New to building please be brutal

ok firstly you need bigger power supply.

get like 650wats.

secondary the extra vram on those graphic cards is just marketing thing, you will not see any difference unless you will be playing on 1080i.

get dual 8800gt/9800gt

i would go with single 300gb raptor witch is faster since it uses sata2 and has more cashe.

get a bigger case unless your seriously thinkg about putting all that hardware im some cramped cheezy cheap case

get 2x2gb ram, it will make your system easier to overclock and motherboard will need less power to power up two sticks taher than four


nuff said b

br00tal xP

Check out some GPU reviews. The 9400GT's won't be doing much of any gaming. Since you are looking at getting a board with a Nvidia chipset I would recommend dual 8800GT's or 9800GT's. I would look for a 650W power supply but get a good brand. Cheap Power supplies can destroy your whole system. If you want a fast HD get the 300GB WD Velociraptor. Are you looking to overclock at all in the future? I would also look at getting a better motherboard. Is there any reason why you're leaning toward and Nvidia chipset, or do you just like Nvidia cards to SLI them?

I don't see the PSU listed. A quality 500W-600W one will be sufficient with the following suggestions:
Change to a P45 mobo. From what I've been reading, the nVidia chipset boards have stability problems. I'd choose Gigabyte, Asus, or Biostar.
A pair of 9400GT in SLI makes no sense; my miserable little 3850 would blow them away. For gaming, get a 4850, although your budget even has room in it for a 4870. Choose a dual-slot design that exhausts its heat from your case, from any manufacturer other than Diamond.
Get a 4GB (2x2GB) kit of RAM that will operate on the JEDEC standard 1.8V. I've used some by Mushkin and A-Data with good results.
RAID-0 is data loss and migration headaches with random-delay timers attached to them. If you want fast, I can tell you that a single 150GB Velociraptor is amazing. Maybe add a 640GB WD drive for general storage.
Throw in a nice case, optical drive, floppy or memory card reader (or both), and you'll be well under your $1500 budget.

+1 @aevm's specifics. Add an optical drive too though; get a Retail package to get the software you'll need (including a decoder for movies). Fit it into the budget by dropping the size of the PSU, but the brand is excellent. Here's the 610W model: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817703005 for $75 after MIR, but looks like there's a 15% discount code good until 11/14.

Whats wrong with the p5n-d???

I have been using one for 6 months now without an issue. I have dual 8800gt's and a e-7200 overclocked to 3ghz (I know thats not a lot). Haven't had a problem with it, and it plays just about everything at full settings on a 19" widescreen @1440x900. Plus, if you want to do sli, nvidia chipset is the only way to go.

I would recommend dumping the 2 9400's and go with one higher preforming card, that you can add to later if you need more preformance.

Follow aevm and or Spinicheater. If you are willing to put up with the potential data loss of RAID then use the 6400AAKS, as said.

I would try to stick with the PC P&C 750, it's worth the extra cash.

OMG, that is a horrible name Legless

*Edit: Jeez, I was thrown off by legless, I forgot what I was going to say. oh yeah...RAID doesn't improve FPS either if I remember correctly. Might have been an old THG article that looked into it.

Oops, I forgot the burner, yeah. Here's one that gets good reviews,costs only $24, comes with Power DVD and Nero Express, and even has a SATA cable included. LG GH22NS30. Just FYI, LG has rip-lock so this drive is not great for ripping DVDs. Not that you'd do that, of course...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827136152
There's also the SH-S223Q, but I'm not sure that comes with software.


The Silencer 610W is great, and $75 is as low as I've ever seen it. However, it has 2 PCI-E connectors with 6 pins, and the Sapphire HD 4870 X2 wants a 6-pin and an 8-pin. I believe you'd get the necessary adapter with the card, but I'm not sure. Also, a 750W PSU leaves more room for hard disks and TV tuners and what not. Plus I'm biased, because I have the 750W myself and it hasn't caused me any troubles so far in a year and a half
There's also a Corsair 650TX for $72 at www.buy.com. Designed by Seasonic just like the Silencer 610W, very similar, but it has the connectors for that card.
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-65 [...] 78324.html

First of all, if you are sticking with NVIDIA buy two 9800GT, or one and add other in the future, it's a waste to use 2 PCIE ports in two 9400 GT's when a single 8800GT or 9800GT would be so much better, also buy a motherboard with a higher FSB (1600MHz) so you will have room for overclocking, if you change your motherboard you could switch to ATI, the 4850 is a great bang for the buck.
Buy 2X2GB memory kit to use them in dual chanel mode.

+1 aevm

He has put together a superb machine for you there, if you follow his recommendations you will be very satisfied.

As a side note, if this is an iBuyPower machine or any pre-built machine for that matter, I would strongly suggest building your own. You will get a much more powerful computer for the same amount of money, and you will learn a valuable skill.