Gaming build, ~$500 budget

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DeathByBowtie

n00b
Joined
Feb 5, 2007
Messages
12
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, some light software development for school, web email etc.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
I originally wanted to stay around $500, but I'm looking at going up to about $550, including tax and shipping.

3) Where do you live?
Michigan

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, motherboard, CPU, RAM, OS hard drive, video card

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I've got an Enermax Liberty 500W PSU and two 6) Will you be overclocking?[/COLOR]
No, or extremely minimally (if it has a button that says "Click here to overclock!" I would probably click it if my mouse were nearby when I noticed it.)

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Currently running two 19" monitors @ 2560x1024, but I plan on upgrading one of them to a 23-24" 1920x1080 in the near-ish futue.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the few weeks.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
RAID 0 support so I can bring my old hard drives over.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, I have a copy of Win7 Professional, 64bit.

Currently looking at:
CPU: [URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103872"]AMD Athlon II X3 445 3.1GHz
Motherboard: ASRock M3A770DE
RAM: G.SKILL 2x2GB DDR3 PC1333
Video card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 1GB OC edition
Hard drive: Samsung Spinpoint F4 320GB
Case: Rosewill Challenger

Not including a $20 mail-in rebate for the video card (since I find it to be a crap shoot whether I see that money or not), this puts me at $535.26, which is already a little over budget, but bearable (assuming I don't stretch it much more). I'm assuming it's not worth springing for a SATA optical drive when I can gut the two PATA DVD burners out of my current rig, is this correct? (I don't use the optical drives that much anyway.) One consideration I've been making is dropping the video card to a Radeon 5770 or 4870 and using the extra coin on the CPU, but since my primary concern with this is keeping the gaming performance as high as I can, I would think going with a slightly lower-end CPU and splurging on the graphics is the way to go.
 
Here is one list I've done for another person which as a similar requirement as yours. Check it out.


EDIT: The list has changed. Seeing that you will be running a multi-monitor setup and you are reusing parts. Take a look at it again.
Athlon II X4 630 - $95.99. My friend, today is more than half way through the 2010. Building a gaming computer without a hardcore is somewhat laughable. Shell out 15 bucks and a quad. You will like it.

Mushkin Silverline DDR1333 4GB $79.99 - Don't understand why memory prices are bitchin expensive. But here it is, Mushkin. I always use Mushkin when it comes to memory, shouldn't matter much, but it is one hell of a solid brand. BTW, there is not much difference between a 1333 and 1600, you won't see it.

ASROCK 880G. $59.99 down from a $89.99. - One mother of a deal, $59.99 from $89.99. ASROCK as gotten a better reputation these days.

Gigabyte GTX460 1GB - $199.99 After Rebate. Since you are running multi-monitor setups, you WILL need to get a GTX460 if you want to play games at maxed out settins. I recommend the Gigabyte card since it is factory overclocked (since you won't overclock) and offers a custom dual-fan cooling design (good step-up from the stock cooler, or in case you would like to overclock it). It also has the best bang for the buck as a 1GB version - just under 200 bucks while others being around the $230 range.

Rosewill Challenger Case $44.99 Judging from the stats, this is the best case I can find in terms of bangs/dollar. With 2 120mm fans and 1 140cm fan, this case can keep it nice and cool.

WD Caviar Blue 640GB - $49.99 after PROMO CODE - DO NOT forget to enter the promo code, this is the only reason why I've listed this for you.

$560.94 for the system - for a Quad machine and a 1GB GTX260.
Click to expand...
 
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I'm assuming OP picked SLI mobo becuase he wanted SLI? If you don't care about SLI, let me know and I'll find better deals. Also, he already stated hes over budget, so I think we should aim in the other direction.

Rosewill Blackbone / Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.493006
MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX / AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.480267
NEW Corsair 4GB
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Corsair-4GB...755?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c57239cf3
EVGA 768-P3-1362-AR GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked 768MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...4130564&cm_re=evga_460-_-14-130-564-_-Product

Total = $475 shipped, $465 after rebate

Reason I made these choice: You get nicer motherboard, DDR3, and SLI (x4 on the second slot is hardly noticeable I've read, and great for phys-x) As for the x2, CPU is something that is very easily upgradeable, and this should please you for a while. After a while, you can keep always keep the heatsink and find a quad OEM for cheap. Also, faster, larger HDD, and one of the fastest if not the fastest(arguable). As for the video card, I'm not sure a 460 is going to be ideal for your future monitor plans. This GTX 460, although 768mb, qualifies for EVGA"s step up program (-AR model) , so you can use it for three months and then pay then then sure-to-be-dropped 470 or 480 price, and they will subtract the full price of what you paid for your card at your time of purchase.

I found it really funny what you said about overclocking, and that card I selected is probably one of the very rare cases where this is actually possible (just watch the video): http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=498804

Or, get your card and pay $10 more.

Also, sorry I switched your case, but I thought that one was really ugly :/ If you really like it, it is available with a caviar black combo that will save you $15 from ur case/hard drive selection, and get you a better hd. Or combo it with a cpu to save money. Look for newegg combos, they are usually the only way I will order from newegg. Also, alot of people fail to realize there are other websites exist besides newegg. If you plan to opt for the x3 or x4 check ewiz.com for $5-15 savings from newegg on cpu's. Other good sites are mwave.com, and ebay.com (assuming the item is New with returns), and Tigerdirect also has a nice promo going on: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...m21CjCd-2HPRRsCjC2zF5zbTECjCdzgw_BBLjvDjVyBFB

People in forums usually seem to love forget about the budget (or bend the budget to fit their own wallets) so I'm sure u might get crap about the CPU. I personally agree with what you said in your last sentence. Check the reviews for yourself and decide if it's worth it.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2836/8
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1073/12/
 
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YamahaAlex37 said:
I'm assuming OP picked sli mobo becuase he wanted SLI? If not, let me know OP and I can find more deals
............
Reason I made these choice: You get nicer motherboard, DDR3, and SLI (x4 on the second slot is hardly noticeable I've read, and great for phys-x)
Click to expand...

That motherboard does not support SLI. No AMD motherbaord chipset supports SLI. They only support Crossfire.

YamahaAlex37 said:
This GTX 460, although 768mb, qualifies for EVGA"s step up program (-AR model) , so you can use it for three months and then pay then ten sure-to-be-dropped 470 or 480 price, and they will subtract the full price of what you paid for your card at the time of purchase.
Click to expand...

Yeah eVGA doesn't actually drop the prices that much actually or at all. Case in point: Look at the prices for the old GTX 260 and GTX 285 cards on the eVGA site. Not only are some of those prices exactly the same as they were a year ago, some of them have even gone up considering that a eVGA GTX 260 was around $170 on Newegg a year ago.
 
Danny Bui said:
That motherboard does not support SLI. No AMD motherbaord chipset supports SLI. They only support Crossfire.
Click to expand...

Good point. XFIRE. I hear it should still work with PhysX, is that correct?

Danny Bui said:
Yeah eVGA doesn't actually drop the prices that much actually or at all.
Click to expand...

Just pay the $10 more dollars for the MSI 1gb if it worries you.
I guess only go the step-up route if your ready to assume the worst (which is $100 difference right now). For me it was worth it to love this card for 3 months then only pay $100 to get a 470 with 1280mb.
 
Thanks for the input :) I don't plan on running SLI/CF, frankly, I'm usually just too lazy to go through the trouble of buying more hardware down the road. I'm not a good incremental updater :(

YamahaAlex37 said:
I found it really funny what you said about overclocking, and that card I selected is probably one of the very rare cases where this is actually possible (just watch the video): http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=498804
Click to expand...
That video was fantastic. Especially where it opens and just says "The GeForce 460 is awesome."

Good point on looking around, thanks for the other sites. I plan on doing a fair bit of price grabbing before I buy, but it's just so darn convenient to jump on Newegg and use it as a sort of baseline :)

What exactly about the MSI motherboard (here) makes it better than the ASRock listed up top? Just the DDR3 memory? I like the idea of getting the combo and upgrading to an OEM quad core later on, but as stated above, I'm pretty bad at incremental upgrades. Of course, I'm on an Athlon 64 3000+ right now, so I'm pretty sure anything I get will seem like a screamer :cool:
 
DeathByBowtie said:
What exactly about the MSI motherboard (here) makes it better than the ASRock listed up top?
Click to expand...

Well MSI is a tad more reputable than Asrock IMO. The MSI has two extra RAM slots than the Asrock mobo that lkiller1231 posted. It also has a longer warranty period of 3 years VS one year for either of the Asrock mobos.

I do recommend getting a new PSU as well since the Enermax Liberty PSus weren't known for lasting long without dying or causing issues. Not to mention that the Enermax Liberty 500W is now 5 years old. Considering that a PSU's power output capability declines over time due to quality and wear and tear, not a good idea to use a 5 year old PSU whose capability is now unknown.

Here's a setup that I'd go for:

$149 - AMD Athlon II X4 630 CPU + MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX Motherboard Combo
$75 - G.Skill F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$150 - XFX HD-577X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$55 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$103 - Antec Neo Eco 520C 520W PSU + Antec 300 ATX Case
---
Total: $533 shipped.

You now get a new PSU as well as a slightly better case. Tthat WD 500GB drive outperforms all of the WD 640GB drives mentioned in this thread so far.

Yes that HD 5770 1GB is slower than the GTX 460 1GB. But that was the only place where a reasonable drop down could be made to free up cash for the new PSU. However, the HD 5770 should be enough for a 19" monitor.
 
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Nice call on the memory and the combos, Danny.

But I think he can still go with the hard disk that I mentioned, $49.99 after Promo Code.
 
As usual, Danny Bui's build owns all. Go with it!

I'd be perfectly thrilled with the gaming performance of that build....

(In retrospect, I almost feel like I went overboard on my current rig.... heh)
 
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