First Time Builder

[Drakefake53]

Hey everyone! I'm looking at building my first PC and was wondering if you could give me a little feedback. I'm going to be using this computer for gaming ( WoW, Warhammer when it comes out: nothin too extensive), general use, school, etc. I'm kind of on a budget and I'm trying to keep it below $1000 but less is better. I have a monitor, keyboard, etc. so I just need the case.

Here are the components I'm looking at:

Case: Antec Nine Hundred
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021

PSU: Not sure on this.

Mobo: XFX nForce 680i LT SLI Motherboard
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...594&CatId=2541

CPU: Intel Pentium E2180
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...668&CatId=2852
OR
Intel Core2 Duo E4500
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...224&CatId=2397
Looking to Overclock

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 160GB Hard Drive
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...3586&CatId=524

RAM: OCZ SLI-Ready Edition Dual Channel 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...79597&CatId=10

Video Card: XFX GeForce 8600 GTS Video Card
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...543&CatId=1560

OS: Not sure what to go with. Xp Home or Vista Home Premium

I'm open to suggestions.
Thanks

[Cricket]

Are you planning to run SLi? It's not really worth it unless you can run two highend cards together. Two lower end cards in SLi don't perform anywhere near as good as 1 highend card.

For Intel CPUs it's recommended that you stick with motherboards that use Intel chipsets. This is to ensure stable performance and best compatibility.

I don't care for XFX products. Their association with PC Chips and ECS doesn't inspire confidence.

For a gaming rig you've chosen two low end processors. Might want to get something with a little more power.

For the power supply I'd look at Corsair, Fortron Source, OCZ, PC Power & Cooling, Seasonic or Sparkle Power.

Cricket

[Masaki 7-11]

Try getting your parts from Newegg instead of Tigerdirect since Newegg usually has better prices, and has much better customer service. If you're not playing any Vista-Only games, Windows XP is better since it has better performance and compatibility. Here's a list for a good build which will overclock nicely and give you a lot more performance than the build in your list:

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model LH-20A1S
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106057
$31.99

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021
$94.99

Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA-300 Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136075
$49.99

EVGA 512-P3-N862-AR GeForce 9600GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130328
$179.99

Antec NeoPower 550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103941
$74.99

mushkin 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996527
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146118
$48.99

ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131196
$149.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6750
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115029
$179.99

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

Subtotal: $900.91

[alex530]

I would personally go with Vista, as XP will soon be discontinued to be supported. Vista is more secure and more future proof. For the gaming purposes you've suggested, you could probably get by with a 8600GT and save some money. You could also checkout the Antec Sonata III case with a built in power supply. Also, are you sure you don't want to leave yourself a little more headroom with a larger hard drive? The parts that Masaki recommended are good, but you could save even more money by simply getting the standard P5K without the wifi.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by alex530 I would personally go with Vista, as XP will soon be discontinued to be supported. Vista is more secure and more future proof. For the gaming purposes you've suggested, you could probably get by with a 8600GT and save some money. You could also checkout the Antec Sonata III case with a built in power supply. Also, are you sure you don't want to leave yourself a little more headroom with a larger hard drive? The parts that Masaki recommended are good, but you could save even more money by simply getting the standard P5K without the wifi.

The P5K-E and/or P5K-E Wifi are a good improvement over the vanilla P5K due to better onboard sound, and better motherboard quality. Vista has problems with running EAX, and is slower than XP by at least 10% on average. If you don't have something than needs Vista, you should be fine with XP, XP also has good security when using good 3rd party tools; as more people migrate to Vista, you'll have security on it deteriorate due to the increase in viruses, and bug exploits being used for the OS.

[Katreat]

Generally, I agree with the above posters. Switch to the P5K series MB. The P35 chipset can handle future upgrades to the new 45mm processors. The 680i is an older chipset and has issues with the newest processors. Plus, SLI is just not needed.

Move up to a E6550 or E6750 CPU. The price is reasonable at this time and it will make your system much better for gaming.

For the games you listed as someone else said the 8600 will likely work out ok. But if there is any chance you will be getting any newer games I would highly recommend going for the 9600 (not sure of new card pricing) or considering a card from the ATI 3800 or Nividia 8800 line up. The 8600 is a great all around card, but IMO the true gaming cards start a notch higher and are well worth it if you use your computer principally for gaming.

I like Corsair PSUs. Last I looked they had the 550 on sale at Newegg for under $100. But check out PSUs from any of the brands Cricket listed above and you should be good. Get something above 500 watts and it should handle your components (as long as it is a good quality unit). I tend to go bigger, used a 620 in my last build which is similar to what is being recommended to you, but I just like being very conservative and have plenty of head room.

I agree with others that you should probably pick up something like a 320 GB HD, they only cost a few dollars more these days, but that is up to you, the 160 will work fine.

I went Vista just to try it and so far have had very few problem. XP is tried and tested so it is a good choice also. If you are not playing newer games, there is no reason to jump to Vista for 10X support which is why I mainly went that direction. But there is also from my experience very little to be worried about, they seem to have most of the big bugs out of it and it seems to be working fine.

Kat

[Drakefake53]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'm going to go along the lines of what Masaki 7-11 recommended.

One question though. I have had my eye on the Antec 900 case for a few weeks now and the price has dropped considerably. I think it was at $115 and is now at $95. Is there any reason for this?

[shadowpr]

The prices on that case have been doing that for months. Every so often it goes on sale, then a few weeks later, it's back up to normal price.

[Drakefake53]

So if I really want the Antec 900, which I do, should I buy it now. Because I don't have all the money to buy everything to build my computer now. I was just going to wait a month or 2 to buy the stuff.

[doubledragon5]

The Antec 799 is a great case, but it colects a lot of dust quickly.. It has plenty of air flow, so over heating shouldn't be a problem

[shadowpr]

Originally Posted by doubledragon5 The Antec 799 is a great case, but it colects a lot of dust quickly.. It has plenty of air flow, so over heating shouldn't be a problem

The same goes for the 900.

But there won't be a probl;em with buying the case now if you think it's a good deal. Price could go back up, or it could come down more later. It's 50-50 with that.

[Katreat]

A case is one of the few items that you can buy early and not have it change next week. I have seen the case go for a low of I think 79.99 (last year at Frys) to $125 or so. I would think anything under $100 is a good price.

I agree with Dragon, it is a nice case, but a real dust magnet. No problems with cooling at all and very pretty in the dark. Take time with your wireing to get it out of the way, with the PSU on the bottom it takes a little more effort to keep the wires from hanging across the window.

Kat

[Drakefake53]

OK sounds good. I think I'm going to buy that now since it is $99.99 with free shipping.

[alex530]

Vista is also due for SP1 to come out very soon, which should fix a lot of the recent complaints that people have. I haven't heard of the EAX issues, would that only be with a separate sound card? Also, you are correct about the P5K-E, it has ADI which is a higher quality audio chipset than Realtek.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by alex530 Vista is also due for SP1 to come out very soon, which should fix a lot of the recent complaints that people have. I haven't heard of the EAX issues, would that only be with a separate sound card? Also, you are correct about the P5K-E, it has ADI which is a higher quality audio chipset than Realtek.

Here's a link that explains Vista problems with EAX, and has a solution for it as well: http://buy.soundblaster.com/_creativ...X767VHL73GYR38