First time building gaming desktop will this work? Suggestions please

[jdbaker82]

Hi everyone this is my first time ever building a desktop and after about 10 hours of research and reviews I came up with the following configuration for my best bang for the buck entry level gaming PC that should be able to hopefully run Starcraft II and Diablo III at decent frames when they come out. Could someone verify for me if this setup will fit together and run properly? I plan on using this PC for (Most important to least) Gaming/inetbrowsing/movies/audio. I also plan on hooking this up to my Samsung 50" plasma display VIA HDMI but am not familiar with this should I have any problems with the resolution or anything related? Also does anyone recommend Vista Ultimate 64 bit or Vista Home 64 bit I have not decided on the OS yet.

CASE (Was intitially going to go with the Antec 900 but am willing to pay a little more for neater/easier wire routing)
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $119.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197

HARD DRIVE
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
$74.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

VIDEO
SAPPHIRE TOXIC Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
$174.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102815

SOUND
Creative 70SB088000004 7.1 Channels PCI Express 1x Interface PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium - Retail
$89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102024

RAM
OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model
$67.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227289

MotherBoard (Was initially going to get the ASUS P5Q3 but read too many RAM horror storys)
BIOSTAR TPower I45 LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
$159.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138118

CD-ROM/BLURAY READER
LG Black 8X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 40X CD-ROM SATA Internal Combo LG Blu-ray Reader & 16X LightScribe DVD±R DVD Burner -
$129.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136162

PSU
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7
$99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

CPU+CPU COOLER COMBO
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail
XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail
$198.08
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.207753

Price without OS comes to roughly $1,120 I was aiming closer to $1000 and may tweak it to get there... maybe someone has a suggestion to help me? lol

 

[hunter315]

i doubt you need the sound card, onboard sound is pretty good these days. Also you can get a stronger build if you go AMD, you can get a top of the line AMD Quad core and top end motherboard for less than the motherboard and CPU you picked out which will make up for the higher cost of DDR3 ram.

 

[jbakerlent]

+1 for Hunter's AMD suggestion... $1,120 is quite a lot for an EOL dual core 775

 

[shortstuff_mt]

You can do substantially better for the budget. This build also comes to about $1,100 and includes the OS:

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197 $119.99

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103674

OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P16004GK - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227297

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.207089 $269.99 (CPU + RAM combo)

GIGABYTE GA-MA790XT-UD4P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128378 $129.99 - $15.00 MIR

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102825 $149.99

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319&Tpk=wd6401aals

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders w/ Tech Guarantee - OEM (Includes free Windows 7 updrade coupon)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116677

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.205082.22-136-319 $179.98 (HD + OS combo)

LG Black 8X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 40X CD-ROM SATA Internal Combo LG Blu-ray Reader & 16X LightScribe DVD±R DVD Burner - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136162 $129.99

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006&Tpk=750tx $119.99 - $10.00 MIR

Total - $1,099.92 - $25.00 MIR's

 

[hunter315]

Swap the motherboard out for the one in this combo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.212581

Saves you $25 before rebate and $10 after for a superior board with 16x/16x crossfire

 

[jdbaker82]

I was under the impression these AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor were not quite as good for gaming and are only worth it if you are going to be doing a lot of multi tasking? Is this incorrect?

 

[hunter315]

Thats wrong, AMD CPUs are far more cost effective than the intel ones, the quad cores will help with multitasking but it is on the same level for most tasks as the Intel Q9550. For quad threaded games it will beat a C2D easily and even for dual threaded games it will out perform it due to allowing windows background tasks to run on a different core and you will have an even easier time OCing it because its a BE.

 

[skora]

Home is enough 95% of the users out there. Unless you have special needs, it will work fine for HTPC and gaming apps.

Hold off on the sound card. You can add that later if the onboard doesn't cut it for your home system, but as Hunter said, they've come a long way.

Check this build, close to what you could do for $1k. Look at the zzf stuff a few post down from me and you can squeeze the blu ray in there I think.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/268891-31-critique-build-please#t1966380

 

[jdbaker82]

Hmm what cooler can I use for this AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition /ASUS M4A79T Deluxe AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard ? Can I still use the Ximatek DarkKnight?

 

[jdbaker82]

Also as far as hooking this gaming desktop to my 50" Plasma Samsung will resolution or anything be an issue? Will I actually be able to use the TV's display to play games?

 

[jdbaker82]

I forgot to mention I do not plan on running in SLI or Xfire is the Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition /ASUS M4A79T Deluxe AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD still the way to go over the E8500?

 

[jbakerlent]

Yes on the Phenom 955 but you could go for a much cheaper MOBO such as this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.212715

 

[jdbaker82]

Hmmm would anyone suggest a different setup all together if I do not plan on OCing at all?

 

[jbakerlent]

Well you could downgrade to the Phenom 945 I guess...