Building a new Gaming Computer

[HappyFace]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Mostly gaming

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

$1200-1500

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

US

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.

Not a fanboi, but it seems that Intel is the best choice for price/performance

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

No, going to continue running my current system as well as the new one

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

Yes, I've looked at several similar threads

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

Yes, most likely will attempt to OC the CPU once the system is up and running stable at stock speeds

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?

ASAP


Hey guys. As I'm sure you figured out from the title, I'm planning to build a new gaming system very soon. My main concern is that my system is easily upgradable in the future. I want parts that will be useful for a long time, and a good stable power supply that will handle the more power hungry video cards of the future.

Here's what I have picked out so far. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated!

(2) Pioneer Black 20X DVD+R
Link
$59.98

Antec Nine Hundred Case
Link
$119.99

Western Digital Caviar WD6400 640GB Hard Drive
Link
$109.99

Acer AL2016WBbd 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor
Link
$199.99

MSI NX8800GT 512MB OC
Link
$184.99 - $25 Rebate

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W Power Supply
Link
$109.99 - $20 Rebate

Logitech Wave Keyboard (love the one I already have)
Link
$42.99

Logitech MX518 Mouse
Link
$39.99

Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound
Link
$6.99

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1000
Link
$84.99

ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 Motherboard
Link
$179.99

Intel E8400 Wolfdale CPU
Link
$189.99

MS Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Link
$94.99

XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail
Link
$36.99



Total Price with Shipping would be $1498.95, which sits right under the max I'd like to spend.

What do you guys think? I prefer to purchase everything from Newegg, but if there's a big enough price difference I may consider buying a few parts somewhere else. Is there anything I could downgrade to reduce the price, without worrying about upgrading in the near future?

Edit: Forgot to include a sound card. I'm considering a Creative SB X-Fi, although it has received mixed reviews. Are there better options for gamers?

 

[ther00kie16]

20" pixel pitch might be a bit small so look for a 22" which would cost about the same or a 24" for even more pixels.
There are cheaper 8800GT nowadays ($140 after rebate or less) and the 8800gts is only a little more than $160.
If you don't plan on going with SLI, then you can get by on any of the Corsair power supplies (520HX is recommended for modular design), which can be had for less on buy.com than at newegg. For example, the Corsair 450W is only $60 after rebate or $50 if you use googlecheckout.
If you don't need the Pro's features, go with a regular P35 to save some money. Gigabyte's tried and true DS3L/DS3R will save you a good amount.
$129 e7200 will get you up to 3.8GHz, which is almost as high as e8400's 4.0-4.2GHz limit.

 

[HappyFace]

Originally posted by: ther00kie16
20" pixel pitch might be a bit small so look for a 22" which would cost about the same or a 24" for even more pixels.
There are cheaper 8800GT nowadays ($140 after rebate or less) and the 8800gts is only a little more than $160.
If you don't plan on going with SLI, then you can get by on any of the Corsair power supplies (520HX is recommended for modular design), which can be had for less on buy.com than at newegg. For example, the Corsair 450W is only $60 after rebate or $50 if you use googlecheckout.
If you don't need the Pro's features, go with a regular P35 to save some money. Gigabyte's tried and true DS3L/DS3R will save you a good amount.
$129 e7200 will get you up to 3.8GHz, which is almost as high as e8400's 4.0-4.2GHz limit.

Some good points here. It might be a better choice to buy a Gigabyte motherboard and e7200, using the money I save for a better display.

Will I be able to run AOC at 1680 x 1050 on high settings and get good framerates? This looks like a nice monitor for a mere $30 more then the 20 incher.

 

[ther00kie16]

Could only find this benchmark.
Looks like average for 8800gt @ 1280x1024 (1.3 million pixels) on high is around 50-60 fps.
So assuming linearity, 1680x1050 would average around 40fps, which I think is playable.
They used a e6750 (2.66ghz) at stock so a e7200 overclocked to >3.5ghz may result in higher frame rates.

 

[HappyFace]

Originally posted by: ther00kie16
Could only find this benchmark.
Looks like average for 8800gt @ 1280x1024 (1.3 million pixels) on high is around 50-60 fps.
So assuming linearity, 1680x1050 would average around 40fps, which I think is playable.
They used a e6750 (2.66ghz) at stock so a e7200 overclocked to >3.5ghz may result in higher frame rates.

40FPS would definately be nice. My current system runs it at 25-40FPS on low at lower res rofl

 

[HappyFace]

^^

 

[HappyFace]

ttt

 

[GullyFoyle]

The e7200 has 3 MB cache, the e8400 has 6 MB cache. The identified application that seems to benefit from the extra cache...gaming.
Go ahead and get the cheaper motherboard (also consider the cheaper Abit MB IP-35E) to save money, you will lose features that perhaps you didn't need anyway. But the CPU downgrade will affect your gaming performance.

 

[ther00kie16]

3mb vs 6mb makes maybe 10% difference in benchmarks, so in games there may be next to nothing. and for current generation of video cards, a slightly faster cpu isn't going to help bring your frame rates up.

 

[HappyFace]

The ram I was going to buy went up to $149

 

[HappyFace]

I pulled the trigger.

Ended up going with the IP35 Pro. They just added a $50 rebate bringing the price close to cheaper boards. Also decided to spend a bit more to get the e8400. It's not all that much more expensive. Decided on OCZ memory here. Their ram gets good reviews, and customer service seems to be really great. Going to purchase a Samsung 22" 220WM at best buy. It's on sale for only $219 and I'd prefer to purchase my monitor in a store, as it's much easier to return if there are dead pixels. I'll let you guys know how it goes! Thanks for all the help

 

[GullyFoyle]

Originally posted by: ther00kie16
3mb vs 6mb makes maybe 10% difference in benchmarks, so in games there may be next to nothing. and for current generation of video cards, a slightly faster cpu isn't going to help bring your frame rates up.

I guess it depends...