Help/Ideas on a Comp Build

[JDGreen92086]

Hey, I'm new to building PC's, and I need to ask for suggestions as to what items to use. I will be gaming nearly 100% of the time on this thing. Depending on what the final product can do, is what games I'll play. WoW for sure and many other games. I'm trying to keep anything that doesnt have to do with gaming performance cheap as possible. Example, a case. I dont care what the case looks like, it could look awful, but I need one that will get the job done. On to the setup.

This is what I've came up with so far.

Case: Rosewill TU-153 Steel ATX Mid Tower 400W

Motherboard: Asus A8NSLI Deluxe ATX AMD (I hear DFI is better and doesn't create many problems like Asus. Right? Explain please?)

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3,700 socket: 939

Memory: Corsair GB 184-Pin DDR-SDRam DDR400

Hard Drive: Seagate Garracuda 160 GB 7200 RPM ATA100

PSU: Antec Smartpower 2.0sp-400 ATX12v 400W

Optical 1: Lite-On Black IDE Combo

Optical 2: Lite-On Black IDE DvD-Rom

Video Card: GeForce 6800 GT PCI-Express 256MB DDR3

My final cost is approximately $1250. If anyone could give me advice as to what is better, cheaper, or as good/better and cheaper, then please tell me. I'm trying to limit the money I spend since in 3 months I go to college, and I'll need both money, and oh yeah, a gaming PC. Also, could anyone tell me what high end game this setup would run? Just wondering about the limits. Feels like I'm forgetting something... I'm sure someone with remind me.

Please, fill me with knowledge!

 

[Apokalipse]

I would get G.Skill or OCZ RAM instead of Corsair. they overclock much better
I would get a PSU with more wattage. 480W.

either a DFI NF-4 Ultra-D, or an MSI board (they allow high overclocks)

good choice on the GPU and CPU.
just don't get Chaintech or XFX for a video card brand

the 3700+ has a San-Diego core, exactly the same as the Venice but with more L2 cache, which will give huge overclocks.

good choice on the Seagate hard drive, Antec PSU (but needs a higher wattage)
and the case, well, whatever floats your boat

 

[contry]

what games are u gonna be playing?

 

[Elbatrop1]

I would go with a 3200 and save over $100. There wont be much of a performance drop either. Still get a 3200 with a Venice core.

If you arent going to overclock, just get value ram from Kingston or Corsair.

Like apok said, get a DFI. I used to recommend the Asus, but read some more about it and seen my friends in action, and decided that they arent really all that great.

400W should be fine for your setup.

 

[JDGreen92086]

If overclocking isnt hard for a noob I will give it a shot. Can I do it?

 

[JDGreen92086]

Okay, here is my updated PC

Mobo: Either the DFI Lanparty nf4 SLI-DR socket:939 ATX AMD, or the DFI Lanparty nf4 Ultra-D socket:939 ATX AMD.
Leaning toward Ultra-D, but not sure.

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice socket:939.
This was suggested since it is nearly as good, and cheaper, than the 3700. "There will only be a little performance drop." Advice?

Memory: Corsiar XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX1024-3200C2PT.
Okay, I'm wondering, is unbuffered or whatever important? Also, DDR2? The video card is DDR3, and this is DDR. Whats the jig?

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 160 GB 7200 RPM ATA100
Would buying 2 Barracuda 80 GB's be cheaper than the stand alone 160 GB? Any advantages/disadvantages to this? How much TOTAL GB's would you recommend for this PC. To help fuel your answers, I usually have like, Photoshop cs, I will have some of the newer games, and I will have around 800-1000 songs on my pc, with the downloading software; Limewire and such.

Video Card: GeForce 6800 GT PCI-Express 256MB DDR3
This still good to go? Anything cheaper that will look nearly identical and still run as good? Okay, this is DDR3, but the memory is DDR?

PSU & Case: I need a good hookup here. I don't care what kind of PSU as long as it doesn't take away from the performance of the mobo, cpu, video card, etc... Hook me up, maybe one that coincides with a case too?

Drives: Cheap suggestions? I don't really care about dvd burning, but I would like to burn cds, watch dvd's, and would like both opticals to play cd's and run stuff from them.

I know I sound dumb, forgive me?

 

[Elbatrop1]

If you are gonna overclock, I would change that RAM (unless it is exactly this: Corsair XMS PC3200C2 Rev4.1 2-3-3-6-1T).

I recommend OCZ PC3200 Rev.2:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146890
This stuff is unbuffered.

Dont worry about DDR2 or DDR3. DDR3 comes on your vid card, and has nothing to do with your system memory.

The vid card you chose looks good.

For the optical drive: I highly recommend the LG-4163B. It is cheap, reliable, fast, and burns CDs and DVDs. Being able to burn DVDs comes in handy when you want to back up lots of files.

 

[JDGreen92086]

The exact RAM I'm talking about is this.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145450

 

[Elbatrop1]

I think that that RAM uses TCCD chips. Confirmation of this:
http://www.houseofhelp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35940&page=2

TCCD ICs make for good overclocking.

 

[JDGreen92086]

So my current RAM is good to go? Corsiar XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX1024-3200C2PT