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New Gaming Rig

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Hefcat   11-16-2008 at 03:13:07 AM

I am currently building a system and need some feedback on these items. I am most out of the loop on the motherboard and graphics cards. These are the current products I will be using. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

DVD: SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S223Q
Case: NZXT Apollo Black SECC Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Hard-drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3750640AS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
Monitor: Acer X223Wbd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
Wireless Card: GIGABYTE GN-WP01GS PCI Wireless Adapter - Retail
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR 1800 MCE Kit 1128 PCI-Express x1 Interface
Video Card: GIGABYTE GV-N98TOC-1GH GeForce 9800 GT 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
Power Supply: Rosewill RP600V2-S-SL-S 600W ATX12V v2.01 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Power Supply
Keyboard: Saitek PZ30AU Black USB Wired Standard Eclipse Keyboard
Memory: CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5
Processor: AMD Phenom 9850 BLACK EDITION 2.5GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HD985ZXAGHBOX - Retail
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD

TOTAL: $1146.88 (Newegg.com)

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aevm   11-16-2008 at 03:36:02 AM
- 1 +

Is this a gaming machine? If it is, change to MSI K9A2 Platinum and HD 4850. That way you can add a second card later in Crossfire if you need it.

Check out the NZXT Tempest case too, it's got better cooling than the Apollo. Or the Antec 900, or RC-690.

Replace that Rosewill with something more reliable, like a Silencer 750W or 650TX or a 750TX.

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Hefcat   11-16-2008 at 04:50:25 PM
- 0 +

I have changed my choices of Graphics card to the MSI HD 4850, the case to the NZXT Tempest, and the power supply to the 650TX.

My next question is regarding the motherboard will that sufficiently meet my needs?

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aevm   11-16-2008 at 08:18:35 PM
- 0 +

I think that MB is just fine. It depends on which games you play and whether you're willing to pay more for future-proofing. For some games, on a 22" monitor, a single HD 4850 is fine. For others, you might want to add a second card in Crossfire. With the GA-MA78GM-S2H you can't do that.

Think about this combo:
http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/ [...] mbo.136147
Instead of $80 for a MB with a single PCI-E x16 slot and $170 for a Phenom 9850, you pay $280 and get a K9A2 Platinum (able to use two HD 4850 cards at full x16+x16 speed) and a Phenom 9950. The extra CPU speed is negligible, but the ability to add that second video card is worth the extra $30 IMO.

Or maybe this motherboard:
GA-MA790GP-DS4H
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128352
Compared to the K9A2, it only does Crossfire at x8+x8, which will cost about 10% of the performance. However, it has the new SB750 and that makes it better for overclocking the CPU.

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