Building my first rig

[PMK]

Well after some cosideration and reading this forum I have decided to build my first rig. It will not be mine as my sons computer took a dive and now he is going thru WoW withdrawl LOL. So I have spec out the motherboard and cpu and ram but her is my first stupid question in the first build quest. Can I use the CDrom from his old computer also it has a flash card reader can I use it. I know these are not high dollar items but I hate to spend it here if I can put it towards, say a sound card. The old computer is 3 years old so is there a compatibiltiy issue with this older hardware.
2nd question is the Vid card I am considering for this system has a recomneded Min 400 watt for sli mode. How much more wattage is required to run the system and keep it stable. (now that i think about it thats a stupid question) depend on how many fans, sound card etc. Man I hate making decisions LOL. Back to the drawing boad. Thanks

[Wii]

For the PSU and SLI...nothing less than 500w. Note, 400w is MINIMUM.

[Slotback]

1. Tell us your budget... we could compile configurations for you with great upgradeability AND bang for buck.

2. If the new motherboard has the respective ports for the old CDrom and card reader, then yes it would work.

3. Wattage is only a rough guide to what the supply can do. What you want to know is the amount of amps it can put through the +12v rails and how many connectors it has.

4. Corsair make good cheap Supplies, PC power for expensive ones.

5. What does your son want to do with it?

[PMK]

Ive set the budget at 700 dollars tops.

My sons interest change but world of warcraft is his big thing now. He is not into the FS9 or FSX (to boring he says). He likes the Combat Flight Simulator He does like to mess around with 3D graphics programs and he did make a repaint for me (Paint shop Pro) and now messing around with GMAX. With his Xbox 360 most of his stuff he plays is on that.

[Mermaid Man]

world of warcraft is his big thing now.

Your son is a nerd! wow doesn't need much for graphics hardware. If your sons "re-usable" parts of high quality you can re-use them, but if it's just a Dell or similar I'd just junk the lot, just re-use the optical drive, and Hard disc if it's 120GB+

[Slotback]

If your son only plays WoW, then $700 is more than enough. If you don't reuse components, make sure to get a Core 2 duo (E6750 or better), and 2gb of RAM (2x1gb, dual channel or better). Cheap mobo is Gigabyte P35-DS3L. Radeon 3850 is fantastic.... but may be overkill for WoW, I'm not sure.

That's the only advice that I can give, as I don't play WoW, only I really look at bang - for - buck computers capable of running all current games maxed out. So there's probably some waaay better advice availible from other members.

SLI is overkill for WoW however, I think it's best to purchase a single - faster, videocard. To make sure it will run on the power supply, visit the videocard manufacturer for +12v rail requirements and power supply connector requirements and compare it with the power supply. Just make sure you get a powersupply that can easily run it with some leeway.

[a1]

Also because of the little hardware demand for that game keep in mind that you might bottle neck your machine too. Don't buy anything that doesn't really fit with the rest. For example a Geforce 8800 GTS/GTX with 512mb RAM.

[PMK]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I will keep it all in mind. Have just about speced it all out. The only thing I need to do now is work on the case.Then wait and put his system together and then its off to the races to fix me up with one that will run FSX.

Again thanks for all the help. And you will probably see me here in a week or two with some more question or maybe not if I do it right LOL

Thanks again
Pk