Gaming Computer - Budget yet to be determined

[moodyblues100]

I have been asked to assemble a list of components for a gaming rig. I have not been given a budget for this project yet, but after reviewing many threads in the forum here have compiled the following list of parts. I think if I were to build using these parts it would be a solid gamer (but correct me if I’m wrong). My question here is about swapping out parts. I would be interested in opinions about what changes in parts you would make if you had either a lower budget or a higher budget, and if you do care to post please put your changes in the priority you would make the change. Some of the components such as memory or video card may be determined by the price for comparable models from different manufacturers when parts are to be ordered. I was also curious about going with a 64 bit OS instead of 32 bit.

Case: $115.99
Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000BWA

Power Supply: $149.99
Thermaltake toughpower W0104RU ATX12V / EPS12V 650W

Motherboard: $129.99
ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI

CPU: $314.00
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache

Memory: $325.99
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000

Video Card:
GDDR3 PCI Express x16 $389.99
EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit

Hard Drive: $79.99
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3250620AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb

Keyboard / Mouse: $16.99
Microsoft CA9-00001 Black 103 Normal Keys 3 Function Keys PS/2 Standard Basic Keyboard and Mouse Mouse Included

Monitor: $218.99
ViewSonic Value Series VA1912wb Black 19" 5ms DVI Widescreen

Optical Drive: $31.99
PHILIPS 16X DVD+R 8X

OS: $199.00
Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Ultimate

Total excluding shipping and handling: $1,968.90

[glc]

I'd recommend a single slot Asus P5B - and a 7600 GS or GT placeholder card for now till the DX10 dust clears. If you can wait till the end of April the E6600 will be $100 cheaper and maybe there will be more DX10 cards out. You also do not need that Ballistix ram - save big bucks and get Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800. I'm also leery of Philips optical drives. That PSU should be okay, but look at alternatives such as Corsair.

[Cricket]

Looks okay to me, but personally I wouldn't even bother with a SLi motherboard, I'd just get a proven performer like the ASUS P5B.

I wouldn't get a Thermaltake power supply or the Philips DVD burner. I'd get a Seasonic or Fortron Source for the power supply and a Lite-On for the burner.

The RAM seems excessive too. If there will be no overclocking then DDR2 667 will work fine. If the owner does plan to overclock then the DDR2 1000 makes sense.

And I would stick with WinXP until Vista has at least one Service Pack released.

Cricket

[moodyblues100]

Thanks for the quick reply. You responded as I was still editing, but I did not change the parts only some of my initial statement.

I chose the vid card specifically for the DX10 compatibility, and realize they are still at a premium until more are available. I also chose the sli board for future upgradeability. I don't think there was a huge difference in price between the SLI boards. A quick check of RAM compatiblilty lead me to the Ballistix. When it comes time to place a final order I probably would fine tune that selection anyway.

[glc]

We are suggesting that you do not get a SLI board. If you insist, get the Asus 680i-based board.

[moodyblues100]

Just curious, are there known issues with the SLI motherboards?

[flanzig1]

At the moment the 680i chipset is one that works fairly well with Intel CPUs.
Basicly the cost verses benefits on a Sli build just aren't there. With the build you speced out you would need a PSU that is Sli certifed for the 8800. And to use the full video power of 2 8800, it has been said that need at least a 24" monitor. The Thermaltake is Sli ready which means it should run a Sli setup but no guarantee.

[Staren]

Originally Posted by flanzig1 And to use the full video power of 2 8800, it has been said that need at least a 24" monitor.

And that's not even the only thing. It's been said (on these boards even) by people with first hand experience using the 8800 that even with one the CPU will be the bottle neck with an E6600. To get even near to full use out of that card you need to be playing at high res, and have a 6700 preferably better. As of the information I have right now, I would not consider SLI with a DX10 card worth it.

[moodyblues100]

I guess before I go any further I'll have to find out what the budget is. I appreciate the feedback. It gives me some things to think about when I find out how much I can spend on this build.

[Khalil]

The Core2Duo processors are awesome and great for multi tasking however if you want the best gaming processor on the market this is it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103558

Yes it is an older socket and won't be produced much longer however it is still the fastest and will be for a while because both Intel and AMD are so focused on the dual and multi-core hype.
All the games on the market currently and probably for next 2 to 3 years will work better and faster with powerful single core processors.
If you want to follow the hype go with a dual core.
As far as SLI it appears AMD has the upper hand so if you insist on dual core and SLI you might want to consider this:

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/...82E16819105018

and this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131013

and make sure you get DDR2 800 if you go with Socket AM2

[glc]

Khalil, you have a PM.

[moodyblues100]

After reviewing the suggestions made here and a little more research on the net I have reconsidered and compiled the following components.
Case: $44.99
Rosewill R5601-BK
Power Supply: $112.99
FSP Group (Fortron Source) FSP550-80GLC-R ATX 2.01/EPS12V 4 SATA 2 PCI Express 550W Power Supply
Motherboard: $129.99
ASUS P5B-E LGA 775 Intel P965
CPU: $314.00
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache
Memory: $164.99
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 675
Video Card:
GDDR3 PCI Express x16 $299.99
EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3
Hard Drive: $79.99
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3250620AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb
Keyboard / Mouse: $16.99
Microsoft CA9-00001 Black 103 Normal Keys 3 Function Keys PS/2 Standard Basic Keyboard and Mouse Mouse Included
Monitor: $189.99
Acer Value Line AL1917ABMD Black 19" 8ms DVI LCD
Optical Drive: $29.99
NEC Black 18X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X
OS: $199.00
Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Ultimate

Old Total excluding shipping and handling: $1,968.90
NewTotal excluding shipping and handling: $1603.91

I think the 550 W PSU should be sufficient for this build and a more reasonably price case would also do the trick. This MB has firewire which I thought would be worthwhile since the case has a firewire port on the front. If it is not needed I'll drop back on the MB, but I will also see if wireless ability is necessary, which would make the jump to the next model board.

After heeding the advice here, and further research, I have found the benefits of SLI are not as great as the increase in cost. It also appears that the 320 MB card will suffice.

Monitor choice is not finalized yet, but I'm trying to weigh the cost with the benefits of other models. Some input here would be appreciated.

The optical drive is an OEM and I realize the participants in the forum are partial to Retail Lite On drives. I read somewhere that the Nero software is not yet compatible with Vista, although I suppose that will change in the not too distant future. The choice of Vista seems to make sense to me, since this is a build for someone else and my feeling is a clean install of an OS is always better than an upgrade, even without SP1.

If the budget is increased I would boost the components in this order 1. Processor 2. RAM 3. Video card

If the budget is reduced, I'm not quite sure where I would cut back. I guess I could go with a 7900 series vid card, but I like the DX 10 capability of the 8800. I could drop back one model on the CPU, and although I've never done it, I hear it can be overclocked to be comparable to the 6600.

Interested in any other additional thoughts.

[flanzig1]

If not overclocking, this ram is the ram recommended: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145098
If there is OC planned then get the XMS 2 DDR2 800 CAS 5

[Staren]

Personally, I wouldn't change anything. I'm a fan of having Firewire on at least one computer just in case you ever want a digital video camera or fast hard driver or whatever. I would not worry about on-board wireless. That's something easily changed with USB receiver or PCI card. Finding the headers for front ports on a Firewire PCI card isn't as easy.

I'm personally a Samsung monitor fan, but there are others here that have a house full of Acer displays too so you should be just fine.

[Katreat]

Originally Posted by moodyblues100 The choice of Vista seems to make sense to me, since this is a build for someone else and my feeling is a clean install of an OS is always better than an upgrade, even without SP1.

I was just reading about how both Nivida and ATI are just beginning to release their driver support for Vista. So, before you go Vista to make thinks easier and better check to see if funtioning hardware drivers are out. According to the artiical, alot of gamers are switching back to XP until things are less buggy. I dont know what your time-line is, and this should all clear up over the comming months, but it does not look like people are falling over themselves to support the Vista platform. As long as it was in beta and open for public testing, it sure seems that if manifactures wanted to they could have had drives up and ready for release.

[Disgrace]

Originally Posted by Staren ...but there are others here that have a house full of Acer displays too so you should be just fine.

That's me and they're brillant. Open to other options of course but Acers do their jobs well at controlled prices. I have two 17" AL1715 in silver. I wish in dual-monitor mode but diff. computers hooked up to them.

[danielson]

That's a much better revision for your build. Unless you are doing hardcore gaming on a monitor say closer to 30inches, that video card is excellent, and it won't be coming down in price much so it's a great buy. The ram is a bit of overkill, since you won't be overclocking it, basic ram will perform just as well as that stuff. Value Select ram is the best price/performance. Instead of the 250GB hard drive, it's a much better GB per $ buy if you get the 320GB version. It's the sweet spot in hard drives right now. If you buy the retail version of Vista, you have the 32 and 64bit versions included with it, so no need to worry about which you'll need. For very little more money, you can get a better monitor, with better contrast ratio and refresh rate. There are many to choose from but the one you chose there is already a generation old, there are much better for almost no more money. Other than that, everything looks solid

[moodyblues100]

Thanks again for all the great suggestions. It really helped me think it through and research the choices. I'm not quiet sure when this will get built (hopefully within a month or two), but I will repost once the exact budget is determined. I appreciate the time and recommendations offered here.

[glc]

If you can, wait till the end of April. The E6600 is going to drop about $100. By that time, there should also be more DX10 card choices.