Building a New Micro-ATX (Portable) Gaming Rig
Hello! I'm planning to make a new gaming rig that I can move between college, my house, and LAN's easily, as my current case is a very heavy full tower. I'm thinking of buying a Thermaltake VF1000BWS MicroATX case with an 8800GTS 640-MB, which will apparently fit in this case, and an Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe with 4GB DDR2 800 RAM. I'm adding in the 500GB Western Digital SATA HD that I already own, and I may possibly replace the 8800GTS with an 8800GT if I'm able to get my hands on it.
Here's my public wish list link: https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersio...WishListNumber=9277347&WishListTitle=MicroATX
Any comments? The airflow in the case is apparently quite decent for such a small case, and the PSU has removable, modular cables which is useful and recommended for such a build. I plan to run the newest games including Crysis, COD4, etc. and hopefully WAR when it's released next year, but highest quality isn't a necessity for me as long as it's able to run with decent framerates.
One worry and source of confusion for me is the CPU Heatsink/Fan, as I'm not sure which ones will be able to fit the case and which choice would be the best for me.
I'd like to keep the budget under ~$1400, so nothing too extreme. If anyone has any ideas on making this system more hardware upgrade-friendly in the future, please let me know Also, is it true that with 4GB of RAM and 32-bit Vista, only a portion of it will be recognized and if so, is it worth it to go 64-bit?
Any input would be appreciated. Thanks for your help
Hello! I'm planning to make a new gaming rig that I can move between college, my house, and LAN's easily, as my current case is a very heavy full tower. I'm thinking of buying a Thermaltake VF1000BWS MicroATX case with an 8800GTS 640-MB, which will apparently fit in this case, and an Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe with 4GB DDR2 800 RAM. I'm adding in the 500GB Western Digital SATA HD that I already own, and I may possibly replace the 8800GTS with an 8800GT if I'm able to get my hands on it.
Here's my public wish list link: https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersio...WishListNumber=9277347&WishListTitle=MicroATX
Any comments? The airflow in the case is apparently quite decent for such a small case, and the PSU has removable, modular cables which is useful and recommended for such a build. I plan to run the newest games including Crysis, COD4, etc. and hopefully WAR when it's released next year, but highest quality isn't a necessity for me as long as it's able to run with decent framerates.
One worry and source of confusion for me is the CPU Heatsink/Fan, as I'm not sure which ones will be able to fit the case and which choice would be the best for me.
I'd like to keep the budget under ~$1400, so nothing too extreme. If anyone has any ideas on making this system more hardware upgrade-friendly in the future, please let me know Also, is it true that with 4GB of RAM and 32-bit Vista, only a portion of it will be recognized and if so, is it worth it to go 64-bit?
Any input would be appreciated. Thanks for your help