~$800 gaming pc

ponet

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Oct 21, 2005
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32
Hello all,

I convinced my friend to jump on the $20 BC2 deal the other day, but his rig definitely cannot run it, so he's looking to upgrade. I've been out of the loop since building my own rig a year ago, so I'm not too confident in specifying a system for him.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming - needs to run at least the aforementioned bad company 2. Secondary uses would be torrenting, watching videos, some programming.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$800 with some wiggle room probably, I'd say try for $800 before tax/shipping.

3) Where do you live?
He lives in Los Angeles.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Everything inside the tower - case, cpu, mobo, ram, video card, psu. He also wants an SSD.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Peripherals and monitor will be reused. He can reuse his existing SATA hdd if needed.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Most likely not.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Dell 2001fwp, but should probably plan on having enough power to run games at 1920x1080 when he eventually decides to upgrade his monitor.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next month or so.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
None.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
He has a windows 7 license already.

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
$238 - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition CPU + GIGABYTE GA-770TA-UD3 AM3 AMD 770 Motherboard combo
$94 - A-Data AD3U1333B2G9-DRH 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$290 - XFX HD-585X-ZAFC Radeon HD 5850 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$56 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$25 - LG GH22NS50 DVD Burner
$105 - Antec 200 Case + Antec Neo Eco 620C 620W PSU
----
Total: $808 plus tax and shipping.

An SSD is not possible with that budget and BC2 at 1920x1200. Your friend will have to decide whether or not he wants far better gaming performance or far better general performance.
 
enginurd:
He lives in west LA, and as far as I know the only microcenter in socal is in Orange? He could drive to Frys if need be.

dannybui:
I was afraid of that too given to lowish budget. I myself play at 1920x1080 medium settings with only an oc'd 4850, so maybe if we went with a less powerful video card? Knowing my friend, he wouldn't mind losing a bit of image quality. $800 is a soft limit I would think since it was more or less a random number he came up with when I asked around how much he'd like to spend. I'll ask to see if he'd be willing to bump it up some more.

Thanks for your input so far.
 
dannybui:
I was afraid of that too given to lowish budget. I myself play at 1920x1080 medium settings with only an oc'd 4850, so maybe if we went with a less powerful video card? Knowing my friend, he wouldn't mind losing a bit of image quality. $800 is a soft limit I would think since it was more or less a random number he came up with when I asked around how much he'd like to spend. I'll ask to see if he'd be willing to bump it up some more.

Thanks for your input so far.

I'm playing BC2 at 1440x900 at medium settings and I still notice slowdowns (dips below 30FPS). So dunno how the HD 4850, only 10% faster than the 8800GT, can handle 1920x1080 at medium settings.

Anyway, here's another build:
$238 - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition CPU + GIGABYTE GA-770TA-UD3 AM3 AMD 770 Motherboard combo
$94 - A-Data AD3U1333B2G9-DRH 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$210 - XFX HD-489X-ZSFC Radeon HD 4890 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$100 - Intel SSDSA2MP040G2R5 2.5" 40GB SSD
$25 - LG GH22NS50 DVD Burner
$105 - Antec 200 Case + Antec Neo Eco 620C 620W PSU
----
Total: $772 plus tax and shipping.

That SSD is on sale RIGHT NOW. So if you're gonna buying anything today, it's that SSD. Usually costs $125. So definitely pic up that SSD. The HD 4890 should still be capable of handling BC2 at 1920x1200 relatively well.
 
Ah yeah you're right, I went back and checked my settings and I'm running 1920x1080 at low. I'll let him know about the drive tomorrow after I wake up.
 
ahh, you mean today, hehe. i came in here to post the deal cuz i forgot to post it last night when i posted in hotdeals, but it looks like danny beat me to it. :p he should wait for the fry's ad tomorrow for the mobo/cpu -- there may be some good combos.
 
Start with this Combo
Add This SSD (that is a Intel x18m G1 80gb in a 1.8" to 2.5" enclosure) Then add This 5830. That brings the damage to 839 for a complete system with SSD & very respectable gaming performance.

I'd pass on any Thermaltake that isn't 80+ certified. Actually, I'd pass on any PSU that isn't 80+ certified these days, lol. If that combo didn't have that PSU, it wouldn't be a bad deal. Actually, not even counting the PSU, they total up to $425, so there's still a slight discount, and you can sell the TR2RX to some local CL'er, hehe.

I love those X18-M drives, though. I've got two in RAID0 in my i7 machine. :D They were on sale for $150 recently, and will probably be on sale again tomorrow for Newegg's SSD sale -- the only issue is if you use the drive in a standalone single drive config, there's no TRIM support, since it's a Gen1 drive -- you'll just need to manually TRIM using Intel's tool whenever you notice it slow down. BTW, the X25-V 40GB is on sale for $99, so you can grab two and RAID them for slightly better than a single X25-M 80GB performance (you just lose TRIM again, since it's in RAID).
 
I'd pass on any Thermaltake that isn't 80+ certified. Actually, I'd pass on any PSU that isn't 80+ certified these days, lol. If that combo didn't have that PSU, it wouldn't be a bad deal. Actually, not even counting the PSU, they total up to $425, so there's still a slight discount, and you can sell the TR2RX to some local CL'er, hehe.

I love those X18-M drives, though. I've got two in RAID0 in my i7 machine. :D They were on sale for $150 recently, and will probably be on sale again tomorrow for Newegg's SSD sale -- the only issue is if you use the drive in a standalone single drive config, there's no TRIM support, since it's a Gen1 drive -- you'll just need to manually TRIM using Intel's tool whenever you notice it slow down. BTW, the X25-V 40GB is on sale for $99, so you can grab two and RAID them for slightly better than a single X25-M 80GB performance (you just lose TRIM again, since it's in RAID).

I Agree on the PSU.. But with the combo discount its free all togeather & there isnt a better free psu to be found :)

& yea I snagged one of those SSD's last week & if they go up for 150 again tomorrow I will get a 2nd for raid.. Especially if I can find some sort of an enclosure to mount the pair in since I am limited for space in my pc-q07
 
Alright I just talked to him, and there's some changes:
He's actually willing to spring for a lot more for this build - new budget of $1500 after tax/shipping, but now he may have to space out his purchases over time rather than all at once.

He wants the intel 80gb g2 drive (doesn't think 40gb is enough space), and he doesn't want to reuse his old SATA hdd either, so we need to add an HDD to the build as well.

With this new budget is it reasonable to step up to an i7 build? I figure adding the 5850, 80gb ssd, and something like a 1tb hdd will add something around $300 to the suggested builds?

Again, thanks for the input so far!
 
well spacing it out is fine except with a full system build that doesnt make any sence.. If he doesnt ahve all the money up front its a smarter ideal to sit on the cash till he does. Otherwise the parts bought early may be obsolete or DOA beyond return period when it actually comes time to use them. Not to mention everything almost always gets cheaper, not more expensive.
 
Sorry, I was being a bit vague. By spacing it out over time I meant over the course of several weeks, nothing longer than that. So in that sense, if there was anything on sale now or within the next few days, he could easily jump on it, and hold onto it until his next paycheck so that he can afford the rest. But of course he could also just wait and save until he has the full 1500 or so ready.
 
Two X25-V 40GB SSDs in RAID0 would be slightly better than a single X25-M 80GB. ;)
 
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Just tried my hand at making a build:

$79.99 Case: Cooler Master Storm Scout
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-SGC-2000-KKN1-GP-Storm-Scout/dp/B00243HHNY/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I15DQOIGN14XQP&colid=2K7IJUE2VUT0V

$209.99 Mobo: Gigabyte UD3R
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-LGA1366-CrossFireX-Motherboard-GA-X58A-UD3R/dp/B0034CSTFY/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I9U6UR2JB0K1S&colid=2K7IJUE2VUT0V

$165.45 RAM: OCZ PC3-10666
http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-OCZ3P1333LV6GK-PC3-10666-Platinum-Channel/dp/B001IT2E42/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=pc&qid=1270167770&sr=1-2

$99.99 PSU: Corsair 650W
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-CMPSU-650TX-650-Watt-Certified-compatible/dp/B000X24ISU/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=IMLQNZGGSGCXX&colid=2K7IJUE2VUT0V

$309.99 Videocard: Radeon 5850
http://www.amazon.com/Visiontek-Radeon-HD5850-Express-900297/dp/B002QEBGGA/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3IGLRA2IEKQVJ&colid=2K7IJUE2VUT0V

$224.99 80gb x-25m g2
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Mainstream-Retail-Package-SSDSA2MH080G2R5/dp/B002IJA1EG/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1MV2QW4J21M85&colid=2K7IJUE2VUT0V

$69.99 750gb WD caviar black
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Desktop-WD7501AALS/dp/B001CW9NL2/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3ARQNPH90LZ2Y&colid=2K7IJUE2VUT0V

This together is $1160.38. I tentatively could pick up a i7 930 for him at the Microcenter here in Santa Clara and have him pick it up when he comes up later this month for a grand total of $1360.38

Everything's from Amazon since there's no tax for CA. I'm sure these aren't the best prices out there for some of the parts, but its already well under budget so he could avoid the hassle of deal hunting and go for it right away (unless there's some deals right now that I'm not aware of).

Some things I'm unsure about are if the board is any good, and if the case will fit a 5850. What would you guys change from this setup?

Also, enginurd, I'm electing to stick with the single 80gb vs 2 40gb in raid for simplicity's sake. I'm sure he's already going to be floored by the transition from hdd to ssd enough to not care too much about the gains he could have from a raid setup.
 
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Sorry for the shameless bump, just want to get some affirmation before my friend starts shopping. Does anyone have input on the mobo I picked out, and does anyone know if the case I chose will have any issues with the length of a 5850?
 
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