Canceled my order for a new PC and now going to attempt to build my own! HELP!!!

MSI Magus

MSI Magus

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Ok so as you guys know I had ordered a PC and was waiting on my new rig to show up. After 11 days and the order status still being listed as simply "credit card approved" I called the company to get an update.They told me that my order wouldnt even freaking ship till the 25th. I decided screw it, I am not paying over a grand for a PC thats not as powerfull and then being forced to wait almost a month to get it as well.

I am finally going to bite the bullet and build my own PC.....problem is I really am a complete newbie with this type of stuff. Iv never even replaced my own freaking ram or graphics card....well I did try once when I was like 13 and somehow managed to jack my PC up which is part of why im terrified of now building my own.

I am reading the How to build your own PC article at Toms Hardware, but ill desperately need more help then that. Even though the Toms hardware guide is helping some a lot of its still going over my head. Any other articles or book recommendations are appreciated, but advice and first hand experience is needed much much more!
 
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If you're comfortable assembling the build yourself, it would cost less but everything looks good.

4GB of RAM is enough to run any game comfortably, for the moment. You can always add more in the future.
I would suggest upgrading the power supply, maybe to 500-600 watts from an established manufacturer (Antec, Corsair, Seasonic).
You might also want to consider consolidating the two 500GB hard drives into a single 1TB drive.

Also, the $30 Windows 7 deal expires soon, within the next few days. If your wife has her student e-mail set up, you may want to order it quickly.
 
We tried last night and are waiting on the email for windows 7. People keep saying to build it....im just scared to try and fry the CPU or something. What kind of money do you think id save building it?

So you think a build like this could meet the goal of lasting 2 years without upgrades and a few after that with upgrades?
 
[quote name='headpiece747']I don't know if you would be up for it but there is a pc building thread that you could build yourself and save some money.[/QUOTE]

Iv looked over some of the info for building a PC and again really nervous to do so but might consider it based on the savings. If it took my $900 rig and dropped it to $600 or $500 or something crazy like that ya I would consider it pretty hardcore, but if we are talking just saving $100-$150 id probally just buy it from ecollege and save the risk of frying a CPU or something.
 
After looking up some parts on Newegg, I came up with this:

AMD Athlon II X4 630 2.8GHz 2MB Cache FSB 4000MHz HT - $112.99
GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P (AMD 770, PCI-E, 8-Ch Audio, LAN, 6xSATA2, 4xDDR3, 1394) - $90
GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - $192
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB - $90
Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA Model AD-7240S-0B - $27
XFX HD-485X-ZDFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB - $130
Antec Three Hundred Case - $70
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W Power Supply - $90
Logitech S-120™ 2.0 Channel Speakers - $25
Hanns·G Hi-221DPB Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor - $140

Comes out to about $970, with the monitor if you need it. Your original specs didn't include a monitor, so you can toss it out if you already have one. There were some rebates that may have dropped it down to $950, throw in a basic mouse and keyboard for maybe $30 more and you're set.

I switched out the GTS 250 for the 4850, they're pretty equal in terms of performance. The XFX 4850 has a double lifetime warranty (for you and in case you ever sell it, the second owner).
 
As long as you're moderately careful, you shouldn't have any problem with frying the CPU or damaging components.

That said, after looking over the cost of a build with comparable parts from Newegg, you'd probably end up saving $100-$200. Still, you could put that money towards games.

Also, your build doesn't specify a monitor, do you have a spare at home? If not, you'll have to factor the cost of one into your build.
 
Cyberpowerpc, have you actually bought from them before? They are a pretty good company, I've owned 2 of their pcs. I would also recommend ibuypower.com
From ibuypower

$930, I got you a bigger power supply and better mobo and a 20 inch monitor!.
Rest of the specs stayed the same

http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Configurators.aspx?mid=182

But honestly its easy to build your own pc these days, you could shave off like $200-$300 easily just by shopping around for parts newegg/tigerdirect
 
[quote name='kube00']Cyberpowerpc, have you actually bought from them before? They are a pretty good company, I've owned 2 of their pcs. I would also recommend ibuypower.com
From ibuypower

$930, I got you a bigger power supply and better mobo and a 20 inch monitor!.
Rest of the specs stayed the same

http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Configurators.aspx?mid=182

But honestly its easy to build your own pc these days, you could shave off like $200-$300 easily just by shopping around for parts newegg/tigerdirect[/QUOTE]

I will look further into it, but I bought a PC from ibuypower in the past and I had problems with it within like the first 6 months. Even though I had bought an extended warranty too it was useless because customer support never answered the phone or responded to emails. When I posted at gamefaqs too that I was thinking of buying a PC from cyberpowerpc I got a lot of responses from people saying not to that it was a horrid company....so makes me a bit nervous....does suck since as you said their price beat out ecolleges and came with a monitor and Street Fighter IV installed.
 
Build it yourself. Seriously. It's very easy these days. The hardest thing is getting the cables routed through the case in the most efficient way. Have a look at arstechnica's sample builds for an idea of what to look for. I'd post a link but I'm on my iPhone. I'll post back if I find a link for you.
 
I don't know how you feel about refurished computers but if you buy this you will not have to upgrade for awhile.
ASUS CG5290-BP007 Desktop $850

Specifications:
Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz
9GB DDR3 Memory
1TB 7200RPM Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX260 896MB
double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit (Should be eligible for Windows 7 Upgrade [asus.com])
High-definition audio (7.1-channel support)

Saw this on SD
 
I second the 4gig of ram instead of 8, you won't need that much for a long awhile. Also just go with 1 bigger Hard Drive if possible as it will put off a lot less heat. I'd also look for a deal on a Blu-Ray drive if I was building a new PC, but that's just me.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']We didnt add a operating system because we figured we could do the windows 7 for $30 student deal going and install it ourselves. [/QUOTE]

If you're a student you can get Windows 2008 R2 for free from www.dreamspark.com. Windows 2008 R2 is a superset of Windows 7 Pro. Save that $30.
 
[quote name='headpiece747']I don't know how you feel about refurished computers but if you buy this you will not have to upgrade for awhile.
ASUS CG5290-BP007 Desktop $850

Specifications:
Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz
9GB DDR3 Memory
1TB 7200RPM Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX260 896MB
double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit (Should be eligible for Windows 7 Upgrade [asus.com])
High-definition audio (7.1-channel support)

Saw this on SD[/QUOTE]

I would be totally ok with a refurbished if I could still get a warranty.....makes me nervous that I cant get any at all with that one. Ill still consider it though because thats a hell of a rig!
 
Hmmmm wife said she said saved her IT departments ass the other day and they told her if she ever needs a PC fixed its on them....makes it more tempting to grab that refurb. Anyone else have any thoughts on it?
 
Only other thing that makes me a little nervous looking at it again is that the seller is gamestop....I guess they do have good returns usually though...
 
For gaming, the Core i7 Bloomfield chips (e.g., the 9x0) is overkill. They don't get utilized that effectively. A Core 2 Quad or even a Core 2 Duo would suffice. You're better putting your money in a great graphics card. Games are rarely CPU constrained. Usually it's the GPU holding it back.

That said, I built a Core i7 920 rig myself recently and I love it. But I wanted to build a Hackintosh so my options were a little limited.
 
[quote name='torifile']For gaming, the Core i7 Bloomfield chips (e.g., the 9x0) is overkill. They don't get utilized that effectively. A Core 2 Quad or even a Core 2 Duo would suffice. You're better putting your money in a great graphics card. Games are rarely CPU constrained. Usually it's the GPU holding it back.

That said, I built a Core i7 920 rig myself recently and I love it. But I wanted to build a Hackintosh so my options were a little limited.[/QUOTE]

Yes this is true, the LGA1366 i7 CPUs are way overkill for modern gaming. But the deal above makes it a very good choice because of the price. It also comes with a mid range GTX260 which is more than enough for many modern games, especially Dragon Age and possibly Crysis in slightly lower resolution. These i7 CPUs have very long legs in the future, I'm guessing upgrading the CPU isn't even necessary in the next 3 or 4 years. Plus the i7 920 has tremendous overclocking potential IF it comes down to needing it.

In this refurb PC, the motherboard in it is a beast, the Asus Rampage II Gene. Capable of SLI or crossfire (assuming a power supply upgrade is done in the future), has all the full fledged features of a $300 ATX motherboard. If I were to build a mini-tower computer, I would get this board, no questions asked.

+1 on the refurbished Asus PC.
 
highly recommend building your own.

you're nervous about building so i'm guessing you wouldn't screw around with overclocking, in which case i suggest looking at a budget amd build which people seem to completely discount these days.

i've never bought into the quad-core "hype" and i don't suggest anyone else does until the games are there that take advantage of it. c2d's are great if you're going to overclock them, but if you're not, you can get better performance for a cheaper price going with amd. as an added bonus, amd motherboards are generally cheaper than intel boards with comparable features.

your comment about omg 100$ more on a psu! makes me worried though. a good case and psu will last far longer than any other part in your build, so it pays to get quality the first time.
 
A couple of ways to trim cost....

You don't need all those fans, even though they're cheap. It just adds noise and you don't have any serious heat producing devices. Also, the Athlon II 630 is overkill as well, you'd be more prudent to buy an Athlon II 250 for half the price. Its faster (3Ghz), and even though it has 2 cores less, it will feel faster... very few games can use even 2 cores, so buying a fancy quad core gets you nothing but idle cores sitting there doing nothing.

Also, you need a more robust power supply. Any decent 600 watter should do the trick. Finally, what the other guys said about memory is true, 8GB way too much. And you can only use 4GB if you have a 64Bit operating system anyway, otherwise you get to see 3.2GB (regardless of what the OS says, it can only address 3.2 or so)

I actually downsized from a 4 core to a 3 core for my gamer and saw ZERO difference (other than 3DMark scores, which are completely meaningless). I sold the 4 core, and bought a Phenom II 720, it was just as fast.

Save money, and you get the same performance or even better.
 
[quote name='nanohead']A couple of ways to trim cost....

You don't need all those fans, even though they're cheap. It just adds noise and you don't have any serious heat producing devices. Also, the Athlon II 630 is overkill as well, you'd be more prudent to buy an Athlon II 250 for half the price. Its faster (3Ghz), and even though it has 2 cores less, it will feel faster... very few games can use even 2 cores, so buying a fancy quad core gets you nothing but idle cores sitting there doing nothing.

Also, you need a more robust power supply. Any decent 600 watter should do the trick. Finally, what the other guys said about memory is true, 8GB way too much. And you can only use 4GB if you have a 64Bit operating system anyway, otherwise you get to see 3.2GB (regardless of what the OS says, it can only address 3.2 or so)

I actually downsized from a 4 core to a 3 core for my gamer and saw ZERO difference (other than 3DMark scores, which are completely meaningless). I sold the 4 core, and bought a Phenom II 720, it was just as fast.

Save money, and you get the same performance or even better.[/QUOTE]

Fans makes sense, but wont cutting the cores down mean that ya while it saves money now will cost me in the long run? Wont it be that while I may not use the extra cores this moment that in another year or so it will come in usefull and cost me less since I wont have to upgrade everything then?
 
Debating between 2 graphics cards both are the same price at the site im using. The first 1GB ATI Radeon HD5750 and the second 1GB Nvidia GForce GTS 250. What do you guys think?
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']Was chatting with people at the steam topic but someone politly requested I move it here(so I have!).

Basically my wife is going back to school in a week or two and is taking like 5 online courses! That means she will be hogging the PC almost constantly for homework and just for the classes themselves! Our thought was to get a laptop for the convenience and she could do her work on that and I get to keep my PC. However the other day I noticed that Dragon Age would only run on the lowest settings and the Crisis Xpack I thought of getting from Steam wouldnt run at all due to my CPU! So now we are debating getting a new gaming rig PC and then she can just take the old PC to do class stuff on.

A lot of people at gamefaqs recced ecollegepc.com and it does seem their prices are the cheapest iv found outside of cyberpowerpc(who I wont buy from due to bad reviews). My target price to spend is $800 but id spend as much as a grand if I felt I was getting a good deal. My target for the PC is to hopefully buy something with enough power to last the next 2 years without any upgrades, and last another 2 years after that with RAM/Graphic upgrades.

Here is what I currently have speced
AMD Athlon II X4 630 2.8GHz 2MB Cache FSB 4000MHz HT
AMD Heatsink and Fan Included
GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P (AMD 770, PCI-E, 8-Ch Audio, LAN, 6xSATA2, 4xDDR3, 1394)
8GB (2GBx4) OCZ PC3 12800 DDR3 1600Mhz Memory Lifetime Warranty
500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA300 (Hitachi)
500GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA300 (Hitachi)
22X LG SATA Dual Layer DVD+/-RW/CDRW w/Nero
1GB GeForce GTS 250 GDDR3 PCI-E Dual-DVI (Major Brand)
Apevia Black X-Dreamer 3 (4 5.25, 5 3.5 bays) 3 Fans, Window, Front Audio/USB/eSATA
450watt Stock Supply
Onboard LAN included
Onboard Sound included
Logitech S-120™ 2.0 Channel Speakers
Black PS2 Internet Keyboard
PS2 Black Optical Mouse with Scroll
Extra 120mm Case Fan
Extra 120mm Case Fan

Current Price for above specs is $937. We didnt add a operating system because we figured we could do the windows 7 for $30 student deal going and install it ourselves. Someone at gamefaqs said the PC looks like it will meet my criteria, but he recommended dropping down to 4GB of RAM and dropping the 2 extra fans but didnt say why.

Any help for this PC illiterate gamer is appreciated![/QUOTE]

Pm me and I'll link you to the PC i just built my buddy that blows this thing away.
 
The GTS 250 is the same card I'm running right now, and it runs most games dandily. It even runs Crysis at high and 1680 resolution between 20 and 30fps.

I've also been running Dragon Age at max specs and 2048 resolution between 30 and 50 fps.

However, I'm planning on upgrading to the Radeon 5800 series at some point (when the prices come down a bit and I get the money).

For now I've been perfectly happy with the GTS 250, though.
 
I think you should consider buying something from the ati 5-series like 5770 or 5850.
5770 is afaik about the same as a 4870 but it has dx11 support and the power consumption is greatly improved.

8gb ram is overkill imo go for 4gb now and put those $100 on the graphic card instead.

i would also recommend taking a extra look at the psu to make sure the quality is good and preferably 80+ certified. If you would want to go for crossfire/sli in the future.
 
Hmm, just a few thoughts.

As it stands, you could downgrade your CPU, knock your ram back to half your initial specs, and still have a bitching rig and have the headroom to upgrade in 2-3 years, if you want.

My only reservation is that mobo's lack of a second pci-e 2.0 x16 slot. Down the road, you might want to consider a Crossfire setup later on. That being said, the "big brother" of that board that does have a second slot starts at $140 from Newegg. It might be overkill, but if your intention is PC gaming, it's something to consider.

This is a good site to check out, especially since the lower cost CPUs are AMD heavy. Here's another article from the same site that talks about GPU options.

BTW, the ATI 5000 series is a GREAT way to future proof your machine, so I'll go for that one.
 
Meh. I went with 8GB DDR3 (4x2GB sticks) a couple months ago when building my computer, and I don't regret it. The way I see it, games are going to be more demanding on RAM sooner or later, and since we're gamers, we should be prepared. In the meantime, my computer multitasks rings around the competition.
 
[quote name='Chuplayer']Meh. I went with 8GB DDR3 (4x2GB sticks) a couple months ago when building my computer, and I don't regret it. The way I see it, games are going to be more demanding on RAM sooner or later, and since we're gamers, we should be prepared. In the meantime, my computer multitasks rings around the competition.[/QUOTE]

Thats kind of why I had initially put 8 gigs in. Figured even if it was overkill it wasn't THAT much extra and in a year or 2 when games require more RAM id have it. Still for now ill almost def be taking it out and waiting. Still debating though.

Have a build sitting at ecollege but im waiting a day or two. I recalled my little cousin is in school for computer stuff and also he had bragged about building a PC in the past so I gave him a call. He said he is pretty good at it, but that his room mate is brilliant with the stuff....kid apparently even runs a server for some game out of his basement. He said he would talk to his roomate and hopefully will be getting back to me with some kind of spec and a quote on what it would cost them to put together.

*fingers crossed*

Edit - Here is the PC I have speced incase my cousin falls through. Its similar but I altered a few things based on peoples suggestions.

AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2Ghz 6MB Cache FSB 4000MHz HT
AMD Heatsink and Fan Included
GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P (AMD 770, PCI-E, 8-Ch Audio, LAN, 6xSATA2, 4xDDR3, 1394)
4GB (2GBx2) PC3 12800 DDR3 1600Mhz Memory Lifetime Warranty
1.5TB 7200RPM 32MB Cache Serial ATA300 (Seagate)
22X LG SATA Lightscribe Dual Layer DVD±RW DVD-RAM w/Nero
22X LG SATA Dual Layer DVD+/-RW/CDRW w/Nero
1GB ATI Radeon HD5770 GDDR5 PCI-E Dual-DVI (Major Brand)
Apevia Black X-Dreamer 3 (4 5.25, 5 3.5 bays) 3 Fans, Window, Front Audio/USB/eSATA
650watt Corsair CMPSU-650TX
Onboard LAN included
Onboard Sound included
Logitech S-120™ 2.0 Channel Speakers
Black PS2 Internet Keyboard
Logitech Black USB Optical Scroll Mouse
Extra 120mm Case Fan
Three year hassle free pickup and return
 
One more quick note about RAM. I don't know what the voltage spec is for AMD CPUs, but Intel CPUs have a spec that the RAM must not exceed 1.65 Volts. Check the specs for the RAM you have picked out and see if you can dig up some info on AMD CPUs and their RAM.

I know running the RAM at too high a voltage can fry the CPU with Intel CPUs (unless you've got some major league cooling going on, I guess), but I don't know what's up with AMD's CPUs.

http://www.behardware.com/news/9946/core-i7-1-65v-max-for-ddr3.html
 
So I no matter what am going to order a PC tonight, the wife said she would toss an additional $200 out of her personal budget if I would just order the damn thing already ;)

I have everything set but the graphics cards. So what do you guys recommend for that. I was going to go with the ati radeon HD 5770 or the Nvidia Geforce GTS 250 but iv decided if I can get something with a bit more power for around $100 more ill do it. Any recommendations on graphics cards to be looking at? Again I am not willing to putt out another $200-$300 so dont suggest anything insanely pricey of the 2 mentioned, but ill spend a little extra if ill see a decent improvement!
 
Um.... Check out Newegg... they have "Bundles" with everything you need to put it together yourself.. a lot of their bundles have dual graphics cards and are less than $1000.
 
[quote name='Kenrik']http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.311768[/QUOTE]

that setup doesnt really make any sense for a gamer even if its crossfire.
almost 300 on a cpu and then go cheap on the gfx?

Yes the cpu is great but for a gamer its the graphic card that matters.
doesnt really matter core i5 or phenom2, your choice but dont take an i7 and then buy a previous generation of cards.

If you want dx11 and those goodies and can afford then there is no other option then the ati 5-series and if you now have 200 extra to spend go for a better gfx like the 5850 or 5870.
 
A friend of mine works in robotics and fixes PCs on the side for a living. He got home from a 2 week vacation so I had him help me. Hopefully he is right because I just trusted him on everything. In the end I ended up with....


Processor [=== Quad Core ===] Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9650 (4x 3.0GHz/12MB L2 Cache/1333FSB)
Processor Cooling Thermaltake MaxOrb CPU Cooling Fan System Kit - Silent & Overclocking Proof = Maximum cooling efficiency for quietness and performance
Memory 4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module - Mushkin
Video Card NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 – 1GB - Single Card
Video Card Brand Major Brand Powered by ATI or NVIDIA
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2H -- Intel G41/ICH7 Chipset w/ 7.1 Sound, HDMI, S-ATA 3Gb/s, USB 2.0, PCI-E MB
Power Supply 750 Watt -- Corsair CMPSU-750TX Power Supply - SLI Ready
Primary Hard Drive 750 GB HARD DRIVE -- 16M Cache, 7200 RPM, 3.0Gb/s - Single Drive
Data Hard Drive None
Optical Drive 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black
2nd Optical Drive 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black
Flash Media Reader/Writer 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer - Black
Meter Display None
Floppy Drive None
Sound Card Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy SE
Network Card Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
Operating System None- Pre-formatted Hard Drive Only
+ and keyboard and mouse included
 
Hope you have fun with your new build. I believe you are now obligated to create a "Recommend games for a new PC" thread.
 
wasted money on that processor in my opinion, would of been better off with a Q9505 and putting the extra money toward a better graphics card. Basically just paying for [mostly] useless L2 Cache when you'll be GPU limited anyway.
 
Ahh you bought a dead socket! Should have went with an i5 which surprisingly benchmarks higher then the q9650 and you could have upgraded easily later on with the motherboard!

And an an ATI 5770 would be a much better purchase then the GTS 250.

Sorry for raining on your parade like that.

Despite all of that.

I have a Q9550 (@ 3.4 GHZ) and a ATI 4850
and couldn't be happier.

You'll definitely be happy with your purchase and won't have any problems playing any games at a mid-high level with steady framerates!

The only part that stinks is the fact that intel made a new socket so you've maxed out that motherboard with that processor so next time you want to upgrade you're going to have to start from scratch pretty much again.

But if you're like me you'll be waiting till after the i9's come out and everything becomes cheaper anyways! And maybe SSD's, USB 3.0 and Lightpeak will become standard by that time.
 
9505 was not an option at the site where I was buying(9550 was closest numerical option)so he recommended that. And he recommended upgrading the CPU over the graphics card for 2 reasons that seemed to make sense to me.

1. I am less likely to feel the need to upgrade my processor later because of games and more likely because of graphics. He recommended buying a top end CPU now that will last me the next 3-4 years and in a year whenever the GTS250 cant hack it the price on other graphics cards will have dropped so I am not paying a premium.

2. My current PC has a GeForce 9800GT which while not the best card is still a damn good card apparently. He said if I first off skipped the ATI card which both of us were leaning towards and got the GTS I could then take my old graphics card out of my current PC, put in a junky $40ish one for my wife and then run 2 graphics cards in my new PC. So the new PC will be running a GTS 250 and a 9800 GT. If thats a dumb move its a dumb move, but my friend knows way more about PCs then I do and it sounded like a very smart move.
 
Fair enough all valid points.
But is it even possible to run two different cards in sli? If i remember right that is not possible with ATI, with hybrid crossfire as exception, maybe that has changed?
I don't feel any need for sli/crossfire at least not as this time unless you want to have full settings on @ 1920x1080 or something.

I think that it may take some time before the prices go down on the gfx-cards.
nVidias fermi seems to have trouble, TCMS or whatever their name is have trouble producing 40nm. The 5-series card is still something to consider imo they perform very well, power consumption is really good, specially idle, and tbh the price isnt to bad.

In the end its your choice but i would at least consider taking another cpu & gfx.
Like iskateguitars said the core/quad2duo 775 socket is dead.
Go for at least a i5 or phenom2 since they will live for a bit longer. And AMD has a pretty good history of making the new stuff compatible with the old which is something you might want to consider.
 
[quote name='qwerty1']wasted money on that processor in my opinion, would of been better off with a Q9505 and putting the extra money toward a better graphics card. Basically just paying for [mostly] useless L2 Cache when you'll be GPU limited anyway.[/QUOTE]
Agree. The Q9650 is a good processor but the Q9550 is a great overclocker if you need more speed (though you won't for a while). And you don't need a sound card. Onboard sound is ideal for nearly everyone.

I'm also curious about the motherboard selection. It's a micro ATX board, meaning you'll be lacking in PCI slots and it'll all be a tight fit on that board. Get a real board like this one. Yes, it's more expensive, but if you've got a full sized video card on there, you'll appreciate the space. The board you've got is more suited for an HTPC.
 
[quote name='freddy_']Fair enough all valid points.
But is it even possible to run two different cards in sli? If i remember right that is not possible with ATI, with hybrid crossfire as exception, maybe that has changed?
I don't feel any need for sli/crossfire at least not as this time unless you want to have full settings on @ 1920x1080 or something.

I think that it may take some time before the prices go down on the gfx-cards.
nVidias fermi seems to have trouble, TCMS or whatever their name is have trouble producing 40nm. The 5-series card is still something to consider imo they perform very well, power consumption is really good, specially idle, and tbh the price isnt to bad.

In the end its your choice but i would at least consider taking another cpu & gfx.
Like iskateguitars said the core/quad2duo 775 socket is dead.
Go for at least a i5 or phenom2 since they will live for a bit longer. And AMD has a pretty good history of making the new stuff compatible with the old which is something you might want to consider.[/QUOTE]
I don't think that motherboard will be able to hold 2 video cards, to be honest. It's only got 1 PCIe slot.
 
[quote name='freddy_']Fair enough all valid points.
But is it even possible to run two different cards in sli? If i remember right that is not possible with ATI, with hybrid crossfire as exception, maybe that has changed?
I don't feel any need for sli/crossfire at least not as this time unless you want to have full settings on @ 1920x1080 or something.

I think that it may take some time before the prices go down on the gfx-cards.
nVidias fermi seems to have trouble, TCMS or whatever their name is have trouble producing 40nm. The 5-series card is still something to consider imo they perform very well, power consumption is really good, specially idle, and tbh the price isnt to bad.

In the end its your choice but i would at least consider taking another cpu & gfx.
Like iskateguitars said the core/quad2duo 775 socket is dead.
Go for at least a i5 or phenom2 since they will live for a bit longer. And AMD has a pretty good history of making the new stuff compatible with the old which is something you might want to consider.[/QUOTE]

No clue on running 2 different cards, like I said he was the expert so I just took his opinion on it. If its not im not too worried because from what he and others have said this card should last me at least the next year and realistically the only PC game I know if that will be a day 1 purchase for me in the next 2 years is Diablo 3(which probaly wont be a system destroyer anyways).

On the CPU end if you dont realize its too late, that PC was bought late last night ;) so hopefully this whole dead socket issue you guys are talking about isnt a huge deal. Really as long as this new PC lasts me 2 years before major updates and after an update to RAM/GC another 2 years after that then I dont care if I end up having to make a new machine ;)
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']No clue on running 2 different cards, like I said he was the expert so I just took his opinion on it. If its not im not too worried because from what he and others have said this card should last me at least the next year and realistically the only PC game I know if that will be a day 1 purchase for me in the next 2 years is Diablo 3(which probaly wont be a system destroyer anyways).

On the CPU end if you dont realize its too late, that PC was bought late last night ;) so hopefully this whole dead socket issue you guys are talking about isnt a huge deal. Really as long as this new PC lasts me 2 years before major updates and after an update to RAM/GC another 2 years after that then I dont care if I end up having to make a new machine ;)[/QUOTE]
I doubt diablo3 will be the new crysis when it comes to comp. specs :p

The dead socket is only an issue if you want to just upgrade the cpu.
The cpu is good, no doubt about that so it will most likely do its job for the next few years as there isnt really any games that take full advantage of quadcore cpu's today.

I'm sure that the comp. will be fit for fight with a gfx upgraded when needed.

:)

[quote name='torifile']I don't think that motherboard will be able to hold 2 video cards, to be honest. It's only got 1 PCIe slot.[/QUOTE]
you are right about that, according to gigabyte site it only got 1 pci-e.
 
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