New Build

[MrGhostlore]

I'm finally making the change from playing on a MacBook Pro laptop to building an actual PC desktop to play WoW on. I'm planning on buying with the Black Friday Sale, but this is my set-up.

Comments, Concerns, Input...

Case = Cooler Master CAC-T05-UW
CPU = Intel Core i5-650 Clarkdale 3.2GHz
Motherboard = GIGABYTE GA-H55M-UD2H LGA 1156
Memory = Kingston HyperX 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600
Hard Drive = Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB
Video Card = ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU TOP/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 460
Sound Card = Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1
CD Rom = ASUS Black 24X DVD+R
Cooling Fan = COOLER MASTER RR-H101-22FK-RI
Power Supply = COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M700 RS-700-AMBA-D3 700 Watts

[Dethh]

The processor you have listed is 2 cores get the 4 core i5-760

[Deleted]

Yes get an i5-760. Also change the motherboard to a P55 chipset. You have H55 now which are made for onboard graphics and won't be good at all because you'll have a GTX 460.
8GB of RAM is going to be completely useless if you're using it only for gaming, 4GB is all you need now.
You can take a sound card if that's important to you, but modern motherboards have really good onboard sound cards.

[Asera]

If you're going to get a sound card, at least get an X-Fi. An Audigy won't be much better than current onboard offerings... and actually might even be worse. The Audigy line is rather old.

[llDemonll]

Sound cards are useless unless you are doing something profession with sound. Save the money and put it towards the i5 750/760

[MrGhostlore]

I have upgraded my list to =

Case = Cooler Master CAC-T05-UW
CPU = Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core
Motherboard = ASUS P7P55 LX LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard
Memory = Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600
Hard Drive = Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB
Video Card = ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU TOP/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 460
CD Rom = ASUS Black 24X DVD+R
Cooling Fan = CORSAIR Cooling Hydro Series CWCH50-1 120mm High Performance CPU Cooler
Power Supply = COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M700 RS-700-AMBA-D3 700 Watts

[Deleted]

Looks good. But no need for 4GB of IDLE ram. Unless you have an explanation.
Just get 2x 2GB.

[MrGhostlore]

That was a typo. I only am getting 4GB

[llDemonll]

Are you overclocking?

[Fuger]

ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU TOP/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX

On Newegg that is $210

Save $20 and get better performance with:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121399

Or wait for the 460's to drop in price. No point in buying out dated products for their full price.

[Asera]

Sound cards are useless unless you are doing something profession with sound. Save the money and put it towards the i5 750/760

I disagree. I've never heard onboard that can come close to pushing my speakers and headphones as good as my X-Fi. :s

[Deleted]

Asera, what kind of sound system do you have then? If you got HiFi class headphones I might believe you, otherwise no.

[Asera]

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD280s. For speakers though I only have a crappy 2.1 Altec Lansing system. Both sound much better on the X-Fi.

...and even my cheap 15 dollar skullcandy earbuds that I use for cycling sound better on an X-Fi than onboard...

[Cilraaz]

Placebo effect? That's the best reasoning I can come up with. Either that or you're using some ancient on-board audio solution.

[llDemonll]

You either have freakish ears or a motherboard that is old with bad onboard sound.

[Asera]

You either have freakish ears or a motherboard that is old with bad onboard sound.

Asus M4A89GTD, Realtek HD Audio garbage. I use onboard for Vent and the X-Fi for everything else.
At work, P7P55D LE with even worse VIA Vinyl crap.

The only onboard I've used that came sort of close to sounding as good as a real DSP is the old nForce 2 SoundStorm audio. Everything else just sucks sucks and sucks more. :P

But hey, that's me. I guess I have freakish hearing.

[Deleted]

With that quality of listening equipment, there's either something with the drivers or the equalizer. You have some weird equalizer setup in use with the realtek because you can't possibly hear a difference with that setup.

[Asera]

Believe me, I've played with the equalizer. I can't get onboard to match the quality of the X-Fi at all.