First Build - Mid/High End Gaming Computer

**thats_no_moon** · April 28th, 2009, 02:59 PM

Hey, thanks for giving me the time of day. I will finally have the time/money this summer to attempt building my own computer, so I am already doing some preliminary research. I have been going over this build for the past few days trying to make sure everything will work out, but just in case I'm overlooking some fatal error on my part I'm hoping you guys would catch it.

I'm an engineering student so I will be running models/sims, but I also want something I can use for gaming. Not looking to run Crysis on best quality, but I want something I can enjoy and still be able to oogle at graphics from time to time. I do some video editing as well. Planning on running Windows XP x64 until Windows 7 releases - maybe dual boot with Ubuntu.

Not planning to OC, but it could be a possibility in the future once I'm more comfortable with my build. Just take a look at let me know what you think.

Case: Newegg.com - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

Mobo: Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

CPU: Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

GPU: Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

PSU: Newegg.com - RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-630SS 630W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Modular LED Power Supply - Power Supplies

RAM: Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory (x2 -> 8 GB)

HD: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

CD/DVD: Newegg.com - LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) 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 - CD / DVD Burners

Monitor: Newegg.com - LG W2253TQ-PF Black 21.5" 2ms(GTG) Full HD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor w/ HDCP Support 300 cd/m2 50000:1 w/ Smart Package - LCD Monitors

Keyboard/Mouse: Newegg.com - Logitech EX 110 Black USB + PS/2 Standard Cordless Desktop Keyboard & Mouse Kit - Keyboards

DVI Cable: Newegg.com - Rosewill 6 ft. Digital DVI-D Dual link cable Model RCW-401 - Cables

Looking to keep it below $1500, which this build is at $1250 and I'm happy with it. Definitely want to make this thing last or at least be interchangeable enough to last. I've been advised to find another PSU, but not sure what a good brand is. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

**ShyguyXPC** · April 28th, 2009, 03:25 PM

all of the links aren't working for some reason, so no idea what the parts are.

**thats_no_moon** · April 28th, 2009, 03:31 PM

Ugh - sorry about that. Fixed.

**j.woody** · April 28th, 2009, 03:43 PM

i would change the case to a coolermaster 690 nvidia edition
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119157

change the psu to an ocz 600w
Newegg.com - OCZ StealthXStream OCZ600SXS 600W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

i would change the graphics card to a gtx260 216 55nm and is cheaper than the ati
Newegg.com - EVGA 896-P3-1255-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

**JLK03F150** · April 28th, 2009, 03:45 PM

You should pick a PSU other than a Raidmax. Personally I like Corsair & Seasonic, but Silverstone OCZ, FSP and Antec make some good units too.

Everything else looks nice to me. If you can swing the extra $50-60 you may want to look at the HD 4890 video card too.

Welcome to TechIMO

**cksboy15** · April 28th, 2009, 03:48 PM

First of all there is cheaper and faster memory out there. OCZ is really nice and the Fatal1ty edition is faster than the Gskill you picked out (not saying G skill is bad its really good memor) and this kind comes with a free mouse pad

Newegg.com - OCZ Fatal1ty Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

if your gonna be running sims and stuff like that wouldn't you want to look at a quad core? Or maybe amd's triple cores?

Oh and for a list of manufacterors we have a thread just for that

Good:
Akasa PaxPower....... Antec
Astec.......................... AOpen
Channel Well.............. Coolermaster
Corsair........................ Enermax
Enlight......................... Fortron Source (Sparkle)
Gigabyte..................... HEC Compucase (excluding the lower-end Orion line)
Hi-Power.................... Hiper
Jeantech..................... Lian-Li
Mushkin...................... NSpire
OCZ Technology.......... PC Power & Cooling (now owned by OCZ)
PowerMan................... Seasonic
SilenX.......................... SilverStone
Tagan (ABS)................ Thermaltake
TTGI/SuperFlower...... Vantec
Xclio............................. Zippy / Emacs Verax
Zion.............................. Zalman

Bad:
A GBP Athena................ Allied
Aspire/Apevia............... Athena Power
Apex.............................. Athenatech
Atop............................... Broadway Com
CoolMax......................... Chieftec
DEER.............................. Dynapower
Eagle Tech...................... EYE-T
Foxconn.......................... KingStar
Inwin.............................. Linkworld
L&C ............................... Logisys
MGE................................ PowerMagic
Powertek........................ PowerUp
Powmax.......................... Q-Tec
Raidmax.......................... Rosewill
Skyhawk......................... Star
Startech ......................... Sunbeam
Turbolink......................... Ultra

**ShyguyXPC** · April 28th, 2009, 04:12 PM

Originally Posted by cksboy15

if your gonna be running sims and stuff like that wouldn't you want to look at a quad core? Or maybe amd's triple cores?

thats true, assuming the software their running uses all 4 cores.

but since this is a gaming computer mainly, with the ability to do the other stuff as well, Faster Dual cores would be more effective for that (gaming)...

though with whats left in the budget a good PSU & even a decent speed Quad core could be had.

Throw in a OCZ 550W PSU (2x 25A +12V, 6 pin & 6+2 pin PCIE connectors)

GTX 275, and a Quad core and the would still be under budget.

Newegg.com - OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Newegg.com - EVGA 896-P3-1173-AR GeForce GTX 275 FTW Edition 896MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

GTX 275 above is factory OC'd way faster than a GTX 285, lowest priced 285 is $330, and at stock speeds, the only difference is that it runs a full 512-bit memory bus, the 275 run 448-bit, and the 275 has 896MB vs 285's 1GB. bus rates & memory aside, the only 285 as fast or faster for clock speeds is a model with built in water block for water cooling and costs $530.

with those changes and rest of parts from your list, total before shipping comes to $1359.88

$45 in mail in rebates.

but a stock GTX 275 (still quite fast and as good or better than a Radeon 4890) would be roughly $250

this particular model Newegg.com - EVGA 896-P3-1170-AR GeForce GTX 275 896MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

costs $249.99, and up till May 5th, using this promo code EMCLRNW49 costs $10 less.

with that card, total is $1,309.88 before shipping, and would be $1,299.88 with promo code, just under the $1300 mark.

downside, is that should you want to run a 2nd card in the future, the motherboard only supports crossfire and not SLI, but if only using one card is all you need then that setup will do fine.

**cksboy15** · April 28th, 2009, 04:30 PM

you could probablt get a cheaper motherboard thats just as good for a little less

Newegg.com - ASUS P5Q SE/R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

that ones can fit all those parts and it has the same north and south bridges so the performance difference (if there is any) is fairly small.

As for OCing the PQ5 board OCs fairly (well according to some of the reviews I've read) but not as good as gigabyte is. you'll also get express gate which is quite useful if you wanna check something on the internet in a hurry.

**thats_no_moon** · April 28th, 2009, 04:54 PM

Good advice guys, thanks a lot. I really appreciate the suggestions.

Shyguy:
I like the PSU.
Since it is primarily a gaming machine (as you pointed out)should I go with a faster dual core or just knock it out now and go with a slightly slower quad core? I'm torn.
I think I'll go with the OC'd GTX 275 you suggested as well - or would the extra $30 for the 285 be worth it? Out of curiosity though, what is the big difference between the GTX GPU and the GPU I originally had in mind? Just for future reference, because I'm still learning it seems.

Cksboy:
Thanks for the find with the RAM. I'll definitely go with those instead, but I think I'll stick with the mobo I picked out. Being my first build, I'm willing to pay a little extra for something with better reviews just for my own sake and ease-of-use later. But correct me if that sounds crazy. Ha ha.

**JLK03F150** · April 28th, 2009, 05:12 PM

The ATI HD 4870 is about equal in performance with a GTX 260. Otherwise it is just Ford vs Chevy. The GTX 275 is just a better performing card than the 260 & 4870 and the 275 is the same price/performance as the HD 4890.

IMO you won't see any benefit running 8GB of RAM for gaming vs only using 4GB. You can save a few there.

CPU speed means more in gaming than number of cores. A 3.0ghz dual core will out game a 2.4ghz quad core when you are using a single GPU video card.

**thats_no_moon** · April 28th, 2009, 05:54 PM

Thanks a ton for the help, guys! Glad I found this board. Here's my final set-up.

Unchanged:
Case: Newegg.com - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases (Couldn't convince myself from it.)
Mobo: Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
HD: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives
Monitor: Newegg.com - LG W2253TQ-PF Black 21.5" 2ms(GTG) Full HD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor w/ HDCP Support 300 cd/m2 50000:1 w/ Smart Package - LCD Monitors
CD/DVD: Newegg.com - LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) 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 - CD / DVD Burners
Mouse/Keyboard: Newegg.com - Logitech EX 110 Black USB + PS/2 Standard Cordless Desktop Keyboard & Mouse Kit - Keyboards
DVI: Newegg.com - Rosewill 6 ft. Digital DVI-D Dual link cable Model RCW-401 - Cables

Changed:
CPU: Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops (Bumped up the speed, but stayed with a dual core)
GPU: Newegg.com - EVGA 896-P3-1173-AR GeForce GTX 275 FTW Edition 896MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
PSU: Newegg.com - OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies
RAM: Newegg.com - OCZ Fatal1ty Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory (x2 - I multitask a lot, so I figure it won't hurt me any)

Added:
External HD: Newegg.com - Western Digital My Book Essential WDH1U10000N 1TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive - External Hard Drives

I figured I could use the extra storage from the external for system back-ups and whatnot. Can't be too careful, no?

Total price tag at about $1400 (not including the $45 in mail-in rebates). I can certainly live with that considering this rig should last me some time. Also didn't realize I'd be getting Call of Duty: World at War with the GPU, but hey - I'll take it. Any final thoughts?

**ShyguyXPC** · April 28th, 2009, 06:05 PM

Card reader for Flash Media cards usually comes in handy.

haven't used it yet, but this is the one I just grabbed for my new upgrades (my old reader has a 3.5" floppy integrated into it, and my new mobo doesn't have a floppy connector, since I'm putting 90% of my old Quad core system into a new case, figured I'd migrate the old reader over to it, and get a new one with no floppy drive, this is the one I grabbed)

Newegg.com - Rosewill RCR-IC001 40-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5" Internal Card Reader w/ USB port / Extra silver face plate - Card Readers

although there are many to choose from, I grabbed it for the free shipping to save on my order last week. out of 3 or 4 items only one had shipping everything else had free shipping

**thats_no_moon** · April 28th, 2009, 06:51 PM

I don't use flash media cards that much (edit: or at all really), so I'll probably hold off. Decided to drop it down to just 4 GB of RAM. Finally convinced myself that I'll be able to buy more later if I needed it. Thanks again.

**JLK03F150** · April 28th, 2009, 07:52 PM

IMO you should be really happy with that system. If you decide to overclock the CPU down the road, the E8500 is an overclocking beast. I have the E8600 & it runs at 4.0GHz with less than default voltage.

Be sure to follow up once you get the bits. It''s fun to see a system go from a wish list to a working box on the desk.

What OS are you planning to use? Vista Home Preimum 64 bit or Windows 7 64 bit? I hear it is due for release quite soon.

**thats_no_moon** · April 28th, 2009, 08:02 PM

I really like it how it looks now, but I'm still going to sleep on it. I don't think I'll have any grand epiphanies anyways. My the time I get all the parts and I'm able to assemble them (May 10th and beyond) the Windows 7 release candidate will be out (May 5th), so I plan to run that 64bit version. I will be sure to update this thread with how the process goes. Thanks again, guys. You were a great help!

**thats_no_moon** · April 28th, 2009, 08:33 PM

Now that I think about it - and sorry to keep throwing this post back to the top but - the GPU has a minimum requirement of 550W... would it be advisable to get a PSU with a bit more kick or would it run about the same anyways? Considering what I'm already spending, I don't mind tacking a bit more on if it will boost performance.

**JLK03F150** · April 28th, 2009, 09:19 PM

One of the OCZ 600 watt models could assure you have some extra headroom, but the 550w unit should be fine since you only have 1 HDD and one optical drive.

For a point of reference, I run an E8600 @ 4.0GHz, three WD 74GB Raptors in RAID 0, two optical drives and two HD 3870's with a Seasonic 650w PSU.

**thats_no_moon** · April 28th, 2009, 09:55 PM

Thanks. Gonna go with Newegg.com - OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7 - Power Supplies

**EXreaction** · April 29th, 2009, 02:37 AM

A few things...

I'd go with a 640GB internal drive. Quite a bit cheaper and I highly doubt you'll use the extra 360GB...

After using a 3.5" and 2.5" external drive I'd never recommend a 3.5" external drive. They are a huge pain to use as they always require a dedicated power source. Grab a 2.5" external drive and you can use it anywhere without any dedicated power source (USB has enough power for it).

**ShyguyXPC** · April 29th, 2009, 05:39 AM

on the internal drive...

really, so you know exactly what this person is going to be storing or installing on their system? right? so of course they're not going to use that extra 360GB...

what happens if they buy the 640GB and find its not enough room to store what they want on their system? they have to go and buy yet a 2nd drive, ending up spending as much if not more than what the 1TB costs.

as to the 2.5" drive, yes thats true, but you pay almost as much for half the storage capacity moving to a 2.5" drive...

Newegg.com - Western Digital My Passport Essential WDME5000TN 500GB USB 2.0 Midnight Black External Hard Drive - External Hard Drives

$10 cheaper than the one they have chosen, but half the storage capacity.

if portability & "convenience" is an issue for them then I suppose that would suffice, but if storage capacity for backing up data is more important it makes more sense to grab a 3.5" external instead with larger capacities.