powerful gaming pc

[klc614]

Sup guys,

I have a gaming pc in mind and would like to ask u guys if the following setup is good. Feel free to make suggestion!

Motherboard- Nvidia Geforce 8300 mGPU
http://www.compusa.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3858963&Sku=A455-2404&SRCCODE=COMPYAHSDF&cm_mmc_o=QztBBCjCVRqCjCVRqCjCVRq

Hard drive- western digital caviar black 1 tb internal ata
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8909595&type=product&id=1213047091732#tabbed-customerreviews

cd/dvd drive- LG 16x internal blu ray/double layer dvd/cd
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=product&id=1208562592208
(the system requirement for this : Intel® Pentium® D 3.2GHz processor or equivalent)

graphic card- xfx GeForce 9800 GX2 Video Card - 1GB DDR3, PCI Express 2.0, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDMI
http://www.compusa.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3666958&csid=ITD&body=MAIN#detailspecs

CPU-not sure which to get but I guess I need a very good one to match my graphic card and blu ray drive. Need suggestion!!

sound card- Do I really need one?

networking card- same as sound card

additional cooling unit- Don't know if needed

power supply- no idea what to get, help plz!

plz look them over and give me suggestion as i probably don't have as much experience as you guys. Thanks.

[mjc]

You have no CPU picked out...but that board is basically a 'showcase' board for the Phenom from AMD.

What is your budget for this build?

Also are you set on buying from those retailers you have listed?

The board alone is $30 cheaper from Newegg.com.

[klc614]

well i plan on spending may be around 1.5k for the desktop, and i wasn't sure if the motherboard was worth its money or any good. If you have any better suggestion i would like to hear them. I was originally thinking of the AMD Phenom x4 series but wanted to see what other ppl suggest.

[sassie05]

Sorry to butt in, but, mjc, what do you mean by "showcase board"?

[mjc]

Showcase board...pretty much designed to be flashy and show off the Phenom to, hopefully, its best. It has some decent reviews but I didn't notice anything that was absolutely spectacular about it. It has the nice heat pipes everywhere and looks great, but is all the 'glitz' worth it? It is probably going to perform better than a 'plain vanilla' board, but that much better?

[klc614]

So what MOBO and CPU do you suggest that will go along well with my set up?

[mjc]

It isn't a bad board...and if you are wanting a windowed case, lights and other stuff like that, it would look fantastic. If you just want solid performance though, you could probably do better...give a couple of others, like George Hallam and hockyman time to respond...they are more up on the gaming side of things.

[sassie05]

Oh, I see.
Thanks mjc.
Sure does look purty!

[klc614]

could any1 give me more advice?