700ish Gaming Build

C

clark45

Limp Gawd
2FA
Joined
Jan 22, 2005
Messages
148
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming primarily, though I occasionally do some development on it (Visual Studios)<br>
Currently play Source based and DOTA. Will play Starcraft2, Diablo 3 and newer games as well.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
700ish - i am flexiable, but cheaper is better
3) Where do you live?
Minnesota
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU - I am willing to get an AMD dual core and try unlocking the other cores (maybe a x3 makes more sense incase they dont unlock)
HD - Dont need a huge amount of storage, either the 640gb or 500gb will be fine
Video - Was thinking a 5770, but I can wait a few months on the video and reuse my 7800GTX
Case - Whatever fits into my budget
RAM - 4GBs
PSU - Whatever is recommended
MOBO - Whatever is recommended
OS - Windows 7
Cooler -
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
IDE DVD Drive
6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes, also open to unlocking cores
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
2x22in 1680x1050 (though I only game on 1 of them)
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Soon, though I can wait a month or 2 if it makes sense (prefer not to)
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Nothing fancy, just IDE support for DVD drive. Previous build had SLI and Raid, but i never used them.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
No, need one included in the build (I am not a student, but I do have an MSDN license through work, but I prefer not using that unless it is recommended.


My previous build was a x3800 (939), 2gigs ram, 7800GTX so I am sure anything is a step up.

Thanks for the help
 
 
I will try and put together the complete build I had in mind when I get home from work.

Thanks for the help so far
 
lt_shiro said:
GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H AM3 AMD 890GX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail and AMD Phenom II X2 555 Callisto 3.2GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Desktop Processor - C3 Revision Model HDZ555WFGMBOX - Retail Combo $225
Click to expand...

Man, that's overpriced! There's no reason to buy 890 unless you need lots and lots of SATA 6.0 slots. This combo is $42 cheaper ($52 after MIR), and has the same features.

$182 AMD Phenom II X2 555 Callisto 3.2GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Desktop Processor - C3 Revision Model HDZ555WFGMBOX - Retail GIGABYTE GA-770TA-UD3 AM3 AMD 770 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Save the man some money so he can get an excellent video card!

This leaves about $300 to play with for video, hard disk and shipping. I'd probably go 5770, and an F3 if we can find it.
 
Is it better to go with the Callisto over the Rana even though the Callisto is more money and only has 2 cores?

My hope was to unlock the 4th core on the Rana, but even if it didnt unlock I still have the 3rd core. Though maybe it is better to go with the Callisto since it will overclock better (guessing)?
Edit - looking at it some it seems the Rana is an Athlon while the Callisto is a Phenom. So I assume it is better to go with the Phenom and hope the cores unlock and if it doesnt look at upgrading it down the road when a quad core is more needed?

Also I see the harddrive here isnt an F3 model (assuming I am looking at the right thing). I guess the amount of space I have doesnt matter too much to me, as I dont store many images or videos.

Can I use the Upgrade Disk as just a normal install disk or do I need to install something first?

Here is what I was thinking (copied from someone else on this forum)

$158 - AMD Athlon II X3 435 CPU + Gigabyte GA-770TA-UD3 AM3 AMD 770 Motherboard
$105 - G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$160 - XFX HD-577X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$56 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$110 - Antec 200 Case + Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W PSU
$110 - Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade
Also what would be a good cooler for cheap? Or just go with stock for now?
thanks for the feedback
 
Last edited:
The F3's seem to be out of stock everywhere, lol. Amazon has them, supposedly, though. HD502HJ and HD103SJ are the models you want.
 
 
well thank you all

I ended up going with most of hossdaddy's build, but got the xfx 5770 instead and a Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB.

thank you all again for all the help
 
clark45 said:
well thank you all

I ended up going with most of hossdaddy's build, but got the xfx 5770 instead and a Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB.

thank you all again for all the help
Click to expand...

lol thats the hd I suggested. I also chose that gpu becaue I heard one @ my local shop the other day, and it was almost silent.
 
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