How's this for my first build?

[patau13]

This is my first post. I'm a noob about computer building, so I've read this forum a little and come up with my first pass at a build. I'd like opinions/suggestions on what to improve.

I'm building a gamer. I'm getting a 24" monitor later and want a graphics card that can play at 1900x1200 resolution. All my prices are from newegg.

I'm not planning on OC'ing at this point although, as I learn more about it I might do some medium OC'ing.


case - 60* Sunbeam Transformer Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - ugly, but comes with 3 fans
gpu - 200* GeForce GTX 260 - It seems like a lot of people make the same card. Does it matter which one I buy? Just get the cheapest?
psu - 100* corsair 650tx
cpu - 180* q6600
mobo - 100* gigabyte ep45 755i
ram - 50* ocz 4gb ddr2 1066 (or ddr2 800?) - will 1066 vs. 800 make a big difference?
hdd - 60* seagate 7200.11 250gb
dvd - 30* undecided
OS - 150* Vista ultimate 64bit
wifi - 30* ?

price range $1000 or less
time frame 1-2 weeks

 

[baron5]

only thing to change would be the cpu to a e8500 which when overclocked will give you the best performing cpu besides the i7's. unless that gtx 260 is a core 216 version (added stream processors) its not worth buying, a core 216 will cost u about 270 but for about 215 you can get a 4870 which is better than both. get the gskill black PI ram if its available to u aswell, ddr1066 wont make hardly any diffreence to u.

 

[Stryker_77]

unless that gtx 260 is a core 216 version (added stream processors) its not worth buying, a core 216 will cost u about 270 but for about 215 you can get a 4870 which is better than both. get the gskill black PI ram if its available to u aswell, ddr1066 wont make hardly any diffreence to u.

+1 to what baron said.
other than this i personally think that you should get vista home premium as ultimate does not have a lot of additional features to justify its high added cost.

 

[Waphlez]

Change the CPU to a nice dual core like a E8400 or E8500 because by the time it's worth having quad cores (in terms of gaming) there will be much better CPUs out.

Since your wanting to play at 1900x1200 your going to need a fast GPU. I would go with the Radeon HD 4870, great price/performance ratio. Unless your overclocking, the difference between DDR2 1066 and 800 is negligible. Good pick of a PSU, I'm using a Corsair 750TX (750 W) and it's been perfect so far. And I agree, go with 64-bit home premium, there really isn't a need to pay extra for Ultimate.

If you go with ATI this is a good LGA 775 motherboard because it supports crossfire for a good price. Even though it's only PCI-E 8x in crossfire, it's version 2.0, which has twice the bandwidth as 1.0/1.1 (correct me if I'm wrong) so it will have enough for each 4870 if you ever decide to go crossfire (which @ 1900x1200 is a viable option). I've got it and it overclocks pretty well with dual core processors. I OCed my E6600 from 2.4 to 3.4 and that is with mediocre RAM.

I would also highly recommend getting this for your CPU whether your overclocking or not:

Newegg.com - ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks

Only $18 with the sale, but even if that ends, it's totally worth the full price.

This is a great hard drive. Not only is it speedy for a 7200RPM drive, it's also very big (640GB)

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

 

[patau13]

I agree with the change in CPU. I didn't realize the E8400 and E8500 were 64-bit! But since they are there's no good reason for me to get a quad core at this point. May as well wait for a better quad core to come along.

The main thing I'm still confused about is the GPU. I don't know much about their technology. The 8470 sounds good as does the 260. I have about 200+ bucks to spend and want games to have a reasonable frame rate on a 1900x1200 monitor.

Also, I'm not sure what core 216 means relative to the 260's. I guess, either way both cards are going to be good right?

And, if I go with the 4870, how much memory do I need on the card?

 

[veg1992]

At 1920x1200 I'd recommend a 1gb HD 4870...

 

[patau13]

Thanks, Vern.


I have another question. I want to install a wifi card since my router is in the other room. I am looking around at a couple on newegg and they don't seem compatible with 64-bit Vista?

Is this a known issue with no fix? There has got to be some way around this.

 

[veg1992]

To be honest, I don't recommend Wireless, I'd get a super long cable since its just in another room...

But a lot of people diss Vista for no reason, the drivers more than likely made drivers for it to work on Vista