I've always wanted to build my own gaming system so here I am. I've been trying to do some research, but I'm still open to any suggestions. It'll probably be my first attempt at overclocking too, so any advice would be appreciated. Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037 From what I understand, the games I'm currently playing don't take advantage of a quad core CPU. I realize that newer games will probably utilize quad cores much better, but I figure with the mobo I'm thinking about going with, I can upgrade to a quad core in the future if I wanted to. GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358 CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004 COOLER MASTER Centurion 590 RC-590-KKN1-GP Black SECC / ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119152 G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122 I don't really know much about memory, from what I read, there wouldn't be much of a performance boost with DDR3 instead of the DDR2, and I only saw a couple of mobos that supported DDR3 anyways. Is this correct? I think I'm going to use this drive for my OS and storage: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181 And install games on this: Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136296 I currently have a HD4850 video card, I may eventually get another and try a Crossfire setup. Can I use crossfire with different versions of the HD4850, or even with a 4850 and a 4870? I assume that power supply will be sufficient for a little bit of overclocking? Do you think I need more fans in that case? I'm probably going to install Vista 32bit, I know the 64bit can use more memory, but is it likely any games out now will use more then 3gbs? Are there any other advantages to 64bit? Also, I'm looking for suggestions for a reasonably priced sound card. What else am I missing?
CPU: 7/10 - The E8400 is a powerful dual core, but expensive. You may as well get a quad core for that sort of money. Given that the next generation of quad cores will be on the Lynnfield platform (LGA1156) the upgrade capabilities of this system are reasonably limited. Either wait for i5, or go quad now. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115057 - This CPU is the same price, and it's not too far behind the E8400 Dual core in terms of performance, yet has twice as many cores. If you're willing to spend a bit more, I'd go for this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041 PSU: 8/10 - Not one of Corsair's best units, but a decent enough PSU. Ultimately you will want a slightly quieter one if you're going crossfire I suspect. Case: 7/10 - Not too bad for a cheap case. You will want to buy more fans though, as they don't come with many to start with. RAM: 8/10 - Fine, but very limiting if you want to overclock due to the low speed. You will be better off with: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145214 HDDs: 5/10 - I would advise against using the slow drive for your OS and the fast one for games - The OS takes much more advantage of a faster HDD than games do. You will only really see greatly improved game loading times if you use an SSD for them (and SSDs are very small so you won't fit many) I would do the following: OS HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136296 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167016 Games HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284 An HD4850 is a nice enough graphics card for the time being. The 550W VX PSU is fine to overclock even the quad core processor, but if you want to crossfire with an HD4870 (which you can do but it would be better to just wait for a new DX11 card in a month or two's time - remember HD4850+HD4870 = 2xHD4850) You should definitely install Vista 64-bit, 32-bit OSes can only see 3GB and Vista itself uses 2GB just to run - that doesn't leave you with much memory to play games. 64-bit does offer innate performance advantages in games like Crysis. You are missing a DVD drive. Something like a 24x Optiarc will do fine.
Maybe I'll reconsider the quad core. I don't mind spending a little extra money if it will definitely be worth it, although I don't see myself spending $350 on a SSD. Would 2 VelociRaptors be worth it if I'm spending $140 a piece? I don't really know much about RAID setups, but how much would performance increase that way? Is this sound card ok? I don't really want to spend much more then that for a sound card. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102006&Tpk=creative xtremegamer About the RAM... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145214 seems expensive, is it worth it? If I go 64bit, I'll probably get 8gb of RAM, just because I can. Is Vista 64bit Home Premium sufficient, or is Ultimate worth it? Oh and I'll definitely be getting a DVD drive of some kind. Thanks for your reply.
It's up to you with the velociraptors, obviously they're not as pricey as SSDs, but you aren't likely to see stellar performance boosts for loading games, and it's $140 for 150GB, or $90 for 1000GB, your choice I never recommend RAID for home users unless it's going to be RAID1 (which loses you space and provides no speed advantage, it's just for redundancy) The sound card you've chosen is fine, just remember that Creative's drivers can be quite difficult to keep working. The RAM is expensive because it's high quality, high performance and allows overclocking without restriction. If you go 8GB, that too will significantly harm your overclocking. I tend to recommend Ultimate for people who never want to find "you need Ultimate for this feature" but Home Premium is fine for most users. Just remember to make use of your Windows 7 upgrade voucher ASAP, as Vista typically uses 50-60% more memory than Windows 7 for the same task (so what needs 4GB of RAM with win7 needs 6-7GB for Vista)
I like this case, but wouldn't the door mess up air flow for the fan in the front? I guess there must be some room around it, and it has good reviews. I'm going with the quad core (Q9550) and memory that sammorris suggested. I'll probably start ordering some of it this week. Do you usually find the best deals on newegg.com? I only looked a couple components up on tigerdirect.com and they were more expensive. Is there anywhere else worth looking?
Quite possibly, and since it's a thermaltake the fan at the front won't be very good. I would advise you to stick with a case from coolermaster, NZXT, Antec or Silverstone.
Don't you overclock the FSB and make it higher though to speed up this stuff?(as you said it will be unstable at lower FSB so I said in overclocking it will be higher) Thanks.
No, what I mean is the highest FSB you can reach before it becomes unstable is lower than if you were using 2 sticks - say for instance with 2 sticks any FSB above, for example, 500 might be unstable, whereas with 4 anything over 450 might be unstable.
