Building a New Mid-High Range Gaming Rig

[clamum]

I can never keep up with good/current hardware so if I could get a few pointers or comments from knowledgable folk here that would be great.

I am going to order parts for a new machine soon and below is what I picked out from NewEgg. The main purpose of the machine is for gaming, web browsing, and software and web developing. When I say gaming I don't mean I game 24/7 and need 150 FPS with maxed out settings, but something pretty decent would be great.

So here's the parts (updated):

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$74.99

HIS Hightech Radeon X1950PRO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate
$174.99 ($155 w/ rebate)

FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN, 12cm FAN, version 2.2, 2 SATA, PCI Express, 450W Power Supply
$53.99

Qty 2 G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Memory
$184.99

GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard
$118.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz LGA 775 Processor
$175.99

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler
$49.99

Subtotal: $833.93

As for price range, I do not want to spend much over this (below it would be great but it looks like that isn't going to happen).

I plan on overclocking the E4300 so I know I'll need a better HS/F unit than the retail one.

I guess my question is if this is looking OK? I don't need any extra bells or whistles on the motherboard or video card or anything, I just want to overclock the processor and don't need any extra bullsh!t on any part.

Thanks in advance!

 

[wllce1314]

Get a better power supply Don't skimp on that.
try something like this if your on a tight budget
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=PS-E5140GH
FSP power supplies can be had at this price range as well and will be a lot better than the thermaltake.

S3 is a good OCing board, Just went with th DS3 myself(pretty much the same board-DS3 has all solid capacitors)

Can get the E4300 for 162.99 at microcenter.com

If your wanting to overclock. get better ram. You can get by with DDR2 667 on the 4300 but if you do a processor upgrade in the future you will wish you had bought DDR2 800.

This Gskill Is just a $50 more than what you had selected but will serve you better in the long run.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231098

Also do you plan a DX10 GPU upgrade anytime soon(midrange DX10 products will be out shortly in the $200 price range). If so go with a cheaper Video card(7600 gt perhaps). Esp if gaming at lower resolutions.

 

[clamum]

Hmmm. There were a ton of reviews for that ThermalTake and a large majority were positive. I've heard they (ThermalTakes) were good. To be honest, for every computer I've built for myself I've gotten the cheapiest POS power supply I could find and have had no problems. Not that I'm going to keep doing that, but you're SURE that ThermalTake can't handle those components? I'll do some more reading on that.

Thanks for the microcenter.com link, re: processor.

As for the RAM, yeah I picked that out pretty quick. Thanks.

Video card, I actually thought this was a DX10 card. My bad. Yes, I'd like a DX10 card but I'm not paying any more than $225 for it at this point. So maybe just go with a cheaper card for now and sell it later? Reason I picked that card is because I was looking at an AnandTech write-up for Rainbow Six: Vegas performance and that ATI card did pretty good against an nVidia 8800.

 

[wllce1314]

That thermaltake could be just fine. I didnt take a good look at it. Ive stayed away from them after knowing a freind that had bad experience with their PSUs. Remember reliability(not just wattage) is very improtant in a PSU. A bad PSu can fry your parts.

If your upgrading the video card in a couple of months look at the 7600gt's. You can get them for around $100 AR. BFG had one for $79 after rebate, but not sure if that is still going on.

You may not be able to turn on all the eye candy with this card but it can play all the current gen games. It should serve you fine for a month or two until the mid range DX10 cards come out.

 

[charlietee]

You are getting some good information...Do not scrimp on your power supply...An IMHO buying a Thermaltake would be doing just that.

Your power supply is the heart of your system...Do yourself a favor and go with a Fortron...Easily the best bang for the buck power supply's on the planet.

 

[engiNURD]

Here's another vote against that thermaltake. Go for an FSP, Enhance, Antec, or XClio, if you want to stay under $100.

 

[moosey]

Your basic build looks good. I like both the motherboard and processor choices. (I only looked at newegg for prices, you can shop around).

However, like its been said, I'd change the video card. I don't know if I'd spend $215 on a DX9 card. Check out the X1950Pro cards, I have one and it runs well for me. I use a 19" LCD though, I don't know what resolutions you'd be gaming at though, so that can alter things a bit. They are $155+ after rebate. Plus, they crush a 7600GT and you'll get more life out of it if you can't upgrade to DX10 soon.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161060
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102061

I agree with wllce1314 about the memory also. To o/c that chip better, DDR2-800 will help. With the 667 you're getting (9x333=3GHZ) or 800 is (9x400=3.6)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231098 (same link)
Obviously there's no guarantee you'll be able to run at 400FSB but it can give you more options after the 333FSB.
However, that's your call on that one as to how much you're really going to push this system and how much your budget allows.

Also, everyone's 100% right about getting a good PSU. I think that the only TT's that are good are the top of their line ToughPower series, which is more than you'd need, and the rest of the line isn't anything special. Same principle applies to certain Antec models.
The link to the Enhance looks good above. I'd say check SeaSonic, Corsair and Silverstone also but they'll be well out of the price range I'd believe. Also, check some of these...

various FSP models
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104953
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104954 (looks like a best bet so far)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104934

EDIT: Since you're going to o/c, what about CPU cooling?

EDIT2: If you were really strapped for cash, you could check out the Biostar board to save a few bucks...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138037
Additional info
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2914&p=4
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2871

 

[clamum]

Thanks for the info!

Haha well looks like I'll switch the ThermalTake for something else.

I may get one of those X1950Pro cards you mentioned moosey... I'll take a look at them.

CPU cooling I haven't looked into yet. I was just going to see what other people with E4300s overclocked were using.

I'll update the OP with new parts in a bit.

 

[lobbyone]

Looks good :thumbsup:!

 

[clamum]

Added a CPU cooler. Holy sh!t those things are expensive.

 

[clamum]

Well it looks like I can get an E6300 for $2 more than the E4300. Then I'd have to get DDR2 900 memory, correct? That looks about $100 more, too expensive. Suppose I'll stick with what I have here. I'm sure it'll be at least a little faster than my current rig.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[moosey]

You wouldn't need DDR2-900, DDR2-800 will be fine whatever of the processors you choose. Difference is the multi on the 2...
e4300=9 and e6300=7 so really, the higher FSB you go it'll work out faster on the e4300. Once again, it all depends on how high you can actually get it to go though as there are no guarantees. I'd probably take the e4300 though.

Check these out if you haven't
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2903
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2802

Looks good though...good luck

Edit: To clarify, the FSB on the e6300 is 1066/4=266 and the FSB on the e4300 is 800/4=200. So to run at default speed with no o/c you'd need DDR2-533 on the e6300 (533/2=266) and on the e4300 you'd need DDR2-400 (400/2=200).
In other words, get the DDR2-800, it'll be fine.

 

[The Green Bean]

Originally posted by: clamum
Well it looks like I can get an E6300 for $2 more than the E4300. Then I'd have to get DDR2 900 memory, correct? That looks about $100 more, too expensive. Suppose I'll stick with what I have here. I'm sure it'll be at least a little faster than my current rig.

Thanks for the help guys.

AFAIK it will "work" with any DDR2 memory. But then again I havent build a system in 2 years.

 

[clamum]

Oh ok... alright thanks for the info about the RAM. I wasn't sure.

Gonna order the stuff today WOOT :beer:

 

[ShellGuy]

hey clam you may want to chk that ur video card is still there as i was lookin for a his card and it was removed..


Will G.

 

[moosey]

Originally posted by: ShellGuy
hey clam you may want to chk that ur video card is still there as i was lookin for a his card and it was removed..


Will G.

lol, I think it is gone.
Just check out some other X1950Pro models, or here's a factory o/c GF 7900GS which should be very similar
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150209

 

[ShellGuy]

i did and found one that i placed in my thread about the pc im gunna build