New Gaming PC

[Veos]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Gaming primarily. I would like to be able to play games such as Crysis on as high settings as possible (1680 x 1050 resolution). But I plan on playing MMORPGs mostly, such as Warhammer Online and Aion.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread ($1200 - 1300)

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
U.S. Parts from Newegg would be great.

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.
None whatsoever. I go for whatever gives me the best bang for the buck.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
None
6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
Yes.

As a result, I'm already set on a few parts such as a E8400, ATI 4870, and at least 4 GB of RAM. Vista Home Premium 64 bit and at least 300-500 GB of HD space also. The Antec Nine Hundred also caught my eye but feel free to offer other suggestions.

I'm just iffy on the MB type, RAM brand, HD brand and PSU (though I have a preference for Corsair).

In the future I also plan to Crossfire so a suggestion on a PSU and MB capable of handling 2 4870's or so would be nice.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
I will definately overclock the gfx card but the cpu is a maybe since I have never o.ced a cpu before.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
In a month, 2 months at max.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance!

 

[disports]

There's G.skill DDR2-800 ram for like $66.99 on newegg. For the hard drive, you might as well get the Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS for $84.99 on newegg. For the PSU if your preference is Corsair, there are plenty of good ones like the 620HX or 520HX if you want a modular PSU or 550VX or 650TX if you don't want a modular PSU. For the motherboard, the ASUS P5Q Pro is a good option.

 

[Roguestar]

DDR2-400 won't work in any Core 2 CPU.

smithrwon's other suggestions are good.

 

[DSF]

DDR2-400 would work with stock-speed Allendales, but DDR2-800 is just as cheap anyway. (Not to mention that the OP isn't using an Allendale.)

If your anticipated Crossfire date is more than a year down the road, don't bother. The performance improvement doesn't match that of a single, more powerful card. If you're expecting to Crossfire in the near future, then you'll want a PSU more in the 750W range. For a 20-22" screen Crossfire really isn't worth the money though.

 

[disports]

hahah my bad, i meant to say DDR2-800. I was must've been thinking of the FSB reaching 400 or something. silly me :X

 

[Veos]

Alright here is what I came up with so far based on your suggestions. I added no speakers because I usually use my headphones anyways.

If you guys think I need anything else, feel free to post.

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail - ($105 free shipping)http://www.newegg.com/Product/...Antec%20Nine%20Hundred

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail - ($170 free shipping) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115037

ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
8-Phase Power Optimize Stable Overclocking CrossFireX - ($140 free shipping)http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131299

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail - ($130 free shipping) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817139006

VisionTek 900244 Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail ($280 free shipping)- http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814129113

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail - ($67 free shipping) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231122

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - ($85 free shipping) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...ar%20SE16%20WD6400AAKS

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD - OEM - ($100 free shipping) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16832116488

SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X 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 PATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - OEM - ($23 shipping $8.25) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...D%20with%20Lightscribe

Creative 70SB046A00000 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional Series - Retail - ($135 shipping $9) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16829102005

RAZER Lycosa RZ03-00180100 Black 104 Normal Keys 7 Function Keys USB Standard Gaming Keyboard - Retail - ($80 shipping $10) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16823114004

SAMSUNG 2253BW Black 22" 2ms(GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor with HDCP Support 300 cd/m2 DC 8000:1 - Retail - ($280 free shipping $260 MiRB) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16824001268

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$1622 in total with the monitor, $1342 without it.

 

[disports]

Everything looks good. I must say though nowadays on board audio is pretty good/decent nowadays. I would suggest you try it out before you spend money on a sound card especially one that costs $135+.

 

[dmw16]

Skip the 750W power supply. I got a Corsair 520W modular power supply and it is fine for my system (E6550, 640GB WD, 4870, 4GB, etc). If you want so spend that much on a power supply give up some wattage and get a modular one - it is the way to go.

Also agree on skipping the sound card unless you specifically need some feature that the onboard sound doesnt offer. Onboard sound has made huge improvements over the old days and sound cards are less and less necessary.

 

[Roguestar]

Sound card for $135 that'll do very little more than your onboard sound? Nay to that waste of cash.

 

[shingletingle]

Originally posted by: Roguestar
Sound card for $135 that'll do very little more than your onboard sound? Nay to that waste of cash.

Coming from somone who obviously hasn't heard onboard audio vs an add-on soundcard. It's either that, or you just don't care about audio. I care and there is a definite difference. No, I'm not an audiophile or anything close to it.

 

[OverVolt]

Whatcha rolling on Warhammer?

I ordered the same OEM Samsung CD-Rom and it came with Nero, Le-gasp! (Really wasn't expecting any bundled software)

IMO the PSU may be slight overkill with a single card setup, but that's the one item where it's worth the couple extra dollars. The soundcard is personal preference... no comment... There is room to shave some Andrew Jacksons, if you wanted to. Crysis on max seems a little ambitious. Do you just want to run Crysis to tax your hardware? Always build your PC hardware around the software you want to run, not the other way around. And future software doesn't count.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: shingletingle

Originally posted by: Roguestar
Sound card for $135 that'll do very little more than your onboard sound? Nay to that waste of cash.

Coming from somone who obviously hasn't heard onboard audio vs an add-on soundcard. It's either that, or you just don't care about audio. I care and there is a definite difference. No, I'm not an audiophile or anything close to it.

Nice assumption. :roll: I use onboard audio because compared to the X-Fi series (my roommate owns one) it offers almost exactly the same audio quality. I can use optical out to a surround system and it sounds just as good as the X-Fi.

 

[disports]

Yeah or buy a cheaper sound card ><. $135? Lol damn you could buy something else with that monies!

 

[shingletingle]

Originally posted by: Roguestar

Originally posted by: shingletingle

Originally posted by: Roguestar
Sound card for $135 that'll do very little more than your onboard sound? Nay to that waste of cash.

Coming from somone who obviously hasn't heard onboard audio vs an add-on soundcard. It's either that, or you just don't care about audio. I care and there is a definite difference. No, I'm not an audiophile or anything close to it.

Nice assumption. :roll: I use onboard audio because compared to the X-Fi series (my roommate owns one) it offers almost exactly the same audio quality. I can use optical out to a surround system and it sounds just as good as the X-Fi.

Um, if you're using optical out then you're not even using the onboard audio.

 

[Veos]

Originally posted by: OverVolt
Whatcha rolling on Warhammer?

I ordered the same OEM Samsung CD-Rom and it came with Nero, Le-gasp! (Really wasn't expecting any bundled software)

IMO the PSU may be slight overkill with a single card setup, but that's the one item where it's worth the couple extra dollars. The soundcard is personal preference... no comment... There is room to shave some Andrew Jacksons, if you wanted to. Crysis on max seems a little ambitious. Do you just want to run Crysis to tax your hardware? Always build your PC hardware around the software you want to run, not the other way around. And future software doesn't count.

Destruction all the way, rolling a Black Orc ^_^

As for the PSU, I completely agree that it's overkill for a single GPU but I plan on purchasing another 4870 in a few months so I just want to be sure that my PSU will be more than enough to handle x2 of them.

Also you guys said that onboard audio has progressed in the past few years but I am somewhat of a audiophile. I like to listen to lossless music, FLAC for example and I have Sennheiser 555s. Would music still sound good? Like I tried listening to my Audigy once and upgraded to a X-Fi Xtreme Gamer and man there was a difference in quality.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Denithor]

ASUS P5Q Pro + e8400 combo

Since you're getting both, buy the combo and save $35 off the pair ($265 total).

I would still recommend listening to onboard HD audio first, you can always order the separate sound card later if you decide the integrated isn't up to your needs. And look around beyond Creative, there are many other soundcards available that probably play music/etc better than the SB series.