Midrange gaming PC build

[elthenar]

I am finally getting around to replacing my old athlon 64 3000 rig. Playing games is really the only concern with this computer, I won't be doing anything else with this PC that would warrant any different hardware. I have a 19" monitor and some nice Logitech Surround speakers. I plan to upgrade the monitor to something in the 22-24 range in the future though.

1. I have a budget of about 1000-1200 dollars for the build.

2. The only part I may keep from my old comp is my Audigy 2 platinum sound card. I saw Vista 64 drivers for it on the Creative website, but its an older card and Vista has a rep for not liking old parts. One thing I am very much on the fence about whether I should get a newer X-fi card. Also, I have a big fat aftermarket Zalman CPU cooler that i got from a friend.

3. I have been scanning the other posts, I see that 4 gigs of RAM is probably enough, but the DDR2 is fairly cheap so I went ahead and put 8 gigs in my build.

4. I am not a veteran OC'r, but from what I gather off of Newegg reviews and from the forums here (the Oct 08 sample build post is great) the parts I picked are very friendly for OCing, so I plan to do so to some degree.

5. I am ready to order and build immediately, I am just looking for a little feedback from before I settle on all the parts.

This is what I have in my cart right now...

intel 8500 C2D wolfdale cpu
Gigabyte EP45-UD3R motherboard
Asus - Radeon HD 4870 512MB graphics card
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) I am getting 2 pairs of these for 8 gigs total
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA
XCLIO GREATPOWER X14S4P4 750W ATX12V PSU
XCLIO A380PLUS case. I love this case and Newegg had a really good combo deal on this with the PSU
Vista home premium 64bit os OEM


I tried to go for bang for the buck, the only thing I spent for is the GPU. I coudn't find any info on that Asus GPU. It has faster specs than any of the other 4870's, I assume its overclocked. I put it in because it looked fast for a good price and Asus is a good brand. I am open to advice on any of this stuff.

 

[disports]

Looks good. Even DDR2-800 would suffice for some minor overclocking. Not a fan of the power supply. I'd rather make do with a corsair brand as it's more reliable. Lol gaudy case, but your choice! This HIS brand 4870 is just as good and cheaper at $229.99 after rebate. You might as well overclock the card yourself. Just remember to look around to try and get the best price whether it's newegg, zipzoomfly, frys.com, microcenter, ebay, etc.

 

[TidusZ]

Don't bother buying a new x-fi sound card, I have a Z-5500 5.1 setup and I regret spending ~$100 on my x-fi gamer, shoulda just used motherboard sound. As for the case, to each their own I suppose, I kinda agree with smith there myself. I'd highly recommend buying a custom cooler for that processor (Thermalright TRUE for example, or OCZ Vendetta 2) and overclocking it to 4ghz+. The stock cooler on that videocard looks pretty good tbh, so you could check your temps on it and overclock that a bit too. Overclocking is really a must for gaming imo. I'd stick with the ddr2 1000, it cost about the same as 800 and will make your overclock easier and better.

Only other thing I can really say is that you could save $25 and get the E8400, they'll overclock about the same and otherwise they're identical. Enjoy the new pc, gonna be a huge upgrade from an athlon 3000+, I got one sittin in the corner of my room atm. BIG upgrade.

 

[elthenar]

I do have an aftermarker cooler for my CPU, I got this off a buddy of mine Zalman heatsink

I built a comp for him last year. He went and bought that later on but never installed it. He also bought a nearly identical case from Xclio and the airflow is AMAZING. Forgot the looks, that thing moves more air than a leafblower. When we did the first bootup, the fan on the side was keeping the CPU heatsink so cold that the MB turned off the heatsink fan. Which promptly set off all of warning alarms lol. Took me a short while to figure that out. The fans are silent as the grave too. The case is the one thing I was totally sold on, not for the looks but because it performs like a champ.

I've been doing some more looking around, I think I am going to downgrade that vid card to a 4850 of some sort, and use the savings to help upgrade my older 19" sony CRT to a new 22-24" LCD. I think I am going to take the advice on the CPU and save the 25$ for the same reason.

 

[s44]

Whoa, the fan setup on that looks nice. Wish it came in a less blingy color though.

 

[California Roll]

Note: The ALC889A audio chipset is better than your Audigy 2.

 

[jae]

the case is a personal preference, however I would choose a different psu.. its the literally heart of your computer while the cpu is the brain. cosair 650tx or pc power and cooling 610. If you get a different psu you cant get that $70 so case may not be worth the actual price.

 

[jae]

they have one just like the one you originally wanted for $99.. dunno what exactly as i am mobile now but the $99 one has two 250mm fans, same design

 

[jae]

they have one just like the one you originally wanted for $99.. dunno what exactly as i am mobile now but the $99 one has two 250mm fans, same design

 

[jae]

they have one just like the one you originally wanted for $99.. dunno what exactly as i am mobile now but the $99 one has two 250mm fans, same design

 

[jae]

they have what virtually looks like the same case for $99

 

[elthenar]

That was thing about the PSU, after the rebate it is costing me under 40$. I did some checking on it through google and it everyone who has tested it gave it good marks, and people on newegg gave it good reviews. I figure it was worth a shot for the price, and if it gives me any hiccups than I will replace it with something from Corsair.

I went ahead and ordered, I swapped the GPU out for a HIS 4850 and dropped down to the wolfdale 8400. Total cost before shipping 927$. With the extra cash, I am going monitor shopping now! Thanks for the feedback, it really did help me with a few decisions.

On a side note, is the ALC889a really better than the Audigy? I knew onboard sound was getting pretty good, but I didn't expect that.

Edit: what was that Jae? =)
Yeah, it is nearly the same case. Its the one my buddy got for his comp that I mentioned. The one I picked has a larger fan on the side, 360mm vs 250mm. It also has another large fan on top.

 

[jae]

who is everyone? and u shouldnt depend much on the reviews on newegg. u have to take in account their hardware config. And if that PSU has an hiccup, it could take out all of your hardware.

note; i apologize for those dupe posts, stupid opera mini kept showing the cached page when I hit reply.

 

[elthenar]

When I was checking out the power supply, I was leery of a PSU that I hadn't heard of and wasn't owned by anyone I know. I did a lot of Google-fu and I found these tests that seemed to be pretty thorough.
Exremeoverclocking.com
PC perspective

I also found out that the Meridian/XClio PSU's are made by Channel Well, the same people who make the Thermaltake and some Antec power supplies. It looks like it should be a pretty good buy, especially for the price.

 

[s44]

The PSU is the exact same Channel Well design used in the Corsair 750. Don't get all brand-obsessed.