New budget gaming build

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badboysean

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EDIT: I also wanted to add I am in California so I get hit with tax from certain retailers ..

I didnt want to hijack any threads so I took some advice from another thread ....

My budget is $900 max and I will use it as my main gaming rig, I know it can be done within this budget =)

A couple of things first ...... I NEVER plan on overclocking, I want to build a stable long lasting rig, at least a couple of years worth. I also have a 19" CRT that I will most likely end up using since I doubt I will be able to fit an LCD wthin the budget.

Ok here are 2 suggestions that were posted from Filippo and Vanilla_Guerilla on a $700 build. I have a couple $$ more here as well..

x2 3600 brisbane and biostart tforce 550 conbo - $168


1 gig g.skill ddr2 800 - $109
7950gt $200 (after $15 rebate)
wd 250gb sata2 16mb cache $75
lite-on sata dvd burner $35
coolermaster centurion $50
antec truepower trio $70

$707 after rebates.


and


Intel E4300 CPU $180
ASUS P5N-E SLI $140
Seagate 320GB 7200RPM 16mb Perpend. $90
OCZ Gold 2x512mb $95
Ultra V Series 500W Power Supply Free After Rebate ($8 shipping)
Ultra Wizard Black Mid Tower Case Free After Rebate
EVGA 7900GS $160
lite-on sata dvd burner $35


Total: $708
 
Both look like nice builds, i would go with the C2D Build more future proof
 
Never, ever use a Biostar motherboard for anything, ever.

Apart from that, I would go with the Intel build. It has a lesser video card, obviously, but it will be better in the long run.
 
Mark_Warner said:
Never, ever use a Biostar motherboard for anything, ever.
Click to expand...

Really? what problems have you had with biostar? I have built 2 rigs with biostar boards and can say i am not impressed with them or anything but they still run fine.
 
I've replaced more bad biostar motherboards than I've seen working biostar motherboards.
 
TO the OP...

If your looking for a system worth for two years...

I would say this...

I would look at 2 gigs of the OZ gold ddr 800..... 204 at newegg (so now we are up $110).

Leaving us $90.

I would not get a SLI motherboard. Within your price range, your not going to get a PSU thats gonna handle SLI VC's.

I would say $30 or $40 and not get an SLI mobo, and try to spend about $100 on the mobo. No now we have $130 to spend.

I would upgrade the 7900GS, to a 8800GTS.... so with out extra $130 and $160 for the 7900GS, that gives us $390, and the GTS are around $400 on Newegg.

SO to sum up.

Upgrade OCZ gold from 1 gig to 2 gig for and extra $110.
Downgrade the SLI mobo to a non SLI mobo and save $40
Upgrade that 7900gs, to a 8800GTS.

That should get you to about $910, and give you a nice boost in MEM and VC, that should last for 2 years.

My 2 cents.
 
Check my sig, final cost was $950 something @ newegg. The machine is running great, I have room to OC and upgrade the video card once the DX10 and vista deal is complete.

X2 3800+
Asus M2N-E
7600GT
2GB DDR2 gskill
250GB sata drive
DVD burner
Zalman 9700
Apevia 600w
TT Soprano
 
modest ot moderate overclocks done properly, will not reduce the life of the components significantly and for a gaming rig, vastly improve the performance.

if you have to scrimp anywhere do it anyplace but the video card.

You are wasting money on a new technology HD that (imo) has not proven itself for long term relliability, and most games load and run without a lot of HD activity. Might be your game does a lot of disk activity but you didnt say. Anyway potential to save $30 here and put it in something else. Do you really need all that room ?

get another gig and extra fans.
 
bradyapba said:
TO the OP...

If your looking for a system worth for two years...

I would say this...

I would look at 2 gigs of the OZ gold ddr 800..... 204 at newegg (so now we are up $110).

Leaving us $90.

I would not get a SLI motherboard. Within your price range, your not going to get a PSU thats gonna handle SLI VC's.

I would say $30 or $40 and not get an SLI mobo, and try to spend about $100 on the mobo. No now we have $130 to spend.

I would upgrade the 7900GS, to a 8800GTS.... so with out extra $130 and $160 for the 7900GS, that gives us $390, and the GTS are around $400 on Newegg.

SO to sum up.

Upgrade OCZ gold from 1 gig to 2 gig for and extra $110.
Downgrade the SLI mobo to a non SLI mobo and save $40
Upgrade that 7900gs, to a 8800GTS.

That should get you to about $910, and give you a nice boost in MEM and VC, that should last for 2 years.

My 2 cents.
Click to expand...

Thats a good idea actually, I am certainly taking this into consideration. What motherboard would you suggest?
 
Here's my suggestion.


Intel E6400 Core 2 Duo
http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115004
$225

Asus P5N-E SLI LGA 775 Mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813121050
$140

CoolerMaster Centurion Mini Tower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811119088
$50

WD Caviar 250G 16mb Cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822144701
$75

evga 7950GT 256 DDR3 PCIe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130074
$200

Enermax Liberty 400w
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817194002
$80

512mb x 2 ADATA 240 pin DDR2 800 Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820211064
$120

TOTAL BUILD COST = $890


the 7950gt will also allow for a great SLI matchup 12 months down the road to boost your gaming potential further for coming games like crysis. It's C2D, which will allow for years of performance and the ability to swap 24months down the line to a higher clocked CPU, and it's all DDR2 800, which will give you good mem peformance and upgradability for a long time (easy to upgrade to 2gig when you find $100). Also, it's a very OC'able motherboard, which will allow you to squeeze that CPU to north of 3.0GHz, which is great performance given your budget.

*things to note
-no windows (do you have it?)
-no monitor (sounds like your CRT is okay for now)
-no fans for case (add $10 for decent case fans)
-keyboard / mouse (are you set there?)
-Optical Drive (are you salvaging or buying new? If the latter, add $30 to cost)
-If you go SLI in the future, you'll need to upgrade the PSU as well. for now, this should be good. you're motherboard and VC are SLI ready, so you're most of the way there. It doesn't make sense to buy a giant PSU now, given your needs, and prices in 12+ months will be much better on PSU given all the folks upgrading to DX10 setups and 8800gtx's


zv
 
OP - Quick question:

Where would you get that Ultra V Series 500W free after rebate in the specs for your C2D system? It's not a great PS, but I believe it's better than my "480W 18A on the 12V line" Coolmax ...
 
badboysean said:
Thats a good idea actually, I am certainly taking this into consideration. What motherboard would you suggest?
Click to expand...

I would suggest this board, its a solid board, and right in the price range.

GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard
$104

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128017

I also might suggest the 6300, over the 4300. I thought the 4300 were supposed to be about $130, but right now, the 6300 is only $8 more.

So for about $930, thats what I would suggest...

Gets you 2 gigs, a 6300, and a 8800GTS, a really nice system, that will last quite awhile.
 
Downgrade from the SLI motherboard unless you are going to purchase a power supply that can support SLI down the road. Having one but not the other isn't cost-effective.

I have the Gigabyte DS3 and it runs great--also I'd recommend the 8800GTS and an upgraded power supply, get a free case to hold it all (ensure the case can hold the full size of the 8800GTS, some can't.)

Also, go with the E6300. You can easily OC to the E6400 speed and notice ZERO difference in heat. As mentioned above the cost is negligible and you'll have a chip people know is reliable, which scales incredibly well, operates well under loads, etc., etc., etc. (go read the CPU forums for more reasons/excuses to purchase it.)

Conclusion: if you want a system that will be great now and upgradable in the future you need to focus on purchasing quality "base" items that can easily be upgraded down the road, if you choose to do so. Purchasing a 400W power supply, for instance, is just going to limit you down the road when you want to build that great new gamer rig. Upgrade the PSU. Get a motherboard that supports the best chipsets out now, but dont' put the most expensive in it--upgrade to that better chip a few years from now when it's half the price.

--Spend high, get quality and maximum longevity/best product available: PSU, Motherboard, Thermal Grease/Paste (AS5!)
--Spend high enough to get the quality you want: Video Card, CPU, Heat Sink (if OCing), Monitor, Printer (if you will use it often)
--Shave costs and get the bare minimum to support what you want: Case, Fans, Heat Sink (if not OCing), HDD, CD/DVD Drives, Printer (if you will hardly use it or only print text)

202276
 
^ I agree almost 100%, but i prefer buying a suitable PSU for now, and upgrading it to support SLI if you ever need it in the future. Spending the $ on an SLI PSU now might be a complete waste if you never decide to do so.

Spending the money on a good SLI mobo now is a much smaller relative price bump (as most quality conroe mobos are around $120+ anyways), and won't require you to pull the entire system apart in the future in order to go SLI. Replacing a PSU takes about 5 minutes, replacing the motherboard is basically building an entire system over.

If you never go SLI, you didn't spend a lot of money to prepare for it with the mobo, and your PSU is still high quality, but more suitable for your needs.

zv
 
I can't understand why he would go for the Gigabyte instead of the Asus.

The Asus is SLI compatible, even if you never use it;

The Asus supports quad core CPUs

The Asus is only $7 more expensive!

Also, I think that the E4300 is a smarter buy, because of the 9x multi, meaning that he can overclock it easily with cheaper ram.
 
Well I was thinking about going with the

Intel E4300 CPU $180
ASUS P5N-E SLI $140
Seagate 320GB 7200RPM 16mb Perpend. $90
OCZ Gold 2x512mb $95
Ultra V Series 500W Power Supply Free After Rebate ($8 shipping)
Ultra Wizard Black Mid Tower Case Free After Rebate
EVGA 7900GS $160
lite-on sata dvd burner $35

This would put me at $708. Anyone have anything I should switch without altering the price?

This way I have enough money to get and LCD to replace my CRT and a few months down the road when im out of school I can upgrade to 2gigs of ram and possibly another video card.

Should I just get a 1gb stick since im planning on getting another 1gb shortly down the road?
 
Heres what I was thinking.

1. The most important thing gaming is the VC. No if, ands or buts.

I would still drop to the gigabyte board, and save the $35 dollars. WHY?

Someone mentioned quad core for the asus.... who knows what will be better 2 years from now. 2 Years ago it was AMD. Maybe 2 years from now its a Oct-core AMD. No one knows.

Your building a budget to midrange gaming machine. Your not going to ever use that SLI, becuase if you do, your more likely than not, need a bigger PSU. Double whammy. And as seen so far, single upgraded VC's are better than SLI's. A single 8800GTS, will blow alway 7900GS in SLI.

If your going to save to buy a second gig of ram after school, save a little more, and get the LCD then instead.

Putting the 7900GS in is a shame, when you can get the 8800GTS in your budget.

I would save for the LCD, and have a much better gaming machine now, then never getting the 8800GTS, and only have 1 gig of ram... but getting the LCD. I would build the better machine now, and save for the LCD.

That how I look at it.
 
bradyapba said:
Putting the 7900GS in is a shame, when you can get the 8800GTS in your budget.

I would save for the LCD, and have a much better gaming machine now, then never getting the 8800GTS, and only have 1 gig of ram... but getting the LCD. I would build the better machine now, and save for the LCD.

That how I look at it.
Click to expand...


I agree with that. if this is truly a gaming rig, the 7900gs isn't good enough. spend more money there, and get a monitor when you can afford it. otherwise, you'll be cheaping out on an LCD as well, and that's as importnat as your GPU on a gaming rig.

I don't agree wit hthe SLI bit (as there is barely any premium on SLI mobos over decent non SLI mobos)

if he decides to go SLI later, fine, at least he won't have to rebuild the entire rig to do it. just plug in a new PSU. that's smart use of $10-$20 (if that) either way, the SLI shouldn't be a main driver for this. I think it's worth thinking about, but as the above poster mentioned, GPU is PRIMARY here. don't skimp on that.

zv
 
zero_vertical said:
I agree with that. if this is truly a gaming rig, the 7900gs isn't good enough. spend more money there, and get a monitor when you can afford it. otherwise, you'll be cheaping out on an LCD as well, and that's as importnat as your GPU on a gaming rig.

I don't agree wit hthe SLI bit (as there is barely any premium on SLI mobos over decent non SLI mobos)

if he decides to go SLI later, fine, at least he won't have to rebuild the entire rig to do it. just plug in a new PSU. that's smart use of $10-$20 (if that) either way, the SLI shouldn't be a main driver for this. I think it's worth thinking about, but as the above poster mentioned, GPU is PRIMARY here. don't skimp on that.

zv
Click to expand...

Well my point, hes obviously on a budget, and a student. The ASUS at $140 is overkill, somesome who probably isn't going to use SLI or overclock(as he posted in his 1st statement)... and hes also probably not going to ever go SLI, as he will probably need a new PSU. No since in buying a $140 MOBO, and a $90-$100 mobo will suit his needs just fine, for what hes wants, where $40-$50 on a budget machine, which could be applied better to MEM or the VC, the most important part of a gaming machine.

I agree with you, there isn't always a difference in an SLI and non SLI mobo, but in this case there is, hes looking at a $140 mobo, when a $100 will be the job very well, so all the point I was really trying to make.
 
Now that I think about it I agree that he should not take the Asus board. A $100 board that reaches 350FSB will be more than enough for him for at least 1-2 years (9x350 = 3.15Ghz).

However I stand against the 8800GTS.

The 7900gs is definitely not as good, but it's still a very good card! He'll be able to play any DX9 game in high settings... Those $250 he saves can be used for an upgrade in 6months-1year to a DX10 card, because by then the prices will be MUCH cheaper.
 
This pertains to this guy too so I'll post it here but my buddies wife has him on a tight ass budget, is it better for him to get 1*1GB and a 7950GT or 2*1GB and a 7900GS? Big time gamer here and he's tired of the laptop he's been using. Also this will be on a 65" Sony and at times a 1280*1024 monitor.
 
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