New gaming computer

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rkagin

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Instead of asking you all to build a machine for me given certain requirements, I thought I would make an attempt first and ask you all how I did. Basically, my friend wants a gaming machine that will last him a while. Games he currently plays/wants to play include WoW, Hellgate: London, Neverwinter Night 2, Oblivion, Supreme Commander, and a few others he failed to name. I figured he'd spend about $700, but my attempt at building one came to $800 or so. Anyways, he wants to spend money on the machine only once and let it hold off for a while, so something that's reasonably good now and will be reasonably good in the future. Without further ado:

Case:
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

Motherboard:
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Graphics:
Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

CPU:
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor - Processors

Memory:
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

HD:
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

CD/DVD:
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - CD / DVD Burners

PSU:
either Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply 90 - 264 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Power Supplies
or Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply 90 - 264 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Power Supplies

Which power supply is sufficient? And does this need a sound card or is the onboard sound ok? How did I do overall? As a final thought, am I best off building a nice computer for $800, $700, or could I build a respectable gaming machine for less? I want to know what's the level for the best-bang-for-the-buck.
 
With the PSU, I think you shoud go along with the 550W rather than the 450W. I have a few suggestions.

If you have the money, switch to the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 instead of the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600. It will give you a better performance, and it's worth it:
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors

Another suggestion, get the ATi HD 4850. It's better than the 8800 GT and it's only about $20-30 more:
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100242L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
 
We don't recommend Q9450's here because of their low multiplier and low FSB Hole... you need a really good board that can do 500+ FSB to clock it as well as a q6600
 
I'm not quite looking to enhance the system as much as make it reasonable for the games I mentioned above, along with similar style games. I actually want to get closer to the budget of $700 rather than $900 by adding extra stuff. Do I need to dumb down some stuff (i.e. E7200 instead of Q6600, DDR2 800 instead of 1066, 8600 instead of 8800) to get to $700, and would that severly hamper my performance (i.e. I'll get much more out of an $800 system than a $700)?
 
 
rkagin said:
... Do I need to dumb down some stuff (i.e. E7200 instead of Q6600, DDR2 800 instead of 1066, 8600 instead of 8800) to get to $700, and would that severly hamper my performance (i.e. I'll get much more out of an $800 system than a $700)?
Click to expand...

Quad was the original choice because I figured he would only want to make one purchase over the next several years, and the quad will beat the E7200 over time (although I did mention above that maybe I should downgrade). However, I can't predict whether my friend will move to games that can utilize 4 cores, so I'm not entirely sure what to do here.

I figured I would go with the 8600 or the 9600, as the performance for those games won't really be affected.

And the 500GB hard drive was picked because yesterday it had a -$15.00 instant savings on it, making it $75, rather than $90. So I've gone with Seagate instead, since 500GB will take forever to fill anyhow, let alone 640GB.
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

But depending on my friend, he may shave some dollars by putting in a 320GB or even 250GB instead.

Anyways, I've made a wishlist on newegg and made it public so you guys can check out the updates and the price. Is $750 a good price to make a nice computer?
Newegg.com - Once You Know, You Newegg
 
I'm pretty sure that Hellgate London was supposed to be able to handle Quads...

But I don't think it is... ya go with an e7200 :)
 
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