[mishimaBeef]

Please bear with me as this post is a bit lengthy. I hope I have touched on some interesting points and asked some key questions to spark discussion. I would like to thank those of you who read it ahead of time.

My plans are to get a decent budget gaming machine up and running right now and in the future make significant upgrades.

Planned upgrades:
- upgrade to a top of the line CPU (and overclock it to a respectable amount using aftermarket cooling)
- upgrade to a mid-high range video card and later get a second to run dual (CrossfireX or SLI, not sure which is better?) video cards
- upgrade the cooling systems (sooner is better to keep my components healthy?)
- ensure a strong source of good RAM (4gb to start, thinking of going to 8gb in future)

My machine will be running Win 7 Home Premium for now and will be used for high end gaming (1920x1080 for now), surfing the web, and whatever else I decide to dabble in seeing as how technology has really taken off in the last five years .

I believe that for this to work out how I want there are a few key components that I should not go cheap on for now (correct me if im wrong).

High Quality Components to Buy
- motherboard (!! this should have SLI or CrossfireX support (which is better btw?) 2x16 (beats 1x16, 1x8 right?), preferably USB 3.0 (future proofing), good RAM support, my friend said something about the northbridge being important)
- case + cooling system (extra intake fan or two for now?)
- power supply? (might as well get a strong one now since it's more efficient? also should I risk my motherboard?)

Low Quality Components to Buy
- CPU (something cheap in the $100 range, will upgrade later) - thinking athlon series Athlon II X4 620 but I have to look around more since the Athlon II X3 440 (with its higher clock speed) was suggested by some and was argued better for gaming
- Video Card (thinking asus en9800gt, will upgrade this later)


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My budget is rather low around $550-$600 (PS. I live in canada, funds are in canadian (divide by 1.03 for US) ) + cost of monitor.

Here is my build so far (please make suggestions to missing components).


Asus EN9800 GT 512 Mb - $90

HP DVD Writer - $22

Western Digital 500 Gb Hard Drive - $40

Corsair TX 750W to run the future setup? Or should I get a 450 W for now and upgrade the supply later?

Please suggest a motherboard - been looking at the ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 but my friend said that the northbridge is not so good and he said the northbridge is important because it communicates with the video card - ALSO I was slightly concerned because this card has CrossfireX support but the latest benchmarks indicate that SLI is the better choice (though my friend says the Nvidia cards have problems with heat)

Please suggest compatible RAM

Please suggest a compatible cpu (been thinking about Athlon II X4 620 2.6 GHz)

Please suggest a case that can comfortable manage my future setup (been looking at the Antec 300 ATX Mid Tower, thoughts?)

Extra intake fans?

Asus VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor - $210


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I realize I have asked a lot here and I hope that I can spark some discussion. I really appreciate any help I can get as I need to order parts as soon as possible to give them time to arrive before I leave for school. I look forward to reading your responses.