Budget Gaming Rig

H

Hulk

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Nov 4, 2005
Messages
6,279
I am looking to build a budget gaming rig and would like some advice.



1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming and web browsing

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included? (yes)
I would like the most bang for the buck. Around $250-$400

3) Where do you live?
MI

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
I will need:

CPU
GPU
motherboard
Case + powersupply
RAM

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
too many parts to list lol

6) Will you be overclocking?
no

7) What size monitor do you have or plan to have?
22" Widescreen LCD Display
Resolution 1680 x 1050

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

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI
support? etc.
I don't really care about the features.


Also, like I mentioned above, I would like my budget to be around $250-400. Also, I plan on buying used from the "For sale" forum on here.

I've read some of the posts on here and here is what I have come up with so far (I didn't actually come up with this, rather copy and pasted lol):

CPU - Intel Core 2 E5200 for $83 w/free shipping
Mobo - Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L for $85
GPU-9600GT
RAM - OCZ Fatal1ty Edition 4gig DDR2 800 for $43 w/free shipping.
CASE/PSU (Combo Deal) Antec 300 + Antec NeoPower 500W for $90

My questions are as follow:

1) What are the next 3 better dual core CPU after the E5200? I would like to know this to see if the extra money would be worth it to get a certain % gain. Also please include the price and % gain over the E5200.


2) The GPU - same as above, what are the next 3 GPUs after the 9600gt in regards to performance and price?
 
yea, but specifics? if your going to play counter strike 1.6 we can help, but if your intentions are crysis, fallout 3, etc.. it'll be a bit more difficult
 
I'd like to play current games such as fallout 3 as well as crysis.
 
While you could play those new games with your (proposed) setup, you would then have to drop the graphics settings (in Crysis, significantly) in order to obtain some decent FPS.

Ideally, we'd recommend something along the lines of either the HD4870 or the GTX 260. If you could afford it, the HD4850 for around $150 would be a better option for gaming than the 9600GT.

With a good CPU cooler, you could overclock the E5200 to around/over 3.0GHz. That could be enough for you to forgo a processor upgrade in the future. But gaming, especially at the resolution you're planning to use, is more GPU intensive... you'd be better served with a better video card.
 
1) Educated guesses on the performance gain over the E5200
E7300 - 5% to 7% faster
E8400 - 10% to 15% faster
E8500 and E8600 are not worth the extra cash

2) Educated guesses on the performance gain over the 9600GT:
9800GT - 10% to 12% faster
HD4850 - 15% to 20% faster
GTX216 - 50% to 60% faster
 
What is the difference between GTX260 and the 216 core?
 
Hulk said:
What is the difference between GTX260 and the 216 core?
Click to expand...

The only difference between the GTX 260 and the GTX 260 Core 216 is the amount of stream processors they have. The GTX 260 has 192 Stream Processors (SP) and the GTX 260 Core 216 has, guess what, 216 Stream Processors.

Not much difference performance wise. Maybe an extra 2-3 AVG FPS with the Core 216.
 
techpowerup shows a pretty big difference between the 2. But at almost $100 price difference, the 192 wins.
 
I'd like to give thanks for all of the advice so far.

Here is the setup I would like to go with but I have a couple more questions:

CPU - Intel Core 2 E5200 for $83 w/free shipping
Mobo - Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L for $85
GPU-GTX 260
RAM - OCZ Fatal1ty Edition 4gig DDR2 800 for $43 w/free shipping.
CASE/PSU (Combo Deal) Antec 300 + Antec NeoPower 500W for $90

1) Is there a cheaper mobo out there that would work? I know $85 is kind of cheap for a mobo but I would like to save every little cent I can.

2) Would the Antec 300 + Antec NeoPower 500W work with the GTX 260?
 
To the defense of ECS, I have not had one issue with my 610i board.
 
Hulk said:
1) Is there a cheaper mobo out there that would work? I know $85 is kind of cheap for a mobo but I would like to save every little cent I can.
Click to expand...

You could go with a cheaper motherboard based off the G31 or P35 platform, but I suggest sticking with a P43 motherboard for a long-term benefit -- namely, if you decide to upgrade the processor and/or video card at some point in the future.

Over the long run, I've learned that boards that are capable of enabling high overclocking have (for the most part) also been very stable when running everything at stock speeds. If you're considering a budget board, go with Biostar or Foxconn. From my personal experience, they've worked better (for me) than the ASRock or ECS budget boards. But since I've been using Gigabyte and Asus for my last few builds, I can't tell you which "budget" boards would work for you.
 
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