New Mid-range Gaming Build.

aj_hacket

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Apr 17, 2009
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Firstly I would like to thank all the people that spend their time on this forums giving advice I have many friends that have really appreciated all the input in the past. Its nice to have a place were youre not asking some random retail clerk from best buy questions they dont have answers to.

I am currently looking at building a new system and would like some input/constructive criticsm on the current components I have chosen.

Mother Board
EVGA 132-YW-E180-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 790i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188031

Graphics Card
EVGA 896-P3-1260-TR GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130464

CPU
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 2.5GHz 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115207

Hard Drive
SAMSUNG HD642JJ 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (Bare Drive) - OEM
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152134

RAM
CORSAIR XMS3 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145200

ROM Drive
LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136144

Budget for components: $750-$950
 
I would not buy that motherboard, it's excellent but execessive for my needs and is not really a "Mid-Range" board. A less extreme motherboard would save TONS of money. I only use 1 video card at a time and I have never seen the speed increase of SLI to be good enough to justify the additional cost.
This board has ports for 3 video cards.
Unless you plan on doing a an SLI setup of some type I would dumb it down a notch maybe spend that extra money on the CPU. Try to get it a bit closer to 3.0 GHz

I would go with 8GB of DDR2. (That would save you a lot of money too)
Although if you DO decide to get anything over 4GB of memory you will need to run a 64-bit version of windows to take advantage of it all. Personally I would use windows 7 64-bit on that system.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359 $114.99 ($99.99 after $15.00 Mail-In Rebate) Free Shipping*
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=N82E16819115207 $179.99 Free Shipping*
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 2.5GHz 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209 $49.99 Free Shipping*
G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

 
Why that GPU. Maybe I didn't check the specs right but a better option would be to get an HD4870 or an HD4870 OCE. It costs less for more performance. Trust me... I was Nvidia's biggest fan and even I saw the light. ATI simply won that round. But if you want a killer card for roughly the same price then find yourself a GTX285. Now thats a card to be proud of. Nvidia (Thank god) have won back the title with it. But if its money you'r looking to save then get the ATI.
 

The 4870 is not superior to the GTX 260. They are on par with each other at stock, the GTX 260 can overclock much higher though and is easier on power consumption. They cost the same.