help with build $600 off amazon

J

jmreye

n00b
Joined
Sep 16, 2007
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17
hello, so I have $400 worth of gift certificates that I can use on amazon and I was wondering if you guys could help me picking out good pieces of hardware that work together.




1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
gaming, want to play some of the newer games but dont have a problem with low fps as long as it hovering in the mid 30's upper 40's (would prefer 60 fps of course), web browsing, music, videos

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
I have $400 credit in amazon and I will be putting $200 (money is tight atm) more so that totals $600 including shipping and I guess theres no tax if you buy in amazon

3) Where do you live?
Guatemala City, Guatemala

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU, RAM, Mobo, Vid Card, Power supply

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Ill be reusing my Acer 22" LCD (16x10 res), OS (Vista 32), Mouse, Keyboard and Headphones

6) Will you be overclocking?
Have never done it before, if I decide to, it would be a very mild oc, I am looking for stability mostly

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Acer 22" LCD

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
next couple of weeks

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
pretty standard I guess, Xfire or SLI would be a plus but I dont need it

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
yes, Vista 32




I am working on a possible list of things but I would like input from more experienced folks, your help is much appreciated friends
 
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e2160
some intel motherboard
2 gb ddr2
integrated vid card
dvd-rw drive
old case
no name psu
22" Acer LCD

I definitely need to upgrade, my current machine is only be used for university work so its not like its not doing its job, I just want to play some games
 
$168 - E8400
$99 - Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L
$50 - 4GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800
$190 - Sapphire Radeon 4870 1GB
$100 - Corsair TX650 ($20 rebate)

TOTAL: $608

Not sure if you needed a hard drive or not. Anyway, you have $1 left.
You can save about $30 by going with the E7200 instead. I would also suggest getting a 64-bit OS so you can use all 4GB of the RAM. You will notice an improvement in performance.
 
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HardwareGuru said:
Pretty dope man. You can also save some cash also by going with a E7400 cpu for $120 instead, then, maybe bump up the Corsair VX550 PSU to a Corsair 650TX for $100. Just $8 more. This should bring the total to $559. Should still kick ass.
Click to expand...

I'd choose the E8400 over the E7400 if the OP's budget permits. It's only a $48 difference.

As to the PSU, it's good that you pointed that out. I didn't see the 650W on Amazon. For $8 more, it's definitely worth it.
 
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Question: If he already has a motherboard, what benefit would he get by upgrading to a P43? Doesn't the G31 support 45nm cpus like the E8400?
 
PCI express 2.0 support on the P43 chipset and support of 16gb of ram total. G31 chipset has PCI express 1.1 and max ram support is 4gb. Also, that Intel mobo he has probably will not O/C or have much if any O/C features as that of the P43 chipset mobo.
 
I agree with HG's changes. The E7400 can OC nicely and the larger cache size of the E8400 doesn't really give a huge performance advantage in games. If you need to save money, go for the E7400 instead. For gaming, you won't notice much of a difference, especially if you OC either chip.

Another cheaper option would be an AMD setup:
$88 - Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX
$60 - AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz, 2x512KB L2, 2MB L3, Socket AM2+ 95W black edition

450 said:
Question: If he already has a motherboard, what benefit would he get by upgrading to a P43? Doesn't the G31 support 45nm cpus like the E8400?
Click to expand...

The biggest advantage from upgrading the mobo is the OC'ing ability. Intel brand boards, except for their enthusiast level, cannot OC via the BIOS.
 
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+1 on the AMD

Either go AM2+/AM3 or i7 for new builds.

The AMD X3 720BE is around the e8400 level and with the extra core it will do nicely if you ever encode.

For memory I rather go with the G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) sticks which has better timings at lower volts and a few bucks cheaper. Though... you will have to get them from newegg.
 
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Yeah I was going to go E7400/Asus P45 mobo, but went with the AMD X3 720BE/Gigabyte 790 mobo
 
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