Hi there,
First post and I'm heading into my first complete ground up gaming PC build (purely for gaming, have a laptop for school) and I'd like some input into what I have selected as my PC. Just a few things about my style and what I'm needing this PC for. I play FPS (Team Fortress 2, Unreal 3, CoD4 etc) mostly, second is MMO (City of Villains, WaR [when it comes out]) and then I play a bit of soloing in RTS type games. I do a bit of playing around with RPG types once in a while too. I do a lot of music compilation and making CDs for friends and parties; ie. make a quick playlist, burn fast, get in car, and go to the party type. I have a Xerox 900P 18in monitor that im not changing (best lookin monitor that I have ever owned, it was also made by Xerox...so cool
) A friend of mine, whos helped me a lot along the way into the PC gaming world, is a PC overtopper - meaning 6x Raptor X's into a RAID 1+0, water cooling etc. Oh, and also, im an ASUS fanatic, haven't had a single problem with any of the ASUS products I've used so far. Im just wanting to be able to play the top games at lan parties nothing else. Anyhoo, onto my new build. Most of this is done off of Newegg; whether I buy it from them or not is depending on the price. Speaking of price, my limit is roughly $1500. Going for max air flow keeping it cooled without needing water-cooling tech. And I dont OC unless I buy it factory OC'd (not a computer guru like some)
Case - Xcilo Windtunnel
MB - ASUS P5N-D
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz
RAM - OCZ SLI-Ready Edition Only 1....for now
GPU - ASUS GeForce GTX 260 Again, only 1....for now
PSU - Antec EA650 650W - after reading a bit of the forum before I posted this, I'm beginning to think that I might have to up the PSU. Help?
Internal HD (opt 1) - WD Caviar SE 160GB SATA 3.0
Internal HD (opt 2) - WD Raptor 74GB SATA 1.5 Both options of HDs have two set up in RAID 0.
SoundCard - ASUS Xonar D1 7.1
CD/DVD Drive - LG Black 20X DVD+R
OS - Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Premium-OEM - As much as I hate it, I must switch eventually because of Vista only games.
Speakers - Logitech G51
Extras
External HD – WD My Passport 250GB For media and movies and backup since RAID 0 doesn't have the greatest security.
With using opt 1 for the HD choice it will be around $1400 priced from newegg.com.
I do have a few questions though.
1. Since I'm just getting into the reports of DDR3 vs DDR2 and that, since my motherboard is DDR2 supported and my GPU is DDR3, will there be a conflict or will it not work or is it nothing to worry about?
2. Is it worth SLI'ing the GeForce 260 now or should I be ok until my wallet can recover from the stroke it had from dropping $1400 on it?
3. For a pure gaming PC is duo or quad the better option, my PC friends all suggested that duo will do just fine for gaming?
Any suggestions on optimizing performace, lowering the cost a bit without takin a HUGE drop etc. Thanks.
-Tony
PS sorry for the long read and OCD version of the list.
First post and I'm heading into my first complete ground up gaming PC build (purely for gaming, have a laptop for school) and I'd like some input into what I have selected as my PC. Just a few things about my style and what I'm needing this PC for. I play FPS (Team Fortress 2, Unreal 3, CoD4 etc) mostly, second is MMO (City of Villains, WaR [when it comes out]) and then I play a bit of soloing in RTS type games. I do a bit of playing around with RPG types once in a while too. I do a lot of music compilation and making CDs for friends and parties; ie. make a quick playlist, burn fast, get in car, and go to the party type. I have a Xerox 900P 18in monitor that im not changing (best lookin monitor that I have ever owned, it was also made by Xerox...so cool
) A friend of mine, whos helped me a lot along the way into the PC gaming world, is a PC overtopper - meaning 6x Raptor X's into a RAID 1+0, water cooling etc. Oh, and also, im an ASUS fanatic, haven't had a single problem with any of the ASUS products I've used so far. Im just wanting to be able to play the top games at lan parties nothing else. Anyhoo, onto my new build. Most of this is done off of Newegg; whether I buy it from them or not is depending on the price. Speaking of price, my limit is roughly $1500. Going for max air flow keeping it cooled without needing water-cooling tech. And I dont OC unless I buy it factory OC'd (not a computer guru like some)Case - Xcilo Windtunnel
MB - ASUS P5N-D
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz
RAM - OCZ SLI-Ready Edition Only 1....for now
GPU - ASUS GeForce GTX 260 Again, only 1....for now
PSU - Antec EA650 650W - after reading a bit of the forum before I posted this, I'm beginning to think that I might have to up the PSU. Help?
Internal HD (opt 1) - WD Caviar SE 160GB SATA 3.0
Internal HD (opt 2) - WD Raptor 74GB SATA 1.5 Both options of HDs have two set up in RAID 0.
SoundCard - ASUS Xonar D1 7.1
CD/DVD Drive - LG Black 20X DVD+R
OS - Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Premium-OEM - As much as I hate it, I must switch eventually because of Vista only games.
Speakers - Logitech G51
Extras
External HD – WD My Passport 250GB For media and movies and backup since RAID 0 doesn't have the greatest security.
With using opt 1 for the HD choice it will be around $1400 priced from newegg.com.
I do have a few questions though.
1. Since I'm just getting into the reports of DDR3 vs DDR2 and that, since my motherboard is DDR2 supported and my GPU is DDR3, will there be a conflict or will it not work or is it nothing to worry about?
2. Is it worth SLI'ing the GeForce 260 now or should I be ok until my wallet can recover from the stroke it had from dropping $1400 on it?
3. For a pure gaming PC is duo or quad the better option, my PC friends all suggested that duo will do just fine for gaming?
Any suggestions on optimizing performace, lowering the cost a bit without takin a HUGE drop etc. Thanks.
-Tony
PS sorry for the long read and OCD version of the list.
