good college/gaming computer

[misfitsfiend]

hey guys, this is a build for a freshman heading to UF. he is a mild gamer, (addicted to WoW) but wants to play higher-end games such as fear and battlefield 2.

his budget is about $2500, and i suggested this computer for almost $2000.


Lian Li PC-65B Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $125

Western Digital Caviar WD2500BB 250GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM $78.99

SAMSUNG 940b-Black 19" 8ms LCD Monitor - Retail $287.99

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $122.99

eVGA 256-P2-N565-AX Geforce 7900GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail $339

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS SB0350 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - OEM $75

Antec NeoPower NeoHE 550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply - Retail $118.99

Microsoft Wired ZG6-00006 Black PS/2 Standard Keyboard - Retail $13.99 (he already has a nice saitek keyboard, he's just getting this one for his mom for the computer this one is replacing)

Logitech MX518 931352-0403 2-Tone 8 Buttons 1x Wheel USB + PS/2 Optical Mouse - Retail $39.99

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM $5.99

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 433 (PC 3500) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX2048-3500LLPRO - Retail $259

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA3800BVBOX - Retail $297

ZALMAN CNPS7700-CU 120mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan with Copper Heatsink - Retail $49.99

LITE-ON Combo Drive Black IDE Model SOHC-5236V BK RTL - Retail $44.98

LITE-ON 16X DVD±R DVD Burner W/ LightScribe and 5X DVD-RAM Write Black ATAPI/E-IDE Model SHM-165H6S - OEM $65.98

total: $1,924.88

thanks for the help!

 

[darktiger]

Since you are spending the $$$, why not bump his audigy2 zs to a soundblaster X-Fi music edition. I have seen it on sale at some places for $99..... Not only it helps with better sound, it takes a lot of audio processing off of the CPU...

 

[Farva]

i know this is going to be a bit more, but why not get a raptor drive if you want something that is faster?

 

[NulloModo]

Not a bad setup, but this is what I would recommend:

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129158 (Antec TX1050B, comes with 500 watt power supply) $119

Processor: Intel Pentium4 D 930 (Presler Core) $209

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 300gig SATA-II http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148131 $99.99

Monitor: ViewSonic VX2025WM Black-Silver 20.1" 8ms Widescreen LCD Monitor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116381 $349

Mobo: Asus P5WD2-E Premium http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131589 $219

Video Card: The one you picked is nice, though I'd personally go with a X1800XT 512MB card for only a couple bucks more: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102624 $349

Sound Card: SB X-Fi Extreme Music $99

Keyboard: $14

Mouse: Wow, the one you picked looks crazy, but if he likes all the buttons and gizmos, go for it, $40

Thermal Compound: $6

Memory: Corsair XMS 2x1gb DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145590 $261

Heatsink: Scythe SCNJ-1000p 120mm HSF combo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185001 $40

Optical: 2x NEC 4570a universal DVD/CD writers, $40 each, total of $80

total price: $1884

Explanations for changes:

Case - The Antec case I picked has a very good power supply, more than enough for the system, plenty of expansion room, its solid, great airflow, a dream to work in from all the space, and you get it all for the price of the old case alone.

CPU/Mobo - The P4 930 performs neck and neck with the 3800+, and OCs much better ( am assuming some OC plans are in order due to you picking out a high end heatsink, thermal compound, and OCing RAM). Stock for stock the X2 does a little better in games, and the P4 does better in encoding/media applications, OCed both to their max, the P4 can take it all (The 930s seem to clock to 4 - 4.5 Ghz easily on good air). As for the mobo: This is one of the 975 chipset boards that has been confirmed to support Intel's next generation Conroe chip, which from early benchmarks absolutely destroys anything AMD or Intel has out on the market right now, so it makes sense to leave an open upgrade path for this chip, Socket 939 on the other hand, is dying off with the soon release of AM2 (Conroe will continue to be LGA775).

Hard drive: Go with an SATA drive, and for a little more money than what you spend on the WD, you can get a quieter, more reliable, larger, Seagate drive with a better warranty.

Monitor: 19" LCDs are bunk, you only get 1280x1024, and on a screen that large, it just looks bad. $100 more gets you a great Viewsonic 20.1" widescreen LCD with a lot more pixels for more productive work, better movie viewing, and more immersion in games.

RAM: P4s need DDR2, same brand, Corsair XMS is good stuff

HSF: The scythe unit is quieter and cools better than the Zalman you picked.

DVD: Why 2 DVD-Rs? Well, both can record CDs at 32x, these both do DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RAM, dual layer, the works, plus, with two, you can burn two discs at once (and with a dual core system with that much ram, that should be easy).

Overall this system would perform the same or better than the one you selected, plus you get a larger monitor, a larger hard drive, a better upgrade path, and do it for $40 less in the process.