New Gaming Rig Help

I am going to be building a new system for my boyfriend, from scratch, with only monitor/keyboard/mouse/speakers on hand. I am planning on using New Egg for purchasing (though I could be persuaded elsewhere if they were reputable and affordable) The primary use of his computer, and mine for that matter, is MMORPGs (currently Everquest), and internet browsing. He really doesn't do anything else on the PC worth mentioning, and sound is not an issue at all (as long as there is sound in some form..so onboard audio is fine) For those not familiar with Everquest, it can be taxing on both ram and video card. It's unoptimized code written circa the late 90's and has since been patched and repatched so that it uses twice the resources you'd expect for the quality of the graphics. I love the game, but that's the reality of the code.

Anyway, below is my thought process so far on parts. If anyone could give suggestions, I'd be most grateful. Basically I'm looking for the best bang for my money, of course, and the top of my budget is around $800, though I'd obviously like to spend as little as I can get away with and still have quality.

In addition, I have zero familiarity with AMD processors or ATI graphics cards. Please feel free to suggest them, but try to compare them to what I know if at all possible (Intel and Geforce) ie "The ATI UberCard 256 is comparable to a Geforce 6600 256" I am not anti-AMD or anti-ATI, I just don't know enough about them to make a choice so I went with what I knew.

Case: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811119068
Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813121287
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819116198
Graphics: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814127191
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817182016
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820146056
Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822148040
Floppy: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16821104101
DVD/CD Rom: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16827136057

Any suggestions on a different build or a better build for the money (that build is $718.95 on New Egg)? Are there any small details I'm overlooking? With that OEM hard drive, do I need to buy any cables separately or will they come with my retail mobo? Like I said, all suggestions are much appreciated. He is currently running on a system a friend built for him a few years back, AMD 1.4 gig processor, 756 megs ram (PC2700), Geforce 5200 128 meg graphics card, and a 20 gig hard drive, so obviously just about anything I build will improve on that.

Oh, on the hard drive front, I don't need anything bigger than 80 gigs. Like I said he has 20 gigs now and it's 50% free, so 80 gig is enough of an upgrade

 

The video card is not very powerful.

You would be better off getting a 6600GT (not just a 6600 or lite etc), or even a 6800 (or GS etc) if you can afford it.


Personally, I wouldn't go with Intel, but that's up to you.

 

There is a company in Minneapolis, Minnesota that I have been dealing with for a long time. I would recommend at least checking them out

http://www.nanosys1.com

 

Pretty sure you need to buy SATA power cable for Seagate OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812189005 As you can see from Intel pictures you get 2 data cables so dont worry about those.

 

What about this graphics card instead? http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814142060

 

I'm not stuck to Intel for loyalty reasons, I just don't know how to comparison shop for AMD because I have no experience with them. Like what socket should I be looking for in AMD, and what else should I watch when comparing two AMD processors?

 

Was just about to suggest X1600Pro but too lazy to dig up reviews. Targeted against 6600GT not Lite. Only 128bit memory bus as 6600GT but I would think faster.

Other cards could be ATI 800GTO but may be starting to be overkill.

If Everquest is so important you should be sure it is "ATI compatible" May be there are some annoying issues making "old" 6600GT look better?

 

For video card, the X1600 Pro is a decent card, but I think you are better off with an nVidia 6800 or one of it's many flavours.

It may be a few dollars more, but if you enjoy gaming, it's money well spent.

If that is too expensive for you, look at a 6600GT (must be GT), or an ATI X800 GTO.


For motherboard, I would suggest an ASUS A8N-VM CSM.

It's not a full size ATX board, but it has everything you could ever want, even onboard graphics and sound, and it's at a great price.

It also uses nVidia's latest nForce chipset, the 430. I've yet to see a better value/performance board.

For processor, any AMD Athlon 64 3200+ or better would be great (socket 939)


That combination, along with 1GB or DDR RAM or more, will give you an excellent and powerful system that is more than capable of playing any current game with ease.

 

For AMD see this:
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131569
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103535
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820141423
Video: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130265

So for 712$ you get a very fast Nvidia 6800GS instead of those office cards This is a tuned version, faster than normal 6800GS. I chose those Kingston ram cause they are on Asus list of testet modules with that particular motherboard - QVL http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=596&l1=3&l2=15&l3=207 Most will work, just want to be sure. Sure looks like a good buy that ASUS A8N-VM CSM but why onboard video?

The AMD64 3200 runs at 2000mhz but even with Asus supplied software it can be made to run 2200-2400 very easy. So lots of power for later perhaps, stock values will be enough - there is no demand to overclock. Asus is of course very documented, will be easy to get help with bios or whatever. CPU comes with a standard AMD cooler and because cpu runs so cool it delivers plenty cooling - also in case you should add some more voltage for extra mhz. Asus software/bios will do that as well if you enable those automatic oc-features.

Forget about what I wrote about SATA power cable. You need it but PSU can feed hd directly - that is what I read on spec list anyway. Also you might want to add a 80mm fan for intake, just to optimize airflow - probably not needed but case "only" comes with 120mm outtake? Dont get a noisy one, fairly low rpm will do.