Another Cheap Build thread.

R

Ride2kmax

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 26, 2008
Messages
341
I just got a MSI P6N SLI-FI mb very cheap ($30). I'm thinking of building a system with it . I would like to spend the least amount of money but i want a system that wont crap if i put game on it. I dont expect crysis to run on it but any other pc game.
It would be used mostly for internet/movies/school work and maybe some online games.
Can it be done?
The current things that i have are the MB/dvdburner/BB case with 500w power supply i guess thats it.

Now i think i need RAM a Hard Drive a video card and a cpu .

Any suggestions?

Well thanks everyone for the help in advance.
 
A few more questions that needs to be answered:
- What BB case with 500W PSU are you talking about?
- What size monitor do you have?
- Will you be overclocking?

Anyway, the cheapest best bang for the buck build I can recommend:
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 CPU - $70
G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ 2 x 1GB DDR2 800 RAM - $45
PNY VCG96512GXPB GeForce 9600 GT 512MB PCI-E Video Card - $100
Western Digital WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $62
---
Total: $277 plus tax and shipping.

However, I'm gonna take a guess and say that BB case with 500W PSU is some cheap no-name POS that is totally insufficient and inappropriate for a gaming rig. So I recommend this case PSU combo:
Antec 300 ATX Case - $50
Antec Earthwatts 500W PSU - $55
----
Total: $105 plus tax and shipping.

So to answer your question: It can be done :)
 
That was fast.

I have the best buy case that went on sale a few months ago for 19.99.
 
Monitor i have a accer 19" LCD does 1680 x 1050.
I dont know much about overclocking but i might do just a bit of it.
 
Not many lcds out there have a 1680 x 1050 res. You must have the X193W+BD model. Anyways, how much are you looking at spending anyways?
 
Ride2kmax said:
I have the best buy case that went on sale a few months ago for 19.99.
Click to expand...

Ok then. Definitely don't use the included power supply then. The case you can reuse but not the included PSU. Go with the EA500 PSU that I recommended above.
 
Danny Bui said:
A few more questions that needs to be answered:
- What BB case with 500W PSU are you talking about?
- What size monitor do you have?
- Will you be overclocking?

Anyway, the cheapest best bang for the buck build I can recommend:
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 CPU - $70
G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ 2 x 1GB DDR2 800 RAM - $45
PNY VCG96512GXPB GeForce 9600 GT 512MB PCI-E Video Card - $100
Western Digital WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $62
---
Total: $277 plus tax and shipping.

However, I'm gonna take a guess and say that BB case with 500W PSU is some cheap no-name POS that is totally insufficient and inappropriate for a gaming rig. So I recommend this case PSU combo:
Antec 300 ATX Case - $50
Antec Earthwatts 500W PSU - $55
----
Total: $105 plus tax and shipping.

So to answer your question: It can be done :)
Click to expand...

So far this are my options......
 
Do you by any chance need the SLI accessories for that P6N? :p

HardwareGuru said:
Not many [19"] lcds out there have a 1680 x 1050 res. You must have the X193W+BD model. Anyways, how much are you looking at spending anyways?
Click to expand...

fixed, since all 20/22 widescreens have that res, lol.
 
Ride2kmax said:
I dont know anything about SLI.

Do i need it??
Click to expand...

Well, did the board you got come with all the accessories you know nothing about? If so, then you don't need the ones I'm selling. :p If not, then if and when you need them, send me a PM. :D

SLI is using two NVIDIA cards together as one. ;) Its only cost effective for large monitors or if you get two lower end cards for dirt cheap.
 
You surely don't need SLI for a 19" lcd with 1680 x 1050 res. A 9600GT card that was listed in Dannys setup will do well for you. If you want to play Crysis, you can but, do not turn on AA and AF features in the game. It will dramatically slow the game down. Keep the video settings on medium at 1440 x 900 res. You should be fine. I played Crysis just fine on my 8800GT at 1440 x 900 res with most of the video setting on high but with no AA and AF enabled.
 
HardwareGuru said:
You surely don't need SLI for a 19" lcd with 1680 x 1050 res. A 9600GT card that was listed in Dannys setup will do well for you. If you want to play Crysis, you can but, do not turn on AA and AF features in the game. It will dramatically slow the game down. Keep the video settings on medium at 1440 x 900 res. You should be fine. I played Crysis just fine on my 8800GT at 1440 x 900 res with most of the video setting on high but with no AA and AF enabled.
Click to expand...

Thansk for the tip.

Is the 9600gt better than the 8800gt?
 
Ride2kmax said:
Thansk for the tip.

Is the 9600gt better than the 8800gt?
Click to expand...

No, but its good enough for a 19" LCD. ;) I think the 8800GT 512MB is only like $20 more... not a bad deal for a nice boost in performance, IMO.
 
enginurd said:
No, but its good enough for a 19" LCD. ;) I think the 8800GT 512MB is only like $20 more... not a bad deal for a nice boost in performance, IMO.
Click to expand...


Ok
Can you give a link to a 8800gt i looked at newegg but they have like 20 different brands and kinds.

Whats better than a 8800gt?
Just to know man i dont know much of hardware.

Thanks
 
ok I order the ram/psu from the egg and i'll pick up the e2180 from microcenter for 59. or should i get the e7200 for 99?
Now i think i want to spend a little more on the video card. (100-200)

Any suggestions ??????
 
Ride2kmax said:
ok I order the ram/psu from the egg and i'll pick up the e2180 from microcenter for 59. or should i get the e7200 for 99?
Now i think i want to spend a little more on the video card. (100-200)
Click to expand...

Ride2kmax said:
Ok
Can you give a link to a 8800gt i looked at newegg but they have like 20 different brands and kinds.

Whats better than a 8800gt?
Click to expand...

Get the E7200 for $100. It's a good deal at that price.

The HD4850 is better and faster than the 8800GT:
VisionTek 900241 Radeon HD 4850 512MB PCI-E Video Card - $185

But if you want to save money, then get the 8800GT:
PNY VCG88512GXEB-FLB GeForce 8800 GT 512MB PCI-E Video Card - $120
 
Personally, I would spend the extra $40 to stepup to an E7200 cpu over an E2180. I feel 530mhz core clock increase, along with 1066mhz FSB and 3mb L2 cache is pretty substantial. As far as the video card, an 8800GT is solid already. From my experience with an 8800GT card, I have ran games ranging from 1440 x 900 to 1920 x 1200 resolutions. I mainly play graphic intensive games such as Crysis, COD4, UT3, Stalker, GOW, R6 Vegas 2 and Turok.

E7200 for $100
8800GT for $110

Pretty good combination.
 
Ok made up my mind i order the 8800gt from the egg.
Now i'll just pick up the E7200.
 
I bought the 8800gt for 109 shipped.
The 4850 cost 185 plus 8 for shipping.
Since i wanted the cost to be low i went with the 8800gt and up the cpu for the
E7200.
Otherwise it would have been the 4850 with the E2180.
Originally i was going for the 9600gt with the e2180.
 
I was gonna suggest the E2180 and the HD4850 card but, nah even if you O/C the E2180 I rather get a cpu that's a bit more up to speed. Overall system will be more complete also. 1680 x 1050 res is minor on a 19". Plus, overall cost you spend is cheaper. It would be nice to pair the E7200cpu with the HD4850 but, I doubted that you will go for it at that price. It would bring you close to $300. Plus, you upped the E2180cpu and the 9600GT video that you originally had in the mind in the first place
 
HardwareGuru said:
I was gonna suggest the E2180 and the HD4850 card but, nah even if you O/C the E2180 I rather get a cpu that's a bit more up to speed. Overall system will be more complete also. 1680 x 1050 res is minor on a 19". Plus, overall cost you spend is cheaper. It would be nice to pair the E7200cpu with the HD4850 but, I doubted that you will go for it at that price. It would bring you close to $300. Plus, you upped the E2180cpu and the 9600GT video that you originally had in the mind in the first place
Click to expand...

Your right.

I think that with everyones advice i paired the e7200 and the 8800gt and kept the cost low and still have a decent system.

Comparing the options if i would have gotten the
e2180/9600 =$160 Original plan
e7200/8800 =$208 For $48 more
e2180/4850 =$254 For $94 more
e7200/4850 =$294 For $134

Well i'm happy how my new build is coming up.
 
I never used vista but i heard many bad things about it. thats why i dont know if should put it on.
I could get Xp and vista for free so thats not a problem.
 
Wow good ah, hehe. Just put Windows 64 bit Vista if you wanna primarily game. I have Vista 32bit O/S on my Acer Quad system and Vista will not install some of my older programs that I had on XP. But, if primarily gaming, put the Vista 64 bit O/S and take advantage of some of the DX10 games man.
 
What you mean older programs ?
I dont want to have the same problem.
Do i need anything else for the 64bit vista ?
 
Old programs such as Power DVD player and Norton System Works. They both woudn't install on Vista. But, these versions are old. Are you planning on installing outdated programs on there? If not, then its not a big issue.
 
Yeah most likely i'll have outdated programs.
Is it a big difference between vista 32bit and vista 64bit?

OH i need HSF any recomendations.
 
Ride2kmax said:
Yeah most likely i'll have outdated programs.
Is it a big difference between vista 32bit and vista 64bit?

OH i need HSF any recomendations.
Click to expand...

HSF recommendations:
OCZ OCZTVEND2 Vendetta 2 120 Rifle HSF - $35
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle HSF - $37 & Retention Bracket - $7
ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm HSF - $50

Vista 32bit has slightly better compatibility with programs than Vista 64bit. But Vista 64bit allows you to use 4GB of RAM or more.

What "outdated" programs will you be using? I mean, Firefox, MS Word, and a vast majority of games out there are 64bit compatible.
 
Danny Bui said:
HSF recommendations:
OCZ OCZTVEND2 Vendetta 2 120 Rifle HSF - $35
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle HSF - $37 & Retention Bracket - $7
ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm HSF - $50

Vista 32bit has slightly better compatibility with programs than Vista 64bit. But Vista 64bit allows you to use 4GB of RAM or more.

What "outdated" programs will you be using? I mean, Firefox, MS Word, and a vast majority of games out there are 64bit compatible.
Click to expand...


Thanks for all the links Danny Bui.

Which HSF would be better from this list. If later i decide to go to the
Q6600.
About the programs i dont know i just guess i might have some outdated one but i'm not sure.
 
Since this is a SLI motherboard when would it make sense to get second video card to have them in SLI?. Only if i get bigger monitor or any other reason.
Just to know.
 
The Vendetta2 and HDT-S1283 are the same. The Nirvana is nice, lightweight, and performs on par with the other two on the list -- its only drawback is the fan is not easily changeable. Any one of those HSFs would be fine for the Q6600.

SLI is only worth its cost when you need to push a tons of pixels... so yes, if and when you get a bigger monitor. Its usually better to sell your last gen card and put that money towards a single, newer gen card that can outperform two last gen cards in SLI/Crossfire. ;)
 
ok

How many FPS can i expect with the build i'm doing?
How can i know that without having the system up and running.
 
Hard to say really. It really depends on what type of pc game you play, what resolution you are running the game at and how high/low your video settings in the game are set at. Some games are more graphic intensive then others, therefore, you will see lower FPS than others. If this is the case, you will be forced to turn down the video settings in the game as well as running the game at a lower resolution. I normally am not too anal on monitoring my FPS in gaming. I can get a feel in the game whether it is laggy or slow. I tend to play with the settings until I got it set where it's comfortable for me to play at. My advice to you is start low on the setting and slowly crank up the settings. See if the game plays smoothly as you increase AA (Anti Aliasing) and AF (Anisotropic Filtering). Be warned though that even a mere 2X in AA enabled will really slow a game down especially Crysis and in Gears Of War. So, I would leave this off. A game like COD4 you can go 4X AA on it and still play pretty smoothly on your 8800GT card.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top