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New build $1k or less

B

bosfordjd

n00b
Joined
Sep 9, 2005
Messages
17
looking to build 3 new systems, all the same to replace my aging machine, my cousin's and a buddy's. Looking keep price $1k or less each.

Do not need monitors
Do not need keyboards/mice
Do not need drives(HD or CD/DVD)

Primary purpose will be gaming at 1920x1200. My biggest thing is crossfire/sli, not sure where to go. If I should or if I should leave room to do it as a future upgrade, but then will cpu be a bottleneck, thus making a future Xfire/SLI update pointless?

Here's what I'm looking at

Case: Antec Three Hundred
PSU: KINGWIN Mach 1 ABT-1000MA1S 1000W ATX (overkill likely if not going xfire/sli)
CPU: Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156
GPU: SAPPHIRE 100282-3SR Radeon HD 5850 1GB(2x 5830 xfire? or >single card?)
Mobo: not sure, mainly due to xfire/sli upgrading in future question
RAM: G.SKILL Trident 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

Case: 54.99
PSU: 164.99
CPU: 194.99
GPU: 284.99
Mobo:
RAM: 106.99
Total: 806.95 without mobo

Not stuck on Intel or ATI.
 
3) Where do you live?
6) Will you be overclocking?
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?

Oh and ditch that Kingwin PSU. Not only do you not need a 1000W PSU, that Kingwin 1000W PSU isn't that good considering that 800W version of that PSU had some pretty big issues:
http://hardocp.com/article/2007/10/24/kingwin_abt800ma1s_mach_1_800w_psu/

So yeah, that Kingwin is not staying.
 
Which hard drives are you planning on reusing? Today's hard drives use 320GB/333GB and 500GB drive platters that make them competitive (performance-wise) to the Western Digital VelociRaptor -- and you can grab a decent 1TB hard drive for under $100.
 
I'm in FL, others in NY. No plan to OC. Building. Currently we have SATA 74gb WD raptors. Don't need raid. Not sure about crossfire or sli. Don't plan on going either right out of the box, and not sure if it's a good upgrade path in the future.
 
I Didn't even try to find combo's so I am sure this can be refined a bit..

23 LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R (retail)
70 NZXT Crafted Series Vulcan Black Steel / Plastic Gaming mATX Computer Case
55 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB
220 EVGA 768-P3-1362-AR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked 768MB (has lifetime warranty)
90 SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W (modular)
94 G.SKILL ECO Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
90 EVGA P55V 120-LF-E651-TR LGA 1156
240 Intel Xeon X3440 Lynnfield 2.53GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core

shipped total was 905 so assuming you need an OS still that would be right at 1k..

And although that CPU is 100 Mhz slower & 40 bucks more expensive then the i5-750 since your not Overclocking that Xeon will give you much better performance due to HT..
 
Bastage, you could take off the DVDdrive and the HDD, he said he doesn't need it.

My suggestion:

$260 - AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz + GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H AM3 AMD 890GX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

$440 - XFX HD-587X-ZNFV Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB + XFX P1-650X-CAG9 650W ATX12V 2.2 / ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular PSU

$91 - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333

$70 - COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN3 CM690 II Basic Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
-------------------------
Total: $863

Big point here is that you are getting an HD5870, which is going to be great for 1900x1200, plus still have room for Win7 if you need it.
 
A solid build by Shadowssong. Let me throw in a Core i5 760 build with Win 7 O/S assuming you don't have an O/S

COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN3 CM690 II for $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119215

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 for $96.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193

MSI P55A-G55 LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 for $124.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130292

XFX Radeon HD 5850 1GB + XFX 650W both for $354.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.449243

MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit + Intel Core i5-760 both for $299.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.437518.19-115-067

Total: $946.93
Shipping: $4.83
Grand Total: $951.76

Note: The XFX 650 watt psu will be more than enough if you plan on O/C down the road and running 2 x 5850s in Crossfire. The G. Skill DDR3 1600 are just a few dollars more than the DDR 1333. You might as well get it. This will give you more leeway if you decide to o/c
 
bosfordjd said:
I'm in FL, others in NY. No plan to OC. Building. Currently we have SATA 74gb WD raptors. Don't need raid. Not sure about crossfire or sli. Don't plan on going either right out of the box, and not sure if it's a good upgrade path in the future.
Click to expand...

Read question 8 again: I asked WHEN.
 
Shadowssong said:
Bastage, you could take off the DVDdrive and the HDD, he said he doesn't need it.
Click to expand...

But then I saw the part about those slow & loud 74gb raptors.. If I am not mistaken that makes them 1st gen sata1 only does it not. There is no reason to do a modern build & leave it crippled by a drive of that age.

Also as from the Original Post he is unsure of SLI or Crossfire so I went for a Intel build so that the OP could have the option of either later.

@HG at 200 for an i5 anything I think its a bad buy considering the extra performance gained with the xeon I linked for 40 bucks more. It is essentially a little lower clocked i7 at closer to an i5 price.
 
Thats true, in that case a $55 f3 500gb wouldn't bust my build. I still think mine is the best just because he is playing at 1900x1200 and with the 5870 he would be able to crank up the eye candy more than the 460 or 5850.
 
bastage said:
@HG at 200 for an i5 anything I think its a bad buy considering the extra performance gained with the xeon I linked for 40 bucks more. It is essentially a little lower clocked i7 at closer to an i5 price.
Click to expand...

Sorry bastage but, I absolutely have to disagree with you. I will tell you why. The Xeon X3440 is a good cpu that offer HT support. But, for what OP will be doing, which will be mainly gaming, he won't be utilizing and taking advantage of HT. Also, OP stated that he won't o/c the cpu, the 2.8ghz i5-760 speed over the 2.53ghz Xeon X3440 is already an advantage by 270mhz. Now, if OP was doing video transcoding and rendering, than it would be ideal go get the X3440 cpu with HT.

As you can see here, the Core i7 920 @ 2.66ghz cpu which supports HT doesn't really show a big advantage over the Core i5 750 @ 2.66ghz with no HT support in gaming.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i7-870_9.html#sect0
 
Nope it sure doesnt.. Neither does usb 3.0 or Sata 6.0 gbps.. But you chose a board that is 35 dollars more then I did prob ably because it had them.. Its a simple matter of future proofing.. We jsut did it in different areas
 
Hmmm... actually, O/P should stick with the i5-750 cpu. The i5-760 clocked at 2.8ghz is $15 more with a 133mhz increase in clock speed. The difference in performance is minor. However, if he decides to get the i5-760, it's still well within his budget.

Not to diss Shadowssongs AMD Quad build but, the Intel i5-750 cpu will be a better option for him considering he's not overclocking.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i7-870_9.html#sect0

It's true that the 5870 video card is faster than a 5850 but, you can o/c the 5850 to come close to the performance of a 5870 video card.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd5850_5.html#sect3

If you have a faster cpu in the core i5-750/760, it will help maximize the performance of a Radeon HD 5850/5870 video card.

On top of this, I included the MSI P55A-G55 motherboard that supports Crossfire with x8, x8 mode. If you were to slap in another Radeon 5850 in crossfire, a core i5 750 overclocked to 4.0+ghz will pose less of a bottleneck than a Phenom II X4 945 at 4.0ghz.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/phenom-ii-x4-965-c3_7.html#sect0
 
I would definitely go with ATI for your graphics as they have the better value and use less power.

As for the CPU I would go Intel if you are building a gaming machine any core "i" series should be good.

Well that is my 2 cents,,,,,,,,,,,good luck.
 
la_guy said:
I would definitely go with ATI for your graphics as they have the better value and use less power.
Click to expand...

That depends on at what price point.. The GTX460 at the common 200 dollar price point spanks the 5830 all around & its a bit cheaper.
 
If he's hot on SLI/Crossfire the GTX 460 is an interesting choice as well. Two of those will blow away a GTX 480.
 
Throw in a $55 500GB HDD (either Western Digital WD5000AAKS or Samsung HD502HJ), as either of the ones I recommended would outperform the 74GB Raptor.

From a performance standpoint, two GTX 460s would be the way to go, but you'd need a beefier PSU than the XFX 650 that HG recommended. From a practical standpoint, one GTX 460 would be good at medium to high (visual) settings for most games, but you may want a better (single GPU) card like either the HD 5850 or GTX 470.
 
When I'm going to build, don't know, assume today, seemed obvious as that's all you can do as far as pricing goes.

O/S, have valid XP, will likely upgrade to win7 though.

What kind of advantages am I going to see from upgrading the HD. I'm not particularly concerned with load/boot/install times, faster is nice, but I'm more worried about in game performance. If it's not going to help there then I have little interest in upgrading the main HD.

One build posted includes the 5870, it's $150 more, half the price of the 5850, would I not be better off waiting for the 5850 to come down and purchasing a 2nd and going CF? And possibly spending more on the CPU now.

Someone also mentioned the gtx460 beating the 5830, I haven't seen any reviews or comparisons that show this, the 5830 is the winner in all I've seen. Though I'm not sure about sli/xfire scaling, maybe the 460 comes out ahead in that scenario. I have considered xfire 5830s over the 5850, but I then would have sli/xfire as future upgrade route.

My biggest concern is if I should even consider sli/xfire as future upgrade path, seems like I might run into a cpu bottleneck in that scenario thus making it an unsubstantial upgrade.

I'm not particulary concerned with usb3.0 or sata 6gbs, as I don't plan on using any SSD drives in the near future that would sustain those transfer rates.
 
Last edited:
Regarding in-game performance, you'll always see a more noticeable rate of improvement by going with a better video card than you would by going with a faster hard drive. That said, the hard drives that use 320GB/333GB and 500GB drive platters have been averaging over 100MB/s on random read and write speeds. They are outclassed by SSDs and the newer 2.5" VelociRaptors. But I digress....

To answer your question about the HDDs, they are faster than the 74GB Raptors, but they won't give you any noticeable improvement in gaming.

Many of us here believe that SLI and CrossFire are bad ideas for most users. In most cases, it isn't worth waiting for a second card to come down in price since by the time that happens, there would likely be a new card that arrives that performs just as well on its own as two cards (say, two GTX 460s) in SLI/CF mode. (Right now, the GTX 460 SLI combo outperforms the GTX 480, but what's to say that they'll still be a good option even six months from now?) Unless you plan on going CF or SLI right now, and you buy both cards right now, I personally wouldn't recommend it.

Right now, only SSDs would require the additional bandwidth that USB 3.0 and/or SATA III (6.0Gb/s) offer. However, one immediately noticeable advantage of USB 3.0 is that external drives using the technology are showing faster transfer speeds than their USB 2.0 counterparts. Both USB 3.0 and SATA III are backwards compatible with older equipment, so it doesn't hurt to consider a board with one or both features. Plus, we'll only see more migration towards the newer technology over time.
 
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