New Gaming Rig Advice

[stoops55]

hey everyone. After years of wanting to build my own pc I finally have the money to do it now. Past couple nights I've been doing as much research as possible and picking out parts. This is my first build so I just wanted to get some advice on what I'm thinking of purchasing just so I know that everything is compatible and if I should maybe up/downgrade any of the components.Heres what I'm looking at right now:

NZXT Apollo Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Case
Foxconn P45-A LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX mobo
EVGA GTX 260 896Mb 448-Bit GDDR3 PCI-E 2.0x16
OCZ Reaper HPC 8Gb(4x2Gb) SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250Gb 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz LGa 775 65W Dual-Core
Seventeam ST-750ZAF 750W ATX 12v V2.2 PSU
Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler
and I have a DVDR/RW drive from another pc I'm goin to use

This computer is gonna be used mostly for gaming and listening to some music and usual stuff like that, maybe some photoshop but nothing professional just messing around with it. I was mostly concerned about the PSU, wasn't sure if it was gonna be compatible with all my parts or even just overkill so any advice on that would be appreciated. I decided to just go with the single GTX 260 for now because I wasn't really interested in the SLI feature. Didn't really feel like spending the money on a GTX 280 or higher right now. But yeah, will this be a pretty good set-up for running games right now? Any other feedback or suggestions on the parts would be very welcome.

 

[caniba]

Yes it will run games just fine. What size monitor are you using and at what resolution? Don't get that psu, get a corsair, antec or PC power and Cooling in the 550 to 650 watt range.

 

[Why_Me]

hey everyone. After years of wanting to build my own pc I finally have the money to do it now. Past couple nights I've been doing as much research as possible and picking out parts. This is my first build so I just wanted to get some advice on what I'm thinking of purchasing just so I know that everything is compatible and if I should maybe up/downgrade any of the components.Heres what I'm looking at right now:

NZXT Apollo Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Case
Foxconn P45-A LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX mobo
EVGA GTX 260 896Mb 448-Bit GDDR3 PCI-E 2.0x16
OCZ Reaper HPC 8Gb(4x2Gb) SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250Gb 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz LGa 775 65W Dual-Core
Seventeam ST-750ZAF 750W ATX 12v V2.2 PSU
Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler
and I have a DVDR/RW drive from another pc I'm goin to use

This computer is gonna be used mostly for gaming and listening to some music and usual stuff like that, maybe some photoshop but nothing professional just messing around with it. I was mostly concerned about the PSU, wasn't sure if it was gonna be compatible with all my parts or even just overkill so any advice on that would be appreciated. I decided to just go with the single GTX 260 for now because I wasn't really interested in the SLI feature. Didn't really feel like spending the money on a GTX 280 or higher right now. But yeah, will this be a pretty good set-up for running games right now? Any other feedback or suggestions on the parts would be very welcome.

Out of curiosity what was your total price on the items you listed?

 

[stoops55]

I was probably going to be getting a 22"LCD at 1680x1050 res. So I picked the Antec EZ650 to replace the other PSU. Would that work good or should i spend a little extra to get the Corsair CMPSU-620HX?

As for the total for all the parts I listed it's coming out to be 815.92. A few parts have mail-in rebates so if you include them then it would only be 715.92.

 

[caniba]

The Corsair is definitely better but the Antec will work too.

 

[stoops55]

The Corsair is definitely better but the Antec will work too.

Alright well then I think I will go with the Corsair then because it's actually only about 20 bucks more with the rebate. Thanks a lot for the help.

 

[Why_Me]

That psu you have isn't so good. The E8500 is a rip off, the HD you have is like way slow and the mobo you chose was way over priced. If you want a rig that will give you a good over clock then take a look at this build.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146025 $69.99 ($49.99 after $20.00 Mail-In Rebate) Free Shipping*
NZXT Apollo Black SECC Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022 $79.99 Free Shipping*
OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359 $114.99 ($99.99 after $15.00 Mail-In rebate)
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
2 oz copper PCB + Easy Tune 6 for OC

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037 $164.99 Free Shipping*
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029 $39.99
XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186020 $6.99
ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231219 $41.99
G.SKILL HK 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143155 $179.99
BFG Tech BFGEGTX260MC896OCE GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail / OC Edition overclocked at 590MHz

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319 $79.99 Free Shipping*
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Total: $778.91 *(not including shipping and rebates) $35 in mail in rebates

 

[uwgibson]

Get an AMD processor... They're awesome... and get a sweet case with 10 inch fans and glowing lights, that way you can use it as a night light and cool your house at teh same time

 

[uwgibson]

so some actual advice might be to go for a better then average monitor. I bought a cheap 22inch Sceptre with the same resolution yours would have.. wish I would have gone higher end so I could actually turn 3d games way up and watch HD

 

[stoops55]

I did some more reading and understand why you say I should just go with the e8400. Someone said it can be overclocked to 4.2 on air, is that true. I'm probably not going to try and push it that much but will be interested in OC at some point. I also did have that thermal compound in my order I just didn't include it in the list. But what about the memory? What makes it better and wouldn't 1066 be better for either of those boards/processors? I've been out of the tech-market for a couple years so I'm kind of a newb now that's why I'm asking, I just want to get an understanding of why you recommended these.

I was gonna buy this Acer 22" because it seemed to get some pretty good ratings. Is it definitely worth the money to get a 24"? If so then I may just shell out the money to upgrade.

 

[Why_Me]

I did some more reading and understand why you say I should just go with the e8400. Someone said it can be overclocked to 4.2 on air, is that true. I'm probably not going to try and push it that much but will be interested in OC at some point. I also did have that thermal compound in my order I just didn't include it in the list. But what about the memory? What makes it better and wouldn't 1066 be better for either of those boards/processors? I've been out of the tech-market for a couple years so I'm kind of a newb now that's why I'm asking, I just want to get an understanding of why you recommended these.

I was gonna buy this Acer 22" because it seemed to get some pretty good ratings. Is it definitely worth the money to get a 24"? If so then I may just shell out the money to upgrade.

There's no real advantage with the 1066. That Gskill will oc about as high as you want to push that cpu. Here's a sweet OC for that E8400. Move up your fsb to (9x400) and it gives you a nice 3.6GHz @ 1600 fsb. That oc takes but a few min. to do, and that cpu won't break a sweat. Most likely you won't even have to touch your voltage, and that RAM will move up right along with it.

As far as monitors go, I can't really say. I use a 22" Acer. It works fine for me, but others may want a higher resolution.

 

[stoops55]

Oooo Alright. Awesome. Thanks for the tip man.