new semi-budget build

S

Sage Osaka

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 28, 2006
Messages
422
i'm first going to copy and paste some text from a thread i created on the gamefaqs pc boards, and then answer the questions.

so i'm looking to spend somewhere in the region of 1200-1400 on a new setup, my old one is pretty dated.

basically i want this setup to beast wow, being that is what it is mostly going to be used for. im probably going to want to go with an i7 build, i'm guessing between 4 and 6 gigs of ram, and probably and one of the slightly newer ATI cards (200-300 dollar region?), being i hear theyre closer to the bang for your buck than nvidia is at the moment. i'm pretty sure i have my case picked out already, dont need an OS, but if i can squeeze in a better monitor (21.5"'ish widescreen) i would like to do that so i can have 2 full setups.

for about 1400'ish, is this possible to pull off? assume the case that i already have picked out is about 120-130.







1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
this setup is going to be primarily used to play wow. keep in mind that wow has grown to be a pretty memory and cpu intensive game in high amount of player situations.i will be playing css and maybe some tf2 on the side, as well as keeping future games in mind.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
my budget is about 1300-1400, and yes shipping and tax included in this.

3) Where do you live?
central california, modesto to be exact

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
i need everything, including a case that i have already picked out, and ive found a pretty good cd/dvd drive and probably an hdd as well.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
i might be using my keyboard/mouse at first, but i plan to eventually replace those as well being i want to have 2 full setups.

6) Will you be overclocking?
most likely not, unless a year or two down the line i am suffering from performance problems and i dont have the cash to upgrade.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
i plan most likely to get one of the pretty good 21.5" monitors ive seen floating around newegg for a good price.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
probably this coming thursday when i get paid.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
don't necessarilly need raid or firewire, but crossfire/sli might be taken into account for future upgrading (only planning on going with 1 gpu to start).

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
yes.

basically i want this setup to run wow full settings maxed, under any circumstances. i should probably opt for a semi decent sound card being i have a pretty good set of cans. i will add any further input as you guys have any questions.
 
Could you tell us what case you chose? Just making sure that your case is a decent one and can fit the parts we're about to recommend.
Also, do you live near a Microcenter?
A monitor is included in that budget correct?
 
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $90

ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail $200

Antec TruePower New TP-750 Blue 750W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE ... - Retail $115

OCZ Obsidian 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model OCZ3OB1600LV4GK - Retail $78

ASUS P7P55D LE LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $130

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750 - Retail $200

with the case you listed, you should have enough for a 5850.

Cooler Master RR-B10-212P-G1 Hyper 212 Plus 775/1156/1366/AMD/AM... Universal Direct Contact Heat-Pipe 120mm Fan CPU Cooler $30
 
i'm probably going to want to go with an i7 build, being that i wont be upgrading for a couple years probably. is 6 gigs tri channel memory the best bet in this circumstance?

also, i am currently running on a first gen g5/g15 setup, but thinking about going razer for my next setup, any feedback on this?
 
Sage Osaka said:
also, a link to my thread on gamefaqs, for any advice or comments you may have on what other people say.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=916373&topic=52123137
Click to expand...

My thoughts:
As much of a believer in the future of multi-core aware gaming that I am, I would not recommend the slow X4 620 for straight up gaming system. It's simply too slow, even with the extra core, for it to be worth it for a straight up gaming system.

Though I do concur that the the i7 860 is a bit of a waste of money IMO.

While, in general, it is correct that the higher the res, generally you're more GPU limited than CPU limited, there are some games, such as WOW, that still require a beefy CPU even at high resolutions. In addition, many future games may require faster/beefier CPUs to keep up. Hence why I'm personally not a fan of the whole "spend as little as possible on the CPU and up the GPU as high as possible" club.

As far as RAM timings go, don't worry or care about it. It's been proven time and time again that lower timings do not provide an iota of noticeable real world performance increase when it comes apps and games.

I don't see the point of adding a BD-ROM when nowhere in your OP did you mention watching Blu-ray content or planning to add such a feature. So waste of money there.

Anyway, lt_shiro's build is pretty good as is. With that said, I do have a bias towards Gigabyte mobo so I would also recommend this combo deal:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.280597

The GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P is just as good as the Asus mobo that lt_shiro listed.
 
To be honest with you lt_shiros build is pretty rock solid. You'll see no benefit of an i7 over an i5 in gaming. I'll take a swing at it though.

MSI X58/i7 920 combo $438.98
Gskill 6GB DDR3 kit $139.99
Acer H213H 21.5" 1080p display
Samsung F3 500GB HDD $54.99
LG DVDrw $28.99
Your specified case $144.99
Corsair CPMSU-750TX $109.99 ($10.00 MIR)


Thsi build comes to around $1100 minus the GPU. If you have your heart set on a 5850/5870 then your going to have to do some legwork to find one. There is a very real shortage of either card currently. Your other choice is to run Nvidia or a place holder card for now.

XFX HD4870 $154.99 This is probably what I would run in your place until the 58XX stock issues are cleared up. You'll have a lifetime warranty to sell with this card and you will get a good amount of money back on it in a resale down the road.

That brings the total to $1242.91 minus your mouse/keyboard and the GPU you really want. You can plan on another $300 for the 5850, at least till stock levels catch up and they drop back down to MSRP. The HD4870 I picked out for you will easily tide you over till then or if you get sick of waiting another HD4870 could put you into a crossfire rig on the cheap. Either way good luck, and we fully expect pics once your done. ;)
 
Last edited:
Sage Osaka said:
is there a good alternative or alternate source to the 5850?
Click to expand...

Just look through any reputable online store for the HD5850. The closest alternative to the HD5850 is the GTX 285. However the HD5850 is still faster than the GTX 285, costs less (when it's in stock of course), and uses significantly less power. So I would still recommend getting the HD 5850.
 
basically i have this setup going right now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133086
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009157
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.280727

sorry for the bad linking. basically this comes out to about 1095 before tax/shipping and about 1200 after. this is excluding a video card. im pretty much unable to find a 5850 but i think that is the card that i want. any suggested sites to look for? and if theres much or any noted difference or flaws in either the saphire, xfx, or diamond 5850's? about how long would one expect to wait for these to come in, being i plan on buying on thursday.

i have some of my money now, so if i found a 5850 somewhere i would buy it asap so any help pertaining to that is appreciated.

any critique on my build at all?
 
I'd spend the extra $5 for the better quality Antec Truepower New PSU that lt_shiro linked to. Other than that, looks good to me.

Check out Zipzoomfly.com and Amazon.com for the HD5850. It's pretty random when that card comes into stock. Not 100% sure that it will be available by Thurs.

The video card themselves should be about the same in most aspects. However in terms of warranty and customer support, XFX is the far better choice due to their lifetime warranty and excellent CS. Sapphire has some pretty piss-poor CS along with a short two-year warranty. Not sure on Diamond. Definitely not as bad as Sapphire AFAIK but nowhere near as good as XFX.
 
ASUS is solid on the CS, too. They will honor the 3 year warranty, but only if the card is obviously having problems.
 
kk the cart is updated with

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371022

now all thats left is the hunt for a 5850 by thursday, anyone think its possible at all? i'll have about 300'ish (give or take like 20 dollars) to spend on the 5850, i'm starting to cut it close here but as long as it stays in that region i should be fine.

with no overclock at first, should i bother to buy a HSF? do the i7's run very hot at stock speeds? is this particular i7 i'm buying coming with a stock hsf? i know some of them do and some of them dont, i'm not 100% what to look for.

thanks everyone for the help, i'll definitely be posting pics of the rig when its all set up (if i can find a 5850 soon)

any further critique or comments in general are gratefully welcomed, thanks in advance.
 
Sage Osaka said:
with no overclock at first, should i bother to buy a HSF? do the i7's run very hot at stock speeds? is this particular i7 i'm buying coming with a stock hsf? i know some of them do and some of them dont, i'm not 100% what to look for.
Click to expand...
The stock HSF will be fine unless you plan on overclocking or live in a very hot place without air conditioning. If the CPU says OEM somewhere, that means that it does not have a HSF. However the one you're going with is a boxed model (says so right in the model name BTW) which comes with a stock HSF.

Good luck with the HD 5850. Froogle might help as well.
 
ugh, i'm having a really hard time finding one in stock. how frequently do most stores update their inventory? I really don't want to have to wait longer than thursday to buy my pc but i'd rather get what i want than to settle for something less.

anyone have any insight on finding one in stock? froogle seemed to have a few options, but it was unclear whether or not some sites actually had them in stock or not. i'll keep trying there as well though
 
Sage Osaka said:
ugh, i'm having a really hard time finding one in stock. how frequently do most stores update their inventory?
Click to expand...
It really depends on whether or not the manufacturers have sent the stores enough video cards worth updating the inventory for. It also depends on whether or not those video cards are earmarked for backorders or preorders as well as when their usual inventory update time is.

So the best answer is: It depends.

Also check the Video card subforum as much as you can. Many people will often times post up when a store has the HD5850 in stock. Unfortunately you may have missed one such stock update an hour and a half after you posted:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1467715

Sold out less than an hour after the OP's post. So yeah, try checking the Video Card subforum as often as you can.
 
Danny Bui said:
It really depends on whether or not the manufacturers have sent the stores enough video cards worth updating the inventory for. It also depends on whether or not those video cards are earmarked for backorders or preorders as well as when their usual inventory update time is.

So the best answer is: It depends.

Also check the Video card subforum as much as you can. Many people will often times post up when a store has the HD5850 in stock. Unfortunately you may have missed one such stock update an hour and a half after you posted:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1467715

Sold out less than an hour after the OP's post. So yeah, try checking the Video Card subforum as often as you can.
Click to expand...

yeah i was actually at work when i posted, and i actually did see that thread, i got too it a little too late though, being i was pretty busy so too bad for that.

is there any real major downside to getting a non trusted brands card (xfx or saphire) such as his or diamond? other than the plastic cover and graphic art, is there any actual difference on the hardware/circuitboard or the card as a whole?
 
No, nothing major hardware wise with the exception of different HSF designs.

But in terms of warranty and customer support, there's a huge difference.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
Stiffy said:
There is a XFX 5850 available at zipzoomfly right now for $319.

http://search.zipzoomfly.com/?Key=5850&Category=00
Click to expand...

aghhhh damn my sleeping, sold out already, thanks for the update though man.

nothing left but to keep checking i guess, anyone else on the hunt for a 5850 here?

edit: damn, found that newegg had saphire 5850's in stock, clicked it to check out, and as i click process payment, it notifies me they have insufficient stock. agh, was soooo close :(
 
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