i7 930 and GTX 470 Build

[Boyiee]

You're only using one 160gb 7200rpm hdd?

[laxninja]

yea most of my documents are saved online, and this is strictly a gaming platform. All my office/school stuff is on my portable laptop. was originally going for minimal 80, but could upgrade to 160 for like 2 bucks more lol

[Boyiee]

Then maybe consider a 10k rpm hdd or a ssd?

My machine is predominantly gaming but my steam folder is 100gb, wow, any other games, OS, was easy for me to break 150.

[Gredival]

I would like to run FFXIV on "normal" or "default" graphics. That is, I would like to play it without going on "low graphics". I'm just looking for a viable video card that fits this description + is SLI or Crossfire ready (for upgrading later) and its under 300 bucks. Does it exist?

If you're on a budget (and it sounds like that), you can go cheaper than a GTX 460. Try looking at the Radeon 5770 or the 4890 for 170~ each. Both should do XIV on medium~high.