A sample (partial) build - First Time

[Crashe]

I'm looking at building my first computer. I'm trying to do a little bit of research, but I'd like to see if I'm headed in the correct direction.

I'm going for a budget of around $1000, give or take a few. I'll be using this rig for mostly gaming, a little bit of internet browsing, online gameplay, and some Photoshop/3D design. I want to be able to not worry about bringing down my graphics settings on games like Spore, Age of Empires 3, Quake 4, Oblivion, and maybe some higher end games if they work with my budget. Essentially, I'd like to turn on AA without worrying about dropping my FPS into the single digits.

I already have a 19" widescreen LCD that runs at 1440x900, which is fine for me. I wouldn't be able to get anything until after I get a job and some money saved up, but this is just an example of a setup.

I found a video card, processor, and mobo on newegg.com, and I'm wondering if these three parts would work together and what kind of performance they would bring. I read the reviews and they seemed like they'd work well for what I'm looking for.


CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5 - Retail

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail

EVGA 512-P3-N975-AR GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

EVGA Gifts - Crysis game disc only - Retail

$468.97

 

[lukas]

Replace the 9800 GT with a 4850 if you can afford it, the 9800 GT is just an 8800 GT with 3 way SLI.

 

[Luke]

you did not list the motherboard. Also i second what lukas said.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

That ram doesn't have very good timings. I would get these instead.

Newegg.com - OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

 

[Ventriac]

I think this post is pointless, hardware changes so rapidly you can't set your mind on a piece of hardware, because before you now it something better is going to come out and something cheaper might pop up. So IMO you should come back when you have the money to buy the parts.

 

[Crashe]

Sorry, I meant RAM, not mobo.

And Ventriac, I said this is just an example of something that I would get. I'm not saying that the parts I listed were definite things I would be getting later.. just an example of a setup that would work, to see if I'm getting the right idea.

 

[rkagin]

Then yes, you're getting the right idea. My method is choose the CPU you want, then find the mother board that will fit the CPU and will have PCIe 2.0 slots for a graphics card, and any other ports you may want (IEEE 1394 or many USB or whatnot). From there, most things will fit (make sure the RAM is the same type as your motherboard, i.e. DDR2 vs. DDR3). Make sure you get SATA drives, and you should be golden. That is, unless some newer technology comes out that beats SATA.