Plz Help w/ my new Gaming Desktop

[irishgiant]

Hey everyone,
I am looking to build a new computer for myself for xmas this year and just got started looking at the parts i want to put together. This computer will primarily be used for gaming (WoW, warhammer, starcraft 2) but I would also like some good gaming performance for years and games to come. I like to listen to music while i game too, my computer right now can't run wow and pandora/itunes at the same time w/o having too much lag in game. So that would be really nice as well.

I am studying engineering in school right now, so i was also interested in picking up solid works and possibly pro engineer in the near future. (I don't know how intensive these programs are).

Anyways here is the setup i have come up with so far...I would like to keep a budget around $1000 if i can manage. Of course the cheaper the better. Also, I will keep my current monitor, speakers, keyboard, and mouse because they work fine and I would like to save money that way.

Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 Wolfdale 2.66GHz LGA 775 Dual-Core Processor Model BX80571E7300

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

2 x mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996587

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

NZXT TEMPEST Crafted Series CS-NT-TEM-B Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

HP 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 SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD

The grand total for this is just about $1000.

Now, here are my questions:

1. Should I stick with getting 8gb of that mushin ram? or is that rediculous and I only need 4gb? I figure $50 bux isn't a lot, though I don't know how much of a diff that 4extra gb is.

2. I have no idea what psu to buy. How much power does this system need? and what would be a good psu for that?

3. Does everything else look good? as in fit together correctly and be able to perform well? Any suggestions for changes to quad core, or anything really is appreciated. I understand that some of your advice might put me above budget. I might be able to throw a couple more bills into this comp if it is really recommended.

Thanks in advance guys!

PS. I primarily used this list from Proximon to decide on this system. I would like to thank him for this great guide.

 

[irishgiant]

oops forgot a question so here it is.

4. What about sound cards? do you think i need one? and what will it do for me if so? and if so, any recommendations?

 

[shortstuff_mt]

You did a great job putting this together!

I'd step up the CPU to an E8400. Games really like the extra cache of the E8x00 series. If you have to just get 4GB of RAM to upgrade the CPU, it would be worth it IMO. I do like the idea of getting 8GB of RAM though. It's overkill and not necessary, but with the current price of RAM - why not?

I'd look into a quality 750W PSU since you picked a crossfire motherboard and an ATI GPU. 750W will allow you to add another GPU down the road. This PC Power & Cooling unit is pretty cheap right now. It's red, but cheap.

PC Power & Cooling S75CF 750W EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 GTX and below) CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341011 $109.99 - $40 MIR

Edit: You don't need a sound card. The motherboard comes with pretty good on-board sound. Try out the on-board. It's easy to add a sound card later if you feel you need to.

 

[Multiplicity]

I'd opt for the 640 gig Western Digital Hard Drive for $69.99. It is only five bucks more and you net 140 gigs. I heard Seagate drives can be a bit unreliable, so for you, I'd stick to Western Digital. I second the PSU shorttuff recommends. It's a holiday special, so you'd have to buy that ASAP before the special ends.

 

[irishgiant]

Multiplicity. Do u mean this drive?

Western Digital Caviar Green WD6400AACS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (bare drive)

If so what does bare drive mean? I don't want to go out and buy a separate sata cable when i could have bought my HD w/ one.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

It's best to avoid the Green series of drives. The Black or Blue version is the one you want.

WD Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS - hard drive - 640 GB - SATA-300
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10008688&prodlist=celebros $68.99

or

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319&Tpk=wd6401aals $84.99

The drive you listed in your original post is also an OEM/Bare drive, but your motherboard should come with all the cables you need.

 

[irishgiant]

Alright guys,

I appreciate the help so far, now i have changed a couple things and have some more questions.

It turns out my budget is going to be $1300 for this project...so i have a little more room to work with than what i was thinking.

Here are the parts i want:

NZXT TEMPEST Crafted Series CS-NT-TEM-B Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders

2x mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

HP 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model DVD1060I

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

PC Power & Cooling S75CF 750W EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 GTX and below) CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Alright. that is everything besides the cpu and vid card. And here are my questions:

1. The red psu is an amazing deal...but my case is gonna be blue and black. Any suggestions to solve this?

2. On the gigabyte mobo, under expansion slots it says "2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16
(one running at x16 model, another one running at x8 model)" Is this going to be a problem should i chose to upgrade my computer in a year or 2 by adding an additional video card to my system and run some SLI?

3. Now for my cpu I cannot decide if i want to go quad core or stick w/ dual core. Here are the two options i am considering. If you could guide me one way or another I would appreciate it. Keep in mind i want to have this computer for a while.
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor


4. And finally the video card. I was initially digging this radeon card for my new desktop, but a friend of mine suggested this other EVGA geforce card. He claimed they are comparable prices but in the benchmarks the geforce was superior. And now i just cant decide on what card to get at all.....here are the options I am considering, please take a look and tell me which would be the better choice for this build. Or if you have another card in mind i'd love to hear it!
SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
EVGA 896-P3-1264-AR GeForce GTX 260 SSC Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video CardThis one has different models(Core 216, Superclocked, and SSC) and I don't know which of these to choose either....

Thank you guys for all your help!

 

[whyycharles]

Well you planning to get Windows Vista 64bit right, so why would you stick to 4gb when vista 64bit supports 8gb. If you were planning to get 4gb why not save some money and get 32bit windows. So i say you should go for the 8gb

 

[shortstuff_mt]

I'd get the 4870 1GB since the motherboard you chose is crossfire capable (ATI cards), but not SLI capable (Nvidia cards). The GTX 260 core 216 might be SLIGHTLY faster in a few benchmarks, but at least with the 4870 you'll have the option of adding a second card in crossfire later. If you want to have the same option with an Nvidia card you have to get a motherboard with a flakey Nvidia chipset. The only boards that support both crossfire and SLI are the new X58 boards.

 

[irishgiant]

ahhhh. good info guys thank you. obviously xfire is ati's sli....i never made that connection til now lol.