Building a gaming machine

[Nate90]

I'm working on picking out parts for a new gaming machine and I'd like some advice on whether I should change anything in my current build.

RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WBP Black 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case With 500W Power Supply - Retail $99.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail $169.99

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD502lJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $59.99

LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X 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 - OEM $21.99

Logitech G15 2-Tone 104 Normal Keys 29 Function Keys USB Wired Standard Gaming Keyboard - Retail $89.99

Logitech G5 2-Tone 7 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Laser 2000 dpi Mouse - Retail $45.99

Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail $72.99

Hanns·G HB-175APB Black 17" 8ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 DC 1800:1(600:1) Built in Speakers - Retail $109.99

ASUS P5N-D LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $134.99

PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W Continuous @ 40°C EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail $109.99

HIS Hightech H485QS512P Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported IceQ4 Video Card - Retail 179.99

 

[Guest]

Your probably better off going with a 9600 GT for a 17" monitor and save yourself $90.00 unless you plan on getting a 22"+ monitor in the near future, your better off going with a a 9600 GT chipset as you prob will be playing in the native 1400X900 or lower res.

PNY VCG96512GXEB GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133239 would be a good choice.

 

[ouroboros]

Motherboard and GPU: You've got a SLI mbd with an ATI 4850. If you're looking to eventually double up via Crossfire, it won't work. Either go with a Crossfire chipset, Nvidia GPU or a single PCIE mbd

Hard Drive: I tend t seperate my data from my OS, that means a seperate 60-80GB HDD for (I assume) Windows and then another HDD for your data, 250 should do it for MOST. I'm also a redundancy freak so I'd mirror the 250GB HDD but you could do fine running backups to an external HDD.

PSU: I tend to stick with 3 brands, Seasonic, Antec and Enermax. I've only had issues with one Antec PSU and they handled it flawlessy. "If it aint broke, don't fix it"

Case: Why blow $100 on the case with a PSU when (according to your post) you're looking at a seperate PSU? $50 gets you a toolless CoolerMaster Centurion, great airflow and a standard ATX configuration means little worry about the 20+ cable running short.

Misc: I'd also look into additional fans, I tend to run a 120mm in (across the HDDs), a 120mm exhaust and an 80mm blowing onto the CPUs fan. Keep in mind that this is for a mid-tower ATX case, I don't overclock and keep my apt at ~78F so this is more than sufficient.

 

[jake4d1]

Buying a 250GB drive is pretty much pointless when you can double the storage space for around $20 more. Although getting a cheap 160GB drive and using it for OSes would be nice.