Building a new gaming PC

[MechD]

Greetings,

After several years of faithful service my current PC (AMD 64 3200+, Nvidia 7800 GTX, 2GB Ram) has finally run into several games that it simply cannot run at an acceptable speed. Combine that with my monitor finally giving up the ghost and its time to retire the poor beastie and build a new gaming PC.

I guess it would be a good idea to get started with the questionnaire...

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Gaming, mostly of the MMORPG (WoW and Warhammer Online) and FPS (Crysis and CoD4) variety, going online, and sometimes watching videos.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
I'd like to keep the price around $1,000 but that isn't set in stone or anything.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
USA, probably from Newegg

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.
Nope, I use whatever the best parts are at the time.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
My recently acquired monitor (22" LG L227WTG-PF) is the only part that will be making the transition to my new PC.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
Yes I have, both on this site and on several others.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
I'm planning to overclock, aiming for 3.5GHz or higher.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
I'm planning to make the order as soon as I get confirmation that I haven't missed anything drastic (hey, that video card won't fit in that case!) or selected any parts that won't perform as needed (that PSU is way to small for your machine/you need faster ram to OC etc).

With that out of the way, we can move onto the fun stuff, the parts list!

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115037
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128345
RAM: G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231122
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD4870 1GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102801
Power Supply: Corsair 620HX http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817139002
Case: Cooler Master RC-690 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811119137
Hard Drive: WD Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136218
DVD Drive: Samsung 22x http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16827151173
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek HDT-S1283 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835233003
Operating System: Vista Home Premium 64-bit http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16832116488

So it won't win any originality awards, but that?s the system I'm planning to build, and I think it looks solid. However, I've always found it valuable to have more than one set of eyes look something over, particularly when it involves PCs... So critique away and thanks in advance!

 

[Slugbait]

Looks nice. But go save more than $20 on the case at ZZF.

 

[disports]

That PSU is $129 After mail in rebate from ZZF with free shipping
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...3110&prodlist=celebros

ASUS EAH4870/HTDI/1G Radeon HD 4870 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express x16 (2.0v) Video Card Retail - $276 after mail in rebate
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...9432&prodlist=celebros
another option if you want to save some money

That hard drive is also at ZZF, only $0.09 cheaper lol, but they do ship it a little better and free shipping. I don't know if you get taxed or not (NJ, CA?)

CPU $2 cheaper at ZZF lol.

If there's a microcenter nearby where you live, that HSF is selling for $14.99 after rebate (WOW!)

but it's a good build.

 

[geokilla]

You may want to change the graphic card to a 512MB model instead of 1GB. There shouldn't be a huge difference between the two.

Also since it's a 22" monitor, you may not need a 4870 at all. A 4850 should be more than enough for your needs, except for maybe Crysis when you try to run the game at high or max settings.

 

[Denithor]

Stick with the 4870 1GB. The extra memory buffer will help if you crank up AA and as games become more texture-heavy.

 

[Ichigo]

Well, you'd *technically* get better gaming performance if you dropped down to an e7200, got a slightly cheaper heatsink, and went with a GTX 280, for the same overall price. Some people will defend the CPU choice nonetheless though.

 

[MechD]

Thanks for the critiques guys; it's good to know the build looks solid! Couple of other thoughts/questions...

1st) Thanks for the suggestion of ZFF/pointing out the nice deal on the HSF @ Microcenter, I will be checking both out!

2nd) I got the impression from http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2239602&enterthread=y and a couple of other sources that the Sapphire 4870 I have on my list has a non-reference cooler that?s both quieter, and better at keeping the card cool than the stock model most cards seem to have. Since I have heard the 4870s can run hot, would I be correct in assuming this would be worth the slightly higher price compared to the Asus version?

3rd) Okay, I'm curious, would I still get *technically* better gaming performance if I mentioned that my monitors max res is 1680x1050? From the research I've done I was under the impression that video card wise anything past a 4870 wouldn't actually be much if any of an upgrade @ that res. Do the e7200's just oc that much better than the e8400's? Or was the better gaming performance based on higher res play where the GTX 280's do seem to have an edge on the 4870s?

Thanks again guys, I haven't built a system in awhile, and I'm already starting to get excited!

 

[VirtualLarry]

I think your original build is good, and you should go for it.

 

[Ichigo]

In shader-heavy games, like Crysis, you will get a better framerate, since it's not CPU-limited at that resolution and it's very GPU dependent. You can up the settings as well.

The 4870 is no slouch, obviously, but it's just a fact that the GTX 280 will perform better even with a poorer CPU (won't show if you oc it) in games overall.