My laptop has developed a couple of problems and will soon be out of warranty, so I've been thinking of getting a desktop instead. After looking around a bit at pre-built systems, I decided I was rather dissatisfied with the choices out there, as well as the reliability of those systems (one attractively-priced desktop had multiple reports of failures). So anyway, I've settled on building my own. I'm a complete novice when it comes to this...I've never built a PC before. I'm looking to build a fairly-serious gaming rig, for games such as Crysis, GTA IV, BioShock, and Far Cry 2. My budget's around $1500, give or take. Here's what I've come up with: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=13539586 Note that I'm not really concerned with using more than one video card, so using the 1156 chipset isn't an issue for me. I'm most concerned with building a good gaming rig that will let me play games comfortably for the next few years before I need to upgrade. Also about the wireless adapter: It's the only one I could find where people mentioned getting it to work with Windows 7, and my PC would be in an area where the only real option is wireless. I already have a monitor, speakers, keyboard, and mouse. So what do you think? Advice? Thanks.
Power supply is good but overkill, the 550W version http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004 seems plenty for half the price.
Aside from the PSU above the only problems I see is you have 2 mobos. Drop the ASUS and go for the Gigabyte in the list. That alone gives you an extra $220, roughly, to upgrade other areas. You could drop the 5850 for 5870. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166020 First Review says it fired right up on Vista x64 so it should be fine for Win 7 as well. This saves another $52, and puts you close to being able to squeeze in a 5970. Now you didnt mention the specifics on your monitor, speakers, keyboard and mouse. You could always upgrade these as well with the money saved over getting a 5870 for example. For example, pick up a good gaming mouse a like a Razer or the Logitech G15 is extremely popular, or you could pick up a nice 22 inch monitor.
I already have a nice 22" monitor, so I'm good with that. My speakers are nice as well...great range of sound with a nice sub. My keyboard and mouse aren't anything special, but they've never been a burden when playing any games...even highly-competitive online ones. I keep getting conflicting reports as to whether I should go with an Asus or a Gigabyte mobo...my wishlist has been updated to reflect my current thoughts. I'm also pretty sure I'm sticking with the Radeon 5850 since the 5870 is $100 for only a marginal increase in performance in most cases, only really being apparent at freakishly high settings which I will never play at.
CPU: 8/10 - Reasonably good value, but unnecessarily overspec'ed for a gaming machine. The i5 750 will do you fine, and costs $90 less. HDD: 10/10 RAM: 10/10 PSU: 5/10 - A great unit, but massively overkill for your system. the components you listed will use less than 300W at full power. The 650W TX version will be ample for anything. DVDRW: (I'm not that well-up on the best optical drive brands, but Liteons get reasonable reviews lately) GPU: 10/10 Antistat strap: Waste of time, if you're careful you won't need one. Case: 7/10 - Better than the original Nine Hundred, but the NZXT Tempest is a much better version of the same design without the flaws. Plus it costs less. OS: Fine Motherboard: Asus: 5/10 (highest rating I give to Asus motherboards due to their low build quality), you want a Gigabyte P55A such as the P55A-UD4 for a gaming system.
