Building a gaming computer advice

[Dawsome]

Hello,
I am going to be building my first gaming computer and will be using dual video cards although I like to know if I should go with only one video card for the same price but better then the two I picked. I'm looking to play games like Crisis, Call of Duty 5, UT3, and the Half Life Series. Any tips on building a gaming computer in the good to great range no more than $1,300? I have done a lot of research and have picked out components in my price range and was wondering if you could take a look at the choices. My components I chose are in an attached PowerPoint document. Are these going to be suitable for my needs? I am not going for a hardcore gamer rig capable of playing Crisis on high settings, but I desire a computer that can play all the newer games with ease for a while without upgrading and be comprised of quality parts. Any suggestions, tips or ways to cut costs or increase performance? Am I using good video cards and processor? I wasn’t too sure about a hard drive either. Definitely need help with the hard drive aspect of the setup. Any recommendations on where to buy this hardware or online stores would be great. As you can see I am a little over budget so anything that can cut back on cost would be helpful, although if you believe it is a good setup and I should just dish out a little extra dough because I am asking too much performance for too little money please tell me. Last if I picked any parts that are overkill for my needs please let me know.

Greatly Appreciated,
Dawsome

[Dawsome]

Here are my parts. Above was an email i sent to a Tech guy so here is the powerpoint attached

Model & Price

Motherboard
MSI K9N2 Diamond
$269.99

Memory
OCZ OCZ2RPR10664GK PC2-8500 DDR2 Dual Channel Reaper Series 1066MHz 4G Kit CL 5-5-5-18 Memory
$48.99

Video Card x2
eVGA GeForce 9600GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Video Card
$300.98

Power Supply
PC Power & Cooling 750-Watt Power Supply
$149.99

Hard Drive
???HELP???
???Price???

DVD Drive
Sony DRU190A 20X DVD Rewritable Drive - 20x DVD±R, 8 DVD+RW, 6x DVD-R, 8x DVD±R DL, ATAPI/EIDE, Black
$29.99

Case
Thermaltake VH8000BWS Armor+ MX ATX Mid-Tower Case - 230mm Fan
$129.99

Monitor
Samsung Touch of Color T220 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - 2ms, 20000:1 (Dynamic), 1680x1050 (WSXGA+), DVI, Rose/Black
$279.99

CPU
AMD Phenom X4 9850 Quad Core Processor HD9850XAJ4BGH - Black Edition, Unlocked 2.50GHz, 4MB Cache, 2000MHz (4000 MT/s) FSB, Agena, Quad-Core, OEM, Socket AM2+, Processor
$174.99

Keyboard/ Mouse/ Mat

Razer eXactMat™ Duo Precision Gaming Surface, Still looking for mouse (Suggestions?), Still looking for Keyboard (suggestions?)
$29.99 so far trying to keep total under $150




My total so far is $1524.90

[pullmyfoot]

Where are you ordering from? Newegg? Prices look like they are from there. 1 GPU is always better than 2. There is really no point going dual because the performance is not double, for one, and you end up with alot of compatibility problems. You also use up much more power.. Dual video cards may be a good upgrade option though, if the same card becomes much cheaper in a year or two and you want a little upgrade.

[pullmyfoot]

This is what I recommend

CPU ($295): Newegg.com - Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
Mobo ($215): Newegg.com - MSI X58 Platinum LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
Ram ($90): Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS3 3GB (3 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
Graphics ($285): Newegg.com - VisionTek 900244 Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
PSU ($105): Newegg.com - PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W Continuous @ 40°C EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies
Hard Drive ($80): Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

Just over a thousand. Im in a hurry so I shall finish this when I get back. Sorry!

[KarmaKiller]

yep.
I pretty much sent the same list to him as Pull listed.
I went for a Gigabyte or EVGA X58 board though.

For $1300, there is no reason not to get a I7. Also, if you plan on running dual monitors, then that can be done with one card. If your wanting to SLI, you have to have a SLI capable Motherboard, and you still only use one card for both monitors.

[pullmyfoot]

Ok I'm back from school.

Well I didn't see why most people would need such an expensive board

As for the mouse and keyboard, I would suggest these goodies.

Newegg.com - RAZER DeathAdder RZ01-00150100-R3M1 Black 5 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Optical 1800 dpi High Precision Gaming Mouse - Mouse
Newegg.com - Saitek PK17U Black/Silver 104 Normal Keys 12 Function Keys USB Standard Cyborg Keyboard - Keyboards

I always use Razer. I love their mice to bits. I don't use the keyboard but I've tried it and I like the feel of it. As for the mousepad, I use the same one as you picked. Its really good, though I wouldnt spend that much on a mousepad again. It was the only decent pad the shop had (it had more actually but they were more expensive ) and I was in a hurry. I don't particularly like the huge size, I would prefer something slightly smaller. But its still a good pad.

BTW, KK, you even picked the same PSU? Cool . As for X58 mobos, I think they will be able to do SLI and crossfire. It actually has the capability to do both but Intel still needs to get a license from Nvidia to do SLI. Maybe they got it already, I dunno. Last thing I heard they were still trying

[Dawsome]

What OS should i go with?

[pullmyfoot]

If you have a spare copy of any OS stick with that. Windows 7 will be out in a bit. I know I'm not supposed to say this here, but if you don;t have a spare, just illegally install one you have on two computers for now. Its really a waste to buy a new OS this close to Windows 7

[Dawsome]

Hello,

I am building a gaming computer and need some help. I have now revised my first choices and wanna see what you think. My budget is $1300 and as you can see I'm a little over. So any tips on how to reduce or increase performance would be nice.

Greatly Appreciated,
Dawsome


Ok so i put together my second set of parts for you to help me out with here is my first post Building a gaming computer advice yah i know its terrible setup for that $$$ so here is my revision.

DVD:
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - CD / DVD Burners
Case:
Newegg.com - NZXT TEMPEST Crafted Series CS-NT-TEM-B Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases
HDD:
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives
Moniter:
Newegg.com - Acer H213H bmid Black 21.5" 5ms HDMI Widescreen 16:9 Full HD 1080P LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 ACM 20000:1 Built in Speakers - LCD Monitors
PSU:
Newegg.com - BFG Tech ES SERIES ES-800 800W Continuous @ 40°C ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.92 SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified GTX 260 NVIDIA HYBRID SLI 9800 GX2 CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC SLI Power Supply - Power Supplies
RAM:
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 3GB (3 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
MOBO:
Newegg.com - EVGA 132-BL-E758-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
Processor:
Newegg.com - Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
Video Card:
Newegg.com - BFG Tech BFGEGTX2801024E GeForce GTX 280 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards


Subtotal: $1,597.27 without rebates including shipping
Final: $1517.27 with rebates and shipping

[RicheemxX]

I've merged your threads , there really isn't a need for a new one and having two going on the same topic often leads to duplicate advice and duplicate questions.