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Trying to decide on good gaming rig. What about this one?

W

wowaddict

Junior Member
A friend led me to this site recently and I have enjoyed it a lot. Many of you seem very helpful to those not in the know anymore.

I am kind of out of the loop on hardware. Have been studying up a bit and was wondering what you guys think of the machine I am attempting to build. I only play World of Warcraft at the moment and probably will continue to do so for quite a while. Will this system I am going to get be overkill? I am not sure of what soundcard to get so it is not included here. Any hints for a sound card would be great. I have a soundblaster audigy on my old machine and love it. Anyway here it is.

CHENMING CMUI-601AEB-W Black 1.0mm SECC Server Computer Case $50.99

ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard $179.99

EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card $389.99

HIPER HPU-4B580-MS ATX12V v2.2 580W Power Supply $89.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6400 $189

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ $104.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $79.99

Looking at about $1,090 without rebates $1,050 with a rebate plus whatever a sound card is going to cost (looking at $100 dollars or so).

So will this be a good gaming rig? Thanks for any opinions.
 
It would be more helpful if you listed prices and link but its ok.

The PSU, Hiper HPU-4B580-MS, is unknown to me and $90. I would rather get the Corsair 520HX, if memory serves me right its on sale for the same price AR in the Hot Deals forum. Its a OEM Seasonic PSU and Corsair is pretty well received too. You can save over a $100 and get a X1900 series or even a 8800 GTS 320MB. WoW is NOT that graphic intensive. It taxes your memory more I believe and its even more limited server bound I am pretty sure. If you plan to play only WoW for the next few months, save then money and get a 7900 or X1900 series and wait until the R600 cards come out dropping nvidia 8800 series down and then get it.

The other items seem great now, especially after intels price drops.
 
Looks good, but for WoW it is a definite overkill, unless you plan on gaming at 1920x1600 or greater resolutions.
 
Killler. I'd only make a couple of alterations:

Hiper is not the worst of PSU brands, but also not the best - I'd go for Enermax, Seasonic, OCZ, PCP&C, etc.

I don't think memory faster than 533Mhz (PC4200) actually runs at it's rated speed unless you overclock the bus, and hence the processor too. Will you be doing this? I'm not 100% sure as I don't own one of these systems, but that's what I've heard.
 
I edited the post with prices. Sorry about that. So it sounds like I should put a different power supply on it from what I am hearing. Will look into what you guys have suggested about that.

I do have a viewsonic wide screen monitor but I am not sure at what resolution it is running on at the moment (will have to check tonight when I get home). It is at it's maximum setting though.

Is the 7900 a big drop off in performance? If so I don't mind spending the extra $100 for the upgraded video card.

Thanks for the help, I do appreciate it. If anyone can recommend a good sound card that would be great.
 
Originally posted by: Atheus

I don't think memory faster than 533Mhz (PC4200) actually runs at it's rated speed unless you overclock the bus, and hence the processor too. Will you be doing this? I'm not 100% sure as I don't own one of these systems, but that's what I've heard.
Click to expand...


That's a false rumor that seems to be spreading like wildfire around here.
C2D boards have adjustable memory multi's which allow you to run memory higher than the FSB without overclocking the CPU. You can't run memory at less then the FSB(except with nvidia chipset boards) but you can run it higher. Most boards offer 1:1(533), 4:5(667), and 2:3(800) and some have 1:2(1066). I'm currently running 400FSB with the 4:5 divider which makes my ram run DDR2-1000

But I will add that memory speed adds very little to gaming performance so if your not overclocking I would also suggest DDR2-533 memory
 
overkill, yes. my rig runs WoW with 50fps avg, even in cities it only drops to 40. this is at 1280x1024
 
and btw, its not too bad on ram. with wow running and this FF window open, my total usage is 902mb
 
Originally posted by: wowaddict
A friend led me to this site recently and I have enjoyed it a lot. Many of you seem very


CHENMING CMUI-601AEB-W Black 1.0mm SECC Server Computer Case

ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard

EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card

HIPER HPU-4B580-MS ATX12V v2.2 580W Power Supply

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6400

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Looking at about $1,090 without rebates $1,050 with a rebate plus whatever a sound card is going to cost (looking at $100 dollars or so).

So will this be a good gaming rig? Thanks for any opinions.
Click to expand...

1. Case - Don't go cheap on the case. While something from Antec( P180/Sonata/900), Thermaltake or Lian Li is more expensive they are usually cooler and quieter (I can't hear my P180B from 1.5 ft away on my desk.

2. OK on the mobo but theres also the DS3.

3. Must agree with DaftPunkit on the GPU. If you are just playing WoW an X19xxx or 7900GT should be fine. If you want cheap DX10 go with an 8600GT/GTS. There should be a downward price shift on higher end cards as the AMD/ATI stable expands.

4. Must also agree with DaftPunkit on the PSU (as well as the vid card). Corsair/Seasonic are among the best. This is THE component to not go cheap on.

5. If you can swing it (especially if not overclocking) I would try to get an E6600 gue to great recent price cuts.

The rest looks great, as for the sound card X-Fi is great (unless you're running Vista)

My picks (opinion mostly 🙂 )

GPU:

EVGA 8600GTS = 199.00 Lifetime warranty OR
EVGA 8800GTS 320 = 279.00 ($20 MIR) Lifetime warranty
Powercolor X1950Pro (DX9 only) = 160.00 ($30.00 MIR)

Case:
Antec P-180B = 124.00 (and silent)

PSU:
Corsair HX520W = 125.00 (10.00 MIR)

Mobo:
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 = 124.00

CPU:
Intel E6600 = 230.00

RAM:
Gskill F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ = 105.00 (I have Corsair so no quality input 🙂 )

HDD:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS = 80.00 (your initial pick was a good one!)

Sound Card:
Soundblaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer = 75.00

Notes:

Newegg prices (you may save some $$ with tigerdirect or others)
No rebates taken into account, (possible 40.00 rebate savings but I hate mail ins)
Added 75.00 for the sound card...

Highest end (and I would do this one) = 1142.00
1062.00 for the 8600GTS system
1023.00 for the ATI X1950Pro DX9 system

All setups give you:

1. A better case (cases are very subjective and the P-180 may not be your style, but pick a good one as they are usually the longest retained item in a system build)

2. A better PSU and I cannot stress ENOUGH that if you buy a quality PSU you won't have the misfortune of realizing how much happier it will make you.

3. A faster CPU (which is still pretty overclockable if that's your bent but still pretty quick when non-overclocked).

All of these configs are overkill for WoW but the 8800GTS 320 combined with the E6600 will last you quite a while even into the DX10 era...

My two pennies 🙂


 
Thanks for the replies. They definitely have helped me a lot. Gonna take some of the stuff you all have suggested and see if I can get the price down a bit. Promise not to skimp on the power supply. Do I need any extra fans with a good power supply running a 7900 video card?
 
Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
Originally posted by: Atheus

I don't think memory faster than 533Mhz (PC4200) actually runs at it's rated speed unless you overclock the bus, and hence the processor too. Will you be doing this? I'm not 100% sure as I don't own one of these systems, but that's what I've heard.
Click to expand...


That's a false rumor that seems to be spreading like wildfire around here.
C2D boards have adjustable memory multi's which allow you to run memory higher than the FSB without overclocking the CPU. You can't run memory at less then the FSB(except with nvidia chipset boards) but you can run it higher. Most boards offer 1:1(533), 4:5(667), and 2:3(800) and some have 1:2(1066). I'm currently running 400FSB with the 4:5 divider which makes my ram run DDR2-1000

But I will add that memory speed adds very little to gaming performance so if your not overclocking I would also suggest DDR2-533 memory
Click to expand...

The memory multiplier caveat is often overlooked and I myself forget to mention it sometimes; more often than not if someone isn't overclocking they're not wanting to mess with anything in the BIOS. But as you said, the bottom line is that Core 2 doesn't see much of an improvement with increases in memory bandwidth as AM2 does so most of the time the price of more expensive memory isn't worth the 5FPS.
 
Originally posted by: Roguestar

The memory multiplier caveat is often overlooked and I myself forget to mention it sometimes; more often than not if someone isn't overclocking they're not wanting to mess with anything in the BIOS. But as you said, the bottom line is that Core 2 doesn't see much of an improvement with increases in memory bandwidth as AM2 does so most of the time the price of more expensive memory isn't worth the 5FPS.
Click to expand...

So do AM2 boards allow you to increase memory fsb without an overclock, or just C2D boards? Call me crazy, but I'm interested in an AM2 build. Just always liked the company better.
 
I also recommend not skimping on the case as well. Cases seem to be the worst area for skimpage along with the PSU. I paid $230 for my case and I would do it again... heck, I paid another $200 afterward for the smaller model of my case from Lian-Li :laugh:. If I had to do it again... I'd buy the bigger one again... the smaller one is a little too cramped for my tastes.

Other than that, it's alright. Personally, I use an 8800GTX just to play World of Warcraft on my PC and if you turn up all the eye candy, I can get WoW down to 50-60fps with only a 1680x1050 resolution 😛.
 
Originally posted by: TallBill
Originally posted by: Roguestar

The memory multiplier caveat is often overlooked and I myself forget to mention it sometimes; more often than not if someone isn't overclocking they're not wanting to mess with anything in the BIOS. But as you said, the bottom line is that Core 2 doesn't see much of an improvement with increases in memory bandwidth as AM2 does so most of the time the price of more expensive memory isn't worth the 5FPS.
Click to expand...

So do AM2 boards allow you to increase memory fsb without an overclock, or just C2D boards? Call me crazy, but I'm interested in an AM2 build. Just always liked the company better.
Click to expand...

To be brutally honest I've really very little knowledge on overclocking AM2 systems 😛. If I recall correctly, they do indeed have a memory multiplier in much the same fashion, and also AM2 benefits from increased memory bandwidth more than C2D does. Perhaps if you search the CPU/Overclocking forum and this thread you'll get more info than I can spare 😉.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=28&threadid=1497607
 
Originally posted by: Roguestar

To be brutally honest I've really very little knowledge on overclocking AM2 systems 😛. If I recall correctly, they do indeed have a memory multiplier in much the same fashion, and also AM2 benefits from increased memory bandwidth more than C2D does. Perhaps if you search the CPU/Overclocking forum and this thread you'll get more info than I can spare 😉.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=28&threadid=1497607
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
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