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700$ gaming rig

M

ManyCowsMoo

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 3, 2005
Messages
348
Hey guys,

One of my coworkers want to build a gaming computer so she (female gamers?!) can play Dragon Age and BC2 with my me and my bros. Anyway, here's all the necessary info:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc: Gaming, web, office, etc
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included? ~700, try not to go over 750. The closer to 700 the better
3) Where do you live? Madison, WI
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need. : Case, PSU, CPU, Mobo, RAM, HDD, GPU
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model. : Monitor (1680x1050), keyboard, mouse, Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
6) Will you be overclocking? Of course
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have? 22" 1680x1050
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Within a week
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc. None
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

Here's what I put together:

50$ - Centurion 5 Case
280$ - HIS Radeon HD 6950 2GB
44$ - G.SKILL 4GB DDR3 1333
89$ - Antec HCG-520 520W PSU & WD Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB HDD
345$ - i5-2500k & MSI P67A-G45 1155 P67 Mobo
-----
808$ Total

So I need to trim off another 50-100$ if possible. I'd really like to keep the 6950 if possible because I plan to unlock the shaders as that's what I have running in my rig. Any suggestions?
 
Looks like if I go AMD with this combo (955, 880G mobo, 4GB RAM, 1TB HDD), I'd cut off 70$ and get a 1TB hdd instead of 500GB. I'm not sure if the performance difference is worth it.
 
At 1680x1050, a 6950 will be overkill. I'd recommend a 5850 Extreme or a 6850. That'll save you over $100 right there.
 
Shave off a $100 by going for a lower end card. Anything the poster above me would be good or even a 6870 would be good. A 6950 2GB is total over kill for 1680x1050. I think she is better off keeping the Core i5 2500 then a 955 BE as well.
 
Yeah, the 6870 is also an option. AMD recommends at least a 500w PSU, though -- and since he wants to overclock, that might get complicated. OC'ing a 6850 on a 520w PSU could also be dicey, but not as much. I think he could afford to beef that up to 600-650 watts.

I agree about the CPU, though. K variant of a core i5 usually has more OC headroom.
 
Back when I had a 6850 I overclocked it to 6870 performance (don't remember what the exact clocks were) and according to this benchmark, their whole setup with a 6870 (similar build) used around 350W so hopefully I should be good there.

I think I'll go with this open box powercolor 6850 for 231$ which puts the total at 661$. Maybe I can convince her to get an SSD (I'm thinking this OCZ 60GB one for 110$) too with the extra cash.
 
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If anyone's curious, here's the final build we went with:

50$ - Centurion 5 Case
44$ - G.SKILL 4GB DDR3 1333
89$ - Antec HCG-520 520W PSU & WD Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB HDD
345$ - i5-2500k & MSI P67A-G45 1155 P67 Mobo
25$ - Xigmatek Loki 92mm HSF
21$ - ASUS DVD Burner
140$ - Friend's used 6850
----
714$ - Total
 
Last edited:
hossdaddy said:
give this a look;

Combo: Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core + ASUS P8H67-M LX (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 $255.98

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 $39.99 + fs


Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W $69.99


XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB $204.99 - $20 mir + fs

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s $44.99 + fs

COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black Mid Tower $59.99 + fs

Total: $675.93 - $20 mir
Click to expand...


This is a Nice Solid build..

Edit: Though if your a person who takes the time to do the MIR's I would get this PSU instead. At equal cost the Antec is probably the better unit. But at a shipped total of 24 bucks cheaper the Corsair is the better PSU for the money spent.
 
Im running a GTS 450 vdieo card 1gb ed and I have no issues with any games. play em all on high settings
 
for god's sake whatever you do don't buy the antec neo eco series PSUs. I'm in the process of RMA'ing my second one in less than five months. Not good, not good at all.
 
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