Newbie, is this a good gaming rig?

[ballgeoff]

NZXT Apollo ORANGE NP Orange SECC Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ($49.99 after rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16811146027

ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard($134.99)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16813131013

XFX PVT88GYDD4 GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card($249.99 and comes with CoD 4)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16814150267

Rosewill RP550-2 ATX12V v2.01 550W Power Supply 115/230 V CSA,UL,TUV, FCC($66.99)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16817182017

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor ($153.00)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16819103773

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory($43.99)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?
item=N82E16820231098

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive($64.99)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?
item=N82E16822148262

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English 1pk DSP OEI DVD($109.99)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16832116488

Total Cost: $893.93 w/o shipping.

I already have a DVD drive, monitor, keyboard, and mouse from my last computer. I'm mostly using this rig to play WoW, Age of Conan, Warhammer, CoD4, Counter-strike, and some RTS. Will this set-up accomplish what I'm looking for? This is going to be my first time building a computer so any advice is appreciated!

BTW, can I use my old 200gb hardrive from my last computer on this rig? Its got Windows XP and all my games on it, would that cut out the cost of buying vista and a new hardrive?

Thanks!

 

[ballgeoff]

On a side note, would it be worth putting 4gb of ram in it? Considering the price is only $44 for 2gb. Thanks again.

 

[englandr753]

1. Get a good power supply:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

This power supply is overkill but its only 119.00 after 50.00 savings, 10.00 mir and free delivery. If you go SLI later you can run it with no problems. I gpt mine at Microcenter for 99.99 after 45.00 mir.

You could use windows XP and your old hard drive but you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall your OS. If you try to do a repair installation it will ask for the installation CDs for each program and if your like me you have some programs installed that you downloaded.

Its usually best to start from scratch with a completely new system but you can try to do the repair installation but be prepared to get frustrated and format the hard drive anyway.

I think using XP is a waste when it comes to new hardware. You wont be able to unlock your video cards direct X10 capabilities using the direct X9 XP OS and when more direct X10 games come out it will matter more and more.

I would get 4Gs or ram personally.

There are likely other things to address but Im too tired to go any further. I need to go to bed and have to work tomorrow/today and will get <6hrs of sleep if I go to bed now.

Good luck!

 

[ballgeoff]

I thought Rosewill was a good brand amd isnt 550w kinda overkill already?

 

[Night-Stalker]

I would not recommend x2 6000+, you should rather get a X4 or X3 Phenom if you like that motherboard or go with Intel quads + nforce motherboards. Intel would offer more power and overclocking head room (though it cost more too but its worth it) and if you want SLI then you could go with a high end ASUS board, if you want to save money then i would go with Evga 750i FTW, cheaper + good overclock (thats what i heard).

I would go with 4 GB for sure and about your 200 GB hd, it would bottleneck your system if its not as fast as the new seagate that you are getting. The rest of the components are good, 550w would be enough but if you are going to overclock and SLI then i would say go with a 650w, 750w might be a overkill unless you WC your cpu and graphics card and do some major OC.

Well, this is just my opinion. Whats your budget anyways?

 

[ballgeoff]

I'd like to keep it under $1000, so I wont be looking into quad core.

 

[Night-Stalker]

if under 1000, i would just get a P35 board from asus (P5K-E) and gigabyte with a E8400 and if you want sli, get a 650i or 750i board, most recommended would still be Evga 750i FTW. Those boards should give you decent performance and good OC results. Thought about a aftermarket cooler at all?

 

[ballgeoff]

any other adivce? I'm going to buy today!!

 

[uguv]

Don't get SLI unless you're planning on using 2 video cards.

Unless you're dead set on going AMD, I'd go for an intel processor and a P35 board for the best "bang for your buck".

I'd get a GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L motherboard ($90) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059

with a Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 processor ($200) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037
If you're running at stock speed, the stock cooler should be fine.

I'm a fan of Corsair and PC P&C power supplies. I'm not sure about the Rosewill one you listed. You can get a 550W Corsair PSU from buy.com for $70 after rebates (with free shipping) http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-vx-550w-atx-power-supply/q/loc/101/205852646.html or it's $85 at the egg after rebates.

You might as well go for a 2x2gb RAM kit for 4GB total.

The 8800GTS (G92) video card should serve you well.