As maybe some of you may know from the one other post I made, I'm on a crusade to build a system that'll be able to play Oblivion with the works. So my question of the hour is: How will the following fare against this monster?

The Case:

-Rosewill Black and Silver Mid-Tower Case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811147031)

The Mobo:
-ASUS P5LD2 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 945P ATX Intel Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131538)

The Processor
-Intel Pentium 4 531 Prescott 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustRatingReview.asp?Item=N82E16819116230)

The RAM
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB RAM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146580) (Will Upgrade W/ Another Stick Later)

The Video Card
-eVGA 256-P2-N554-AX Geforce 7600GT (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130017)

I'll probably change the mobo and cpu for something more sensible if it won't do the job. I already have a suggestion or two for something else, but for now, I'm keeping it. Any nay-sayers?

Change the Mobo to this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131031

and the Processor to this(yes i know its out of stock try to find it somewhere else:P):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003

Change the Mobo to this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131031

and the Processor to this(yes i know its out of stock try to find it somewhere else:P):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003

For the price, the Mobo and CPU just don't seem worth it, especially when I hear others' harsh criticisms. Maybe there's something else that may be a bit cost-efficient?

For the price, the Mobo and CPU just don't seem worth it, especially when I hear others' harsh criticisms. Maybe there's something else that may be a bit cost-efficient?

If cost is an issue here's a cheaper way of going to a core 2 duo

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115005
or a little faster
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115004
or faster and 4mb L2 cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003

Motherboard

Intel:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813121035

or
If you want an asus board It'll cost a little more

ASUS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131030

I also wouldn't trust the Cheap Powersupply that comes with that case.
I recomend you buy a better Case/PSU combo like these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129012
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129163
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129158

or get a seperate case and PSU like these

Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811125457
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811195023
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133174
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119094
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119068
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811125436

Powersupply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104953
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103936
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103459
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103939
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103930
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817194009
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=S36ATX
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=S47ATX
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=S61EPS

Actually, his system looks ok. If he wants to play games, it's perfect. Would you like steps on building it?

Actually, his system looks ok. If he wants to play games, it's perfect. Would you like steps on building it?

The prescott core is outdated and a substitute for a space heater (I know I have one (P4 3.4 ghz EE) unfortuinately) and it can raise the room temp by 10F when running at 100%. I would recomend a core2 duo If he wants a dual core cpu or an AMD Athlon 64 If he wants to stick with single core.

Well, ok a new processor, but dont get an AMD, it's probably incompatible.

If cost is an issue here's a cheaper way of going to a core 2 duo

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115005
or a little faster
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115004
or faster and 4mb L2 cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003

Motherboard

Intel:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813121035

or
If you want an asus board It'll cost a little more

ASUS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131030

+1

core 2 duo is a better choice.
:)

Oblivion is an extremely demanding game. It's capable of devouring whatever hardware you throw at it. Not even an X6800 with a pair of 7950GX2s can play it at native resolution on a 30" Widescreen with full eyecandy. Hopefully you're not expecting to do this for under $600?
This is a really bad time to upgrade - If you can wait 6 mos:
E6300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115005
Gigabyte 965P-DS3
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813128012
X1900XT
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814102025
G.Skill DDR2 6400 2x1G
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820231065
All of these prices should drop significantly by March 2007.
Add an AC Freezer 7 Pro HSF if you want to OC the E6300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835186134
==============

If you cant wait:

Go with the AMD X2 3800+ AM2 (OC's very well).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103735
Use an AC Freezer 64.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185125
The ASUS M2N-E GF 570 Ultra MB should work well - just choose your RAM well and be prepared to choose 1 step lower divider on it that it's rated for (you'll make it up on the OC).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131022
keep the 7600GT KO - a lot of GPU for the money.
Get the most RAM you can afford - you will want a 2x1G kit as Oblivion's performance will suffer otherwise. Might I suggest:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231055

Either way you'll want an OCers MB & HSF 'cuz you'll be wanting to push the processor hard.

The case is one place you can cut a corner as long as you're not schlepping it to the lan parties - just be sure to have plenty of airflow & a stable PSU. You can even pick up a good one for almost nothing at the local computer salvage store if you're really strapped & mod it for 120mm fans. Shoot for something like this PSU:
SILVERSTONE SST-ST50EF
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817256001


May as well take advantage of AMD's value pricing if you're putting together a value system. There are times when bucking the trend makes great sense. If you ignore the high end of both the Intel & AMD lines as being totally unaffordable, AMD gives you more power for the money. IMHO, that will only be true until Q1 2007.
Add some fans and this HDD
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822144701
that's a lot of computer for $800.
I've shared the cart on newegg. Search for "Oblivion on the cheap"

Yosef

Wow, thanks for all the support! I needed these kind of pointers, and I'm really getting an idea of what I'm going for. Thanks.

SO, by combining some very wise suggestions from above, I'd like to know how this revamped set-up would work.

Cooler Master Black Aluminum ATX Mid-Tower (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119068)
FSP Group PCI Express 400W Power Supply (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104953)
ASUS Socket AM2 ATX AMD Moterboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131022)
AMD Athlon 64 3800 Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103735)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro Cooling Fan w/ Heatsink (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185125)
G.SKILL 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 RAM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231085)
eVGA Geforce 7600GT KO 256MB PCI Express V. Card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130017)

For me, this has the perfect performance-to-price ratio, as long as it all works together.

And if it does all work together, are there any other fans or cooling devices I should throw in?

SO, by combining some very wise suggestions from above, I'd like to know how this revamped set-up would work.

Cooler Master Black Aluminum ATX Mid-Tower (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119068)
FSP Group PCI Express 400W Power Supply (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104953)
ASUS Socket AM2 ATX AMD Moterboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131022)
AMD Athlon 64 3800 Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103735)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro Cooling Fan w/ Heatsink (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185125)
G.SKILL 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 RAM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231085)
eVGA Geforce 7600GT KO 256MB PCI Express V. Card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130017)

For me, this has the perfect performance-to-price ratio, as long as it all works together.

And if it does all work together, are there any other fans or cooling devices I should throw in?

That case has all the fans you need (except for cpu) 1 80mm in front for the HDD and a 120 mm exhust fan. I like your choice of case. That case also has filters on the front pannel to reduce dust. That case has a side air duct allowing cool air to the CPU because of this I recomend a different CPU cooler so you can take advantage of that duct.

This CPU cooler should work and It's all copper so It should offer exelent cooling
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106075

this is also good but has less heat pipes
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835103157

this one should also work but it has no heatpipes so it will likely run a little hoter but it is all copper
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106073

This one cools supriseingly well considering it's low price (Keeps the Athlon 64 3200+ in my server at 32C idle and 36C under a full load) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835186126


And get some Artic Silver thermal Paste
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835100007

A very nice system indeed. Especially when taking the total price into consideration. Good job Floatcode1. :grinthumb

What about a hard drive and optical drives?

What about a hard drive and optical drives?

Not a problem-- I'm scrapping an older system, and sticking the hard drive (which has more than enough space-- 160GB) and optical drives into the new one.

I like that case & the psu should be plenty as long as you dont try for a massive OC or upgrade to a very hungry vid card. FSP makes very good PSUs.
I would put a fan in the side duct.
I hope that HDD is SATA or you only have 1 optical. Otherwise you'll want to either add a PCI IDE card @ approx $30 or a SATA HDD @ approx $80.
Should be no compatibility issues in that system.

I still like an E6300 system, but:
1) Intel has yet to solve its supply problems keeping the price artificially high.
2) None of the MBs listing under $180 have been around for > 90 days (my guideline for making sure the BIOS is stable).
3) Comparatively limited chipset support - this should change in the next month.
So, the only danger in buying now is possible buyer's remorse/system envy when the post-xmas & new years sales come around :D . I do feel confident that your choices will let you drop in whatever Conroe-killer AMD retaliates with when they go to the .65nm process.

Now go build it :grinthumb

Oblivion is an extremely demanding game. It's capable of devouring whatever hardware you throw at it. Not even an X6800 with a pair of 7950GX2s can play it at native resolution on a 30" Widescreen with full eyecandy.

But no sane person would try to play oblivion on a 30" widescreen native resoulution on full settings. A single 7900GTX could probably handle it on full settings at 12x10 as long as the processor was fast enough.

But no sane person would try to play oblivion on a 30" widescreen native resoulution on full settings. A single 7900GTX could probably handle it on full settings at 12x10 as long as the processor was fast enough.

I heartily agree. We should all bear in mind that most video card reviewers are quite mad - LOL. I was referring some to recent reviews of highest end cards where they attempted to do just that. They did not get playable frame rates on the outdoor scenes. On a more sane note, this comparison from Toms's Hardware is pretty good:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/08/25/sub_200_pci_express_graphics_card_showdown/

Choosing the "best" product is not nearly so important as choosing one that's "good enough" for you. Beyond that point, you throw more & more money at performance gains that are increasingly less relevant to your purpose.