New System to match my 22" LCD

[staylorist]

Frustrated with gaming on my Macbook Pro 2.4 core 2 duo with the NVIDIA 8600M, I decided to sell it and use the money to build a PC. I basically had really poor performance in EVE-Online, my current drug of choice. I also wanted a much larger and more immersive experience that a 15” screen couldn’t give me. This will be my first attempt and building a machine.

I’m so woefully confused about what hardware to get for making my first PC gaming machine. So far I have the monitor, the new 2253BW from Samsung and a case and power supply someone gave me. These are the Coolermaster Mystique and a Thermaltake Toughpower 600W. I don’t know if they are good or not compared with other cases and PSUs.

I do not know what a good motherboard, processor and graphics card to get for great performance on the 22” monitor. Do I need to SLI/Crossfire two cards are can I use one of the newer and better single cards? If so which one? If I get one card, would it be foolish to buy a single slot motherboard like the GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L?

Here is what I think I need:
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L Motherboard
Intel E8400 Processor
Random hard drive doesn’t matter much to me how big it is.
I don’t know what and how much RAM to get.
VisionTek 900209 Radeon HD 3870 X2 1GB – Is this too much or too little?

Thermaltake Toughpower 600W PSU
Coolermaster Mystique Case

Please if anyone could correct me if I am wrong I would be very appreciative. I want this system to play maxed settings on my 22” LCD for games like EVE-Online and the upcoming Warhammer Online and possibly Age of Conan. I have no interest in Crysis.

 

[akhilles]

Gaming isn't Mac's strength. PC is still the king. Until computers & humans merge one day in a decade or so... so says a BBC article.

Are you going to overclock? Guess not.

What's your budget?

Are you the kind of guy who wants to max out everything at max resolution?

Your preliminary selection is on the right track. Answer the above questions & we'll go somewhere.

 

[staylorist]

I am comfortable with overclocking. I have never done it to a CPU though. I was actually overclocking my Macbook Pro's 8600M with some nice results using ATITool. I had to to some tweaking to get this to work, which I really enjoyed doing. I am the kind of guy that likes to max everything out!

My budget is around $1000. I just bought a different PSU than the one my friend gave me. I foresaw having issues with this one so I just went with it and got a 750W PC&C. I hope that wasn't a mistake, but after reading around it looked like this older one wouldn't quite cut it for a second graphics card if I needed to get it.

I am starting to think that maybe I should be getting two 8800gt (s?) cards instead of the one, but is that necessary for a 22" monitor? I really hate spending a lot of money for something that is adequate when just a little more will give me total satisfaction. I have been doing that with my computing power for my whole life. It all started with getting a C64 instead of the C128.

 

[amddiesel]

The processor and video card you have mentioned for your build will be great for eve-online on that 22"monitor with a resolution of 1680x1050 with everything maxed. I am a eve player also with 2-22" Samsung 226bw's with everything maxed im averaging 75-120fps with the rig in my signature.
With the premium graphics installed on that game you will be one very happy camper. EVE looks GORGEOUS

 

[amddiesel]

BTW staylorist.. That graphics card will be SWEET for eve. It will laugh at EVE! Im not sure how many watts the graphics card will suck from that powersupply though

 

[marneus]

I would prob say the 3870 rather than the x2 or the 9600GT are more reasonable options for videogaming

re: HDD, this will effect your gaming... in testing, i have seen charts of 8secs loadup diff between the worst & the best in online multiplayer bf2... so the new spinpoint F1 750GB, fast & big

 

[akhilles]

I take it the budget excludes the psu which you already bought.

Single-GPU option:
E8400
GA-P35-DS3L
4GB DDR2-800 (2x2/2x2x1)
HD 3870 X2
500GB SATAII
DVD
PC&C 750W

If you want SLI, it'll go over $1000 excluding PSU. The PCP&C is the best & 750W can handle SLI. Maybe not tri-SLI.