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$500 Starcraft II build

S

staticz

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 19, 2008
Messages
184
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

Starcraft II and other light computing

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

$500 - flexible on tax and shipping
or
$700 (would be a stretch but doable)

3) Where do you live?

USA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

Case
CPU
RAM
Vid Card
HDD
PSU
DVD Burner
Motherboard

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
None

6) Will you be overclocking?

Light OC'ing if possible

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?

Will be playing on an older 17" till I upgrade. May hookup to a 46" LCD once in awhile

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

ASAP

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.

Basic

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
yes sir. Win7 32-bit or 64 (MSDNAA)

Thanks in advance guys!
 
Last edited:
Sorry guys. This build isn't for me it is for a friend. I haven't looked at hardware since I finished my build so I am a bit behind!

It would be a separate build
 
Here's a prelim build:

$153 - AMD Athlon II X4 635 CPU + MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 870 ATX AMD Motherboard
$43 - Patriot 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$150 - ASUS CuCore Series EAH5770 CuCore/2DI/1GD5 Radeon HD 5770 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$96 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive + Antec Earthwatts Green EA430D 430W PSU Combo
$18 - LG iHAS124-04 DVD Burner
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case
-------
Total: $510 plus tax and shipping

Promo Codes:
$10 off w/ promo code EMCYVNY48, ends 7/26 for the case. So that'll be about $500 + tax and shipping if you use the promo.
 
Last edited:
Danny Bui said:
Here's a prelim build:

$153 - AMD Athlon II X4 635 CPU + MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 870 ATX AMD Motherboard
$43 - Patriot 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$150 - ASUS CuCore Series EAH5770 CuCore/2DI/1GD5 Radeon HD 5770 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$96 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive + Antec Earthwatts Green EA430D 430W PSU Combo
$18 - LG iHAS124-04 DVD Burner
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case
-------
Total: $510 plus tax and shipping

Promo Codes:
$10 off w/ promo code EMCYVNY48, ends 7/26 for the case. So that'll be about $500 + tax and shipping if you use the promo.
Click to expand...

I Dont think anyone is going to find anything else with that much horsepower in such a small price. The only thing I would probably do is drop the 5770 in favor of a 4850 & then spend the difference on the G.Skill 2x2gb kit.

Actually Danny's build isnt 510 its more like 473 shipped.. That being said I would make the following changes

Swap the case in favor of the NZXT M59 which is the same price with its own promo code.
Swap the HDD for the SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB which is a buck cheaper & faster
Swap the Video Card for ASUS CuCore Series EAH4850 CUCORE TOP/2DI/1GD3 Radeon HD 4850 1GB since its performance is almost as good as the 5770, except its 50 bucks less (& has a 20 MIR) (& if not ordered before the sale ends swap to whatever other 100 dollar 4850 you want)
Lastly swap the memory for G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333

Even though taking a hit in the video performance the extra ram (& going to dual channel) should more then make up for the performance difference.

Overall 471 shipped So the cost difference is neglegable
 
Last edited:
Danny Bui said:
Here's a prelim build:

$153 - AMD Athlon II X4 635 CPU + MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 870 ATX AMD Motherboard
$43 - Patriot 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$150 - ASUS CuCore Series EAH5770 CuCore/2DI/1GD5 Radeon HD 5770 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$96 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive + Antec Earthwatts Green EA430D 430W PSU Combo
$18 - LG iHAS124-04 DVD Burner
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case
-------
Total: $510 plus tax and shipping

Promo Codes:
$10 off w/ promo code EMCYVNY48, ends 7/26 for the case. So that'll be about $500 + tax and shipping if you use the promo.
Click to expand...

If he can do up to $700 I would suggest atleast going with 4GB of ram. I think you could drop the 5770 to a 4850 like bastage said and then upgrade the ram and possibly go with a Phenom II X4 925 instead of the Athlon. Needless to say that build is perfect for the $500 budget, I just figure if he can push it a little then why not eh? :D
 
Danny Bui said:
Here's a prelim build:

$153 - AMD Athlon II X4 635 CPU + MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 870 ATX AMD Motherboard
$43 - Patriot 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$150 - ASUS CuCore Series EAH5770 CuCore/2DI/1GD5 Radeon HD 5770 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$96 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive + Antec Earthwatts Green EA430D 430W PSU Combo
$18 - LG iHAS124-04 DVD Burner
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case
-------
Total: $510 plus tax and shipping

Promo Codes:
$10 off w/ promo code EMCYVNY48, ends 7/26 for the case. So that'll be about $500 + tax and shipping if you use the promo.
Click to expand...

Impressive build. This will do perfectly especially for Win 7 32bit. I just thought I throw one in with 4GB RAM but, with an X3 440 3.0ghz triple core for $20 more

OCZ Gold 4GB DDR3 1066 + AMD Athlon II X3 440 both for $142.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.441590

ASUS EAH5770 1GB + ASUS M4A785TD-M both for $214.98 ($20 MIR on mobo)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.441175

LITE-ON SATA DVD Burner + Corsair 400CX both for $60.98 ($20 MIR on PSU)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.435571

Coolermaster Elite 335 for $49.99 ($10 MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16811119161

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 500GB for $54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181

Total: $523.92
Shipping: $5.79
Grand Total: $529.71
 
Crap thats why Danny's price was off & mine came out so cheap.. Forgot the PSU (danny's combo link was just the HDD)..

Let me see....

Edit: Drop the DVD above in favor of This combo (compliments of HG) & you get a shipped total of 515

Edit Again: shipped total was 506, I forgot the promo code
 
LOL! It happens.

Anyway regarding the GPU: Personally I wouldn't downgrade the GPU. RAM is the cheapest and easiest part of a PC that can be upgraded. So I'd rather cut down on the RAM in order to make room for a faster video card.

With that said, the HD 4850 1GB is a good enough card for a 17" monitor.
 
Danny Bui said:
LOL! It happens.

Anyway regarding the GPU: Personally I wouldn't downgrade the GPU. RAM is the cheapest and easiest part of a PC that can be upgraded. So I'd rather cut down on the RAM in order to make room for a faster video card.

With that said, the HD 4850 1GB is a good enough card for a 17" monitor.
Click to expand...

That is actually a really good point. It would be harder to completely replace the gpu than to just add a second 2gb stick. I stand by your build now!
 
I get your point, but, being as this system is being purpose built for starcraft 2 I wouldnt want to leave anything just at the recommended system requirements. The 4850 well exceeds & blizzard games are known for not being super GPU intensive. Also I played the SC2 beta (early stages) on a 5750 & it played fine on high settings @ 1920x1200. So the 4850 is definitely more then enough.
 
Well, WOW has gotten pretty GPU heavy in the last few years. Considering that SC2 is probably gonna be well supported for a long time, I'm not entirely sure that Blizzard won't do the same thing to SC2: Up the GPU requirements like it did WOW.

But yes the HD 4850 1GB is more than enough for SC2 right now.

Well the OP has both of our thoughts. So he can decide himself whether to go for 4GB RAM + HD 4850 1GB or 2GB + HD 5770 1GB.
 
Maybe.. But that being said if they up the requirements then the ram would end up under..

So googleing around this appears to be the story with the 4850 & SC2

We already have over 9000 threads on "sc2 beta system requirements." Please search around before posting.

After having said that, I have a 4850 myself and I can play SC2 at 1920x1080 and ultra everything except shadows/shaders/lighting which are set to high. I get about ~58 avg fps.
Click to expand...

grabbed from http://sc2armory.com/forums/topic/12984
 
If the most intensive thing he is doing is Starcraft 2, I would just grab the fastest dual core you can find since SC2 doesn't use anything more than 2 cores, and once you've reached the 2 cores, it's heavily reliant on ghz. And since SC2 is more cpu intensive than gpu intensive, I would try to get the best CPU possible in the budget.
 
Aww yeah, let's up the budget to under $600! LoL and downgrade to a 4850 hehe. But, with a Phenom II Quad, 4GB RAM and a beefier PSU

AMD Phenom II X4 945 + Antec Earthwatts EA650 both for $199.98 ($15 MIR on PSU)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.434550

GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3 + G.SKILL 4GB DDR3 1333 both for $149.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.443520

GIGABYTE Radeon HD 4850 1GB for $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16814125236

SAMSUNG SPINPOINT F3 1TB for $54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181

COOLERMASTER Elite 335 for $49.99 ($10 MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16811119161

LITE-ON SATA DVD Burner for $17.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

Total: $572.92
Shipping: $3.86
Grand Total: $576.78
 
staticz said:
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

$500 - flexible on tax and shipping
or
$700 (would be a stretch but doable)
Click to expand...

Ya know this being said the 5770 & the 4gb of ram would be well under budget still.. Also as Dreaz points out & the googlebot confirms sc2 isnt taking advantage of multiple cores so this combo may be a better fit due to the higher clock speed. & would make OCing a bit easier.
 
In that case, let's go with this! Hehe. A fast Dual Core cpu with potential to unlock to 4 cores, 4GB RAM and a 550W Truepower New PSU for room to ugrade. Still under $600. I just hope you don't need to pay taxes as it will ruin my under $600 build.

AMD Phenom II X2 555 3.2Ghz + Antec TruePower New TP-550 both for $168.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.434561

GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3 + G.SKILL 4GB DDR3 1333 both for $149.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.443520

ASUS EAH5770 1GB for $149.99 ($20 MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16814121363

SAMSUNG SPINPOINT F3 500GB for $54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181

COOLERMASTER Elite 335 for $49.99 ($10 MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16811119161

LITE-ON SATA DVD Burner for $17.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

Total: $591.93
Shipping: $1.99
Grand Total: $593.92
 
Geez.... how's this for a really cheap gamer build. $417.63 w/shipping! $20 MIR, $16 promo on HDD and $8 promo on CASE. This would make the final price to $373.63!

AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor + MSI 740GM-P25 AM3 both for $94.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.444385

LITE-ON Sata DVD Burner + Corsair 400CX both for $60.98 ($20 MIR on PSU)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.435571

WD5000AAKS 500GB + Rosewill R218 both for $70.98 ($16 promo on HDD, $8 promo on case)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.431456

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 for $81.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231253

GIGABYTE Radeon HD 4850 1GB for $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125236

Total: $408.93
Shipping: $8.70
Grand Total: $417.63.

Heh, by the way, there's also a combo on the Gigabyte 4850 1GB + MS Windows 7 for $189.98

Grand total would be $507.62 with O/S and shipping
 
NOOOOOOOOOO!
Enthusiasts don't let fellow enthusiasts get trapped into building and thus obliged to provide lifetime of service for their friends/families/friend's of the above's computers. eeeeeehhhhhh!!!

On a tight budget, send them to Dell outlet... OE warranty from single point of contact... E.G. any of these should work. Should be plenty of horsepower for SC2, and if there are issues, send them to Dell.

Studio XPS 7100

Studio XPS 7100 Desktop
Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1035T (2.6GHz)
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
640 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
1GB ATI Radeon HD5670 GDDR5

Price: $639.00
Click to expand...

XPS 630

XPS 630 Desktop: Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q8200 (4MB,2.33GHz, 1333FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
640 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
4 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (4 DIMMs)
16X DVD ROM Drive
16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
512MB ATI Radeon HD 4850

Price: $709.00
Click to expand...
 
Studio XPS 7100

Studio XPS 7100 Desktop
Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1035T (2.6GHz)
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
640 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
1GB ATI Radeon HD5670 GDDR5

Price: $639.00

LINK ME THIS PLEASE.

(For my mom etc)
 
horrorshow said:
Studio XPS 7100

Studio XPS 7100 Desktop
Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1035T (2.6GHz)
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
640 GB SATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
1GB ATI Radeon HD5670 GDDR5

Price: $639.00

LINK ME THIS PLEASE.

(For my mom etc)
Click to expand...
You can go to Dell outlet and pull it up as easily as I did.

For your mom, I assume no gaming, there are lots of options with integrated graphics that are lower cost.
 
If you go custom I would get the a 4870, it's $99 also like the 4850 (nvm, dropped by 10) although mail in rebate.
 
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