I'm trying to make this as affordable as possible while powerful enough to use as a decent gaming engine. I did not include a graphics card. I have a GT220 which I intend to use for a little while longer. I'm not sure what I'll upgrade to once I get a little more cash coming in. What would you recommend? 38 - Coolmax CTI-700B Power supply 40 - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive 84 - Corsair 8 GB : 2 x 4 GB Memory - SO DIMM 204-pin - 1333 MHz ( PC3-10600 ) 95 - VisionTek Xeno Pro Gaming Network adapter 220 - Intel® Core™ i5-2500 113 - H67 LGA1155 Max-16GB Uatx PCIE16 Max-16GB 4DDR3 DIMM 49 - Aerocool Vx-9 Pro Mid-Tower ATX Tower 23 - Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy SE total - 670 This is the build I'm considering to use. This is my first custom computer and I'm up for any and all suggestions. I have a few questions strait up: will this be compatible? Would that VisionTek NIC be a little overboard? Is there anything major that I am missing (besides ports and disk drives which I don’t consider a priority right now)
Very nice build. You'll get nice airflow with that case, and if you intent to play a lot of online gaming, the network card will help even though its quite expensive. A few things you'll need to add and replace: Since you'll be gaming, i recommend you get a custom heatsink (instead of the stock one that comes with the core i5... they suck). Copper is always better, but this one right here is just such a great deal at the moment. It has copper pipes with an aluminum head. You cannot beat the price and performance on this one. And one more thing and you're good to go. The memory you chose will no be supported by your motherboard as it has only 204-pins. Your motherboard only supports memory with 240-pin. So some nice 240-pin sticks of memory and you're good to go!
I agree with cube, good build but you definitely want to get a heatsink, stocks aren't good enough for gaming or heavy use. I'm gonna be using the coolermaster hyper n620, its got very good reviews and you can see the test results yourself here; http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/cooler_master_n620/4.htm Also about the mobo go to gigabytes website to look up supported memory modules before making a final purchase.
Would this ram work better: Corsair XMS3 8 GB 1333 MHz PC3-10666 240-Pin DDR3? Also, I decided to take out the NIC and will just go with the onboard stuff. I'll upgrade later if I feel I need to. Would a TX3 heatsink be sufficient? It would lower my I5 about 10 degree from using the one it comes with. The N620 looked very nice but is it worth the extra $30?
Yeah, In fact it's performance comes very close to the N620. http://alienbabeltech.com/main/cooler-master-hyper-tx3-and-n620-review/all/1 As for me I would still go with N620 as I'm planning on building a Colourful little monster. So I'm gonna have all(except the rear) fans blue led, hence the n620 really works for me.
Yes, the corsair will work. Make sure you get two sticks of 4gb though (8gb total), so that you'll utilize dual channel. And yes, the TX3 for $20 is definitely worth it. If it doesn't come with thermal paste, get some here.
Would you recommend a 32 bit or 64 bit os? I am able to get windows xp 32 for free. Would that negatively impact my performance? Also, I intend on upgrading my graphics card within the next month or two. What would you recommend?
I would definitely recommend a 64-bit, Windows 7 O/S at the moment. You can install more RAM and it's simply faster. However, if you don't have the funds to get a 64-bit system, XP 32-bit is fine, but keep in mind you'll be capped at 4GB of RAM (actually 3GB, 1GB for other complicated stuff )
