Building A Second Gaming Rig

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Wraith44

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
161
First, the checklist. :)

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

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$450, can fudge a little for S/H

3) Where do you live?
Rochester, NY

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU/CPU HSF/Mobo/RAM/Vid Card

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

Primary System (CPU/Mobo/RAM can be ported to the new system, the rest stays)
  • Intel E6600 CPU
  • Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 Mobo
  • (4x1GB) Corsair DDR2-800 XMS2-6400 Xtreme Memory
  • NVidia Geforce 8800GT Video Card
  • Soundblaster Audigy 2 Platinum Sound Card
  • 2 Western Dig WD6401AALS Hard Drives (Matrix RAID 0 and 1...not 0+1)

Secondary System Parts (Already purchased/had laying around)
  • Antec 300 Case /w 2 extra 120mm fans
  • Antec EA650 PSU
  • 300GB SATA Western Dig Hard Drive
6) Will you be overclocking?
Probably, but I'm not obsessed with it

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
22" Optiquest Q22wb

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
This week, unless there is reason to wait

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
If I end up swapping out my primary system board, RAID would be nice, but not required

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes

I have a primary system that I use to game with and I'm looking to build a second gaming rig with some parts that I already have (see above). I have a fairly tight budget (~$450) with which to purchase a CPU, CPU HSF, Mobo, RAM, and video card. I'm looking to replace the 2 year old CPU (E6600), mobo and possibly the video card in my primary system and use those for parts in the new rig. I've done a bit of looking around on the egg and come up with the parts below, but I'd really like to get some feedback and validation. I'm also interested in the viability, speed, and price of an AMD build, but I'm not all that familiar with how they stack up to Intel these days, since the last AMD chip I bought was an Athlon. :D

My Proposed Items For Purchase


Grand Total = $457 + $7.91 Shipping - $40 MIR = $424.91
 
 
Wraith44 said:
...
My Proposed Items For Purchase


Grand Total = $457 + $7.91 Shipping - $40 MIR = $424.91
Click to expand...

Thats DDR3, but the board you chose is DDR2. ;) No need for DDR3 unless you're building an i7 (you could even use DDR2 for AM3 PhenomII CPUs).

There are reports of overheating and other issues with the Asus M3 boards, so go for an M4 equiv. if you're going with lt_shiro's build.

If you'd like to be able to interchange the CPU between systems...
$128 - XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB DDR5 HD487AZHFC (Promo code: SIZZLE15 from http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1426728)
$120 - Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz LGA 775
$110 - Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX
$47 - G.Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-800 F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ
$42 - Xigmatek Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm
==========
$447 + tax and shipping - any MIRs

I don't think that HD4870 1GB deal will last much longer... so I'd go for it, if I were you, and decide on the rest later, lol.
 
Thanks for the builds guys. I know that AMD is in bed with ATI now, so I'm curious...is there any negative impact in going with an AMD/Nvidia or Intel/ATI combo?

Also, good catch on the RAM. I was looking at the 1333Mhz speed and didn't notice that it was DDR3. That brings up another question though, is there a big performance hit in going with 800Mhz RAM with a chipset that supports 1333?
 
Well overheating common with 760G/780G chipsets, nothing little thermal paste can't fix.
 
Wraith44 said:
Thanks for the builds guys. I know that AMD is in bed with ATI now, so I'm curious...is there any negative impact in going with an AMD/Nvidia or Intel/ATI combo?

Also, good catch on the RAM. I was looking at the 1333Mhz speed and didn't notice that it was DDR3. That brings up another question though, is there a big performance hit in going with 800Mhz RAM with a chipset that supports 1333?
Click to expand...

No.

No. Your RAM will help determine OC'ing... like with an E7400...

/*------------- <cut n paste> -------------*/
Formulas for Intel platform @ 1:1 settings: (base FSB speed is SDR, or single data rate)
c x [Base FSB speed] = CPU speed (c = CPU Multiplier)
2 x [Base FSB speed] = RAM speed (DDR: double data rate)
4 x [Base FSB speed] = FSB speed (QDR: quad data rate; Effective FSB speed)

On Intel platforms, running the RAM higher than a 1:1 ratio with the CPU is, for the most part, useless, so don't bother trying to do so. If the BIOS does it for you, just let it. All you need is a 1:1 config, though. Here's some possible clock speeds (as always with OC'ing, your results will vary):

E7400: 10.5 × 266 = 2.8Ghz, DDR2-533 << STOCK speeds
E7400: 10.5 × 333 = 3.5Ghz, DDR2-667 << Good OC
E7400: 10.5 × 400 = 4.2Ghz, DDR2-800 << Might require some luck ;)
/*------------- </cut n paste> -------------*/

Wow... haven't posted that in a while.
 
Last edited:
I wish I was near a Microcenter...that's a really good price. Anyway, great info, as always. Thank you both! I'm going to do a bit more research and I'll let you know what I end up getting.
 
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1425886

capnstabn said:
I have like 250 bucks of in store credit at microcenter I need to get rid of. If any of you want this deal let me know and I may make a run. You will need to cover paypal fees/shipping though. If there is any specific serial number I need to be looking for please include that information as well. I will only charge you the retail price of the processor.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the tip, but I had to run out and didn't see it until now. Ultimately, I decided to stick with a similar build to what I had originally started out with. I tweaked it a bit more and worked in a few different combos to maximize my savings to arrive here. Note that I was VERY tempted to go with the XFX 4870, but I really like the fact that the GeForce cards have the Physx support. Having played Mirror's Edge, I was very impressed with the capabilities that it offers, and thus my decision to stick with the 9800GTX+. I also stuck with the Intel CPU because the benchmarks that I saw for the Phenom II X3 720 vs. the E7400 were better, but only marginally, and being able to swap the CPU's without yanking mobos makes it easier on me.


Final Price = $442.85 - $50 MIR = $392.85
 
9800GTX+ is not that good of card at its price point, you should either go for GTX 260 or GTS 250.

Also upgrade plan for 775 will be very limited in future as intel will move over to i5 before year end.
 
Yeah, I was originally going to try and wait a few months to save up some more cash and jump into an i7, but I really can't wait any longer. I will be using the second system for my LAN party rig and my current P4 2.4Ghz /w AGP 6600GT just can't play any of the new games anymore. Having to upgrade everything at once was what killed me (due to not having a PCIe slot). This upgrade should last me another year anyway, and then I'll make the switch. This was really more of a stop-gap move than anything.
 
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