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$750 for gaming focused build

W

wavewerx

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 8, 2008
Messages
284
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
This'll be my main desktop rig. Gaming - StarCraft II, Diablo III, Steam games; General workstation duties - MS Office, web browsing; Web design; perhaps a VM or two - *nix distro and an internal web host for testing pages.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$500 - $750 max, including tax and shipping.
3) Where do you live?
Columbia, SC
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, PSU, motherboard, CPU, RAM, video card, optical drive, hard drive
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?
Not a priority but not against it.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
BenQ V2400W - 1920x1200 resolution, would like to run games near this on comfortable settings. Does my budget match this?
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within two weeks
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Nothing special.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
I'll need an OS but it doesn't need to be included in the budget. Recommendation? Win 7 64-bit?


Budget is hardware only. The computer case and PSU don't need to be included in the budget either but I do want recommendations on them. I've never had a SFF and have thought about having this build be in one though I don't know if that has requirements unto itself. I don't need anything flashy, just something that's efficient ~~$100 for both.

My current computer is my Intel C2D 2.16ghz 2gb Macbook. My HTPC (in sig) is the newest machine I've built, before then it was a Athlon XP 2500+ era machine.

Here's one of DannyBui's recommendations from another similar thread. I'll throw it out there as a starting point. Since I already have a monitor and I'm taking the price of a case / psu out of the equation, I'd like to see where I can squeeze more performance.

Danny Bui said:
$80 - AMD Athlon II X3 440 CPU
$150 - Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870 ATX Motherboard + G.skill F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$115 - XFX HD-485X-ZNFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$45 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$20 - LG iHAS124-04 DVD Burner
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU
$40 - Cooler Master Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$120 - Hanns·G Black 19" DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor
---
Total: $620 plus tax and shipping.
Click to expand...
 
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Atlanta, GA is the closest I believe and I've never been there... it's a good three hours away...
 
wavewerx said:
Since I already have a monitor and I'm taking the price of a case / psu out of the equation, I'd like to see where I can squeeze more performance.
Click to expand...

This is confusing. In your build listing, you said you need a PSU/case, but now you say don't count it toward the build price?

You can easily get a 1920-capable performance rig for $750. Let's just take that baseline from Danny, which is $500 without the monitor ($250 to work with):

1. remove the Athlon II x3 and the Radeon 4850 (now have $445 to work with)

2. Add this Phenom II x4 3.0 GHZ plus XFX 5850 combo for $410

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.460527

Now we have $35 to improve the PSU, because I'm not sure the 400w is enough.

Remove 400CX, replace with this 650w Corsair PSU: $84 shipped after promo code, plus $20 MIR.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9005&cm_re=corsair_psu-_-17-139-005-_-Product

total cost: about $750 shipped.
 
Sorry for the confusion. I have some old cases laying around that I can use towards this project but would like to get recommendations on a newer case, because Chieftec dragon super cases aren't exactly cool anymore!

Defaultuser, exactly what you did is what I'm looking for. Thanks for the suggestions!
 
wavewerx said:
Sorry for the confusion. I have some old cases laying around that I can use towards this project but would like to get recommendations on a newer case, because Chieftec dragon super cases aren't exactly cool anymore!

Defaultuser, exactly what you did is what I'm looking for. Thanks for the suggestions!
Click to expand...

Ahh, I understand. The reason I suggest the XFX 5850 is because that's bare-minimum these days for solid 1920x1200 gaming. And in the future, you will be happy you spent a little extra, instead of having to knock-down the details to medium/low just to get playable framerates.

The GTX 460 1GB would be a decent alternative, but you'd need to find a combo just as good as the one I posted to make it really tempting. The GTX 460 would save you about $65 over the HD 5850, but (1) it's slower and (2) you lose the $25 combo savings, making the real difference only $40.

Not including the case in the price gives us more leeway with suggestions, and that's what you were angling for. Danny actually has a master list of cases if you want some suggestions to pick from. It's not exhaustive, but it is pretty thorough.

Unfortunately, I can't find a post with the list in it, so you'll have to wait until he posts to the thread again :D
 
I feel like I've been pimping this card, but whatever. Good news is news worth sharing, right?

This ASUS GTX460 1GB is stock OC'd to 775mhz. Apparently it's extremely cool, relatively quiet, and still offers a lot of headroom for more OC. At $209, it's a pretty great value. Only problem is it won't ship for another 2-4 weeks.

According to this review, the card consistently outperforms the 5850. There are a few other good reviews out there, as well. There's a thread with the links in the [H]otDeals forum.
 
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defaultluser said:
Unfortunately, I can't find a post with the list in it, so you'll have to wait until he posts to the thread again :D
Click to expand...

Master case list here :D:
$70 - Cooler Master RC-590-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$70 - Cooler Master CM690 II ATX Case
$90 - Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
$90 - Cooler Master HAF 922M RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$110 - Lian Li PC-E8B ATX Case
$110 - Lian Li PC-7FN ATX Case
$120 - Velocity Micro GX2-W Silver Classic Aluminum Case with Side Window
$120 - Thermaltake ElementS VK60001N2Z ATX Case
$130 - Cooler Master Storm Sniper ATX Case
$150 - Antec P183 ATX Case
$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$170 - Cooler Master Cosmos S 1000 RC-1100-KSN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case
$180 - Cooler Master ATCS 840 RC-840-KKN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case
$180 - Lian Li PC-B25F ATX Case
$210 - Silverstone FT01-B ATX Case
$220 - Lian Li PC-A71F Black ATX Case
$240 - Lian Li PC-V1200A Plus II ATX Case
$300 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Full Tower ATX Case
$330 - Silverstone Temjin SST-TJ07B Full Tower ATX Case

EDIT: I'm gonna have to come back later and setup a new build list. The combo deal in the quoted list no longer exists.
 
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Since you already have a good LCD and the OS isn't in the budget, here's a build I keep bookmarked for such a budget....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9103809&cm_re=phenom_2-_-19-103-809-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131646
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193&Tpk=F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...25333&cm_re=gtx460_1gb-_-14-125-333-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3891137&SID=194r0
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...371030&cm_re=antec_neo-_-17-371-030-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...04&cm_re=cooler_master-_-11-119-204-_-Product

Summary:

AMD Phenom II X4 945 (/w stock cooler) 139.99
ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 119.99
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 91.99
GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 229.99
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 54.99
ASUS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner 19.99
Antec NEO ECO 520W 59.99
COOLER MASTER Elite RC-310 39.99

Total with shipping/tax = $845.18

This is just a basic list. I'm CERTAIN Danny Bui will find some deals that will easily match or surpass this.
 
wavewerx said:
Sorry for the confusion. I have some old cases laying around that I can use towards this project but would like to get recommendations on a newer case, because Chieftec dragon super cases aren't exactly cool anymore!
Click to expand...
Ok that answers the part about the case. Now what about the PSU? Are you reusing a PSU as well? If so, what's the make and model?
 
Thanks for the suggestion guys.

Danny Bui said:
Ok that answers the part about the case. Now what about the PSU? Are you reusing a PSU as well? If so, what's the make and model?
Click to expand...

For a quick reply to your question, No, I don't have a PSU I'll be reusing. I was looking for a recommendation dependent on the hardware (video card requirements) and the case (space / fit).

I'll come back in a few and check out the builds posted.
 
$207 - AMD Phenom II 945 CPU + G.Skill F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT DDR3 1333 RAM
$75 - MSI 880GM-E41 AMD 880G mATX Motherboard
$230 - Gigabyte GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 1GB PCI-E Video Car
$56 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$20 - LG iHAS124-04 DVD Burner
$90 - Antec Neo Eco 520C 520W PSU + Silverstone PS05-B ATX Case
----------
Total: $678 plus tax and shipping
 
Thanks for the update Danny Bui. While I trust your recommendations the motherboard has 0 reviews. I've used MSI products before and have had zero problems. Any particular reason for picking this motherboard?
 
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wavewerx said:
Thanks for the update Danny Bui. While I trust your recommendations the motherboard has 0 reviews. I've used MSI products before and have had zero problems. Any particular reason for picking this motherboard?
Click to expand...

Cheapest but still good quality mobo I could find. If you want to spend $20 more:
$90 - Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G HDMI mATX Motherboard
 
Looking at the bank, I can't buy this computer just yet.... I'll revisit this thread next week after I get paid again. The build suggestions have helped me a ton in figuring out where I need to be part wise and where I can be money wise.

Thanks guys!
 
make sure to check back when you are ready to order as pricing and deals change weekly.
 
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