Help me build

[Black Hawk]

Hello, I am new to the forum but have been playing the TW line for some time now and am interested in building a new computer to play RTW SPQR and MTW2, here is what I have so far:



Case: CM Stacker 830 Tower http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119103

Power Supply: BFG PC System 650 Watt ATX 12V http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16817702003

Motherboard: ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition SocketAM2 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16813131011

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200 Socket AM2 http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16819103747

Video Card: GeForce 7800GT OC http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16814143037

GeForce 7900GT OC http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16814143048

Memory: Corsair XMS2 2GB DDR2 Dual Channel Kit System Memory http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16820145034



Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 320GB Sata 16MB Cache http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16822148140

Western Digital Caviar 7200RPM 400GB Sata Raid 16MB Cache http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16822144424

Optical Drive: Help me pick one

Keyboard: http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16826127209

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16823126175

-CPU: I will switch over to the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600 Socket AM2 if the price drops to $301 in 7/24

-GPU: I know the 7900GT OC is better but I have read that they have a lot of problems.

-RAM: Do I really need Dual Channel

-HD: Which one is better, and if I chose the WDC 7200RPM Raid can I later hook it up to a 10,000RPM unit ( is there any benefit from doing this):hmmm:

-any good wireless controlers for playing RTW?

Thanks,

[Spork Wielding Spartans]

I'm by no means an expert, but personally I would spend $100 less on the case and get a better processor. Also unless there are features on the motherboard you picked that you really want, I would spend about $100 less on that too.

[Incinerate_IV]

Agree with everything except the PSU and video card. Get the 500 or 600 watt Enermax Liberty, remember total wattage means nothing, its the amps that matters. The Liberty is simply a much higher quality brand. As for the video cards, I think they solved the 7900GT problems by now, but get an Evga one, since thats cheaper. Theres no point in getting a BFG 7900GT when a Evga one with higher clock speed is cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130015
$244 for a 7900GT @ 520/1540, thats a pretty sick deal.

[SweetDreamz]

Are you dead set on AMD? You'll be stupid not to wait another month for Conroe. Even if you are, it would still be dumb not to wait for AMD's price cuts. Whatever works for you I guess.

Liberty is a great choice as mentioned.

Optical Drives: Benq 1650/1655 or NEC 3540(maybe it was 3550...I don't remember)

Keyboards/Mous: Whatever suits you.

[Black Hawk]

Incinerate IV:
The Enermax PSU reviews in newegg say they experience a lot of problems with them (like frying your system). But I did browse around for a new pick and found this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817189007 very nice unit 99%efficiency can't find the warranty though and don't know if I should pick the more powerfull ones http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...nufactory=8348 .

As for the GPU, while the EVGA can outperform the BFG it does not offer a lifetime warranty but a 1year warranty. I would have to think it over as maybe a one year warranty is enough since the DX10 cards would come out in that time frame.

SweetDreamz:
As I said before I will be waiting for the AMD price drop in 7/24 and maybe upgrade to a X2 4600, and as for Intel's Conroe I am not too familiar with this unit and would have to see it's pricing and performance.

Thank's for the replies,

[Incinerate_IV]

Wow, I never knew that Enermax Liberty PSUs has a lot of problems, I guess I better look into that more. As for the powersupplies, Xclio's powersupplies are OK, the reviews isn't that impressive and it isn't bad either. May I suggest OCZ Powerstream instead? Don't worry, this one is problem free.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817711002

As for the warrenty on the eVGA cards, all eVGA cards has lifetime warrenty, and it even covers overclocking!

[Lee1026]

Don't like the mobo much. ASUS does not offer very good overclocking options.

[HorseArcher]

Don't like the mobo much. ASUS does not offer very good overclocking options.

I replaced my Asus board for a Gigabyte MB. Simply i had some problems with Bios updates with them. I don't like that. especially when it locked my MB to boot.

I like this one better:

\edit

i meant this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813127236

[Black Hawk]

Incierate IV
OCZ makes very nice PSU's though I was leaning more toward the GameXStream than the Powerstream. So far my choice is XCLIO since their unit has 99% efficiency and 25C ambient temperature which translates to more power for my PC and less wasted energy(Heat). Will be searching for more reviews on this unit.

I re-read the EVGA warranty http://www.evga.com/support/lifetime/ :sign_oops looks like you where right and I'll be purchasing an EVGA card, would this be a better choice for a little more dough
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130016 .


Sentinel
I am not familiar with this Abit mobo, but it looks like a really nice package so I'll be looking for more info on it. My choices so far where between ASUS and MSI, but chose ASUS because I read the MSI mobo's had overheating problems. Looks like I have a new choice .

for the replies:original: ,

[Black Hawk]

I was browsing through the EVGA forums and found this http://www.evga.com/community/messag...TOPIC_ID=15366 , any of you had this many problems with this cards.