First Biuld, what do ya think about my choices?

[Jakerz]

Hi, been looking around on this site ever sense I found it about a week ago and its been helpful in many things, I currently have an Alienware M9700 notebook and I'm looking to build a desktop with better performance in games (mainly WoW).

I want to keep this under 1k so I'm picking and choosing things that look to be the best "bang for the buck" so to speak. I can always upgrade later.

- Gigabyte 3D Mars case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811233026

- ASUS M3A78 Pro AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX MoBo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131325

- AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Brisbane 2.8GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core black edition CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103289

- ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler, to go along with the CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835185125

- OCZ GameXStream OCZ600GXSSLI 600W (is this enough)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341001

- OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227284

- ZOTAC ZT-98XES2P-FCP GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814500039

- Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136033

- LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106263

So what ya think about it so far? Am I missing anything?
I am on a budget but if there is a significant upgrade for a minimal price, I all for it.

Let me know
Jakerz

[Budding]

Originally Posted by Jakerz

- Gigabyte 3D Mars case

You can spend far less on a case. The Antec 300 is good example. But, if you're really set on the Gigabyte case, then I guess you don't have a second choice.

Originally Posted by Jakerz

- ASUS M3A78 Pro AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX MoBo

I would personally recommend an Intel setup, since they out perform AMD CPUs by quite a bit. Also, the 780G is popular for its integrated graphics, which you will not use. Therefore, you might be better off with an Intel board.

Originally Posted by Jakerz

- AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Brisbane 2.8GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core black edition CPU

That CPU is going to become your bottleneck, although it will be fine for running WoW. More intensive games, such as Call of Duty 4 or Gears of War will be bottlenecked by that CPU.

Originally Posted by Jakerz

- ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler, to go along with the CPU

You don't need this. The CPU you have listed is a retail CPU, and will therefore come with its own coolers. You could get something like this in the future if you believe the stock cooler is too loud.

Originally Posted by Jakerz

- OCZ GameXStream OCZ600GXSSLI 600W (is this enough)

Total overkill for your setup. A 400W PSU will be more than enough.

Originally Posted by Jakerz

- ZOTAC ZT-98XES2P-FCP GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102770 - A much better GPU at a cheaper price. If you are a nVidia fan, then get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127374

You can spend the money you save on a better CPU, an Intel E7200 for example.

Originally Posted by Jakerz

- Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache

Overkill in my opinion, but if you are really sensitive to game loading times, then it will have to do. Otherwise just get a 500GB - 1TB 7200rpm HD and spend the extra money on the CPU.

[Jakerz]

wow, so I was way off, lol, thanks for the info.

- ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel MoBo
http://www.newegg.com/Shopping/Shopp...82E16813131299

- Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz 3MB L2 Cache CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115052

I picked the PSU for the price, it had the best reviews and for the money and I way want to upgrade to better stuff later, like SLI or Crossfire etc... The HDD was something I was unsure about, I went with a 7200rpm unit. also the case is a pet peave of mine, lol, its the best looking case I've seen so I want it.

Also I just read an article in CPU magazine about the new ATI cards and Im gonna try one now for sure!

How does that CPU/MoBo setup sound?

Jakerz

[J.R. Nelson]

I'd look into getting this hard drive instead, personally: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136218

It's very fast for the specs and is one of the top choices around here. Plus you can almost get two for the price of that raptor.

[Jakerz]

yea JR, that looks like the best deal in the site... think I'll go with 1 at first.

[Budding]

That motherboard is rather old. I would recommend you pick up one based on the P43 chipset (for example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128347) if you can afford it.

The E7200 is a good value for money CPU. The best value for money Intel Wolfdale CPU right now would be the E8400/E8500, although those might be over your budget, and potentially turn your budget gaming setup into a relatively higher end gaming setup.

[Jakerz]

Hmm, if the board only has a PCI 2.0 X16 slot it doesn't support crossfire right? I would like to get a board that can do that, because I may want to upgrade to that later... and a p43 is newer than the p45 asus board I linked before?

Jakerz

[Budding]

For Crossfire support, you should look at a mobo based on the Intel X series chipset, such as the X38 or X48. Although you should remember that in a year or two's time, a new single GPU will most likely be able to out perform any dual GPU setup today.

The P43 and P45 chipsets differ in the PCI-E slots they have (southbridge?). A P43 chipset has one 16xPCI-E 2.0 slot, while a P45 chipset has one 16xPCI-E 2.0 slot and two 8xPCI-E 2.0 slots. However, that does not mean it will support SLi or Crossfire, it just means that you can connect more devices which use the PCI-E interface.

[the_flying_shoe]

I don't think that you necessarily need a mobo with crossfire / SLI. If your doing it to "future-proof" the build, then I actually recommend to just save your money and put it aside for a single, more powerful GPU in the future. But if you want to, you can still go ahead and get the SLI / Crossfire if you think you have use for it.

[Jakerz]

Ok that sounds fine with me, lol. I was thinking I needed it if I wanted to upgrade to a faster/multiple GPU setup later... but from what I've been reading here and what both of you suggested thats money I can for sure save. Thanks for the info agian.

So right now I've got to redo some of the stuff but I'll post the new setup info sometime tonight

Jake