New gaming system ~$400

H

hy0r1

n00b
Joined
Feb 25, 2004
Messages
43
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Mostly gaming - call of duty MW2, borderlands, dragon age origins, eventually SC2
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~$400, can go higher if really necessary
3) Where do you live?
Houston
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Need case preferably with eSATA ports on the front so i can plug in my external, RAM, CPU+Mobo, heatsink, small hard drive for operating system (already have external for media storage), videocard
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
120mm and 80mm case fans, Dell S2309W monitor - 1920x1080, speakers (average, dont really need a sound card), keyboard/mouse, cables, and i have a Cooler Master RS-450-ACLY 450W power supply, not sure if i can reuse it or not.
6) Will you be overclocking?
yes
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Dell S2309W monitor - 1920x1080 - already have
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
within the next month
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
no clue .. but dont need RAID or firewire
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
yes, will be using windows 7


I have been looking at a couple items already.
Not sure if this will pan out, but slickdeals shows tomorrow at fry's there will be an AMD Athlon X4 630 + mobo for $100. Havn't seen proof of the deal or what mobo it comes with yet.
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1706175&p=25138975&highlight=amd#post25138975
No clue on what video card to get. I won't be doing high def TV watching or video editing on my computer though, mainly just gaming.

I'm upgrading from a really old home built computer over 6 years ago - AMD Athlon XP 2500+, ATI Radeon 9800 pro, 2gb ram pc3200, IDE hard drives. So anything will be an improvement. Thanks all for your help!!
 
Not sure about the whole build, but a good gfx card would probably be the 4670 for $54.99 (after MIR) or a 9600GT. The 9600GT is a little more, but a little better for 1920x1080. You could probably find one close to the price of the 4670 used here on Hardforum or Ebay. However, one of the advantages of the 4670 is that it doesn't require any extra power which could be a plus if you're getting a low wattage PSU. I have a 4670 and they're pretty good. And for the CPU, you may want to look at some Athlon II X2/X4's since they're the most bang for the buck.
 
This outta be light years ahead of your existing build. This is not the greatest build but, $406 build w/free shipping

Rosewill R230-P-BK for $19.99 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147075

Corsair 450VX for $64.99 ($20 MIR) w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003

ASUS M4A785-M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G + AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz both for $112.98 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.293354

XFX Geforce 9800GT + Wintec 2GB DDR2 800 for $125.98 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.285748

Seagate Barracuda 500GB Sata HDD for $54.99 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395

LG Sata 22X DVD Burner for $26.99 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136167

Total: $405.92 w/free shipping
 
hy0r1 said:
Thanks - Do you recommend not using my current power supply then, even though it is also 450W?

How is this one? It's also $45 after MIR
Antec Earthwatts 650W Continuous
http://www.frys.com/product/5503410
Click to expand...

The 450VX is a very good PSU. I dono whether the AE 650 would be as quiet. I run my sig and the 450VX... well - I can only hear it if I bring my ear very close to it.
 
whats weird is the X4 965 is $185, plus the Gigabyte mobo is $75. Combo price regularly at frys is 155, -15 MIR = 140?? doesn't make sense...either something is wrong or this is one hell of a deal. Either way I think I will be picking up one of these two deals at frys tomorrow. Any thoughts on which one?
 
Also, I just found this deal. Sorry I keep posting randomly, I keep finding deals that I'm not sure of. It's a Radeon 4770, which according to tomshardware hierarchy chart is one level above the 9800 GT. It's $75 after MIR and cash back, making this a better deal than the 9800 GT ($125 for this + 2gb memory) because even if i buy memory separately, it would be 75+41=116

I just dont know very much about this card or the maker.

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?p=25165427#post25165427
 
Well, go for the 965 combo.

And a 250GTS for THIRTY SEVEN DOLLARS? Holy shit, that is cheap.
 
Thanks - I picked up the combo today

AMD Phenom II X4 965 + Gigabte GA-MA785GMT

Now I just need a video card (missed out on the 250gts for $37 deal), Ram (DDR3 for this mobo), a case (this mobo is microATX)

Should I still go for the 450W Corsair PSU for $45 from newegg? Will that be enough to power this processor, a high end video card, one SATA hard drive, one PATA hard drive, one external SATA occassionally, and a dvd drive?
 
gwarren007 said:
heres the ram
Gskill 1600 $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303&Tpk=20-231-303
Click to expand...

thanks - going to grab this memory!

Still need a power supply recommendation - is this one enough?
I'm not positive yet on my video card, but here is the one from above - i looked on ati's website for list of approved PSU's and this particular one is not on there, though I know corsair is a fantastic brand.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139003
CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W
The 12V+ rail is ~33 Amps

My components:
AMD X4 Phenom II 965
Gigabyte GA-MA78GMT
Not sure on video card yet - possibly 9800GT, 250GTS, or radeon 4770
2 sticks of 2GB DDR3 RAM
1 SATA hdd, 1 PATA hdd, 1 SATA external occassionally
dvd drive
3 120mm fans

I checked this setup on extreme power supply calculator
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/p...ulatorlite.jsp
turned out to be ~280W
 
The Corsair 450VX is more than enough for that setup. Just because a PSU is not on ATI website doesn't mean it will not work well.
 
Koko56 said:
Well, go for the 965 combo.

And a 250GTS for THIRTY SEVEN DOLLARS? Holy shit, that is cheap.
Click to expand...

it was for 25$ shipped with cash back, but I didn't figure out how to use cash back in time. And on newegg it was 30 with free shipping on black friday

and its on par with a 4850
 
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crownonfire said:
Hey I found the gts 250 for 47 shipped after 80 dollar rebate

http://www.buy.com/listing/sellerlistings.asp?sku=210903822&buy=0

Then go here:
http://galaxytech.4myrebate.com/customer/default.aspx

and enter offer code SIC-5641

hope its not too late

The rebate says "Purchased between 11/26/2009 and 11/30/2009" I don't know if that includes the 30th but I think it does.
Click to expand...

I don't think you can buy from any of those sellers. You have to buy from buy.com for the rebate to work, if i recall correctly?
 
No.

I went through and filled out the rebate just now(I also bought it) to make sure. It says "channel wide" for the resellers. So all you need is the upc label from the box, a printed invoice, and the filled out rebate form. ;)

Its cuz the rebate is from galaxy, not buy.com
 
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crownonfire said:
No.

I went through and filled out the rebate just now(I also bought it) to make sure. It says "channel wide" for the resellers. So all you need is the upc label from the box, a printed invoice, and the filled out rebate form. ;)

Its cuz the rebate is from galaxy, not buy.com
Click to expand...

Hmm .. which seller did you buy from?

I have been following the thread on slickdeals. sorry, but i would cancel your order asap unless you dont care about the rebate not being honored. Here is the link to galaxy's list of authorized "channel partners" meaning the "channel wide" resellers in the rebate

http://www.galaxytechus.com/usa/where.aspx

unless you bought from one of those.. if you did congratulations!! im pissed that i missed out on this.

edit: actually i think it just popped back up on amazon for $119!!! that makes it 119-80 but better than nothing!! i'd hurry and grab it.
http://slickdeals.net/?sdtid=170677...c_mri?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance
oops now it's gone lol. it was on for about 5 minutes... i grabbed it, and called them and confirmed its backordered but bought directly from amazon, qualifying for the rebate. i hit refresh and its not back to being sold by antonline for $109, which is NOT a partner of galaxy so the rebate won't work.
 
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at such low pricepoints, you'll typically get more for your money instead of prices getting lower, but you never know.
 
hy0r1 said:
Hmm .. which seller did you buy from?

I have been following the thread on slickdeals. sorry, but i would cancel your order asap unless you dont care about the rebate not being honored. Here is the link to galaxy's list of authorized "channel partners" meaning the "channel wide" resellers in the rebate

http://www.galaxytechus.com/usa/where.aspx

unless you bought from one of those.. if you did congratulations!! im pissed that i missed out on this.

edit: actually i think it just popped back up on amazon for $119!!! that makes it 119-80 but better than nothing!! i'd hurry and grab it.
http://slickdeals.net/?sdtid=170677...c_mri?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance
oops now it's gone lol. it was on for about 5 minutes... i grabbed it, and called them and confirmed its backordered but bought directly from amazon, qualifying for the rebate. i hit refresh and its not back to being sold by antonline for $109, which is NOT a partner of galaxy so the rebate won't work.
Click to expand...

Man u scared me lol, luckily my invoice seller is buy.com.
 
crownonfire said:
Man u scared me lol, luckily my invoice seller is buy.com.
Click to expand...

ok, you should be fine then. You can always call galaxy to confirm. $80 is a lot :)

the deals keep coming. I cancelled my corsair 450W power supply (i ordered it yesterday, and today 10% bing cashback comes back) and got this instead

Cooler Master Storm Scout ATX Mid Tower Computer Case + OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W Power Supply $50AR/BCB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.291796

hopefully this is not the wrong move? the PSU seemed to get nice reviews on newegg, and the case too

also re-ordered the gskill memory, $72 after BCB
 
hy0r1 said:
including this particular one? It seems to have gotten very good reviews on newegg with 143 reviews
Click to expand...

For PSUs, you can ignore newegg user reviews. The best way to know if a PSU is good or not is to read a proper review, like from jonnyguru.com or hardocp.com (silentpcreview and hardwarecanucks are also good choices for PSU reviews), that use automated test equipment along with a good test methodology and post all the oscope results.

The 700W version of the MXS from OCZ got a big fat FAIL from [H]. While that doesn't necessarily prove the 600W version is bad, it doesn't help until a proper review of the 600W can be found.
 
I've had a 600W PSU called... err - it was about £20.

OH - yeah - EzCool. had it in my sig for 2 years and it was fine, untill I tried taking it appart... :p

I know here people are quite anal about PSUs, but chances are that OCZ will do absolutely fine, especially in that system.
 
Oh yah, its definitely up to you if you want to use a good quality PSU or not. I've used lower quality PSUs myself without issues. Though, for my main systems, I tend to choose better quality parts and therefore want a higher quality power supply unit to lessen the chances of my parts getting fried by the psu... but thats just me. :D I also use a UPS w/ AVR instead of a standard surge protector. :p
 
alright this is making me nervous. It sounds like if the load stays under 75% the PSU should be fine. Given my rig, lets say i play modern warfare 2 for hours - is that gonna be over 75% load?
 
enginurd said:
Oh yah, its definitely up to you if you want to use a good quality PSU or not. I've used lower quality PSUs myself without issues. Though, for my main systems, I tend to choose better quality parts and therefore want a higher quality power supply unit to lessen the chances of my parts getting fried by the psu... but thats just me. :D I also use a UPS w/ AVR instead of a standard surge protector. :p
Click to expand...
Of course - I see why one would wanna have a higher quality PSU in a high-end system... and.. err an UPS... err... *oh yeah, back on topic*. Of course if you plug 2x280s with a 4Ghz Quad core CPU, 10 HDDs, 5 fans, etc you are liekly to witness some problems with the "cheaper PSUs" and such - what I am trying verborrhea out here is that the OCZ PSU he's got will do fine, fine, fine. unles it is a faulty unit... :eek:

:p
hy0r1 said:
alright this is making me nervous. It sounds like if the load stays under 75% the PSU should be fine. Given my rig, lets say i play modern warfare 2 for hours - is that gonna be over 75% load?
Click to expand...

Have a look at this and then this.

You might just be fine with your system. :D
 
Koko56 said:
Of course - I see why one would wanna have a higher quality PSU in a high-end system... and.. err an UPS... err... *oh yeah, back on topic*. Of course if you plug 2x280s with a 4Ghz Quad core CPU, 10 HDDs, 5 fans, etc you are liekly to witness some problems with the "cheaper PSUs" and such - what I am trying verborrhea out here is that the OCZ PSU he's got will do fine, fine, fine. unles it is a faulty unit... :eek:

:p


Have a look at this and then this.

You might just be fine with your system. :D
Click to expand...

thanks :D
 
I believe both of those drives are still using 333GB-platters or 250GB-platters. The higher density 500GB-platters are found in the Samsung F3 and Seagate 7200.12 500GB and 1TB drives. I think the only WD that uses 500GB-platters is the 2TB.
 
enginurd said:
I believe both of those drives are still using 333GB-platters or 250GB-platters. The higher density 500GB-platters are found in the Samsung F3 and Seagate 7200.12 500GB and 1TB drives. I think the only WD that uses 500GB-platters is the 2TB.
Click to expand...

i read the 640gb has a much higher average speed (according to HDTune results) than the 500gb ... should I cancel this drive ($57) and get the spinpoint f3 500gb $55 at newegg?
 
The cav.black/blue640 is slower than the F3 and 'cuda.12.

HDTune_Benchmark_WDC%20WD5000AAKS-00YGA.png
HDTune_Benchmark_R_WDC_WD6400AAKS-75A7B.png

HDTune_Benchmark_R_ST31000528AS.png
HDTune_Benchmark_R_SAMSUNG_HD103SJ.png


The F3 is faster than both of the caviars (640 & 500).
 
The 1TB F3 is probably the fastest HDD on the market - with the exclusion of the Rapotors maybe.
 
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