$950 gaming rig - can i get a compatibility assessment?

[Papa Smurf]

This is my first time building a PC. Could you guys give me some feedback on whether all of the parts will work together? I think they are all compatible, but i'm a little iffy on the mobo to cpu/GFXcard and if the power supply is right and has all the connections i'll need.

Power supply
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies

case
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

processor
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

gfx card
Newegg.com - BFG Tech BFGEGTX260896OCE GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

i think it's a compatible mobo?
Newegg.com - ASUS P5Q Turbo LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

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

Hard drive
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

nice keyboard
Newegg.com - Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard - Keyboards

the only mouse i'll use
Newegg.com - Logitech MX518 8 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Optical 1800 dpi Gaming-Grade Mouse - Mouse

optical drive - seems o.k. and cheap
Newegg.com - Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner with LightScribe LightScribe Support - CD / DVD Burners

thermal compound - everyone seems to think arctic silver is the best, right?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

actually just realized it's only $900 not $950 if i get all 3 of my rebates : )

This is my build. It's intended to be a gaming rig for the next 2-3 years for starcraft 2 and MMO's. I do not play FPS games on PC or care about 4x AA or other top settings. I do not have ridiculously large monitors either.

I went all out on the case and power supply because i hope to keep using the same ones each time i upgrade my computer. I'd like to upgrade again in 2-3 years when solid state hard drives are standard and the FSB is no longer a bottleneck with all this fun new processor/mobo architecture coming out.

Nearly everything has free shipping. i paid close attention to that. esp. for the case

I know ATI/AMD have better offerings at the moment for price/performance but i've been throughly convinced that nvidia GFX cards and drivers are just better for stable gaming. And I am a big fan of stability and compatibility. I was told that if you go with nvidia you should really go with intel because they work well together.

So yeah, my target was nvidia/intel with an eye for targeting the cheapest setup that will last me 2-3 years.

One thing i am a little worried about is that with all this new stuff coming out in the land of gfx cards and processor architecture this month the prices on some of this old stuff may drop significantly. what do you guys think? getting my computer ASAP rather than waiting till the end of september is probably worth 50-100$ to me. could the prices drop more than that?

Thanks, guys!

 

[Burn]

can't see the build, the link asks me to login. Just post links of the individual parts and we'll tell you if it'll all work or not

 

[Papa Smurf]

done : )

 

[veg1992]

This is my first time building a PC. Could you guys give me some feedback on whether all of the parts will work together? I think they are all compatible, but i'm a little iffy on the mobo to cpu/GFXcard and if the power supply is right and has all the connections i'll need.

Power supply
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies

case
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

processor
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

gfx card
Newegg.com - BFG Tech BFGEGTX260896OCE GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

i think it's a compatible mobo?
Newegg.com - ASUS P5Q Turbo LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

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

Hard drive
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

nice keyboard
Newegg.com - Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard - Keyboards

the only mouse i'll use
Newegg.com - Logitech MX518 8 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Optical 1800 dpi Gaming-Grade Mouse - Mouse

optical drive - seems o.k. and cheap
Newegg.com - Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner with LightScribe LightScribe Support - CD / DVD Burners

thermal compound - everyone seems to think arctic silver is the best, right?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

actually just realized it's only $900 not $950 if i get all 3 of my rebates : )

This is my build. It's intended to be a gaming rig for the next 2-3 years for starcraft 2 and MMO's. I do not play FPS games on PC or care about 4x AA or other top settings. I do not have ridiculously large monitors either.

I went all out on the case and power supply because i hope to keep using the same ones each time i upgrade my computer. I'd like to upgrade again in 2-3 years when solid state hard drives are standard and the FSB is no longer a bottleneck with all this fun new processor/mobo architecture coming out.

Nearly everything has free shipping. i paid close attention to that. esp. for the case

I know ATI/AMD have better offerings at the moment for price/performance but i've been throughly convinced that nvidia GFX cards and drivers are just better for stable gaming. And I am a big fan of stability and compatibility. I was told that if you go with nvidia you should really go with intel because they work well together.

So yeah, my target was nvidia/intel with an eye for targeting the cheapest setup that will last me 2-3 years.

One thing i am a little worried about is that with all this new stuff coming out in the land of gfx cards and processor architecture this month the prices on some of this old stuff may drop significantly. what do you guys think? getting my computer ASAP rather than waiting till the end of september is probably worth 50-100$ to me. could the prices drop more than that?

Thanks, guys!

Both of which are untrue

While its true AMD has had their driver issues in the past, this is not really a problem anymore. Still, if you aren't convinced about the GPU being nVidia, at least since you said you want the rig to last a few years; I would really consider going at least a Quad-core from AMD or even Intel (because the whole nVidia + Intel is also not true either).

 

[Papa Smurf]

Both of which are untrue

While its true AMD has had their driver issues in the past, this is not really a problem anymore. Still, if you aren't convinced about the GPU being nVidia, at least since you said you want the rig to last a few years; I would really consider going at least a Quad-core from AMD or even Intel (because the whole nVidia + Intel is also not true either).

awesome, thx 4 the feedback so far : )

As far as the nvidia vs ati graphics card thing, it was explained to me that nvidia does a really thorough job of getting free or discounted graphics cards and information out to game development studios, and so the vast majority of games are made on nvidia cards/drivers. This of course has the effect of making sure the game gets 90% of it's testing on nvidia cards (obviously every testing department and programming department needs at least one radeon to test on as well, but the fact that all the developers are working on nvidia day in and day out, they tend to catch more bugs and tune better for the green team) so even if ati has gotten their act together, nvidia still has the edge on game compatibility.

good to know you have more freedom choosing processors/mobos independent of your choice of GFX card now : ) i'll have to consider my processor/mobo choices again...

I went for 2 faster cores instead of 4, because games are not going to be built assuming that people have 4 cores for quite a long time. longer than 2 years for sure. There are more and more games that can take advantage of additional cores if you have them, but they will not ship a game requiring more than 2 to run at 30 fps on high settings.

One question i thought of after posting last night was to ask whether i need a mobo that can support ddr3 to work with my graphics card... the card is listed as using GDDR3. is that just on the graphics card itself? or does it want access to ddr3 ram on my mobo as well?

 

[veg1992]

Well some games already take advantage of 4 cores (Crysis, most games that use PhysX, GTA IV).

And its quite easy to clock most of the Phenom II's into the high 3.0 Ghz ranges, and same for the Core 2 Quads (well the ones that don't have lousy multipliers to start with).

You don't need a DDR3 board to run a GDDR3 card, one comes from the Memory DIMM slots the other from the PCI-e slot.. wayyy big difference. Its on the GPU itself.

 

[dirkpitt45]

I would recommend going with an AMD quad core like the 955 along with a Crossfire compatible board and a 4890 or 4870. AMD's quads are better then the q800 series (I think), although the intel i7 beats everything .

I'd recommend this:

CPU/Motherboard
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!
RAM
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Desktop Memory
GPU
Newegg.com - XFX HD-487A-ZHFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Then everything else you picked should go with it fine.

Might as well get a quad core now since newer games are going to be optimized for them soon.
Also with just the stock heatsink you don't need Arctic silver 5. Tx-2 is better since its not conductive or adhesive. It might be a good idea to get an aftermarket HSF though, core contact is only $40 and is far superior to the stock.

 

[Muffin Man]

^ you would need ddr2 ram there, so either switch the mobo or the ram

 

[dirkpitt45]

Thought I changed that already Realized after I saw the manual for the mobo sitting beside me with DDR2 right on it. Stupid internet is so slow sometimes, I'll try again. Thanks for the catch though.

Edit: All fixed now .