How's this for a midrange Intel/Ati gaming rig?

[huskers_75]

I am going to have a new computer built for me. Here's what I want to put in it. Will you guys tell me what you think of the parts and if there's something better I should put in. I want it to be able to run high end games pretty well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811144076 ASPIRE X-Infinity ATXB6KLW-BK/420 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ATX 420W power supply for AMD/Intel Power Supply (should I get a more powerful PSU?)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152020 Samsung Spinpoint 160 GB Sata 3.0gb/s Hd

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102629 SAPPHIRE 100134 Radeon X1800XT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220070 Patriot Signature 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 667 (PC2 5300)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813186074 Foxconn 945G7MA-8KS2 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 945G MB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116239 Pentium D Presler 800MHz FSB 2 x 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Dual Core, EM64T Processor

[Panama Red]

Replace the psu in that case. It's a low quality one. Take a look at an Antec 450 watt. I'd recommend a Seagate hdd over the Samsung, better quality and 5 yr warranty. I prefer Asus mobo's over Foxconn. Top quality for not much more money. The P5LD2 is a good choice.

[huskers_75]

Just wondering, why is it good to spend more money on a motherboard? Is there any thing not good about a motherboard thats 80 dollars, I will spend 119 though.

[ammo]

The mobo is the heart of the system. If you skimp on it all your other components might not work as well as they could

[huskers_75]

alright, I'll go with the one Panama Red mentioned, seems like a good board. How's this board, I was originally going to get it and couldn't find the link http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157086 ASRock 775XFire-eSATA2 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 945PL Express ATX Intel Motherboard

[blue60007]

ASUS is still a better brand. ASRock tends to have a lot of strange combinations on their boards (like PCI-E & AGP). Supposedly you can run Crossfire on it, but looking at the specs it doesn't even have two true PCI-E x16 slots (one is electrically an x4 slot). I'd stick with the one Panama suggested.

[huskers_75]

Ya I'll go with the one Panama mentioned, how is this ram? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820141224 would it make much of a difference for games if I put in 2 gigs, or should I just stick with 1 gig of faster clock speed 667 megahertz ram?

[blue60007]

The slower 2 gigs will be much better than a gig of faster stuff. Games like BF2 really take well to 2 gigs. I'd rather see you go with Corsair though. They're usually on ASUS Qualified Vendor List (QVL) for RAM...that RAM might be there too, but since ASUS' site sucks I can't get to the QVL download.

I was going to check PQI's configurator to see if their RAM works OK with (in theory all RAM should work with all board provided their specs are the same, but sometimes some boards or RAM is picky) but it doesn't seem to be working. Corsair's website's configurator checks out OK with the RAM and board. The Corsair might run you a few more bucks. I really don't know if PQI is any good or not, perhaps someone has experience with them?

[huskers_75]

I don't know if it means anything but that memory I gave you the link for got good reviews on newegg, also how much faster would my hardrive be if I went with a western digital caviar 250gb 16mb cache instead of 8 mb cache

[glc]

The Foxconn board you originally chose is fine. They are decent quality. However, why are you buying a micro ATX board with onboard video if you are getting a video card?

[huskers_75]

Does it matter if its microatx? I can just disable the onboard video.

[glc]

Doesn't really matter, but it's a waste and a micro board is very slot limited for expansion cards. Look at 945P boards.

[huskers_75]

Ya I'll probably go with the Asus P5LD2. I was wondering if I should go with a cheaper processer like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116001 I could oc it to 3.6 and it would run stable if I bought the zalman cnps9500cooler

[blue60007]

Get the faster CPU to begin with. It'll be more expensive to overclock the cheaper CPU. Once you factor in the premium motherboard (in that THG article they used a more expensive motherboard that was heftier - not that the P5LD2 isn't), premium RAM, premium PSU (you'll increase CPU power consumption by at least 50% at 3.6GHz) and premium cooler (it sure won't run cool ).

[huskers_75]

Ok, do you think I need a 3.2 gigahertz for games to run smooth, or can I go with a 3, or 2.8 gigaherz processer. Is it really worth it to spend a little more to get the 3.2 gigahertz processor.

[blue60007]

I think the Intel 930 is the best bang for the buck. The Intel 940 is a 20-25% price increase for a 7% speed increase. .2Ghz isn't going to make a whole lot of difference.

[huskers_75]

Ya I'm going to go with the 930, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116238 I saw it and was like why pay 40 dollars more for .2 gigahertz. I know that I need to get a new power supply, how is something like this http://www.xoxide.com/logisys-550w-pcix-clear.html I don't know any thing about PSU's

[Alaron]

You can't go wrong with this Antec 550: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103931 And it has a nice rebate.

Check out this thread for PSU information: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=131195

[huskers_75]

I'm sure thats a great PSU, but I'm looking to spend 50 at the most

[Alaron]

Your video card requires a minimum of 450w. A quality 450w will be over $50. An Antec 450w is $66. You really can't go cheap on a PSU. The smallest PSU I would use for that rig is a 500w. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103937 Which is actually a $1 more expensive compared to the 550 after rebate.


We can find other places to trim back if you are in a budget crunch. How about a different X1800XT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102698

[glc]

If you MUST cheap out on a PSU, get this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817189003

It JUST meets card minimums and is a decent quality unit.

[huskers_75]

Ya I guess I can spend a little more on the PSU.The one Alaron showed me looks good. I looked at this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103931 how much better is that then the one then you showed me, its cheap after the rebate. I think theres a problem with the link for the one you showed me glc. I was wondering if I could really cut down on the graphics card get say a X850XT for about 170, how would that run games like BF2, Call of Duty 2, Doom 3 etc, would it be a lot worse then the x1800XT

[huskers_75]

Alright here's my completly revised list, almost everything is different.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811144076 Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822144701 Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102505 SAPPHIRE 100106SR-RD Radeon X850XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103931 Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820141224 pqi POWER Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131538 ASUS P5LD2 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 945P ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116238 Intel Pentium D 930 Presler 800MHz FSB 2 x 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Dual Core Processor

Do I still need that good of a PSU since I downgraded to a X850XT?

[Alaron]

That list look fine. You could use a slightly smaller PSU with that setup yes. But consider upgrades. If you buy a newer video card later, you would need to upgrade the PSU as well. By getting a larger unit now, like the Antec550, you won't have to worry about the PSU later.

You could also stirke a compromise on the budget with this X1800XT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102698 It is $80 less then your original one, and only $40 more (after rebate) then the X850. The X850 will play games, no problem. Its just a suggestion.

[blue60007]

The X850XT is a good card, but I'm not sure about it's value anymore. It's an older generation card and they tend to lose value with some of the newest generation cards running at such low prices being such good bang for the buck cards.

[huskers_75]

Hmm I wouldn't mine paying 40 dollars more, maybe I should just get an x850xt now and next summer get one of ATI's new cards, I know they will have gddr4 memory and be compatible with dx10. If I get the X1800XT how much difference does it make that its 256mb rather than 512, how much of a performance increase would you get with the 512mb x1800xt?