Trying to build a system for under 1000

[gOdZilla33]

Hey everyone, I'm new here and I've been doing some research on building a mid to hi end gaming pc. My current system is not the best at all for gaming. Its a Dell with a p4 2.8 GHz, 512 RAM, and a GeForce 5200. And i was sick of running cs source at the lowest settings, so now I have finally decided to upgrade to a good system.

Here is what I was thinking of. I know that I dont know as much about computers as half the people here, so please tell me which components I should cut from the list or what else I should get, etc.

Power Supply+Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144089

Mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131011

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103749

Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145573

Graphics
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133186

Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0150014+50001306+103530105&name=250GB+-+320GB

Optical Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106059

My main gaming objectives are 1) run cs source at max settings, and 2) run oblivion and that caliber of grapchics at mid settings.

And as for the OS, should I wait for directX 10 cards and just get vista instead of XP? I'm using XP on my current pc and I'm totally satisfied with it, so I dont know why I would want the first edition of vista thats out now.

Thank you all for your time and help

 

[nickc]

And as for the OS, should I wait for directX 10 cards and just get vista instead of XP? I'm using XP on my current pc and I'm totally satisfied with it, so I dont know why I would want the first edition of vista thats out now.

Thank you all for your time and help

as for the OS my thoughts are stay with XP for another year and u will be happier with what u have, at this time there is too much that does not work with Vista for it to be a bargain at this point.

 

[halo71]

nickc....I am not trying to be a smarta$$ or anything. But just what is "too much that does not work with Vista"? I never see anyone say what they are referring to when saying this. Have you got specific applications that are not compatible or driver issues? Just curious is all.

 

[beef_jerky4104]

Good choice of parts. For the CPU try looking into the 65nm Brisbane X2's. They are more future proof. As for the video card get the eVGA e-GeForce 7900 GS KO. Its basically the same card but its by eVGA the #1 nVIDIA card in the USA. And the motherboard... Its an ASUS, good company, however very overhyped and expensive. Look into similar models by Gigabyte or even Biostar. Don't get me wrong ASUS is awesome, but you can save some money by going with another brand.

Just my two cents.

 

[Grafficks]

You have selected one stick of Corsair memory. A good brand, but you should be getting a dual-channel kit.

This means running two identical sticks and improving speed rather than running one stick. Dual-Channel is the equivalent of having a two-lane freeway as opposed to a single-lane road (it's faster).

This:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145539

...would be the exact same of what you have selected - except it is a dual channel kit. However, due to recent price drops in memory, 2GB would give you better performance without costing too much:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145015


Secondly, you should select another power supply. Your case is great, but you should consider purchasing another PSU. Aspire/Apevia is a brand that makes bad power supplies (just Google "bad psu brands" or equivalent search terms). Power supply brands you can usually count on include Antec, Enermax, Thermaltake, or FSP (for more good brands, just Google "good psu brands" ).


Good luck with your build.

 

[gOdZilla33]

Wow, thank you all for the fast replies

Thanks for the all suggestions, I'll definetely look into all of these.

 

[captaincranky]

Possibly This.......

You should upgrade that DVD-ROM drive! The Liteon DVD dual layer burner is only about $10.00 dollars more.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106046

That's the SATA model! The ATAPI drives are listed as out of stock, (at the moment).

 

[gOdZilla33]

Ok, well I have done some tweaking with the parts but ideally I'd like to have the total be under 900.

So far I have decided to go with the 2x1gb corosair memory.

As for the psu, will this be good enough? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817103937

And if im gonna pay 150 for a case that comes with a psu that I'm just gonna replace, I want to get a cheaper case that doesn't come with a psu. Any suggestions?

I would really like to keep this under 900, any other suggestions?

 

[Goran_Torpare]

Wow! That was cheap stuffs! Try buy that in a swedish computer company and u end up spending 2000 $ for sure.

 

[captaincranky]

Antec......?

I have 2 Antec PSUs.

1. 350 Watt Smartpower 2.0; In use for about 1 1/2 years. Has a high pitched electronic whine. I shut the surge supressor off the other night, the system wouldn't restart until I held the power switch down for about 20 seconds.

This supply should be sufficient for this system , (on board graphics).

People are complaining about this whine at Newegg as well. "The trademarked electronic whine is annoying".

2. 400 Watt Smartpower 2.0; Almost brand new ( came with a 3800SLK "B Stock" case. The +1.5 volt rail is measuring at 1.264 Volts. This is a 20% error.

I'm convinced that Antec may have better brand recognition than product. A triumph of propaganda?

Everybody has a different opinion about the validity of the customer reviews at Newegg but, the "5 Egg" reviews of these "Smartpower" units is only running about 50%. The 450 Watter is only about 17% 5s and 48% 1s. This is a very low percentage, not in keeping with the best products.

I don't have a recommendation in lieu of this, (at least not based on personal experience), so you might want to hang out here and wait for some other suggestions. There are some repair techs on the site, they would know best.

 

[Grafficks]

I too have heard of Antec's SmartPower series being utter crap.

In fact, I was shopping for a PSU six months ago. I considered the Antec SmartPower 500Watt model, because of Antec's reputable reliability.

However, as I Googled feedback for this product (like I always do before I buy something), most of the recent reviews are negative. When I went on Newegg to see their customer reviews, many of them report their SmartPower has a "whining" noise, and then a dead unit in under six months.

I looked into this issue a lot back then. And (if my Google sources were credible) it turns out this huge batch of crappy SmartPower units are due to Antec's contract expiring with their usual capacitor provider, thus forcing Antec to use bad caps, ones that "whine" and die after 6 months.


Though there were a lucky few Newegg reviews reporting a SmartPower unit running well over a year, I realized I simply cannot be bothered to get another PSU if it dies, so I did not get the SmartPower 500W.
Whew....so that's my story.

Don't worry though, there are plenty of other choices available.

 

[nickc]

nickc....I am not trying to be a smarta$$ or anything. But just what is "too much that does not work with Vista"? I never see anyone say what they are referring to when saying this. Have you got specific applications that are not compatible or driver issues? Just curious is all.

The main program I run is Quick Books and office the office can be bought but Quick Books is not made yet that will work with YISTA. there are other problels that have yet to be solved, some of the drivers have yet to mature but all will get there within a year.