Need lots of help with first build (gaming machine)

[Somebody's Nobody]

So, I'll start by saying the only person that I know that ever built a computer was my ex-boyfriend and he didn't let me tag along so I have no idea what I'm trying to do on my own here. But if he can do it I know I can, I just need some help. I know how to put everything together, but the hard part is figuring out WHAT to put in the case itself.

I'm trying to build a decent gaming computer for $1,000 (aren't we all?), but hopefully less if I can manage it =3

From reading I've deduced that newegg.com is the best place to get all the stuff I need and that I should probably go the Intel route.

The main thing is that I want to be able to play MMOs (like Warcraft, Guild Wars, LotR Online) - so I need a decent motherboard, processor, video card, and RAM.

Here are some of the requirements from one of the games:

Minimum System Requirements
-Intel Pentium® III 800 MHz or AMD Athlon 800 MHz
-512 MB or more of RAM
-32 MB 3D graphics card with Hardware Transform and Lighting, such as NVIDIA® GeForce™ 2 class card or above
-4x CD-ROM drive

Recommended Specifications
-Intel Pentium® IV 1.5 GHz or AMD XP 1500+ MHz
-1024 MB RAM
-64 MB 3D graphics card with Hardware Transform and Lighting, such as NVIDIA® GeForce™ FX 5700 class card or above




Things I need:
Case: I'm not sure what case I should get or if it even matters : /

This one is pretty, but pricey ($119.99):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021
(Antec Nine Hundred Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window)

I'm not sure what kind of good cases there are that are less than that, and yes I have looked at them all. If anyone has recommendations they would be appreciated.


PSU: This may be stupid to ask, but aren't all power supplies mostly the same? They have some expensive ones on the site and some cheap ones...


Motherboard: Need help with this.


CPU: Need help with this also.


HDD: Nothing too fancy, I don't want an external one. Should I go for a Seagate or Western Digital one?

This one seems decent ($69.99):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148262
( Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive)


RAM: Would like 1024 MB


Pri Optical: =D CD-RW! This may be stupid to ask but, is this what they mean by a 4x CD-ROM drive? Or is that the HDD? o.O


Sec Optical: Don't think I need this...


Sound Card: I have a surround sound speaker system, and sound is fairly important (but not high on my priority list...I really am more concerned with graphics.)


Video Card: Something good and at least 64 MB 3D =D Oh yeah and something really good that doesn't cause errors and crash like the current one I have -_-;;; it's an ATI.


FDD: Do you need one of these? I can't remember using one since like 7th grade : /


Keyboard: Have one.


Mouse: Have one.


Modem: Have one.


Lan: Don't need.


Monitor: I was going to get this monitor ($169.99):
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....#productdetail
Westinghouse - 19" Flat-Panel LCD Monitor Model: L1928NV


Speakers: Have them.


OS: Going to use Windows XP


Extras: Just need some help with what you guys know to be good because you're better at this than I am, especially with compatibility issues ^^

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Somebody's Nobody Things I need: Case: I'm not sure what case I should get or if it even matters : / This one is pretty, but pricey ($119.99): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021 (Antec Nine Hundred Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window) I'm not sure what kind of good cases there are that are less than that, and yes I have looked at them all. If anyone has recommendations they would be appreciated.

The Antec 900 is a good gaming case. If you can't find any other case that appeals to you, you won't go wrong with the 900.

Originally Posted by Somebody's Nobody PSU: This may be stupid to ask, but aren't all power supplies mostly the same? They have some expensive ones on the site and some cheap ones...

No, all power supplies are not alike, there are varying degrees of quality out there and it's best to stick with good quality brands because the power supply is the most important component in a computer. Use a good quality one and things will run fine...use a poor quality one and you could see system instability or if it decides to die prematurely on you, it could fry every component it's connected to. Cheap poor quality power supplies rarely have over-voltage protection where all good quality power supplies do and are less likely to kill other components if they happen to die.

Originally Posted by Somebody's Nobody Motherboard: Need help with this.

One of the ASUS P5K variants.

Originally Posted by Somebody's Nobody CPU: Need help with this also.

Intel E6750.

Originally Posted by Somebody's Nobody HDD: Nothing too fancy, I don't want an external one. Should I go for a Seagate or Western Digital one? This one seems decent ($69.99): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148262 ( Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive)

That Seagate is fine.

Originally Posted by Somebody's Nobody RAM: Would like 1024 MB

For a gaming rig you'll actually be better off with 2GB and with the price of RAM being so low now you might as well get the extra GB now. Corsair XMS DDR2 800 (PC2 6400).

Originally Posted by Somebody's Nobody Pri Optical: =D CD-RW! This may be stupid to ask but, is this what they mean by a 4x CD-ROM drive? Or is that the HDD? o.O

Get a SATA DVD burner instead of a CD burner. And CD-RW is a CD burner, not a normal CD drive. RW stands for "read-write".

Originally Posted by Somebody's Nobody Sec Optical: Don't think I need this...

Yeah, a second optical is unnecessary unless you're going to be doing a lot of disc to disc on the fly burning.

Originally Posted by Somebody's Nobody Sound Card: I have a surround sound speaker system, and sound is fairly important (but not high on my priority list...I really am more concerned with graphics.)

Someone else will have to help you with the soundcard...I usually just use the on-board sound.

Originally Posted by Somebody's Nobody Video Card: Something good and at least 64 MB 3D =D Oh yeah and something really good that doesn't cause errors and crash like the current one I have -_-;;; it's an ATI.

Since this is a gaming rig you'll want something from NVidia...which one you get depends on how much you're willing to spend on it. I'm not a gamer and can't help you with the selection process.

Originally Posted by Somebody's Nobody FDD: Do you need one of these? I can't remember using one since like 7th grade : /

Not necessary.

Originally Posted by Somebody's Nobody Monitor: I was going to get this monitor ($169.99): http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....#productdetail Westinghouse - 19" Flat-Panel LCD Monitor Model: L1928NV

Sorry, don't know anything about Westinghouse LCD monitors. I use Samsung LCD monitors.

Originally Posted by Somebody's Nobody Extras: Just need some help with what you guys know to be good because you're better at this than I am, especially with compatibility issues ^^

Check out some of the other "I'm going to build a gaming rig..." threads to help you with your parts selection.

Cricket

[freakitchen]

Have a look at some of the parts I recommended in this thread:

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=189723

Your budget of $1000 is higher than the original poster of this thread, but the core recommendations still stand. The only major difference I'd recommend would be to go for a more powerful video card - something from the nVidia 8800 series. There's no doubt that the 8800GT variant offers the best performance for the price here, but they're not yet in stock at newegg. If you don't want to wait, then this would be my next-best choice:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130309

[Katreat]

Basically, I agree with the others but under $1000 will be tough with a monitor.

I would recommend this as a starting place:

Asus P5K Motherboard – Very versatile MB. Great for future upgrades and Asus quality. I built with basic board but there are quite a few with options if you need more.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 – Best bang for the buck IMO. If you need to shave a few dollars look at the E6550 CPU. It is a little cheaper and you don’t take much of a performance hit.

2GB Corsair XMS DDR2-800- Corsair XMS is the most recommended but I have had good luck with Crucial and most other name brand rams also so check out the sales and rebates and you might be able to shave a few dollars here also. I would definately recommend you go for 2 gigs if you are gaming.

Seagate 7200.10 320GB HD (SATA) – I would also recommend WD as a good brand but Seagate has the best warranty. The 320 seems to be the sweet spot but 400-500 might be even better deals soon.

Lite-on DVD Burner (SATA) – Good brand and you get burning software if you buy retail which is only a couple dollars more than OEM.

eVGA Nvidia 8800GT video card – I play WOW also and I love my new 8800 GTS. It was a big improvement over my old system which used a ATI 800. But I think if you turned a few video settings down you might get away with an 8600 GT if you mainly play MMO’s. The speed is probably more important for FPS although I Know from experience that the 8800 series will let you play at top settings with no lag even in crowded cities so go for the 8800 GT if it fits your budget.

XP – XP is tried and tested. I went with Vista for some 10x eye candy on new games and have had no problems with it. Either will play WOW just fine.

Case and PSU - Antec 900 – I love this case and it was easy to work with. I went with a Corsair 620 PSU (overkill) but that can make it expensive. For your needs any quality PSU 500 W and above should be fine, maybe even a 450 if you go with the 8600 GT. The video card pretty much determines the size PSU you need. Another good option is the Antec Sonata III case which comes with a quality 500 w PSU. Case is really a personal preference so chose one you like. If you are set on the 900 watch sales really close, Antec is always putting the 900 on sale or offering a rebate it seems.

Monitor – it seems most recommend Samsung and I hear they are good. I have had good luck with Acer and Chimei (off-brand, but so far excellent quality and picture). If you are into MMO’s I would highly recommend going “wide-screen”. The eye candy really shines with the extra width. If you are more into FPS then it does not matter much. In WOW you actually see “MORE” which is really nice.

As I said above that might put you a bit high on your budget. I built my system (see signature) with a $1200 budget and with rebates it worked out to around $1100, but I already had the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. But prices have dropped a bit so you will just have to price it out and see for yourself.

Kat

[andper10]

It doesn't look like you are playing very intensive games from the specs of that game, so this is overkill, but it fits your budget. You could get an 8600GT or 8600gts video card ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127284 ) and an E4400 CPU ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115014 ) and you would still have a nice preforming gaming computer for what you want to do if I am interpreting the specs of that game right. However, I have never played any of those games so I don't really know how graphic intensive they are.

$105 Asus P5K SE http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131189 (be careful as reviewers say if you get vista the onboard sound gets messed up)

$170 E6550 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115030 (E6750 would be good to, or if you want to save money, an e4400 would do)

$290 8800GT Superclocked http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130303 (comes back in stock 11/30)(get an 8600gt or 8600gts if you want to save money)

$38 LiteOn SATA DVD Burner w/ Lightscribe http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106072

$70 250GB SATAII 16MB Cache Seagate 7200.10 (PRT) hard drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148262

$90 OCZ 600w PSU StealthXStream w/ quad 12V rails 18A each

$90 XP Home OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116056 (or Vista http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116202 )

$68 Corsair 2GB DDR2 800 Ram http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145590

$921 before shipping, tax (CA only), monitor , and a few MIR's
Enjoy your build!

[Somebody's Nobody]

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who posted here to help me. I'm looking at everything you guys recommended and will work on my build and post it in a couple days when I'm done.

I really appreciate all the help ^_^

=3 I should be able to get this system in a month so I'm excited...

[bggsm03]

BTW.. the 8800GT outperforms the 8800GTS lol... 320 and 640 mb

[bd1886]

Right now is the best time to build in years. Don't overlook purchasing components locally either because not only are there unbeatable prices occasionally,but local service can be nice. Not saying anything against online purchasing (Especially from Newegg as they are rock solid)but it pays to watch the ads.

[Somebody's Nobody]

These are the things I have chosen so far. I need help with a *VERY* good, reliable motherboard and also help choosing between the 3 cpus and help getting an ok sound card.

This also may be a stupid question...but if I have everything below, will I be able to hook myself up to my cable internet or do I need to buy something special to be able to connect to the internet?


Things I need:
Case:
($119.99):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021
(Antec Nine Hundred Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window)


PSU: Ok...the con with the first one is that it isn't modular and I would have a ton of cables hanging all over the place...I can't decide which I need out of these ones:
($169.99):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817703009
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (Black) EPS12V 750W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, ULC, CE, CB, RoHS

($169.99):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817814015
(ABS Tagan BZ Series BZ700 ATX12V / EPS12V 700W Patent Piperock Modular Power Supply 100 - 240 V TUV, UL, CE, CB, FCC, Semko, Nemko, Demko, Fimko)

($179.99):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817190016
(XION Supernova XON-800R14N ATX12V / EPS12V 800W Power Supply 115/ 230 V CUL, FCC, TUV, CE, C-tick, CB, BSMI)


Motherboard: Need help with this.


CPU:
($189.99):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115029
(Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor)


HDD:
($69.99):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148262
(Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive)


RAM:
($49.99):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145590
(CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory)


Pri Optical:
($34.99):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106057
LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X 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 SATA DVD Burner


Sec Optical: None.


Sound Card: I need help with this...I'm not looking for anything great as sound doesn't matter a ton to me ^^;;; I wish I could find an ok one that lets me hook up my speakers AND headphones at the same time -_-


Video Card: Having trouble deciding between the two. The 2nd is $20.00 more and slightly more powerful, but do I really need it and it would take extra power to run -_-
($249.99):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130318
(EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card)

($269.99):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130319
(EVGA 512-P3-N802-AR GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card)


FDD: I really don't think I need a floppy : /


Keyboard: Have one.


Mouse: Have one.


Modem: Don't think I need one of these either.


Lan: None.


Monitor: Have one.


Speakers: Have them.


OS:
($89.99):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116056
(Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2B 1 Pack)


Extras: None so far...

[shadowpr]

I would get the first power supply you linked to, a P5K-E mother board, and the first video card you linked to.

But if you want to save even more money, you can get a cheaper power supply. Those are overkill.

[Fo1k-E]

For MMORPGs, the two most important things you'll need are a good CPU, and good RAM. But, nowadays, as a lot of MMORPGs are getting daring, a good GPU is needed too.

So, for the CPU - a lot of people are still referring the older Dual-Cores and Quad-Cores, but, the new 45nm Dual-Cores are on the market, at near same price as their 65nm counterparts.

Just to give you an example, you can get a 3.16GHz Dual-Core @ $290.

As for a GPU, I would go with the 8800GT 512Mb, preferably by EVGA, they're superior in customer care. Not to mention, their site is sexy.

As for the RAM, looks good. Make sure it's a performance 2Gb kit. :P Set them in dual-channel to maximize performance.

After that, just make sure you have a mobo that can support all that I've listed. Mostly, the 45nm processors, if you wish to go that path. Not all mobos support 45nm architecture, so, you'll be doing some shopping around for that.

But, if you do go 45nm, it's great. Lower temps, better overclocking, and a bit more performance, not a lot, but, just enough to make the mobo upgrade and the CPU purchase worth it.