This gaming rig ok?

[RacerX]

Hi,

Can anyone tell me if this build makes sense? I'll be using this for gaming and HL2 mapping. I was wondering if you see any bottlenecks, or ways to save any money, or replacement parts that would increase performance while keeping the price the same or less (while maintaining good quality).

RAIDMAX ATX-208 Beige Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $20.75

Antec TRUE430 ATX 430W Power Supply - Retail $79.00

GIGABYTE GA-K8N Ultra-9 Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $129.00

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 939 Processor - Retail $324.95

eVGA 6800 GT 256MB DDR3/PCI-E/TV-Out/Dual-DVI (Retail Box) $320.00

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM System Memory - Retail $87.85

Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 120GB 3.5" IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM $79.00

SONY Black IDE DVD Burner Model DWQ28A - OEM $46.99

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Upgrade with Service Pack 2 $94.99

Total w/o shipping $1,181.54 US

Thanks for looking it over

 

[ThE_MarD]

Heyyo,

Definately a good gaming system. the windows xp home edition ain't as fancy as pro, but it'll still be good man. intergrated sp2 means you shouldn't have any probs with it either.

Man, I gotta stop checking these threads with people getting new gaming systems, it makes me jealous.. me and my budget gaming comp from a year ago.

 

[003]

Why such a cheap case? Here is a much better case by the very best brand:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811112212 I think 430W might not be enough power. I would get at least a 520W, by a good brand, like this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817163107
Also, the DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D is a better motherboard. Wow, I would normally say get a LEadtek 6800GT, but you found that one for a really really good price. For the memory, you might want to consider this instead:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227211
For the optical drive you could do a lot better:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827129161
Ah, I just noticed you are looking at an IDE hard drive, a nono for gaming. Here is what you want:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148066
You might also want to get XP Pro instead.

 

[majistic]

Looks pretty good.

 

[Calzinger]

003 hit the spot.

Lian Li cases are very well known for style and reliability. My cousin got that V1000 in black, all aluminum. If you have some extra money, look into it. Silverstone cases are also very good if you want to spend extra money. Also look into the Temjin 6 I got. It's all aluminum with a wind tunnel to separate air cooling sections.

As for a PSU, get the OCZ 520w Powerstream. Silverstone PSUs are also known to be very good, but I think the Powerstream is more popular. Popularity obviously shouldn't be the basis for your decision.

Other than that, I'd go with everything else 003 posted.

 

[j4ckaL]

Why are IDE hard drives no good for gaming?

 

[Elbatrop1]

It seems that you have done a little research and searching before you posted. Good for you!

It looks like a pretty nice system all together, but I have a couple of suggestions:

1)In contrary to what has been said in previous posts, that case will be fine and supply enough cooling. I would fill both 80mm holes with fans to keep things nice and cool.

2)430W is going to be more than enough. 500W+ is really only necessary for SLI rigs.

3)As for a DFI mobo, both are Gigabyte $129. If you are overclocking, then DFI is definitely better. Overclocking aside, it really comes down to personal experience and opinions.

4)Value/Budget RAM is perfectly fine and performs no better than expensive fancy RAM unless overclocking is involved. If you arent overclocking then get valueram.

5)A SATA hard drive will perform marginally better than an IDE. Key word there is marginally. I personally would get a SATA, just because it is getting so close in price to IDE anyways.

6)I havent had much experience with Sony DVD burners, so I cant tell you if it is bad or good. I can tell you that LG DVD burners have worked great for me. The latest one out now is the LG GSA-4163B.

All together, your system is really nice, though. If you built it the way it is now, you definitely wouldnt be disappointed. There was just a couple 'tweaks' that could have been done.

 

[RacerX]

Why such a cheap case? Here is a much better case by the very best brand:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811112212 I think 430W might not be enough power. I would get at least a 520W, by a good brand, like this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817163107
Also, the DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D is a better motherboard. Wow, I would normally say get a LEadtek 6800GT, but you found that one for a really really good price. For the memory, you might want to consider this instead:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227211
For the optical drive you could do a lot better:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827129161
Ah, I just noticed you are looking at an IDE hard drive, a nono for gaming. Here is what you want:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148066
You might also want to get XP Pro instead.

1. The cheep case is to save money... no one will see it, and it seemed to get great revues.

2. I thought Antec made good PSU's and I won't be overclocking. Do I really need a more expensive one?

3. Why is the DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D a better mobo? I've been hearing that Gigabyte and Asus make good mobos... no?

4. How much of a difference will that memory make? I'm on a budget.

5. Why XP Pro?

6. Thanks

 

[Elbatrop1]

Why are IDE hard drives no good for gaming?

They are still fine for gaming. SATA, as I said in my previous post, will perform marginally better. I still recommend getting a SATA drive over an IDE.

 

[Calzinger]

1. The cheep case is to save money... no one will see it, and it seemed to get great revues.

2. I thought Antec made good PSU's and I won't be overclocking. Do I really need a more expensive one?

3. Why is the DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D a better mobo? I've been hearing that Gigabyte and Asus make good mobos... no?

4. How much of a difference will that memory make? I'm on a budget.

5. Why XP Pro?

6. Thanks

1. Yep, agreed there. As long as your not using a case PSU, which you aren't, then the case doesn't really matter. Some people just like good cases since it will last throughout numerous upgrades.
2. It's not your brand, it's the power.
3. No.
4. Like Elbatrop said, value ram is fine.
5. XP Home is fine. The only differences between XP Pro & Home come down to networking. You aren't benefitting anything really by spending more for Professional.