New gaming rig

A

Amaenza

n00b
Joined
Sep 9, 2008
Messages
7
Well, my old rig has served me well, but it is time to move away from agp and get something with a little more power than my radeon 9600.

I would like to build a system under 1500 dollars. the cheaper the better, as i will have to duplicate it for my girlfriend.

I am currently using a 19" (1140 X 900) widescreen lcd monitor, but would like to upgrade before the year is out to a 24" widescreen.

After reading various threads here and doing price comparisons, this is what i have come up with:

Case-
Antec p182 Tower - 129.99
[H]ard Drive-
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB HD - 84.99
Video-
VisionTek 900244 Radeon HD 4870 -260
Power-
ZALMAN ZM750-HP 750W - 139.99
Ram-
G.SKILL 4GB SDRAM DDR2 800 - 69.99
DVD Burner-
Asus DVD burner - 34.99
Motherboard-
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3R - 129.99
CPU-
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 - 324.99
CPU Fan-
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro -24.99
OS-
Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit - 99.99
Thermal paste-
Arctic Silver 5 - 5.99

Total: 1,305.90 before shipping/tax

I think I can salvage our Audigy 2 sound cards from our current systems, and we can reuse keyboards/mice.

Our systems are just really old and i don't think anything else is worth holding onto.

Any suggestions/criticism welcome (especially if I did something idiotic with last minute part swapping and got stuff mixed that won't work together.

I'd like to keep the tower, as I like how it separates the power supply from the motherboard and has a fan directly ventilating it.
 
You can get P180/P182 cases for well under $100 when they're on sale, so shop around when you're ready to buy (recently $70 shipped on shellshock, and before that $40AR from Fry's).

If you want to save money, get the Corsair 750W from buy.com instead of the Zalman PSU.

The AC F7Pro is a great entry level cooler for dual core CPUs. For a quadcore, I'd recommend something much better:
$37 - XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler (highly recommended: $7 Xigmatek Bolt-Thru-Kit)

Do you have a microcenter near you? If so, you could save money on the CPU and get the Q9450 instead, for a savings of $35 and only 166Mhz slower. Or if you don't think any of the apps you'll be using in the next few years will make much use of SSE4.1, you could drop down to the $177 Q6600 instead, which is only up to 15% slower than the Yorkfields.
 
On the EP45-DS3R, do you need the RAID functionality of the motherboard? If not I would say the DS3L would suffice for $30 less. I say look for a different PSU - $139 is quite steep. The 750w or 650w Corsair PSU from Buy.com like Enginurd said are good prices.

You have a lot of options for parts and to cut costs if you really want to shave off a few dollars without really sacrificing anything. But everyone is different.
 
Yeah, there is a microcenter by me, I'll have to check that out.

I don't really need the raid functionality, but i do need the dual gigabit connections.

Would a 650 watt psu be enough to power this system (there will be 1 additional sata 120g drive as well)?
 
You're right on that border where you could cut costs a little bit if you trim things down a little but of course all the fancy stuff goes with it.

Oh and don't worry about the wattage, I've got a 450 and it keeps my 3870 and 2 HDs happy so a 650 should keep you juiced up (make sure you get a good amperage one though)
 
You and your gf will have the exact same computer? How often do you guys were the t-shirts with your pictures on them?

Man card please!
 
Rydawg5143 said:
You and your gf will have the exact same computer? How often do you guys were the t-shirts with your pictures on them?

Man card please!
Click to expand...

lol, if it were me and she wanted the same computer... that would consist of me hiding a more power CPU under the same heatsink, and going with 4GB x 2 instead of 2 x 1 GB RAM, and a 4870x2 instead of a 4870. There problem solved.

"What are you talking about? Look inside dear, it's the same computer!"

**Binary cartwheels ensue**
 
Yeah, that's about where I am right now Crispy.

I know i am about as trimmed down as i can get, and still keep the system based on the quad core/4870 I want in it.

With the suggestions Here so far, I have the build down to 1117.89 (changing cpu fan to suggested fan and kit, q6600 processor and a650 watt psu) on newegg. I can probably trim off a little more by shopping around.

Right now I have a p4 2.8g processor (no dual core, just the super awesome hyper threading) on a gigabyte 81848P motherboard with a gig of pc3200 memory. Couple that with my aging radeon 9600 and it is time to take a step into the present, lol.

And the problem is we are both gamers, and sit about 3 feet from each other. if there was a noticeable difference in how things ran, she'd notice, and she is intelligent enough to look at the system specs and notice discrepancies :(
 
Amaenza said:
Right now I have a p4 2.8g processor (no dual core, just the super awesome hyper threading) on a gigabyte 81848P motherboard with a gig of pc3200 memory. Couple that with my aging radeon 9600 and it is time to take a step into the present, lol.
Click to expand...

The friday that just passed, I upgraded from:

Athlon 64 3000+ (1.8 ghz)
K8N Neo2 (Nforce 3)
7800 GS OC (AGP)
2 GB PC3200

to the rig in my sig... :eek:
 
3.2ghz P4! It bottlenecks my 3870 but doesn't cause much trouble. I run Age of Conan at about 30fps stable. 2gb DDR2 can't remember speed off the top of my head. I've been looking to upgrade to a wolfdale processor but without a dire need for more power I just can't justify the funds required =|
 
Please get different cases. So your friends dont have to come over and take your man card from your gf while they laugh at you. Please for [H] sake
 
Which PSU are you getting? The Corsair 750W is great quality and only $105 - $20MIR from buy.com.
 
Looking at buy.com, the Corsair TX 650W is 92.23. If 650W will be enough for this system as previously stated by Cmustang, then I'll prolly go with that one, which is actually 8 dollars less then the pricepoint I used in my prior total estimate.

Right now, I am getting my list together on newegg as they have a great wish list system, and then I'll bargain shop from that list.

And as for the cases, that's the one system piece she is particular about (other than the innards matching). She is at least somewhat superficial, hehe.
 
Huh? The Zalman PSU is $140. Well, I suggested the 750W because you're planning on a 24" monitor. With such a huge monitor, SLI is actually worth it at such high resolutions. So, if you plan on doing Crossfire, the 750W would be a better choice for only $8 more, IMO. Though, if you never plan on going with Crossfire, then even the 550W Corsair would be more than enough for your setups. ;)
 
I don't think i will be doing crossfire at any point.

if I go for the 24" monitor, I'll probably get a 4870 x2 or the equivalent at the time i get the monitor.

The total price i was referring to was in reply #9 when i had mentioned changing the 750 toa 650. that 650 was a 100 dollar psu.
 
Good choice, avoiding Crossfire with a 4870X2 or similar. Its what I would recommend/do myself.
 
XIGMATEK ACK-I7751 Retention Bracket 6.99
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler 34.99
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 189.99
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L 99.99
G.SKILL 4GB DDR2 800 69.99
ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 6.99
RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-530SS 530W 49.98
VisionTek Radeon HD 4870 260
Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 84.99
Antec P182 case 129.99
DVD Burner 24.99
Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit 99.99

TOTAL 1058.88

I swapped to the raidmax 530W psu as i don't intend to do crossfire, and even if i go with a 4870x2 in the future I think it would still work.

That's with everything coming from newegg. After looking, the amount i'd save by driving to microcenter and factoring in gas, it would be about the same if I ordered at the egg.

total with shipping would be 1075.91


Any further critiques or suggestions?
 
Amaenza said:
...
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L 99.99
...
RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-530SS 530W 49.98
...
I swapped to the raidmax 530W psu as i don't intend to do crossfire, and even if i go with a 4870x2 in the future I think it would still work.
...
Any further critiques or suggestions?
Click to expand...

If you don't need Crossfire, switch to the P43-DS3L instead, and save another $9.

Raidmax is far from a good choice of PSU, especially for a gaming rig. They're slightly better than Apevia, and Apevia has been known to burn down systems. If you want to risk your $1000 system on a $50 Raidmax, thats up to you. Stick to Antec Earthwatts or Neo, Corsair, Seasonic, Thermaltake Toughpower or PurePowerRX, PC P&C, newer BFGs, Enhance, XClio, and a few others I can't remember right now.

PSU FAQ
 
enginurd said:
If you don't need Crossfire, switch to the P43-DS3L instead, and save another $9.

Raidmax is far from a good choice of PSU, especially for a gaming rig. They're slightly better than Apevia, and Apevia has been known to burn down systems. If you want to risk your $1000 system on a $50 Raidmax, thats up to you. Stick to Antec Earthwatts or Neo, Corsair, Seasonic, Thermaltake Toughpower or PurePowerRX, PC P&C, newer BFGs, Enhance, XClio, and a few others I can't remember right now.

PSU FAQ
Click to expand...

+1 for that!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top