First build in 5 years

[thepieguy]

So it's been a while since I've built a PC, 5 years or so, and I'm a bit out of touch. I'm looking for a little advice. I will probably only play a few games, more or less catching up on the best ones of the last few years. So that's the kind of performance I'm looking for. I will not overclock anything. Here are the components I am thinking about buying:

ASUS GeForce 9800 GT EN9800GT HB/HTDI/512M Video Card

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor

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

OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

I already have a case and optical drive. My main question is, what should I do for a power supply? I will probably only run one HDD, one optical, one video card. Also, is the E8400 a little much and would I be better off (for the money) with an E7400. Any other suggestions would be great! Thanks.

 

[teamlosigp]

ya get a E7300 even and then put the extra money into a gtx 260 (if u can afford it)

 

[Proximon]

Have you seen the guide stickied at the top of the forum?

If you insist on not overclocking, then you should stay with the E8400.

1066 RAM does nothing for you, except make it more likely that your computer won't boot out of the gate because of high DRAM voltage requirements:
G.Skill PI Black 800Mhz

This would be a faster drive, by a good margin:
WD3200AAKS 320GB

 

[thepieguy]

Thanks for the tips! I have read the guide, it has very useful information. I'm having a little trouble doing a whole lot of in-depth research, though, considering my "backup" PC is 1.3ghz with 256mb of ram (slow & aggravating). That's why I came here for a little more help.

 

[MaDMagik]

+1 ^Proximon on ram and e8400

But I would go with Radeon 4850 instead, as you will be able to add another one as a future upgrade. You wont be able to do that with geforce

 

[Proximon]

Your motherboard is a crossfire board, so getting an ATI card would be to your advantage. If you ever needed to upgrade you could add a second one.

Sapphire 4850
Corsair 650TX
This is about the best deal going on a PSU today. Although you say you won't use a second card, this will also leave that option open.

 

[MykC]

I wouldn't get anything more than a 500W PSU, something like the PC Power and Cooling 500W for $75 is fine, to be honest, a good 400W PSU would be more than enough for this system since I don't think you'll break 300W under load. But, going with either of these PSU may limit your choice of adding another video card or replacing your current one.

 

[theAnimal]

What resolution?

 

[thepieguy]

1280x1024. I'm trying to keep it in the 500-600 dollar range so I don't anticipate a new monitor purchase for the time being. Thanks for all the good advice folks.

 

[fruees]

Ok so a HD4850 will make any game look great at that res, and you won't need another until you get a bigger monitor.
As for your CPU, you would be silly not to read up on overclocking; A day of research will have you completely sorted, it isn't difficult at all abecause things only get complicated when you get into extreme overclocking. Given you want to spend a limited amount, you can get an E8400 and push it to 4Ghz straight off. Given that a dual core may struggle if you use lots of applications, overclocking really makes sense. Just get a $30 CPU cooler, look in Proximon's guide at the top of the forum

 

[theAnimal]

1280x1024. I'm trying to keep it in the 500-600 dollar range so I don't anticipate a new monitor purchase for the time being. Thanks for all the good advice folks.

HD4830.