy, as in folders that can only be seen by their owner. Apart from that, the differences are mostly useful to IT admins in companies, not to PC owners at home.

 

[Joetyme78]

Thanks again for the info. I have one last question before I starting purchasing. I noticed that I will have two components that will be OEM:

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218&Tpk=WD6400AAKS

and

SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S203N - OEM - $29.99

http://www.newegg.com/product/prod [...] 6827151161

Could I get some help on what I will need to buy (cables, etc) to properly install these components, is there are there any helpful guides to partitioning & formating?

I appreciate it!

 

[aevm]

That eVGA mobo comes with 6 SATA cables, so just use two of them for the hard drive and burner. As for power, my Silencer 750 came with enough cables for 2 opticals and 3 hard drives. You don't need to buy any cables.

Partitioning: probably something like 100 GB for Windows and programs, leaving the rest on a second partition for movies and whatever. This really depends on what you put on the hard disk. There's no general rule.

 

[Joetyme78]

Well I've pretty much ordered everything, but the video card. I was reading some of the comments and everyone talks about how big the card is. Was curious if I order two of them now will I have any problems fitting them both in.

Thanks

 

[aevm]

Here's a guy who has almost exactly the same setup that you want (same case, mobo, PSU, and two of those video cards).
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/sys/628243892.html

If he managed to fit them all in, I'm sure you can do it too.

 

[Joetyme78]

Sweet, thanks for all of the help.