I'm hoping to build (or have someone build) two computers (one for me and one for my sister) and I have some questions about what I need to get.
One of the computers is for CoX, and I am aiming for something that will play Going Rogue at the mid-range with a Radeon HD 5770. The other computer will be used to play EQ2. I was hoping to be able to use my current GeForce 9600 for the EQ2 computer. Will this card work well for EQ2?
I want both of these computers to be good for gaming for a few years, if at all possible -- replacing or upgrading something like the video card is easy enough, but the mobo/CPU is not something I want to have to do for a while). I was thinking about getting the CPU/mobo/RAM combo from Father Xmas's $1200 rig thinking that a super awesome computer -now- should still be relatively awesome a year or so from now, and good enough for gaming a couple years from now if I don't do stupid things and take care of it. Is this assumption wrong? Is there a better option?
What kind of power supply should I get? No matter what I do, I have to buy at least one PSU and I don't know which one to get. I guess I'm hoping to be able to use my current power supply (I believe this is it:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153059). Is this at all sufficient for CoX with a 5770 or EQ2 with a 9600? Or do I need two new PSUs? Which one(s)?
Also, how necessary is an after market cooler if I don't plan on overclocking? I haven't built a computer before, so I'm thinking the less I have to touch things, the better, and if the cooler isn't really necessary for how I'll be using the computer, I'd rather save the money and not have to worry so much about breaking something.
Which I guess brings me to my last question. I'm wondering if I should just go to the guy that we've been using to build us computers for years and just be like, "These are the parts I want specifically, can you put it together for me?" My experience with the inside of a computer is pretty limited. All I've done is replace a dead hard drive and upgrade another, free a hard drive from an external casing (to make sure it was really dead) and put it in my tower (it totally wasn't), replace a DVD drive, install a sound card because my mobo is so old that I couldn't find working drivers for Windows 7, and put in some fans. I've watched the videos for installing a CPU and it seems easy enough on the surface, but it also seems super easy to mess up and I don't know that I want that kind of responsibility for myself. So, advice on what I should do from people who have done this type of thing would be greatly appreciated.
Okay, that was a lot of rambling, so thank you for any advice you can give.
