New $1000 Gaming Build

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LenteSubigo

n00b
Joined
Jun 9, 2007
Messages
20
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Only taxing activity is gaming
WoW, UT3, maybe Crysis

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
About $1000 (plus or minus a little for biggest bang for buck)

3) Where do you live?
Dayton, OH (Will be in St Paul, MN next week)

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU, RAM, Case, PSU, Video Card, HDD, MB, 5.1 Speakers, Gaming Keyboard/Mouse

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

6) Will you be overclocking?
yes, not agressive though

7) What size monitor do you have or plan to have?
Dual 22" 1680x1050

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Next few weeks. I will be watching the deals for BF and CM next week.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Decent 5.1 sound

Thoughts so far:

Intel E8400
Heat Sink (Xigmatek HDT-S1283 + Retention Bracket, $40, other options?)
P45 MB (Asus P5Q Pro, Other recommendations?)
4gb RAM (what speed and timings should I look for?)
WD 6400AAKS 640gb (any others to look at?)
GTX 260 (or HD4870 depending on deals)
PSU (looking for best deal to fit build)
Case (looking for decent case, no windows, solid, reusable in future)
Surround Speakers (5.1? any recommendations, nothing too crazy)
Gaming Keyboard/Mouse (current are crappy wireless)
Vista 64 (most likely home premium, baring deal on Ultimate)
 
I haven't built a computer in about 5 years. It had an Athlon XP 1800+, lol. What is a modular PSU? Is that what they call a new one that doesn't have the massive bundle of wires hanging out? Would definatly like that if it's not a huge price bump.
 
Yes. Easier cable management, better airflow, but higher cost, typically. Check out the Corsair HX520.


posts from the other thread.

LenteSubigo said:
I am looking to build a new system myself and have a few questions. The quote looks like a good start.

1. E8400 2.83ghz (typo right?, 3.0ghz right?)
2. RAM, would 6 or 8gb help much?
3. GTX260 (896mb) vs HD4870 (512mb, 1gb) - All pretty close in price, which is best?
4. What Cases are nice for a decent price?
5. Vista 32-bit vs Vista 64-bit (Home, Home Prem, Ultimate) vs Other (XP, Server 2003, ...)
6. Heatsink, needed? how much better than retail heatsink? for OC?
7. Onboard Sound good for 5.1?
8. Decent 5.1 speakers?

Not sure if you would consider this a hijack or not, hopefully not, OP may have same questions.
HardwareGuru said:
CPU - Intel Core2 E8400(2.83ghz) + Asus P5QPro mobo combo for $255($15 MIR on mobo)
RAM - 4gig G. Skills DDR2 800 for $50 w/free shipping
Video - EVGA Geforce GTX260 (216 core) for $290 ($20 MIR) w/free shipping
HDD - WD 6400AAKS 640gig for $75 w/free shipping
PSU - BFG ES-800 800watt for $110 ($40 MIR) w/free shipping
Heatsink - Xigmatek HDT-S1283 120mm rifle for $32($10MIR) + Xigmatek ACK-I7751 Retention Bracket for $7
Optical drive - Samsung Black 22X DVD+R for $25 w/free shipping
O/S Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64 Bit OEM for $100 w/free shipping
ESET NOD32 Antivirus Home Edition V3.0 for $30 w/free shipping

Total: $974 before shipping & rebates

BTW, your system build is too jacked up. You did not include a HDD and Optical drive. If you remove these 2 from my build, it will be $100 cheaper at $874.00. Difference of $410 from your build. Can buy a 24" display already. Hehe. Also, I don't see why you need 8gigs of RAM.
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Danny Bui said:
1. Yes typo

2. If you do a ton of virtualization, video, image or music editing, yes. For gaming, not really.

3. Flip a coin between the GTX260 and HD4870 1GB. They're both equal performance wise and price wise. Now just figure out which company you're more comfortable with: ATI's partners or Nvidia's partners?

4. Some case Recommendations:
Cooler Master RC-590-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $50
Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $78
Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case - $76
Cooler Master Stacker 810 RC-810-KWN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case - $130
Antec P182 ATX Case - $130

5.Vista Home Premium 64bit hands down. 64bit support allows you to use all 4GB of RAM and more. VHP also has a majority of the features that people will actually use. Don't bother with XP unless you have an existing and transferable license and don't care about only being to use around 2.8 to 3.5GB of RAM due to 32bit OS limitations

6. For overclocking yes a HSF is a good idea. For stock speeds, the stock HSF is just fine. Great HSF choice:
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle HSF - $32 & Retention Bracket - $8.50

7. For most people, yes. Try it out first and then decide whether or not you need a sound card

8. No idea
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cornelious0_0 said:
1: E8400 is clocked at 3GHz and they are typically very good OC'ers, 4GHz is attained very easily at less then 1.4v if you get a newer E0 revision..which most are now.
2: If you go with anything more then 3GB of memory you're silly not to go with Vista x64, as 32bit windows only "sees" 3.25GB, so that may effect your decision. 6GB-8GB will only be used if you're doing a lot of photo/video editting or 3D animation, otherwise stick with a much cheaper 4GB dual channel kit.
3: I'd personally go with the GTX260 over an HD4870. The two are very close in price, but the GTX260 runs cooler, has a quieter nicer looking cooler and consumes less power. Ontop of that if you pickup a newer Core216 GTX260 the performance gap between the 260 and 4870 is even smaller, if not non-existent.
4: I've always been a fan of Silverstone and Lian-Li cases for something highend/classy, but depending on what look you're into I'd also check out Antec...all quality companies/products.
5: As I said, go with Vista x64 if you're planning on going with more then 4GB of memory or if you're eager for DX10, otherwise XP 32bit still functions perfectly fine and a lot of "DX10 games" don't look much/any worse. If you go with Vista I'd recommend Home Premium to save a bit of cash, Ultimate contains some extra features that I have never touched and I think it's a waste of cash for many people.
6: An aftermarket cooler isn't required, but there are many out there if you do plan to OC.
7 & 8: A lot of recent onboard audio is pretty decent but if you're using a good set of speakers I'd still recommend a $50-$100 sound card. This would probably be the last item on my list of priorities.

Hope that helps, let us know if there are further concerns or PM me.
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LenteSubigo said:
Decisions:
GTX 260
Vista 64 (version depends on deals)
4gb RAM

Still Looking for:
Case & PSU
HeatSink (How much would a cheap but good water cooling kit cost?)
Speakers 5.1
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Danny Bui said:
- Definitely get Vista Home Premium 64bit. More than likely that's all that you'll ever need in a Vista version

- Already posted a list of cases for you to look at. PSu wise, figure out the specs of the rest of the PC and then post that list as well as budget. We'll tell you then what PSU to get. But some good choices are:
Antec Earthwatts 650W PSU - $70
BFG Tech LS-550 550W PSU - $67
Corsair 550VX 550W PSU - $85
Corsair 750TX 750W PSU - $105
BFG Tech BFGR800WESPSU ES-800 800W PSU - $140

- Around $200 to $300.

- Still no idea
Click to expand...
 
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Would a HTIB (home theater in a box) work for speakers? Would there be too much delay for games?
 
What is your budget for speakers? Unless you REALLY have to have 5.1, it's best to stick to a 2 channel system as that will give you the most quality.

HTiB systems will work, but I suggest picking out a HTiB set that has a 5.1 (or more) analog input. That way you can hook up to sound directly to the system without any processing latency.
 
Or just do it digitally - optical/coaxial. Onkyo S4100s sound pretty damn good, though my Z4s have the advantage for music playback : \
 
 
What I ordered:
CPU - Q6600 G0
Mobo - Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
Ram - 4Gb G.Skill PC2-1000
Video - EVGA OC 212 Core GTX 260
HDD - WB6400AAKS 640gb
DVD - Samsun 22x DVD-RW
Heatsink - HDT-S1283
Retention Bracket - LGABOLT2 (copy of ACK-I7751. due to unavailablity of 7751)
O/S - Vista HP 64-bit
Case - P192


Still Need:
Modular PSU

I would appreciate any input on PSUs, especially input taking into account current deals. (cashback, BF sales)
 
I decided to get the CMPSU-620HX. With cashback from buy.com's ebay store and MIR it came to $72.

Will I need any cables or other accessories to finish the build? (SATA, DVD Audio, other???)
 
Sata cables are included with the mobo. The Sata DVD, you do not need to worry about an audio cable as the sound will be carried through the Sata cable.
 
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