$2000 gaming build

Tell him he cant always get what he wants.


we aren't your servants, do your own research and tell us what you think and we will help.
 
Sorry man, but you need to do the leg work on your own. Once you have a parts list bring it to us and we'll be more than happy to look it over and give our opinions.
 
Start here: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1217870

Eh, some of us are bored and at home sick, so it'd be fun to piece a rig together with a budget amount. So, whats included in that $2k budget? Also, why not OC?
Here's a list to start with:

$285 - Q6600
$130 - GA-P35-DS3R
$200 - 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-800 G.Skill
$250 - 8800GTS 320MB
$110- 500GB SATA300
$100- P180B
$100- 520W Corsair
$300 - DVDRW SATA
$80- 320GB SATA300
========
$1555 + tax and shipping

Oh look, theres room for a monitor! lol. Does he need one? If so, add some 22"... it should fit nicely into that budget. ooh, wait, does he need an OS? lol.
 
Sorry I should have mentioned you don't need a monitor, he was going to get a 52" LCD TV for that with a friend's best buy employee discount.

I say no OCing because he doesn't even want to build it himself. He's going to take it to a place that will build it. I figure with $2000 he can get top of line stuff that won't benefit all that much from OCing since they're clocked high already.

CPU: Obviously a core 2 quad, is the q6700 worth it, and what are these t7400 chips?
Video card: 8800 GTX probably, I doubt the ultra could be worth it, is it?
RAM: 4 gigs of ram at lest 800MHz, would you need any thing faster if you don't do any bios changes like that FSB ram ratio?
MB: I was thinking the IP35-E
HDD: Caviar 500GB seems good, I'll have to ask him how much space he wants
PSU: Very good on of these I think is important, so like a silverstone olypia 750W should be enough, or maybe just the 650W
CASE: P182 should work since he's not OCing, wouldn't need any mods and would run quiet
OPTICAL: like some good brand $30-40 DVD writer.
I can't see him ever needing a 3.5" disk drive

So this is what I was thinking, should he get good HSF even he's not OCing? I'd get like a sycth ninja if so, only $40 and has fan plus won't get clogged with dust easily since the fins are so far apart.

I hope that all makes sense, I'm a little drunk.

BTW, there was some guy that posted all links to the stuff for a $400 build I asked for a different friend. Most if it was from mwave, some newegg, and I think maybe frys. I guess I'll PM that guy.
 
SpiderWaffle said:
I say no OCing because he doesn't even want to build it himself. He's going to take it to a place that will build it. I figure with $2000 he can get top of line stuff that won't benefit all that much from OCing since they're clocked high already.

1) CPU: Obviously a core 2 quad, is the q6700 worth it, and what are these t7400 chips?
Video card: 8800 GTX probably, I doubt the ultra could be worth it, is it?
2) RAM: 4 gigs of ram at lest 800MHz, would you need any thing faster if you don't do any bios changes like that FSB ram ratio?
3) MB: I was thinking the IP35-E
4) HDD: Caviar 500GB seems good, I'll have to ask him how much space he wants
5) PSU: Very good on of these I think is important, so like a silverstone olypia 750W should be enough, or maybe just the 650W
6) CASE: P182 should work since he's not OCing, wouldn't need any mods and would run quiet
7) OPTICAL: like some good brand $30-40 DVD writer.
I can't see him ever needing a 3.5" disk drive

8) So this is what I was thinking, should he get good HSF even he's not OCing? I'd get like a sycth ninja if so, only $40 and has fan plus won't get clogged with dust easily since the fins are so far apart.

9) BTW, there was some guy that posted all links to the stuff for a $400 build I asked for a different friend. Most if it was from mwave, some newegg, and I think maybe frys. I guess I'll PM that guy.
Click to expand...

You'd be surprised with the performance gain you'd get from such modest OC's on these Core2 chips. Plus, these things are so easy to OC, its a shame to leave any at stock. If he wants his money's worth, he should learn how to build it himself and OC it.

1) The Q6700 is only worth it because he doesnt want to OC. It has the same OC potential as the Q6600. Since there's no OC'ing, you want to get the highest stock clock possible within budget.
2) You'd need DDR2-667 if there were no OC'ing. Even if he were OC'ing, he wouldn't need anything faster than DDR2-800.
3) That could work. Its $90 at mwave plus a $20 MIR, so its $70AR.
4) Any of the 500GB drives are fine (WD, Seagate, Samsung, Hitachi). They all perform on par with each other. The WD and Samsung are quiet, the Hitachi runs hot, and the Seagate has a 5yr warranty.
5) He doesnt need a 650W for a single card solution. The Corsair 520W I recommended above is more than enough. Its also built by Seasonic, so its good quality.
6) The newer revision P180B is basically the same as the P182, but usually cheaper. Go with whichever floats his boat.
7) They're all fine, imo, as long as you use good media.
8) If he wants a quieter cooler, then yes. But, since he's getting a quad, get the Tuniq Tower instead. The ninja doesn't handle quads as well as the Tuniq and Ultra 120x.
9) I'm lazy these days, so I don't link as much as I used to. I figured Danny or Abu would have linked you by now, but then again, it was Friday night, lol. Its not hard to find these parts. Just look at newegg mostly, lol. Other vendors are buy.com, clubit.com, zipzoomfly.com, mwave.com, and microcenter.com.
 
 
That's great thanks, the only thing I question is the Q6600. He simply can't OC, he's just way too computer illiterate, I know it sucks, but what can you do.

So there's like an extra $500 there to use. How about getting a core2quad that's clocked higher stock?
 
Well an intelligent man like yourself should be able to find a higher clocked quad core by himself. Check out the link enginurd had in his first post in this thread for places to buy from.
 
ya I was going to do that.

Another thing, would he need 4GB ram if he just runs like HL2 or some other more recent or future FPS, IRC, win amp, and stream web cam

He doesn't want to get vista cause it has some problems right now and doesn't run as good as XP, and I can't really blame. The only I see for getting vista now is use 4GB of ram.

So what do you should be done with vista and the ram issue?
 
From what I hear, Vista runs great, and thats coming from technical people who've been using Vista for the past few months now.

No, he won't need 4GB for the stuff you mentioned.

If you're buying an OS now, I'd suggest Vista 64-bit. The only reason I'd suggest XP is if you have old peripherals (that don't have Vista drives) that you'd like to keep using or if you already own an XP license. If you buy XP now, you'll have to buy Vista later, if you want to play any DX10 games in DX10 mode. If you don't plan on upgrading to Vista until 2010 (when ms ceases XP support), then go with XP for now.
 
He does have XP from his dell

Ya I figure vista is the future, but if it's worse than XP now that sucks. Changing your OS also sucks. meh
 
SpiderWaffle said:
He does have XP from his dell

Ya I figure vista is the future, but if it's worse than XP now that sucks. Changing your OS also sucks. meh
Click to expand...

Sorry but you can't use that Dell OEM key on another PC. An OEM key lives and dies with the PC that it was installed on first. Also, as I remember it, a Dell XP disc checks for a Dell BIOS.

So you may have to buy Vista after all.

However some people have been able to move their OEM copy of XP to another PC by simply calling up Microsoft and telling that the mobo died and you had to replace it or a bad power supply took out the entire system. It might work. Haven't tried it myself so I can't attest to that.
 
enginurd said:
As long as he knows he's paying $244 for an extra 266Mhz, which he can most likely get for free if he invests a little bit of time in learning how to OC it.
Click to expand...

What enginurd said.

IMO, the 266Mhz increase is not worth the extra $200. It's a bad choice even with a $2000 budget.
 
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