First Post - First Real Build

[huskerguy]

Hello all,

I've been lurking for some time, as I get closer to hitting the "Checkout" key on my new pc's for my wife and I, I decided that it was time to post one of the "tell me if this is okay" posts of my own.

I've been struggling for quite sometime, I'm an avid WoW player and most of my time is spent playing MMO's, but I am also looking for something that is going to give me solid performance in the FPS world as well. (My wife and I are raiders, so 40 people all in one area does tend to beat down our current pc's, and it would be nice to play with all the settings turned on.)

I've always bought gateway but decided that it was time to build my own. (My degree is in IT, and I build them for others and at work, but always didn't want to "mess around" with my own time, I know, foolish)

Anyway, here is what I am looking at:

LITE-ON 18X DVD±R DVD Burner White IDE Model LH-18A1P-184 - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106041

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3250620AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148144

CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model VS2GBKIT667D2 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145098

ASUS P5B Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131030

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6400 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115004

I feel pretty comfortable after reading several posts here that these are solid choices, I could be wrong of course, but those are the areas of my least concern.

I don't feel that I have a solid knowledge anymore of the right PSU and Video Cards.

I am thinking about this for PSU:

FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN, 12cm FAN, version 2.0, 2 SATA, PCI Express, 450W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104954

For video cards, I've always been a NVidia guy so I lean towards that chipset, and the 7950GT seems to be a popular pick, I had been planning on a BFG 7950GT but I read in another post that someone thought the :

eVGA 512-P2-N637-AR GeForce 7950GT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP KO Superclocked Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130066

was superior, I'm curious as to others thoughts on video cards. I'd like to keep it under $300, closer to $200 would be even better but I really don't want to sacrifice framerate or graphical lag to save $50. Also, I'm a little concerned about the whole DX10 thing, how long before I will have to upgrade my card? I'm assuming its at least a year away before we see titles using DX10 and a couple years before its a requirement? I'm curious as to what the expected time tables are going to be before my card will be rendered useless.

If there is anything that I missed I apologize in advance.

Thanks for your time!

[Cricket]

Your parts selection is solid.

The 450 watt Fortron Source is a good power supply but you may want a little more headroom if you plan to get a really powerful video card. For upper end gamer rigs I tend to go with 550 watt power supplies (just in case the owner decides to upgrade anything).

Can't help you with the video card choice...I'm not a gamer. I usually order and install what the new owner tells me he wants.

Cricket

[Alaron]

For the cost, the 7950GT is an excellent card. However, I would go with something slightly less expensive, due to the arrival of DirectX 10. While the 7950GT would keep you gaming for awhile, it makes sense to spend less now and upgrade in the future.

You mentioned being an Nvidia guy, but I would take a strong look at the ATI X1950Pro. Right now, the bang for the buck with these cards is very good: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102061 It will be plenty for WoW and other games for awhile.

There is no exact time table on when DX10 will be necessary, but I would play it safe and go with a mid-range card now, and upgrade later on to enjoy all the graphical enhancements that DX10 will bring the to the table.

[newbuilder14]

Parts look good, but as Cricket said you'll want a little bit more wattage for your setup.

I have the same DVD burner and to my surprise it didn't come with any software, so you may want a retail version.

[huskerguy]

Hi all,

I wanted to post a follow up, I went ahead and ordered my new machines. I went with the ATI card suggested, however, I just submitted the RMA requests.

The card suggested is apparently having some issues with random reboots, stand by mode that becomes completely unresponsive and some other graphical issues. I would steer clear of that card or pickup the one that has the larger heatsink and fan bundled with it.

The rest of the machine was running great, my pi benchmarking seemed pretty spot on if not higher than some of the other machines with similiar builts.

I'm back to the drawing board on a video card, I think I'm going to look back at an nvidia chip set, I just seem to have better luck with those cards, this is the second time I've been burned by an ATI card. (I purhcased one as an "upgrade" a few years ago and it just never seemed to work right in that rig)

I just wanted to thank all you daily posters who review posts like mine, its nice getting that little bit extra comfort before you build, there will always be hiccups like this video card deal, but when you are building from scratch, thats just how it goes!

[freakitchen]

Thankyou for posting back with the result of your build.

You're certainly not alone with that problem on the x1950Pro cards. Just two days ago, I had to return a HIS x1950Pro for the same issues that you suggest. This has a much larger cooler than the sapphire - and cools the core of the card very well. However, it would seem that other parts of these cards (the VRMs in particular) aren't being cooled at all efficiently, and are causing the lockups.

FK

[derekclark1122]

...

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by derekclark1122 any way Alaron ur right u dont know about video cards u just say that it would be able to play wow shows u dont know any thing about them because my old comp could play wow a 32 MB geforce a reall old bad comp that could barley play cs condition zero.

You're new here and probably don't know this but Alaron is a moderator on this forum.

"Treatment of Moderators
Any form of moderator harassment including insults, failing to delete a thread that you were asked to delete, doing the opposite of something you were asked to do, reposting a thread that was deleted, or protesting a ban will result in a ban. If you complain about what you feel are shortcomings of the current moderation team, either real or imaginary, you will be banned. If you don't like it here, feel free to leave. The mods are here to do a job. You will find the mods are easy-going people with "live, let live" philosophies as long as the rules are complied with. But, part of the etiquette here is to respect those with that responsibility. If you feel a change of policy is in order or that a moderator should reconsider something, always feel free to email or send a private message. We will not argue or debate moderator action or policy in public."

Cricket

[glc]

Making a post like that directed at anybody, moderator or not, is not acceptable here. For someone who seems to know everything, you sure have been asking a lot of questions in other threads...........

- Forum Administrator -

[derekclark1122]

lol i wasnt harassing him i was just letting him know that hes right about that and that hes off about wow considering that in to what a good graphics card can play. ya i looked at the side where it said moderators i knew, but thanks for informing me sorry about that. lol i dont know very much i was just say i would say that wow couldn't be considered a great graphics game.

[glc]

Better quit while you are still ahead..........I'm the admin and I get the last word here.

[Alaron]

For the record, when I said that an X1950Pro would be "plenty for WoW", I meant that it would be more then enough power. I know WoW can be played on less power. But as an overall recommendation, the X1950Pro was a solid card, if it wasn't plagued with issues of course.