Building a gaming pc

[mdtajghori]

Hi guys, first of all let me tell u that i am not very experienced at the hardware stuff, so if by any chance i make a mistake them i am sorry in advance.
I am planning to build a gaming pc and my budget is strictly around $1200 (excluding monitor and other peripherals)

Motherboard :I was very confused in selecting the motherboard, this confusion was whether to buy a MB that supports sli or not. I probably won't be trying to put 2 Graphic cards in the near future so i guess non sli supported MB should be fine. Can u plz suggest a good MB for me.

Processor : I am planning to go for Core 2 duo E6700, is it good enough for today's games or do i need to go for a Q6600?

Graphics : Geforce 8800 GT 512 MB, can u suggest me a brand name (asus, evga, etc...) that is cheaper?

Power Supply : 600 watts shld be enough i guess (your opinion plz)

Ram : atleast 3GB

Feel free to make necessary changes.

 

[drumthrasher]

Heres what I would choose.

MOBO: ASUS P5K-E LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131225
RAM: (3 of them) Kingston HyperX 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134217
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115002
GPU: MSI NX8800GT 512M OC GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127329
PSU: Thermaltake TR2 RX W0134RU ATX12V Ver2.2 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, CUL, TUV, FCC and CE certification
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153059

Those things there are less than $800.

 

[worshipme]

The E6700s are getting on now, they were the some of the first C2Ds. There are newer, more energy efficient ones available now: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037, For the motherboard, I would recommend this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130098- It has better cooling and is great for overclocking.

Processor : I am planning to go for Core 2 duo E6700, is it good enough for today's games or do i need to go for a Q6600?

You don't need a quad for gaming, as almost all games can't take full advantage of quad core CPUs. The CPU that I recommended is more than sufficient. Try to get the 8800GTS G92 512MB if you can.

 

[mdtajghori]

There is a bit of problem, i reside in australia and newegg won't work for me. I tried matching up the products from an australian online store but couldn't find the motherboard. I am providing a link below, can u plz suggest which one is the same as the motherboard provided by worshipme or the one that relates very closely to it.

http://www.i-tech.com.au/products/208_MSI_Motherboard.aspx

I also came up on this one, is it any good?
http://www.i-tech.com.au/products/17505_MSI_P35_Platinum_Intel_P35__1333MHz.aspx

Thanks.

 

[worshipme]

http://www.i-tech.com.au/products/19776_MSI_P35_NEO2_FIR_ATX_Intel_P35_Chipset.aspx- This is it. The one you picked out is very good, but if you're going to pay that much for a P35 mobo then you might as well get an X38 chipset which supports PCI-E 2.0. and full 2x16 lanes Crossfire: http://www.i-tech.com.au/products/24873_Gigabyte_GA_EX38_DS4_QuadCore_X38.aspx or this one which has slightly better cooling: http://www.i-tech.com.au/products/24815_ABIT_IX38_QuadGT_Intel_X38__1600MHz.aspx

 

[mdtajghori]

ABIT IX38 QuadGT Intel X38, 1600MHz FSB, DDR2-1066, Dual PCIE x16, SATAII RAID this is the one you recommended. I've got a question (a silly one), this supports crossfire but not sli, does that mean it only supports ati graphics and not nvidia?

This is the graphic card i've chosen http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/79362/VIDEOCARDS_GEFORCE_PCI-EXPRESS_2.0_SERIES/EVGA/512-P3-N801-AR.asp is it fine?

 

[worshipme]

Get the MSI P35 Neo2 if you're only going to be using a single GPU setup. If you want to do Crossfire then get either the Gigabyte or ABIT X38 mobos I recommended are good. Motherboards that support Crossfire can take a single Nvidia GPU, you cannot run two in SLI on one. That card would work fine on any one of the mobos I recommended or any other that has a PCI-Ex16 slot. EVGA's a good brand, but I personnally like the Gainward 8800GT as all of them are supplied with improved coolers as the 8800GT's reference cooler in known to be not very good.

 

[mdtajghori]

Single GPU setup should be fine. I couldn't find any MSI MB with neo2, there is a neoF thoough take a look http://www.i-tech.com.au/products/208_MSI_Motherboard.aspx

The graphic card from gainward (the cheap one from the other 8800GT) http://www.i-tech.com.au/products/23684_GAINWARD_Geforce_8800GT_512_DDR3_2DH.aspx

 

[worshipme]

I couldn't find any MSI MB with neo2

What about the one I linked to? And that 8800GT is very nice, I'd recommend that.

 

[mdtajghori]

What about the one I linked to? And that 8800GT is very nice, I'd recommend that.

yep, got it (i misunderstood the link) Thanks for the help mate, i really appreciate it!
One last question, about the PS, i think 500 watts should be good, what's ur opinion.