A buddy of mine at work is going to dive into the world of do it yourself computer building. He sent me the following list of 'puter parts and wants to know if'n it will work. About the most intensive game he plays is WoW, maybe BF2 once in a great while. His big thing is he wants it upgradeable in the future. Let me know what you think so I can pass the feedback his direction.

Thanks,
Manders


Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156098
Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131246
Processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103773
Video card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150265
Ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductPrint.aspx?Item=N82E16820211188
Hard Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136113&Tpk=n8 2e16822136

cd/dvd drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductPrint.aspx?Item=N82E16827106057

Yes he is on a pretty tight budget

it looks good, but i recommend these parts as alternatives.

Newegg.com - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail (the extra 400mhz of the +6000 isnt worth it for $60, and this one will run much cooler due to the 65nm Brisbane Core)

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA69G-S3H AM2 AMD 690G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail (I prefer Gigabyte over ASUS, it has a fantastic chipset on it, and it is a very very good motherboard, for a great price)

Newegg.com - PNY VCG96512GXPB GeForce 9600GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail (a bit more expensive, but its new, it has excellent performance, and runs cool)

The case is a personal preference, but i like this one, it has good cooling, a side vent (significant cooling improvement)
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE iSOLO GZ-AA1CB-SNB Black Aluminum Front Panel/ 0.7mm SECC Housing ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail


This is the best memory out there IMO, its by Crucial, a division of Micron who makes the actual memory ICs, it has cool heatspreaders, and has really cool LEDs, not to mention killer performance and an unbeatable price. Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

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I think he is pretty much sold on the case he picked out. If he changes the MB, CPU, GPU, and RAM, the price will pretty much stay the same and that is his HUGE concern. Another question he hit me with tonight, will he be able to use XPpro / SP2 with this rig. He does NOT want to have to buy a new OS.

Thanks
Manders

Yes, the price will about even out if he uses what i suggested. Yes, he will be able to use Windows XP with it. He could use Vista or XP, but i would not recommend Vista. XP is still the bes OS out there.

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As per usual, your rock AW. Thanks for all your help.

Another question, will there be any real advantage to running 4 gig's of RAM over 2? I've heard that it would be a waste of $$$, but I wanted to ask the experts. Also heard that the 9600 will need 600W minimum Power Supply Unit, Is that true? If not, will the one in that case work (that's the one thing he refuses to budge on)?

Manders

Unless he has Windows XP Pro 64bit, he won't even be able to use 4Gbs, not that'd it'd really do him much of an improvement if it's for casual gaming.

500W should be enough, but I personally wouldn't keep that Power Supply Unit.. As a general rule of thumb, PSUs that come with Cases are of cheap quality, which means they'll generally die out on you, short circuit, or fry everything eventually, or have reliability issues of some kind and be a real pain in the rear, though you never know..

I definitely agree with AW on the motherboard and CPU though.

Though you may wanna get an HD with 16mbs of cache instead of 8mbs.

And the video card is a good idea to get the 9600GT.. the 8600GT is rather.. lacking. It's an OK card, but it's fairly slow.

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Yeah, get the Enermax MODU 525 watt power supply, and the gigabyte iSolo case.

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