Gaming/Power System

[MonkeyBusiness]

Are the following configurations decent enough for casual gaming and normal internet use? I am not into extreme gaming or massive multimedia such as programming or CAD.

Any opinions please feel free to share.

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor

Motherboard: ASUS M2R32-MVP Socket AM2 AMD 580X CrossFire ATX AMD Motherboard

RAM: Kingston HyperX 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory

HardDisk: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Graphic Card:SAPPHIRE 100186L Radeon X1950XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 VIVO HDCP Video Card

DVD+/-CD Combo Drive: ASUS Black 18X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 18X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 14X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner with LightScribe

Power Supply: Antec True Power Trio TP3-650 ATX12V 650W Power Supply with Three 12V Rails 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, FCC, TUV, CE, C-tick, CCC, CB


Operating System: Windows XP SP2(32-bit)


Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 Audigy SE 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card

Monitor: ASUS LS201 Black 20" 5ms DVI LCD Monitor with SPLENDID Video Intelligence Technology 300 cd/m2 2000:1

Speakers: ALTEC LANSING FX5051 89 Watts 5.1 Music & Gaming Speakers

Case: Sunbeam Transformer IC-TR-B Blue Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Keyboard: Logitech Media Black 103 Normal Keys 12 Function Keys PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard

Mouse: Logitech Mini Optical 930732-0403 3 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Optical Mouse

 

[Invisible]

i would recommend this motherboard
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
with this processor
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

and 2 gb of ram will help your system lots
crucial ballistix and gskill hz are good ones

 

[b1gapl]

It looks good. Heres some suggestions:

The power supply is too much for that system. You can save yourself some money, by going with the XClio Great Power 550w. It has more than enough power for that system.

$349.99 for that ASUS monitor? And it's not even bigger than 20". If you're willing to spend that much on a monitor, then I would definitely suggest the Samsung 22" 226BW. Way better specs and a way better company.

A 2GB kit is not that much more:
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
or
From the money that you save, if you go with my suggestions, you can get:
Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

This would be a great motherboard choice, for AM2 overclocking and performance:
Newegg.com - EVGA 122-M2-NF59-TR Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

edit:
Or with what Invisible said with the Intel processor and motherboard.
The P35-DS3R and the Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 instead, to lower the cost.

...and for less than $10 more, you can get 70GB more space with this:
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

 

[maroon1]

I strongly recommend E6550

And the motherboard that Invisible suggested is expensive

This one is cheaper
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

 

[MonkeyBusiness]

The GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard doesn't seem to be cross-fire ready as it uses intel chipsets rather than amd chipsets. This in terms, may be useful when I use 2 graphics with the crossfire ready chipsets in the near future.

And so does the EVGA 122-M2-NF59-TR Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard motherboard which is also not cross-fire ready.

The Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor has exceeded my budget as well as my needs as I am not a heavy multitasking user, but rather a casual, simple user.

The Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor price range on the other hand is considerable but what holds me back is whether does the extra $11 make a big difference in terms of performance?

Shall go with this power supply as I have overestimated the power needed previously: XCLIO GREATPOWER X14S4P3 550W ATX12V 550W Power Supply 100-240V / 200-240V UL, CUL, TUV, CB, VDE, FIMKO, DEMKO, NEMKO, SEMKO

The monitor shall reconsider.

And invisible you seem to have the same graphic card that I am having. Would you mind giving some opinions on it? Is it ready for games like crysis, call of duty3?

 

[maroon1]

Why you want to use two video cards in crossfire ? Just get one good video card like 8800GTS


And if you get E6550 + the motherboard that I suggested, you would save money because the intel motherboard is much cheaper than AMD

 

[MonkeyBusiness]

And oh yeah almost forgotten that I am using Windows XP Home (32-bit version) so do I really need 2GB of ram? My previous system only has 512MB of ram along with the p4 ht 3.4ghz and it runs pretty fast and efficient.

At the most what I would do, is to get 1GB, but not 2 of G.Skill as suggested by b1gapl.

 

[maroon1]

No get 2GB because games are getting more and more demanding. If you are a gamer then you should get at least 2GB ram

 

[MonkeyBusiness]

Oh that is because if the X1950XT 256MB is crossfired, the total 512MB will win the 8800gts 320MB. Single simply gets beaten by dual. The 8800gts 320MB when SLI, however will greatly exceeded my budget.

 

[maroon1]

Video memory is noting

The performance of video card depends on the GPU, not on video memory

For, example 7900GS 256MB is much faster than 7600GS 512MB

And two video cards in crossfire (or SLI) will not give you twice the performance. It will just give you about 40%-50% increase, so that why I think it is waste of money. You pay double the price and don't get twice the performance. And two video cards in Crossfire would consume a lot power (specially if you get two X1950XT)

If I were you I would buy 8800GTS 320MB then I would upgrade later to 9800 series next year. You don't need to buy 2 video cards. Just get one strong video card.......

And this is the 8800GTS that I recommend
Newegg.com - XFX PVT80GGHF4 GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail

Single simply gets beaten by dual.

Not always true

7900GS beats 7600GS in SLI
8800GTX beats 7900GTX in SLI