# Gaming Rig. (Mainly WoW)



## CashComp (Jul 27, 2008)

*Gaming Rig. (Mainly WoW) [Editedx2 (Video card)]*

Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 16MB Cache

Video Card (For now): ASUS EN9600GSO MAGIC/HTDP/512M GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2

PSU:OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W ATX12V / EPS12V

RAM: OCZ Platinum Revision 2  Found out all on my own that its compatible 

Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-P35-S3G LGA 775 Intel Motherboard 

Processor/CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - 

OS: XP, not sure which version though.




I am just posting to show my build (as this is my first) and see if there are any suggested changes or modifications.  The video card will be updated though as soon as I get a little more money.  I believe I will have my friend's brother help me build it as he did his own also, seeing as that is where I got the idea.  In the title I explain what I will be using this for, and it's mostly for World of Warcraft.  I might buy a couple other games in the future, but mainly WoW and surfing the net are going to be my primary uses for this guy.  And like I said, any changes and suggestions are great, though I'm trying to stay underneat $600.


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## farlex85 (Jul 27, 2008)

Change the psu to perhaps this one. You'll be overclocking correct, if yes, then yeah that looks pretty good aside from the psu and the hdd, which is pretty slow compared to others. That would be the first thing I upgrade if I were you, Wow won't need any more than a 8600gt. And why on earth should it be obvious that you'll be using xp, your system will handle vista fine, if that's what you mean.


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## CashComp (Jul 27, 2008)

Hey, erm, I don't really know how to overclock... and I dont plan on doing it =\.  As for the hard drive, it fits in my budget and I might upgrade later on.  Thanks for the info on the video card, that saves me a bit of money ^_^.  And as for the OS, I am so used to XP, the change to Vista would not be needed because it's still a stable OS.


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## ShadowFold (Jul 27, 2008)

Everything but the psu looks good. Get that corsair!


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## ascstinger (Jul 27, 2008)

heres what I came up with:

MSI P43 board over the p5q, its considerably cheaper and has great cooling and features

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130185

the lower cost would allow you to purchase this 320gb western digital drive which is one of the quickest in the market and very quiet

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136074

for the same price as the evga, PALiT has a sonic version with much higher clock speeds

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814260057

finally, you could have a solidly performing OCZ 500W unit for 5 bucks more than the newegg's inhouse brand

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341012


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## 3xploit (Jul 27, 2008)

How much does that 8600gt cost? If it's anywhere near $100 you could probably find a 9600gt for about the same price which would be much better than an 8600gt


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## farlex85 (Jul 27, 2008)

CashComp said:


> Hey, erm, I don't really know how to overclock... and I dont plan on doing it =\.  As for the hard drive, it fits in my budget and I might upgrade later on.  Thanks for the info on the video card, that saves me a bit of money ^_^.  And as for the OS, I am so used to XP, the change to Vista would not be needed because it's still a stable OS.



Ok well there's a couple different options I would consider if your not overclocking. That processor is great, but there are better ones at stock, the real value of that chip is it's ability to oc. 

Since your not going to be doing any large power video card configs, you can go down on the psu. Something like this or the one asc suggested (ocz) would be plenty for what your building now. However, if you are planning to make this rig last w/ many upgrades in the future, and more powerful video cards and overclocking come into your line of site, the extra $20 for the corsair I recommended would be well spent. 

You can also drop down a bit on the motherboard. Something like this should suit your current needs fine. You could also drop down to a micro atx board and get even cheaper. The parts you are using will not utilize the features of the p45, or even the p35 for that matter. A simple chipset would do fine. Again, this is if your planning on not oc and don't plan to in the future, and aren't planning on doing much gaming outside of wow.

And with the extra money get this processor instead, which is considerably faster than the e7200 at stock. Or, instead, move up to this hdd, which is again considerably faster than the one you have picked right now. Of the two I would actually go w/ the hdd as it is often the overlooked chokepoint of the system.

Sorry if that's a lot, especially when you were just about to buy. There's nothing too bad w/ your build, so if you want just change the psu (difinitely change that), I'm just trying to think of ways to get more for your money and intended uses, cause you could either make the whole build cheaper or faster for what your doing.


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## flyin15sec (Jul 27, 2008)

Where or what site will you be buying the items from. That way recommendations can be matched to the items you've chosen, base on price/performance.


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## CashComp (Jul 27, 2008)

Oh crap, I just realized that I dont have a HD monitor.  I still have the blue port (I dont know the technical name) not the white/silver one.  Can anyone point me to a video card with that type of port? Or is there a way to convert that.

I changed out my hard drives for This , the one Ascstinger recommended.

And I switched my Mobo for the one Farlex suggested: Gigabite GA-P35-S3G LGA 775 

I'll update my first post for the complete build again, and is the memory I have still compatible with this motherboard?

By the way, I'm buying from Newegg.


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## flyin15sec (Jul 27, 2008)

VGA D-Sub 9pin. Most newer video cards have adapters from DVI to D-Sub. The EVGA 8600GT has a 9pin VGA port.

Well you should get the 512mb version of EVGA 8600GT $69.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130292 

It is cheaper than the 256mb version, which is $79


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## ShiBDiB (Jul 28, 2008)

CashComp said:


> Oh crap, I just realized that I dont have a HD monitor.  I still have the blue port (I dont know the technical name) not the white/silver one.  Can anyone point me to a video card with that type of port? Or is there a way to convert that.



the 9800 i just got came with a converter, and if it doesnt they problly sell em at ur local radioshack, officemax etc...


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## yogurt_21 (Jul 28, 2008)

for a few dollars more than those 8600's you can get this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121255

it will be much faster and give you more time to save up for something better.


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## ShiBDiB (Jul 29, 2008)

yogurt_21 said:


> for a few dollars more than those 8600's you can get this
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121255
> 
> it will be much faster and give you more time to save up for something better.



that card suxxorz


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## yogurt_21 (Jul 29, 2008)

ShiBDiB said:


> that card suxxorz



compared to an 8600? I think not, learn how to pay attention. he was going to pay the same amount for the 8600 which is much slower than the 9600gso.


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## Evo85 (Jul 29, 2008)

What you have listed will play WoW. Although you wont have much room for future upgrades with that PSU and that vid card is a little on the wimpy side.


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## Kenshai (Jul 29, 2008)

yogurt_21 said:


> compared to an 8600? I think not, learn how to pay attention. he was going to pay the same amount for the 8600 which is much slower than the 9600gso.



9600GSO will beat an 8600GT no problem on anything.


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## yogurt_21 (Jul 29, 2008)

exactly for the same price or afew dollars more, you can get twice the performance going with a 9600gso over an 8600gt. 3 times the shaders, higher memory bit and more memory, and higher rop's


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## CashComp (Jul 29, 2008)

Changed my Video card, thanks Yogurt for suggesting that video card.


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## ShiBDiB (Jul 29, 2008)

ya its better then an 8600, but it still sucks compared to a card u can get for 60-80 more. But In this budget, u win


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## CashComp (Jul 29, 2008)

Another question, does the mother board I have picked out have an ethernet cord port? (Just checking, wanna make sure ^_^) I think I see one but I want to make sure I'm right.


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## farlex85 (Jul 29, 2008)

CashComp said:


> Another question, does the mother board I have picked out have an ethernet cord port? (Just checking, wanna make sure ^_^) I think I see one but I want to make sure I'm right.



Yep


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## tzitzibp (Jul 29, 2008)

as most people said... the psu is the weak link....and if you want to upgrade a bit later on, you might want to consider a 600watt + psu unit. I suggest Corsair, OCZ or TAGAN.

btw, have you considered the Ati 4850 graphics card?

good luck on the build... and my advice to you is to start a build log thread with pics as you go along so we can all help out (cable management, simple mod ideas, positive comments etc)


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## yogurt_21 (Jul 29, 2008)

hmmm somethings fishy about that 9600gso I linked, it has full 96 shaders but it's only 128-bit (vs 192-bit on a normal one) on the memory meaning less rop's (8 on this one vs 12 on a  normal) yet 512mb of memory. 

I think I might be leading you wrong which isn't what I want. it'll still be faster than the 8600 by quite a bit but not as much as a normal 9600gso. 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121251R

^That's what a normal one's specs should be. up to you on the open box thing, but I've always found neweggs return policy good and have bought several opened ones myself without trouble (and the one that came doa was replaced by newegg in a matter of days)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121251

what it cost regular. 

up to you.


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## Kenshai (Jul 29, 2008)

ShiBDiB said:


> ya its better then an 8600, but it still sucks compared to a card u can get for 60-80 more. But In this budget, u win



You don't need one of those cards that are 60-80 more, for WoW. If he really isn't going to be playing much else. My system will do just shy of 12k in 3dmark06. Not bad for a card that now costs $75 with no rebate.


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## yogurt_21 (Jul 29, 2008)

Kenshai said:


> You don't need one of those cards that are 60-80 more, for WoW. If he really isn't going to be playing much else. My system will do just shy of 12k in 3dmark06. Not bad for a card that now costs $75 with no rebate.



ha beat ya to it. lol great minds think alike.


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## ENIAC (Aug 2, 2008)

I don't know the Oz PSU, but the highly rated Corsair and Antec PSUs are both manufactured by SeaSonic. An efficient PSU will be labeled 80+ and I suggest you look for one of those. You are looking at an Nvidia card on an Intel chipset, therefore you won't be able to run another card in SLI. The possibility of multiple gfx cards would mean you would need a higher wattage PSU, to possibly accommodate that in the future.

You may want to consider this PSU which can be had with a very good MIR at the moment. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371006


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## Kenshai (Aug 3, 2008)

ENIAC said:


> I don't know the Oz PSU, but the highly rated Corsair and Antec PSUs are both manufactured by SeaSonic. An efficient PSU will be labeled 80+ and I suggest you look for one of those. You are looking at an Nvidia card on an Intel chipset, therefore you won't be able to run another card in SLI. The possibility of multiple gfx cards would mean you would need a higher wattage PSU, to possibly accommodate that in the future.
> 
> You may want to consider this PSU which can be had with a very good MIR at the moment. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371006



You kind of contradicted yourself there saying that he has an nvidia card on an Intel chipset, but then saying he may need a better power supply due to the possibility of running multiple cards.

The OCZ power supply will be fine, not as high quality as some others, but will definitely get the job done.


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## ENIAC (Aug 4, 2008)

Kenshai said:


> You kind of contradicted yourself there saying that he has an nvidia card on an Intel chipset, but then saying he may need a better power supply due to the possibility of running multiple cards.



Actually what I wrote was, "therefore you won't be able to run another card in SLI". My point was 500 watts isn't necessary in this case. So given that, the dual rail, 80+, 430 watt PSU I mentioned would be more than sufficient for this application and its less expensive.


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## NinkobEi (Aug 4, 2008)

I vote spend a little extra and get either an 8800gt or a 4850. it never hurts to future proof your video card a bit..considering all the new games coming out (wrath of the lich king will have higher video ccard requirements than what WoW has now) - Diablo 3 will probably need a pretty decent card as well.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102719 - 3870 $129

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500007 - 8800gt $139

prob can find some cheaper...or even used.


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