Ordering Parts for My First Build

[NewGuyinTown]

Hey guys,

My desktop is now 7 years old (since 2003 and no upgrades except for the HDD), and I think it is about time that I get a new one (especially now I have an income at least working as an overworked graduate research assistant). I am planning to assemble my first computer, and I am willing to spend no more than $1000.

I am looking to assemble a high performance computer but also economical if possible.

I will mostly use this computer to play the following games at maximum performance: Starcraft II, Continent of the Ninth, Blade and Soul, Maginobi Heroes, other Blizzard/NCSoft/Nexon/SquareSoft/SquareEnix games

And I will occasionally run computational simulations on this desktop.

Here are the parts I am going to order:
Computer Case: Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 3.0GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-X48-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard
Memory: OCZ Gold 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Quad kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2G8008GQ
Video Card: SPARKLE SFPX94GT1024U2 GeForce 9400 GT 1GB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
Power Supply: Diablotek DA Series PSDA400 400W ATX12V Power Supply
Fan/Heat Sink: XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
Hard Drive: I will just use my old hard drive from my old PC

Total for all of the components listed above: $809.88 without shipping

I am not sure if the power supply will come with the motherboard or the case normally, but I listed here in case there isn't any. I am not sure if the Fan/Heat Sink is needed.

I want to know if these components are compatible with one another and with my requirements and needs. If there are suggestions for a better substitute, please let me know, I want to hear them.

So far I am looking at Newegg at ordering computer parts, but, if a part or substitute is listed at a cheaper price somewhere else, please post a link and let me know.

Any advices and inputs are greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading. I thank you in advance for offering me your advice.

 

[CBrooks]

Here's my build suggestions:

Keep the same case you've picked out: (I have it and I love it) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066

Ati 4890, excellent graphics card for the price: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161299

650 Watt Corsair power supply: (Excellent power supplies that won't crap out on you like a diablotek would) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

4gb corsair ddr3 ram: (8gb is overkill in my opinion) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260

Asrock i7 motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157163

Core i7 920: (I dont think you need a after market cooler unless you plan on overclocking?) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

Total: $881.90

You'd have yourself one badarse machine right there.

What's the specs on the hard drive that you don't want to upgrade and how long have you had it? You don't want the hard drive being the one that holds your system back.

 

[NewGuyinTown]

Thanks for your reply.

My old hard drive is 250 GB with 7200 rpm, and it is about 4-5 years old. I don't know the other specifications of the hard drive from the top of my head. I will check on it later if this is not enough to determine if this is going to be a bottleneck to the performance of the computer.

I will not be overclocking my computer (not within two years at least -- the time frame which I expect the system to run everything smoothly).

 

[CBrooks]

Hard drives tend to get slower over time and I bet if you bought a new 7200 rpm 250gb and compared the speeds of both in a new build you'd see a difference. That's my experience with hard drives anyhow.

 

[berry120]

Hard drives don't get too much slower over time - possibly a bit since they're mechanical and therefore can wear out and develop bad blocks and suchlike, but most of the speed increase you'll see when buying a new drive will be because it's genuinally faster than the original. The spin speed really doesn't mean much, it's things like seek times that you should be looking at rather than these.

I do agree with the point though - do you really want to trust a nice new build to an old hard drive? They're not expensive these days and I'd personally prefer to spend a bit more and get a nice, new, big hard drive rather than reuse parts that are older and may well slow the system down.

 

[NewGuyinTown]

I guess I overlooked the hard drive because its primary function is to store data and never thought much about the access of the hard drive because it is order of magnitude slower than physical memory/cache and I expect things to be pre-fetched to avoid these accesses.

Is there any other specifications I should be looking at for hard drives?

What are the typical cache size and seek time these days? What works well with a gaming desktop?

Would any hard drive do? Should I look into the SSHDD or is it an overkill?