need build advice Budget

4

4LC4PON3

DERP!
Joined
Jan 18, 2005
Messages
4,230
ok plain and simple. I need a PC that will max out WoW and thats it. It doesnt need to play any other game but WoW. My daughter spilled water somehow in my PC and it went up in smoke. I cannot afford to build a killer hardcore PC. Im on a budget of 500 bucks without shipping

Looking at prices on not 100% sure if this can be done at all. If not ill have to buy piece by piece as i save.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming?
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included? 500 without shipping
3) Where do you live? Elbridge NY
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? Mobo, Ram, CPU, Video, PSU, HDD (does not need to be Huge 100GB or so is fine)
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Case, Speakers thats all I could save from the PC
6) Will you be overclocking? NO
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have? 23 inch acer h233h 1080p HD
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Now
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? Nothing. No crossfire or SLI
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? Yes windows 7
 
Last edited:
The budget in your post and the budget in the question are two different numbers. Which is it? $300 or $500?

At the resolution you're playing at, no $500 build will max out WOW. Maybe Medium settings but definitely not maxed out.

Also it's usually a bad idea to buy piece by piece since prices or availability of parts will always change. Just save your money and only buy part if it's an excellent deal (40% less or better).
 
oh oops my fault was a typo the budget is 500. I can always use my g/f's monitor wich is 1600x900
 
Last edited:
4LC4PON3, are some of the parts in the pc that went in smoke still useable? The HDD, Optical drive. other?
 
what happend was this i got the antec 900 case with the 120mm fan that sits on top and what looks like a cup holder infront of it. Its made for cups but she is 2 so i wasnt even mad about it. she somehow dumped about 4 cups of water through the top fan and fried the pc

everything was soked so im not sure whats good or not, i know the HDD is ok but i have no way to test the other stuff out cause i dont have another pc but my laptop.
 
pc specs were

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V
AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W
ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
antec 900
x2 His 4850
 
I have to use this in A+ this evening.

just RMA the parts after they have dry.
 
i didnt think about that and everything is already dry. i used a hair dryer to dry them off when it happend.
 
Assuming that the parts are truly dead and can't be RMA'd:
$194 - AMD Phenom II X3 720 CPU + Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AMD 785G mATX Motherboard Combo
$45 - Patriot 2GB DDR3 133 RAM
$155 - XFX HD-487A-ZWFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$55 - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$65 - Corsair 450VX 450W PSU
---
Total: $514 plus shipping.
 
If you're strapped for cash, an RMA is worth a try. If they get rejected, simply buy the parts danny suggested.

This is why I hate top blowhole fans on cases. :(
 
ok here is an update mobo cpu and memory and one video is dead. i got one video card running, psu and hard drive are working. i took the pc over to my friends house and tested every part.

thanks for the build danny. looking into that as we speak on newegg. sounds dumb but i havent been able to play wow in a week and its killing me lol.
 
2GB of RAM should be fine for 32bit O/S. I still only have 2GB of RAM on my Acer Quad machine with Windows Vista 32 bit and I do fine in gaming.

$500, let's go with this man with shipping

ASUS M4A785-M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G + AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.293341

WINTEC AMPX 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 + EVGA Geforce 9800GTX+ both for $155.98 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.284903

Seagate Barracuda 500GB Sata HDD for $54.99 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395

Lite-On 24X Sata DVD Burner for $26.99 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

Corsair 450VX for $64.99 ($20 MIR) w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003

Total: $498.93 w/free shipping

The 9800GTX+ video card should do pretty decently for WoW gaming. As you can see in this review on Xbitlabs.com, the Geforce GTS 250 which is just a rebranded 9800GTX+ does quite well and actually does better than a Radeon HD 4850
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/mainstream-cards-mmorpg_14.html#sect0
 
Thanks for the tip and setup. the DVD burner and HDD are not needed. right now i got it narrowed down to what i need. Mobo, CPU, Memory, psu and video. I have everything else.
 
also thanks guys for the input. Im going to see what i can find on the forums for sale before i hit up newegg
 
so far this is where i stand.

CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX
WINTEC AMPX 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor
ASUS M4A785-M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Subtotal: $301.96
 
ok after talking with some folks in the video card section ive got my setup. thanks for all your help. im going to order Tuesday morning so if you see anything to make this better at all till then please suggest.

CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX
OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500)
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor
ASUS M4A785-M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
XFX HD-577A-ZHFC Radeon HD 5770 1GB

Subtotal: $503.95

i decided to go with the 4gb of ram instead of 2 just to be safe. no offensei figured i had some extra money in the budget to do this.
 
Last edited:
Is that a typo? The 940 will not work with socket AM3 motherboards. The 945 however does work with socket AM3 motherboards.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
HardwareGuru said:
I don't see why it wouldn't as the Mobo does support AM2/AM2+/AM3.
Click to expand...

There's a "word" missing from Danny's statement...

Danny Bui said:
Is that a typo? The 940 will not work with socket AM3 DDR3 motherboards. The 945 however does work with socket AM3 DDR3 motherboards.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
Click to expand...

Just to clairfy for those who don't know, AM3 CPUs will work in AM2+/AM2 boards; However, an AM2+ CPU will not work in an AM3 only board, since it does not have a DDR3 memory controller and AM3 only mobos only have DDR3 slots. ;)
 
wondering is my setup wrong?

XFX HD-577A-ZHFC Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150457

CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003

OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G10664GK - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227346

Mobo and cpu combo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.293341
 
Yup one major problem: thats DDR3 RAM. That mobo only supports DDR2 RAM.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
FYI, DDR2 prices have doubled in the past couple months, so they're nearly the same price as DDR3, yet all the new platforms are switching to DDR3 (AM3, LGA1156, LGA1366). If you switch to an AM3 CPU and AM3 only mobo, it would give you a better upgrade path with DDR3. If you don't upgrade much at all, then switch to DDR2 in your list and you're good to go.
 
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
SAPPHIRE 100283-2L Radeon HD 5770 1GB
CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W
ASUS M4A785-M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition

Subtotal: $479.95
 
Last edited:
thanks guys. much appreciated. would like i more piece of help. Monitor. What monitor would you recommend that the video card can handle
 
Last edited:
For a 5770 video card, a 22" monitor with 1680x1050 or 1600x900 resolution would be the sweet spot for that video card. But, not to say that it's not capable of playing some games at 1920x1200 or 1920x1080 resolutions.
 
so if i went with a 1920x1080 it would be fine? the monitor i got now is terrible its a acer h233h 1920x1080 but its been sent to acer so many times in 9 months ive barely used it.

any specific brand i should stick with?
 
I was just about to ask you: "Don't you have the Acer 23" 1080P monitor already?" Geez no wonder why that Acer 23" was cheap like $169.99 w/free shipping.
 
yes but believe me ive had nothing but problems with this monitor. first one died within a few weeks, the next one started making some hissing noise, the next one the power button broke off and then the next one when they sent it back to me had a few dead pixels.

ive had the monitor 9 months and sent in 4 times and each time it took over a month to get back to me. this monitor is terrible in my opinion. do they make low cost but great quality monitors?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top