PC on $600 budget

yeah sorry, i noticed someone else posted their specs in the middle of the thread and so thought it would be okay to ask advice here.
 
seriously, scrounge around on the F/S/T forum here and try to get as many parts as you can. I saved $250 over newegg in buying the parts for my new computer off of the F/S/T forum here. everything except for my OS, power supply, and DVD drive was bought on this forum. you'll find incredible deals
 
Kevin5255 said:
seriously, scrounge around on the F/S/T forum here and try to get as many parts as you can. I saved $250 over newegg in buying the parts for my new computer off of the F/S/T forum here. everything except for my OS, power supply, and DVD drive was bought on this forum. you'll find incredible deals
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But then there is always a chance it wont work

Think he will be able to OC this PC with stock HSF?
 
There's always that chance that used parts won't work, but most sellers should be willing to work with you on that end. (I say should because no one should be selling nonfunctional parts without mentioning so beforehand.) With used parts it's always "buyer beware," but if you're trying to cut corners price-wise, then it may be a more preferred option.

Anyways, if you could add around $100-$200 more, you could build a decent gaming machine for your brother. Another thing you could do is shop around to save money on parts. For example, Buy.com has a deal on the Corsair 550VX for $85 ($65 AR) with free shipping. And if you're planning on overclocking the processor, then you could drop down to an E2160 ($70 with free shipping at NewEgg and ClubIT) as all the 2-series CPU have the same approximate OC threshold.

The Intel processors are now being sold with a half-height stock HSF (compared to the older one) that's only designed for stock speeds. But for the 2- and 4-series dual-cores, all you really need is the AC Freezer 7 Pro HSF.
 
tiraides said:
There's always that chance that used parts won't work, but most sellers should be willing to work with you on that end. (I say should because no one should be selling nonfunctional parts without mentioning so beforehand.) With used parts it's always "buyer beware," but if you're trying to cut corners price-wise, then it may be a more preferred option.

Anyways, if you could add around $100-$200 more, you could build a decent gaming machine for your brother. Another thing you could do is shop around to save money on parts. For example, Buy.com has a deal on the Corsair 550VX for $85 ($65 AR) with free shipping. And if you're planning on overclocking the processor, then you could drop down to an E2160 ($70 with free shipping at NewEgg and ClubIT) as all the 2-series CPU have the same approximate OC threshold.

The Intel processors are now being sold with a half-height stock HSF (compared to the older one) that's only designed for stock speeds. But for the 2- and 4-series dual-cores, all you really need is the AC Freezer 7 Pro HSF.
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Say I go with the 8800GT instead of the 9600

Would that make a big differnce? Would the 8800GT and the E2160 be comparable to my PC I just built (Quad Q6600, 8800GT, 4 gigs of ram)

He is going to add the extra 2GB of ram later on.

He is going to be playing on a 15 inch LCD monitor (the one I am currently using)

Is it worth the extra 70 or so dollars to just go with the 8800 now?
 
With the 15 inch LCD, an 8800GT would be a waste of money. IIRC, most 15 inch monitors have a native/max resolution of 1024x768... you could get away with using an 8600GT with that resolution. If you/your brother were planning on upgrading the monitor later (to a 19-22 inch WS LCD), then the 8800GT would be a better choice, but the 9600GT would still perform well on a 19-20 inch monitor (as they often have the same native/max resolutions).
 
tiraides said:
With the 15 inch LCD, an 8800GT would be a waste of money. IIRC, most 15 inch monitors have a native/max resolution of 1024x768... you could get away with using an 8600GT with that resolution. If you/your brother were planning on upgrading the monitor later (to a 19-22 inch WS LCD), then the 8800GT would be a better choice, but the 9600GT would still perform well on a 19-20 inch monitor (as they often have the same native/max resolutions).
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Say I was going to add $100-200 more like you said, what parts of the build I set up would you upgrade?

And I think he will stick with the 15 inch monitor (its actually the one I am using now but I am upgrading to a 22-24 inch one soon)
 
Using your most recent wish list as a guideline, with a $700-$800 budget:
  • I'd go with the 9600GT over the 8800GT. Truthfully though, if your brother plans on keeping the 15 inch LCD for a while, I'd suggest dropping down to an HD3850. The 8800GT would be overkill for that monitor, and so would the 9600GT. I'd keep the 8800GT only if I was sure that your brother would be upgrading to a larger LCD soon. (I'm a big believer in not spending more money than you have to.)
  • If you/your brother are planning on overclocking, go with the E2160 (for reasons that I've explained earlier) and the AC Freezer 7 Pro HSF.
  • Since you have the money for it, get a 2x2GB kit instead of a 2x1GB kit. For example, the A-DATA 2x2GB DDR2 800 kit is available for $80 with free shipping.
  • I'd get the Corsair VX550W PSU from buy.com... it's currently available for $85 with free shipping and a $20 mail-in rebate.
 
tiraides said:
Using your most recent wish list as a guideline, with a $700-$800 budget:
  • I'd go with the 9600GT over the 8800GT. Truthfully though, if your brother plans on keeping the 15 inch LCD for a while, I'd suggest dropping down to an HD3850. The 8800GT would be overkill for that monitor, and so would the 9600GT. I'd keep the 8800GT only if I was sure that your brother would be upgrading to a larger LCD soon. (I'm a big believer in not spending more money than you have to.)
  • If you/your brother are planning on overclocking, go with the E2160 (for reasons that I've explained earlier) and the AC Freezer 7 Pro HSF.
  • Since you have the money for it, get a 2x2GB kit instead of a 2x1GB kit. For example, the A-DATA 2x2GB DDR2 800 kit is available for $80 with free shipping.
  • I'd get the Corsair VX550W PSU from buy.com... it's currently available for $85 with free shipping and a $20 mail-in rebate.
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I was already planning on getting the crosair from buy.com

might be able to upgrade to the 2x2GB ram kit but if not should I got with one 2GB stick that way he would only need one more when he is ready to upgrade?

And does the video card effect how games run other then the picture?
 
If you don't plan on getting 4GB right away, getting one 2GB stick now and one later is a good idea.

I just checked and I forgot that the prices for the HD3850 and 9600GT are around the same. Get the 9600GT.

This is an oversimplification on my part, but a better video card allows you to obtain higher/more consistent frame rate on games, even while using the games' higher visual settings. The specific game you're playing, the visual settings you wish to achieve, and the monitor(s) you're using all affect how well the video card performs. Since the GPU oftentimes is the most power part in the computer (regarding games), using a very good video card in a low-end or mid-range PC could expose other bottlenecks to performance, like the CPU, RAM or the hard drive. (Then again, the hard drive is almost always the slowest part in the computer, but there's little you could do to fix that.)

Outside of Crysis and Supreme Commander, there are few games that could possibly tax the 9600GT on a 15 inch LCD monitor using high settings.
 
Buy a 9800GX2 and duct tape it over your eyes. You don't need PSUs and CPUs and all that other crap.
 
silent-circuit said:
Buy a 9800GX2 and duct tape it over your eyes. You don't need PSUs and CPUs and all that other crap.
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That could work :)

And thanks Silent Circuit and tiraides you two are very helpful.

I have a question about OCing,

I have never tried it. If I read up on it will it be pretty simple to do? OCing the E2160 is will greatly increase its performance right?
 
There are many guides, both here and on the web, available about overclocking. With the Intel chips, it's very easy to overclock with little trouble.
 
darkhunter139 said:
I have never tried it. If I read up on it will it be pretty simple to do? OCing the E2160 is will greatly increase its performance right?
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Damn right it'll work! Now, back to more complicated solutions.

Yes, OCing is easy. There's a good post in the OCing subforum (I think it's a sticky) that gives a solid overview, and we can answer any questions after you read that. It's a ~30 minute exercise with the Core 2 Duo chips, if that, and yes, there will be a massive performance boost. You can expect 2.8-3.2Ghz out of that chip pretty realistically, but as with all OCing YMMV. It may top out lower.
 
Ok I am going to go with the E6160 then (is there really any reason to go with the E6180? Its only 10 more dollars I dont mind paying that)

I probably will try to OC it to around 3.0 GHZ if I can I guess.
 
darkhunter139 said:
Ok I am going to go with the E6160 then (is there really any reason to go with the E6180? Its only 10 more dollars I dont mind paying that)

I probably will try to OC it to around 3.0 GHZ if I can I guess.
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There is no E6160. I think you meant E2160 correct? If you're planning on overclocking, stick with the E2160. If not, go with the E2180.
 
Danny Bui said:
There is no E6160. I think you meant E2160 correct? If you're planning on overclocking, stick with the E2160. If not, go with the E2180.
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Heh yeah

I meant the 2180 my bad.

If I just go with the 2180 in case I dont feel comfortable OCing I will be able to OC that pretty easily too right? $10 more dollars just to be on the safe side is worth it imo.
 
They both have the same approximate OC threshold (YMMV); the E2180 is around 200MHz faster at stock speeds. If it makes you sleep better at night, then go ahead and get the E2180.
 
No it won't be worth it to OC your RAM. You won't see a real-world performance increase.
 
Crysis, RTS games and internet browsing mostly. I think its doing the job right now though so I dont think I should bother with it
 
darkhunter139 said:
Its a 26" vizio LCD that can do 720p

And games like crysis (On low settings obviously). Star craft 2, age of conan, WiC ect..
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oohhhicccc. So how do you plan to get the video signal to that TV? HD-SVideo (or w/e its called, the one with more then 4 contacts) to Component? That would probibly do yeh, and pretty well all 8 series cards come with one I think (its not something I usually look for). But of course, this is where ATI would chime in with "We have bridged audio for HDMI!!!"

lol, and as for the games you listed, you could have just said "games with good graphics". For anyone who hasn't played WIC, its probably the best looking RTS ever made, better than supcom and COH if you ask me.
 
MrWizard6600 said:
oohhhicccc. So how do you plan to get the video signal to that TV? HD-SVideo (or w/e its called, the one with more then 4 contacts) to Component? That would probibly do yeh, and pretty well all 8 series cards come with one I think (its not something I usually look for). But of course, this is where ATI would chime in with "We have bridged audio for HDMI!!!"
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How about a DVI -> HDMI cable. Or 15 pin RGB analog. The Vizio has both HDMI and RGB input.
 
An HDMI to DVI cable would work fine (get one from monoprice.com)... or, you could use the S-/component video breakout cable that's normally supplied with the graphics card(s) to connect to your HDTV. (You'll need a separate cable to connect the sound to your TV.)
 
IIRC, s-video's limit is 480p (as well as composite). Component could reach HD res.
 
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