[sparrownine]

total newbie to this, but trying really hard. i mostly just want to be able to run WoW at very high settings with decently high framerate during major activities (you know, not just running around and looking at trees, but in raids).

Thermaltake V9 Black Edition ATX Computer Gaming Chassis
LG 22X DVD Burner
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ video card
SILVERSTONE ST50F-ES 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM
MSI P43-C51 LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale

basically i was wondering if anyone could throw up a big warning flag if my psu isn't powerful enough or if some compatibility rules among the other parts are going way over my head. any suggestions whatsoever would be immensely helpful. i'm trying to keep it under $1000. got the monitor and windows 7 home premium covered.

thanks so much in advance!

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Hi sparrownine, Welcome to Geekstogo!

That would of been a very nice build about 2 years ago or so. I think you should step up into the Core "i" series of CPU's/Technology with a budget of about $1000. Newer, faster, Upgradeable, etc. Then bump the video card up a bit with ATI's new 5k series of cards that support 3 monitors and DirectX 11.

ASUS P55 Socket 1156 Mobo
Core i5 750 Processor
4GB DDR3 G.Skill Ripjaws Memory
Sapphire 1GB Radeon 5770 Supports Direct X 11 (and so does Windows 7 BTW)

The Silverstone PSU is pretty nice, but I'd step up a level and go with a 600watt 80 Plus PSU... like this... Corsair 650 Watt PSU

Keep everything else the same, total comes to $867.

What do you think of going with something like that? Open to all comments, suggestions, arguments. That's just a starting block if you want it to be.

Let me know.

EDIT: And since there is room on your budget, if you have the money, spending the extra $130 or left on a even better video card will be nice. Just a thought.

Edited by Ferrari, 11 April 2010 - 05:33 AM.

[Ferrari]

Hi sparrownine, Welcome to Geekstogo!

That would of been a very nice build about 2 years ago or so. I think you should step up into the Core "i" series of CPU's/Technology with a budget of about $1000. Newer, faster, Upgradeable, etc. Then bump the video card up a bit with ATI's new 5k series of cards that support 3 monitors and DirectX 11.

ASUS P55 Socket 1156 Mobo
Core i5 750 Processor
4GB DDR3 G.Skill Ripjaws Memory
Sapphire 1GB Radeon 5770 Supports Direct X 11 (and so does Windows 7 BTW)

The Silverstone PSU is pretty nice, but I'd step up a level and go with a 600watt 80 Plus PSU... like this... Corsair 650 Watt PSU

Keep everything else the same, total comes to $867.

What do you think of going with something like that? Open to all comments, suggestions, arguments. That's just a starting block if you want it to be.

Let me know.

EDIT: And since there is room on your budget, if you have the money, spending the extra $130 or left on a even better video card will be nice. Just a thought.

Edited by Ferrari, 11 April 2010 - 05:33 AM.

[sparrownine]

thanks so much for the fast reply! you're amazing.
indecisive little me is suddenly scared of the $1000 mark i set earlier--i meant for that price to actually include os/monitor, i just meant i had them picked out already.
but if the items you suggested are really right for me, then i'll just go the extra mile to make sure it's a good pc. my old laptop died, so initially i was all "MUST PUT THIS TOGETHER NOW," but actually making a good investment is probably a little smarter.

hypothetically, if i DID want to spend just slightly less, what component would be okay to downgrade? a cheaper case? a cheaper monitor? (Hanns·G HZ201HPB was what a friend suggested to me.)

[Ferrari]

I personally don't get tooo crazy with the monitors. I usually just buy the cheapest I can find for the size of monitors I'm looking for. So the one you linked to is fine I presume.

You could go with a cheaper case, but a lot of the times that means not quite as good of cooling, but it's something to consider. Many cheaper cases do have options for fans to be installed, you could add them later?

I wouldn't downgrade anything else. It is already a bare minimum for an i5 build. A pretty darn nice one though.

[iammykyl]

I bought and can recommend the Antec Six Hundred gaming case. A little glitchy, but you can turn of the LEDs.
Plenty of space, room for more fans, very good air flow, front filters, hot swap hard drive bay.
No FDD bay.

I did swap the switched rear fan for a variably one.

$99.00 from Newegg.

Edited by iammykyl, 11 April 2010 - 06:25 PM.