~1300 Dollar Gaming Rig

[krokodile]

Hey there Tom's crew. I have been doing my homework on a new mid/high end gaming rig with room to expand in the future and I wanted to get some opinions before I buy. I am going to buy through Cyberpowerpc.com as 4 of my friends have now purchased through them and have had nothing but good things to say (and with all the little things that can go wrong, it is just not worth it to buy all the components individually and assemble myself).

The above being said, the machine I am looking at is this:

PSU: 750W Thermaltake ToughPower

CPU: Core 2 Duo 8400

Cooling: CoolerMaster Hyper TX2 -OR-
CoolerMaster Aquagate S1

Mobo: Asus P5N-E nForce 650i

RAM: 3 Gig (3x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 MHz

Video: EVGA 8800GTX 768 MB (want to add anoter one a few years down the road but not now)

HD: 160 GB (2x80GB) Sata II RAID-0

I am not an audiophile, I have 120 Gigs HD space now and that is really all I need. I keep movies, ISOs, and music on an external 500GB. I do game a good deal but I don't care about having SUPER high-res and all details on max; medium details and 1440 x 900 res is fine for me I just want to be able to stay there for a few years to come. I don't know enough about over clocking to risk it so I won't be doing that, at least not without learning a lot more about it.

I am relatively confident in this build but, as pride comes before the fall ... what do you all think? I only have a few questions about this build:

1) Are the brands I am choosing for all these parts good ones, or does that even matter?
2) I know the TX2 is a good fan (read about it on this site), should I bother with liquid cooling?
3) Should I go with PC8500 DDR2/1066 RAM even though it will run me $100-$150 more?
4) Is 750 Watts enough if I add another 768 MB 8800GTX, if I add one I don't wanna replace my PSU?
5) Is a RAID-0 array a good idea or should I just pay a few bucks more for a 10K RPM Raptor?

I checked the forums for a few things and found a few threads on power supplies. It sounds like buying from a reputable company is important and though it sounds like I will have enough power for my now and future load out, should I have some extra power just in case?

Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance for your time.

P.S. Research was done via these articles:
8800GTX PSU Question:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/249294-28-power-supply-requirements
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/244660-33-8800gtx-worth-vista-power-requirements
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/228679-33-evga-geforce-8800-power-requirements
Hyper TX2 Fan Test:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-cooler-charts-2008-part-2,1782-6.html

 

[JamesMcArthur]

Everything looks okay, just a few pointers:

Since you don't want to play at high-res, the 8800GTX is overkill. The extra RAM will only help you at higher resolutions. An 8800GTS 512 would be great for you, or if you really want the GTX "lineage" a 9800GTX would be slightly better. Both of these cards beat the 8800GTX more often than not, and basically ALWAYS beat it at the resolution you mentioned. Not to mention, both of them are cheaper =P

The other thing is, why 2x 80GB? 80GB really isn't a sweet spot for hard drives right now...

 

[leo2kp]

I agree, 2x80gb drives is a waste. For $10 more you can get a 160gb drive, $20 will quadruple your proposed capacity (and add more performance to boot).

 

[Andrius]

I think the NVIDIA 650i chipset is a bad choice for E8400. It's an outgoing chipset and motherboard model. An Asus P5K-E (P35 based) board is a much better choice IMO.

And SLI at your resolution is pointless IMO.
An 8800 GTS (G92) is all you need for the next 18 months IMO.
A 9800 GTX is basicly an overclocked 8800GTS with 9th generation support.
Pointless upgrade/rebranding.

I recommend 1 WD6400AAKS instead of 2 x 80GB (80GB is old technology).
2 would be even better but that costs $220. A Raptor is worth it IMO, but you might not feel much gain over a WD6400AAKS.

RAID 0 is overkill as well. The chance of drive failure is increased. System backups are essential.

 

[krokodile]

Hey again guys, thanks a ton for all your help. I checked out what you all said and yeah, going from 160 GB to 320 GB in that raid array cost me only 12 bucks more ... 80 GB not where to be right now it seems. Also I have been hearing more and more since I started asking around that that GTX hits the pocket book pretty hard for very few FPS more. I am of the "buy the best and cry about it once" philosphy but that much performance for hundreds of dollars more, I'll pass.

GTS vs. GTX (Thanks Tom's Hardware Charts): http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/desktop-vga-charts/overall-all-games-fps,572.html?p=1601%2C1597%2C1598%2C1599%2C1592%2C1593

I changed my mind there but decided to go with the newer core and take the 9800 GTX. The performance numbers, though higher for the 8800 GTX, were certainly not worth the, in some cases, doubled price tag. I am also still considering a Raptor drive.

Now that the system cost has come down on my proposed build, since there is not a single outstanding dollar on the old credit card, and with a couple hundred coming back to me in the mail ... I think I may splurge on this system a bit and get a higher powered gaming machine. How's this sound:

PSU: 650W Corsair (CMPSU 650 TX)

CPU: Core 2 Duo E8400

Cooling: CoolerMaster Hyper TX2

Mobo: Asus P5K-E

RAM: 3 Gig (3x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 MHz

Video: 2X 9800GTX 512 MB in SLI

HD: 150 GB Rapter (WD1500 ADFD)

I think this system will be able to hold me up for the next 4-5 years (unless an unsupported shader model comes out or something). I just have three remaining questions.

1) I host small games, just in-house LAN stuff like Supreme Commander and Sins of a Solar Empire. Would 3 GB PC 6400 @ 800 MHz or 2 GB PC8500 @ 1066 MHz be best ... or does the RAM really matter that much for hosting? (since I won't be using registered or buffered RAM)

2) Is 650 Watts enough for two 9800 GTX cards and an E8400 or will I need more?

3) I don't know the first thing about the HD numbers, is a WD1500 ADFD a solid choice or should I stick to a WD6400AAKS?

Thanks again for the help, it is very much appreciated.

 

[Andrius]

1. 3x1GB RAM won't work in dual channel, you need 2 or 4 modules for dual channel boards. I recommend you get a Corsair DHX 2x2GB DDR2 800MHz kit. 800MHz or 1066MHz RAM makes almost no difference in real world applications/games. I think the bottleneck in hosted LAN games is LAN itself, RAM performance has no real impact (unless something is terribly wrong with it). PC2-8500 (1066MHz) is only usefull for overclocking beyond 400MHz FSB (for which you should get an Intel chipset a P35/X38 based board anyway)

2. You would need a 750W Corsair for 9800GTX SLI according to NVIDIA's SLI certification. The Asus P5K-E does NOT support SLI. Only nForce (750i,780i,790i) chipsets do (the 650i you picked before is a previous generation chipset and it does likely not support E8400's 333MHz FSB natively (overclocking the board will be a must if it will work at all).

>> As said before SLI is pointless at your resolution of 1440x900. <<

3. The Raptor WD1500ADFD is a great choice for a 150GB system/applications/games drive.
The WD6400AAKS is a new edition 640GB (4 times larger) very fast 7200rpm drive. It's not faster than a Raptor but it comes quite close in certain usage scenarios.

 

[krokodile]

Almost got this thing, and thanks so much for all your help, especially you Andrius. I did some more research and ya, and SLI array will run me so much more in power, components, etc. that I think your right, it is just gunna' be a money sink with slim to no gain. I checked out even the 9800GX2 cards and the performance gains just weren't there for the price (not to mention they underclock those GPUs in a bad way to get two on the same card it seems). My final build, unless I need to change something will be thus:

PSU: 600W CoolerMaster

CPU: Core 2 Duo E8400

Cooling: CoolerMaster Hyper TX2

Mobo: MSI P35 Neo-F

RAM: 4 Gig (4x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 MHz

Video: 9800GTX 512 MB

HD: 150 GB Rapter (WD1500 ADFD)

If CoolerMaster does not make good power supplies I can opt for a 650W Corsair and unless I should stay away from an MSI Mobo I think this guy will play games with me for a few years. What do ya think?

 

[Andrius]

If you are asking would I buy a CoolerMaster PSU, the short reply is no.
CoolerMaster is not exactly famous for their PSU quality.

I own a Corsair HX 620W. It got excellent reviews all over the internet.
I would recommend you go with a Corsair PSU (VX 550W (since you don't have an overclocked quadcore this would be enough), HX 620W, TX 650W should all be excellent choices for your build). I have no experience with MSI boards but I think this specific model got several awards in reviews.
I would personally pick ASUS P5K Pro or Gigabyte GA-(E)P35-DS3/DS3R/DS3P/DS4. I picked DS3P because I need LPT+COM for my work.

I would also recommend you pick up 2 x 2GB of RAM just to leave the option of a later upgrade to 8GB in case you need it. If you need to save a few bucks swap the Raptor to the WD6400AAKS (the difference in performance will be very small).
Everything else is good. Enjoy your build!