Building my first computer. Need Recommendations!

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pj124

Weaksauce
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Oct 14, 2006
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I'm in the process of researching parts for my first rig and need some help.

This machine is going to be built for mainly playing World of Warcraft. Basically, I want the best graphics and frame rate possible. I want this baby to be fast and smooth.

Let me know if I should change the parts and tell me where I am wrong. Let me know if these parts aren't compatible.

Here is the current parts list;
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M sharing L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor
ASUS P5WD2 Premium Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 955X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail - Is this a decent motherboard? Good for gaming?
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
- I have a 300 gig hard drive I bought last year that I plan to format and use.
- I also have a spare 75 gig laying around that I plan to use as a second hard drive.

Now, I'm not sure which video card to pick. I need some suggestions for that. My current computer has a e-GeForce 3800 GS.
As for a power supply, I assume something 600+?
 
For your power supply aim for a good quality 500w you don't need anything more than that unless your planning on having plenty of hdd's and running sli/crossfire with some high end cards. Go for a x1900xt 512mb which is prolly overkill for WoW but it will handle everything you throw at it :)
 
I don't think your motherboard choice is compatible with Conroe (Core 2 Duo) processors. Try an Asus P5B Deluxe or Intel D975XBX perhaps. As far as power supplies, I personally would go with either 500ish W Seasonic or try out the new Corsair 520W power supply.
 
MantiC said:
I don't think your motherboard choice is compatible with Conroe (Core 2 Duo) processors. Try an Asus P5B Deluxe or Intel D975XBX perhaps. As far as power supplies, I personally would go with either 500ish W Seasonic or try out the new Corsair 520W power supply.
Click to expand...

Ok, so

ASUS P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail - $230

vs.

Intel BOXD975XBXLKR Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail - $265

Now, which one!
 
Let me backtrack a bit. The motherboard choice will ultimately be yours, so the best thing to do is determine what you want out of it. What features are important to you, and which can you live without? Make your motherboard selection based on which best fulfills your wants/needs. A link you might find helpful:
renethx's list of Core 2 Motherboards at AnandTech Forums lots of reading, but very informative

Find out what you want, and do some research to find out what best fits your needs. My wants/needs may be different.
 
What's your budget? Do you plan on overclocking? If not, you don't need DDR2-800 for a C2D setup. DDR2-533 or 667 will be fine. Check out this article. Also, as MantiC stated, that board you chose is not compatible with Core2Duo. WoW isn't CPU intensive, so you really don't need an E6600. I'd go with this setup if you don't plan on ever going to a dual vidcard setup (sli/crossfire):

$180 - Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz
$145 - GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express
$175 - pqi TURBO 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-667 PQI25400-2GDB ($215 - $40MIR)
$255 - eVGA 512-P2-N573-AR Geforce 7900GTO 512MB
$50 - XCLIO GOODPOWER 500W ATX 500W
==========
$805 + tax and shipping
 
pj124 said:
Budget is about $1000.

After reading the article, I'm going to go with theIntel BOXD975XBXLKR Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail because it is for 'high end gamers'.

Don't plan on overclocking, just want a machine that is fast, and has wicked graphics.
Click to expand...
I think you need this article instead:
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2797

and since your budget is $1000...
$315 - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz
$170 - MSI 975X Platinum Socket T Intel 975X Motherboard
$175 - pqi TURBO 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-667 PQI25400-2GDB ($215 - $40MIR)
$255 - eVGA 512-P2-N573-AR Geforce 7900GTO 512MB
$50 - XCLIO GOODPOWER 500W ATX 500W
==========
$965 + tax and shipping

Hm... is that too much over? The Asus P5W DH is better than the Intel Bad Axe. Read that Conroe Buying Guide and decide for yourself.

EDIT: there, its under $1k, lol.
 
Although, it would be nice to try and stay under $1k so I could upgrade the monitor.
 
Ok, now its under 1K... so I updated that post above. Now... what monitor do you have and what monitor are you looking to get? :D more importantly, whats your budget for the monitor?

The difference between the two boards in your updated post are mainly the chipset. The 975X supports crossfire, but the 965P Express doesnt. You only need crossfire if you want to play games at 1600x1200 or higher at max settings.
 
Currently have a 19 inch Samsung. Would like to get a widescreen monitor, maybe a little bigger. Nothing to crazy but willing to spend ~450-500.
 
The Dell 2007WFP 20.1" rev2 monitors go for under $400 when they're on sale. I'd look out for one of those. The ones shipping right now are rev2, which fixes the banding issues. No oem stand can compete with Dell's, imho - but to some people, the stand isnt important.
 
$315 - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz
$170 - MSI 975X Platinum Socket T Intel 975X Motherboard
$175 - pqi TURBO 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-667 PQI25400-2GDB ($215 - $40MIR)


So far, I'm going with these parts. Now about video cards, someone told me that I should go for a X1900. The one listed above seems pretty good and it should be enough for WoW. Hopefully with the set up now, I should be able to really have great graphics and fps in WoW.
 
Good choices so far. I would recommend the Gigabyte 965 series boards highly, but the choice is yours, consider me a nagging voice only...

I would have to agree with a lot of the posters above, either a 7900-series card or a X1900 card would match well with that system. Personally, I would look at a 7900GT-based card, as that would hit the sweet spot of price/performance. In WoW, I can only assume it would be a good setup (not a player myself, so I can only speculate). ASUS, eVGA, BFG are all good brands, so probably look at the pricing of those cards if you can. I'm sure that there would be a few people who can recommend cards or pricing for them.
 
My 6800 GT in my 4 year old Gateway system died about 5 weeks ago. Since then, I've been playing WoW on mobo graphics while I build my new rig. Looks like garbage and it stuttery, but it runs.


Your new system will rock WoW hardcore. :D

Have fun with the build and good luck!
 
4keatimj said:
Good choices so far. I would recommend the Gigabyte 965 series boards highly, but the choice is yours, consider me a nagging voice only...

I would have to agree with a lot of the posters above, either a 7900-series card or a X1900 card would match well with that system. Personally, I would look at a 7900GT-based card, as that would hit the sweet spot of price/performance. In WoW, I can only assume it would be a good setup (not a player myself, so I can only speculate). ASUS, eVGA, BFG are all good brands, so probably look at the pricing of those cards if you can. I'm sure that there would be a few people who can recommend cards or pricing for them.
Click to expand...
Is there any significant difference is the Gigabyte 965 series vs the MSI board?
 
pj124 said:
Is there any significant difference is the Gigabyte 965 series vs the MSI board?
Click to expand...
I think the main features are similar (RAID, sound etc). The difference is in the chipset (975 for the MSI and 965 for the Gigabyte). With the 965 being the newer chipset, and its obvious preference to the Core 2 Duos, I would prefer the newer board. The Gigabyte 965P-series boards are extremely good, either the DS3, or, if you have a bit more money to add into your mobo, either the DS4 or the DQ6. Both are a little more in price, but offer a lot of onboard passive cooling for the components and a bit of performance 'help'. I've seen a few Core 2 Duo systems go out from us with the 965P-DS4 board, and all have been happy with its performance and stability. Couldn't recommend them higher to go with a Core 2 Duo.

The reason I suggested the Gigabyte over the MSI brand-wise, is that I've seen a number of failures on MSI mainboards in the past, and I steer well clear of them. While I don't know if that board in particular is better reliability wise, from what I have seen with the Gigabyte 965 boards they are rock solid and work from the word go.

It still comes down to your choice. I haven't worked with the MSI board you specified, so I don't know how well it performs, how stable it is etc. I know that they have had some bad ones in the past, but I have to say normally their performance boards are quite good. I still recommend the Gigabyte boards but, because I have worked with them and they work so well.

I hope I haven't confused you :p I have no idea on pricing over there in the States, I know in Australia here there would be about a $100 difference on the cost of the boards, but I think that extra investment would be worth it, for what you want to do on it.
 
The MSI 975x Platinum is a great board. I've used MSI boards in several builds over the past few years, and havent had one problem with them. The reason I like that particular board is because it has 2 EIDE controllers. If you don't need 2, then go for any of the other 975x or P965 Express boards that have all the features you're lookin for.

You can't go wrong with either chipset. Both chipsets are good for the E6600. Some people prefer the 975x chipset for the E6600 and higher CPUs, while others like the low cost of the P965 Express chipsets. The main difference is that the 975x supports crossfire. Here is a comparison between MSI and Gigabyte boards of the 975x and p965 express flavors. Make sure the board you get has all the features you need (legacy ports, raid, etc).

The x1900xt and 7900GTO are priced nicely for the performance you get out of them. Go for either one.
 
Go with the 7900GTO :D

The Chimei 221D is the same resolution as the Dell 2007WFP, 1680x1050, but is ~2" larger; this translates to a larger pixel pitch (chimei: 0.282 vs dell: 0.258)... in other words, the screen is bigger only because the pixels are bigger; bigger pixels = a more pixelated look. I'm not sure if you'll notice the difference or not. Though, the response time is supposedly 5ms on the chimei, but only 16ms on the dell. Since there's no way of knowing which method was used to measure the response time on either monitor, you can only go off performance reviews. So, google for some reviews for each of these monitors, and decide for yourself. BTW, the Dell was goin for $340 last week.
 
enginurd said:
Go with the 7900GTO :D

The Chimei 221D is the same resolution as the Dell 2007WFP, 1680x1050, but is ~2" larger; this translates to a larger pixel pitch (chimei: 0.282 vs dell: 0.258)... in other words, the screen is bigger only because the pixels are bigger; bigger pixels = a more pixelated look. I'm not sure if you'll notice the difference or not. Though, the response time is supposedly 5ms on the chimei, but only 16ms on the dell. Since there's no way of knowing which method was used to measure the response time on either monitor, you can only go off performance reviews. So, google for some reviews for each of these monitors, and decide for yourself. BTW, the Dell was goin for $340 last week.
Click to expand...

the 16ms on the dell is prolly black to white not gray to gray as it was measured on the chimei and 1680x1050 is the regular resolution for a 22" lcd anyways :)
 
 
Apevia PSU? really? did you double check that with the guys over at the PSU forum?
 
No I didn't, I'll make a post over there. Otherwise, does it look pretty good?
 
Apevia/Aspire PSUs arent that good. I'd definately go for some other brand. Since you want a nice looking one, look at the OCZ Modstreams.

As for the case, I don't care much for 80mm fans nor Raidmax. I'd go for a CoolerMaster Stacker or a Thermaltake Armor Series case over a Raidmax. Antec P1X0 models are nice, too (I have the P160W).
 
enginurd said:
Apevia/Aspire PSUs arent that good. I'd definately go for some other brand. Since you want a nice looking one, look at the OCZ Modstreams.

As for the case, I don't care much for 80mm fans nor Raidmax. I'd go for a CoolerMaster Stacker or a Thermaltake Armor Series case over a Raidmax. Antec P1X0 models are nice, too (I have the P160W).
Click to expand...

Yea, I might change the PSU and the case too. I'll checkout the coolmaster and thermaltake. But the rest of the hardware should work well together?
 
Best advice : Listen to these guys...I joined this forum orginally because I didn't know much about computers, and with the faq's/links [h]ard members gave me I was able to by and build my first computer. Read up on the faqs, learn to use search for a particular item, read up on all of it and ask questions. I'm still running the same system almost two years later minus a few upgrades...I know in a few months when I have more money I will build a new system and I'll come back here to reread some faqs and again, ask some questions. (Though search button seems to answer most of them)

Good luck.
 
 
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