Building a New Gaming Rig

[shift15]

Hey everybody! So, this is my first post (you may commence with groaning ;D) and I'm looking for a little bit of advice. My basic goal was to build a very decent gaming rig that can handle the likes of HL2, CS: Source, WoW, COD, stuff like that. I also wanted to remain pretty budget-conscious, being a college student and all. Keep in mind that I already own all the peripherals (mouse, keyboard, and a decent monitor-- nothing fancy).

Case: NZXT TEMPEST Crafted Series CS-NT-TEM-B Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $109.00 (Before $20 MIR)

(*) Mobo & Processor: MSI K9N6PGM2-V Motherboard & AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Bundle $99.99

Video Card: MSI GeForce 9800 GT (OC) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI-E x16 $129.99 (Before $15 MIR)

Memory: OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) $59.99 (Before $25 AND $20 MIRs-- gotta love Newegg!)

Power Supply: RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-530SS 530W PSU $49.98 (Before $10 MIR)

HDD: WD Caviar SE 320GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 HDD $59.99

Optical Drive: LG Black DVD Burner $24.99

CPU Heatsink & Fan (Because it's not included in bundle): ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm 2-ball Bearing CPU Cooler $49.99


Total w/o Shipping, BEFORE Rebates - $584.91
Total w/o Shipping, AFTER Rebates - $494.91 (Savings of $90)

GRAND Total w/ Shipping - $553.51


(*) Is from TigerDirect, as Newegg does not offer that particular bundle.




Anyway, any suggestions? Ideas? I'm just curious to see what you guys think about this build. Thanks for your time, and I hope the format I used makes it easy to read. (I tried. )

[KarmaKiller]

Hi and welcome to TechIMO.

I personally would go for a Intel setup. You can get a decent combo for about the same price, and can overclock the crap out of it then.

But you really need to change your power supply. Raidmax PSU's are junk. You want a QUALITY power supply for your new components. If you skimp on the PSU, then you are risking every new part you just got.
Newegg.com - SILVERSTONE ST400 400W ATX 12V 2.2 Power Supply - Power Supplies
That would be more then enough for the 9800gt, and is a MUCH MUCH better PSU.

[shift15]

Thanks!

First off, for my particular gaming needs, would you recommend a Core 2 Duo or Quad-core? I honestly don't feel that my gaming is demanding enough to require the Quad-core, but just to clarify, if you will. :P

Secondly, are you sure that 400-watts is enough to power that GPU? Not second-guessing you or anything, but I went with a relatively high-powered GPU because I couldn't find any numbers as far as power requirements for it.

[RicheemxX]

To add to Karma's suggestions

If you are trying to stay on a budget I'd ditch the $100 case and spend the money to get a better CPU and mobo or more HDD space.

This is a nice case for the money
Newegg.com - Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

I only see a $20 MIR on the ram? Not sure where the $25 comes in?
That is a nice HS/FAn combo, but unless you are overclocking and from the selected parts I don't think you are, you could save some cash there. You might only knock $20 off here and there but adding it all up means more $$ to buy a better CPU

[shift15]

Thanks for your suggestion. My focal point for this build was for cooling, and while the case you mentioned is indeed much more budget-conscious, I'd rather spend the $50 for the extra fans that are in my original case.

The case you just linked me to has one 120mm and one 140mm on the top of the case, while for an extra $40, I get 3 more 120mm fans and an extra 140mm fan on top. Call me crazy, but I like my fans.

And yes, you were right about the MIR involving the RAM, for some reason the rebates stacked when I was adding things to my cart.

[RicheemxX]

I'm all for proper cooling, but IMO you'd still be better off spending the cash for better components. That 300 as is would provide more than adequate cooling for that system, you could add in 3 more 120mm fans if needed and still cost less than the case you listed. But hey its your cash and that is why we call it Tech In My Opinion and not Tech My Way...

[KarmaKiller]

Thanks!

First off, for my particular gaming needs, would you recommend a Core 2 Duo or Quad-core? I honestly don't feel that my gaming is demanding enough to require the Quad-core, but just to clarify, if you will. :P

Secondly, are you sure that 400-watts is enough to power that GPU? Not second-guessing you or anything, but I went with a relatively high-powered GPU because I couldn't find any numbers as far as power requirements for it.

Yes I'm sure it's enough. You can't really go by the wattage figure on the PSU. Amps on the 12v+ rail are where the graphics cards pull their power from. Not only that, but then you have to factor in the quality to. I'm willing to bet that silverstone PSU will push more watts/amps then most other 500w PSU's.

As far as the Dual vs Quad thing. If your just doing gaming, then a dual core would be more then enough. Quad cores are a little more "future proof" though. So you may think about that.

Thanks for your suggestion. My focal point for this build was for cooling, and while the case you mentioned is indeed much more budget-conscious, I'd rather spend the $50 for the extra fans that are in my original case.

The case you just linked me to has one 120mm and one 140mm on the top of the case, while for an extra $40, I get 3 more 120mm fans and an extra 140mm fan on top. Call me crazy, but I like my fans.

And yes, you were right about the MIR involving the RAM, for some reason the rebates stacked when I was adding things to my cart.

Please don't let fans swing you away from a great case. You can buy fans online for cheap. And always add more if you feel the need.
That case that Rich recommended is a great case for the money. But the tempest is also a great case too IMO. Just a little more pricey.

IMO, with your budget, I'd get:

Newegg.com - Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
$80 free shipping

Newegg.com - Open Box: MSI P45 Neo3-FR LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
(open box) $60 free shiping

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
$45 free shipping

Newegg.com - SILVERSTONE ST400 400W ATX 12V 2.2 Power Supply - Power Supplies
$45 ($30 after MIR)+Shipping

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500AAKS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives
$53 free shipping

Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N971-TR GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
$115+shipping

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 Burner - CD / DVD Burners
$26 free shipping

Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - Operating Systems
$99 free shipping

CPU cooler
Then add whatever case

Total: $523 not including rebates or shipping. (only 2 items above you have to pay for shipipng, Plus I put in vista 64bit too)