Hey, I am building a gaming pc and I want to know what you guys think. I am new at building so I would like to know if all these pieces are compatible. This is the PC I want to build: Thermaltake ArmorPlus(Armor+) 12" Dual Cold Cathode Kit EVGA NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI 2x XFX GeForce GTX 280 in SLI CORSAIR 1000W 12V PSU Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 3.0GHz CORSAIR 4GB(2 x 2GB) DDR3 2x WD VelociRaptor 300GB 10000RPM LG Blu-ray Disc Burner Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 DVD Is there anything else I need to build this PC? I already have a tool kit and thermal paste. Thanks.
The Armor is alright if you have to have that style, but it's overpriced and not actually that well cooled. You'd be far better off with one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146047 - not as big and ungainly, but plenty of room for your components, excellent cooling without excessive noise and intelligent build design, for half the price. No to the SLI combo, even one HD4870X2 outpaces the GTX280 SLI pair in some games and doesn't require a crappy SLI motherboard. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102768 It may be a few days wait to get one, but trust me, it's worth the wait, read some reviews. PSU is fair enough, but unnecessary unless you wish to use two HD4870X2s either now or in the future - doing so is potentially worth it, but SOLELY if you use the 2560x1600 screen resolution. The cards are utter overkill for anything lower. New Motherboard in light of not going SLI: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128336 CPU is fine, HDDs are fine (but don't use RAID, they're fast enough already), other choices also fine. One thing you're missing is an aftermarket CPU cooler. I recommend: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154002
IMO swap the CPU with the Q9650 at is has a newr E0 stepping, which is better for OCability and saves you a lot of money. what res are you gaming at? if you are getting 4GB ram i presume you will use vista 64 bit. if so please ditch the creative card and get yourself an ASUS D2X get vista 64 bit, but get home premium as it will save you alot of money AND will be all you need, also to use tri SLI OR Quad crossfire, or TRI crossfire, you WILL NEED vista as XP cannot do it. if you aare RAID 0 ing the velociraptors, then get a 640GB samsung F1 drive for backing up that raid0. IMO do not go for a 790i or any other nvidia chipset mobo. if you want SLI go for a skulltrail set up, (which you can use only one socket) OR go for crossfire on the X48 chipset, and if you want DDR3 go for the foxconn blackops, OR the ASUS Rampage Extreme
