The $700 Quad Build - Advice

C

c0re

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 15, 2007
Messages
210
looking to get this rig for friend who does lite gaming, have hd already. plan to overclock it later on. budget is $700. thanks all in advance.

*REMOVED*
 
looks good, but don't expect to play many newer games with that 8600GT, at least not a decent settings...
 
I've been using the Coolermaster Elite RC330 for the last bunch of my builds and I have no complaints. Its a good cheap case, shave $30 off your total cost (and put it toward a dif gfx card mentioned in a sec).

Rosewill psus....850W is overkill and theres no chance that PSU would ever reach its rated outputs. Ditch it. I have yet to see a loud seasonic (or corsair), So I vote for either the corsair 450W or the Seasonic 450W.

For an extra $40-$50 you could manage an 8800GS which will give you a significant (3X the shader horsepower, 4X the texture horsepower, get all the data you ever wanted on these two cards here) performance boost in any game.

I dont know what the combo is for because none of those other prices look particularly kick-ass.

Also I am a strong proponent of putting serious consideration into your HDD setup as it impacts performance just as hard as a quad core does in some respects. If you planning on using some old 5400rpm 5 platter 80 gig drive, don't, you can get a brand spankin new 7200.10 160 gig for $50.

Also, an excellent budget overclocking ready CPU cooler is the Freezer 7 pro and can usually be found for $20.
 
I agree with Mr Wiz. Shave off more $ off the case and invest it more into a better video card. You can get an 8800GS 384MB video card with your setup as what MrWizard just mentioned. You just need to tweak other areas. Some of the items you listed is good. But, here is what can be better for $700

$40-Cooler Master Elite 330 case
$36 (after $10 rebate) -Silverstone ST400 PSU
$255-Q6600 #BX80562Q6600 CPU
$90-GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L MB
$45-G.SKILL 2GB #F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ
$30-LITE-ON 20X SATA #LH-20A1S DVD
$120 (after $30 rebate) XFX Geforce 8800GS 384MB video

Total $616 after rebates.

BTW, throw in a WD 320gig SATA 300 drive for $75
*If you do have at least a 120 - 160gig SATA 150 drive then stick with that.

Total with HDD added $691 (faster setup and even included a harddrive)


MrWizard6600 said:
I've been using the Coolermaster Elite RC330 for the last bunch of my builds and I have no complaints. Its a good cheap case, shave $30 off your total cost (and put it toward a dif gfx card mentioned in a sec).

Rosewill psus....850W is overkill and theres no chance that PSU would ever reach its rated outputs. Ditch it. I have yet to see a loud seasonic (or corsair), So I vote for either the corsair 450W or the Seasonic 450W.

For an extra $40-$50 you could manage an 8800GS which will give you a significant (3X the shader horsepower, 4X the texture horsepower, get all the data you ever wanted on these two cards here) performance boost in any game.

I dont know what the combo is for because none of those other prices look particularly kick-ass.

Also I am a strong proponent of putting serious consideration into your HDD setup as it impacts performance just as hard as a quad core does in some respects. If you planning on using some old 5400rpm 5 platter 80 gig drive, don't, you can get a brand spankin new 7200.10 160 gig for $50.

Also, an excellent budget overclocking ready CPU cooler is the Freezer 7 pro and can usually be found for $20.
Click to expand...
 
What size monitor will he be gaming on and what games will he be playing? Go with Mr. Wiz and HW Guru's advice... shave costs elsewhere to put towards a better GPU, unless he's playing with a 17" CRT at 1280x1024. :p Another good motherboard to get would be the Abit IP35-E, which should be the same price, but should also have a $30MIR.
 
cant use the Coolermaster Elite RC330 , its height is 19.1" and wont fit unde the desk, 17.5" is our limit. will definately look at other power supplies and gpu. for hard drive, we have a seagate 750gig sata drive. thanks for the advice.
 
c0re said:
cant use the Coolermaster Elite RC330 , its height is 19.1" and wont fit unde the desk, 17.5" is our limit. will definately look at other power supplies and gpu. for hard drive, we have a seagate 750gig sata drive. thanks for the advice.
Click to expand...

If you look at the pictures of each case, it shows the PSU is exactly on top of the Mobo area, with no space above/below either in each case. I don't see how the Cavalier is any shorter than the Elite 330. CM lists their dimensions as:

Elite 330:
(W)203 x (H)413 x (L)486 mm //> (W)7.95 x (H)16.25 x (L)19.13 in
Cavalier:
(W)202 x (H)435 x (D)500 mm //> (W)7.99 x (H)17.12 x (D)19.68 in

It seems that the Elite 330 is shorter than the Cavalier.
 
You can actually on that Coolermaster Elite 330 case. Those dimensions you looked at

19.1'' x 8'' x 16.3''

19.1"- Depth x 8"-Width x 16.3"-Height

Look at the specs on this case it will show (D x W X H)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119106

*Note also since its shorter at 16.3" in height it will be easier to slide under your desk.

On the PS, don't be fooled by high wattage PS, stick with 400, 450 or 500 watt quality name brands with good +12v amperage. Corsair VX450, Antec Earthwatts 430, Silverstone 400, Seasonic 500

Silverstone ST400 400 watt with 29amps on +12v for $36(after $10 reabte) on NewEgg
Antec Earthwatts 430 430 watt with 30 amps on +12v for $50 on NewEgg
Corsair VX 450 450 watt with 33 amps on +12v for $60 on Buy.com
Seasonic SS-500ES 500watt with 34 amps on +12v for $70 on NewEgg

The 8800GS 384mb is the card for you and still fits the budget. Forget about a 8600GT or 8600GTS. This 8800GS will run circles around those cards.


c0re said:
cant use the Coolermaster Elite RC330 , its height is 19.1" and wont fit unde the desk, 17.5" is our limit. will definately look at other power supplies and gpu. for hard drive, we have a seagate 750gig sata drive. thanks for the advice.
Click to expand...
 
yeah I'd really like to stress the importance of staying away from the Rosewill unit. It will never, in any shape or forum, manage to put out 650W of usable (or otherwise actually lol) DC. The psus considered good in this forum are ones that have ripple Vdroop well withen spec. If your looking for something thats a little cheaper and is only "just" withen spec, the FSP blue storms are pretty solid.

edit: mind you I'd group the Earthwatts and in some cases the Silverstones (dont know Silverstone nomenclature) as "just within spec" psus. Heres [H]'s own review of the ST400W. Looks pretty good aside from that almost too steep for comfort Vdroop drop off.
 
this board is very helpful, after talking to my friend and ironing out what he "really" wants, the case can actually be up to 17.8" inches to fit under his desk, needs to have 2 external 3'.5" & 5.25" bays & 2 internal 3.5" bays, looked at dozens of cases, works out to $670 before $40 in rebates.Picked the 7600GT as a temp card just to get the rig going, will replace it in 6 mos as 8800/9600 cards come down in price.

*REMOVED*

Already Have: Samsung 226BW LCD and Seagate Barracuda 750gig SATA.
 
c0re said:
...
Picked the 7600GT as a temp card just to get the rig going, will replace it in 6 mos as 8800/9600 cards come down in price.

CPU : $255-Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
RAM : $60-G.SKILL 2GB DDR2 1066 PC2-8500
GPU : $65 after $20 rebate-EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT
Click to expand...

There's no need to get DDR2-1066 RAM for a Q6600 -- its useless. Here's why:

/*------------- <cut n paste> -------------*/
Formulas for Intel platform @ 1:1 settings: (base FSB speed is SDR, or single data rate)
c x [Base FSB speed] = CPU speed (c = CPU Multiplier)
2 x [Base FSB speed] = RAM speed (DDR: double data rate)
4 x [Base FSB speed] = FSB speed (QDR: quad data rate; Effective FSB speed)

On Intel platforms, running the RAM higher than a 1:1 ratio with the CPU is, for the most part, useless, so don't bother trying to do so. If the BIOS does it for you, just let it. All you need is a 1:1 config, though. Here's some possible clock speeds (as always with OC'ing, your results will vary):

Q6600: 9 × 266 = 2.4Ghz, DDR2-533 << STOCK speeds
Q6600: 9 × 333 = 3.0Ghz, DDR2-667 << Nice OC
Q6600: 9 × 378 = 3.4Ghz, DDR2-756 << Good OC, near max for B3 stepping
Q6600: 9 × 400 = 3.6Ghz, DDR2-800 << Great OC, near max for G0 stepping
/*------------- </cut n paste> -------------*/

As you can see, you'll never even get to DDR2-1066 speeds with that chip.

$85 for a 7600GT?! Save $20 on the RAM by dropping down to DDR2-800. Ditch the smilodon case for an Elite 330 and save another $40 up-front money. Put that towards a better GPU, for a total of $145. Lend your homie $5 so he can get an 8800GS or HD3850.
 
Coolermaster Elite 330 only has 1 external 3.5" slot, other is used by usb/audio ports, yea..it can be removed.. will pass on it. gonna order everything tomorrow except cpu-video card, prices should drop on these in a week or two.

CASE: $80-RAIDMAX ATX-612WEB - newegg #N82E16811156078 {before $20.00 Mail-in Rebate, exp. 3/16}
PS: $85-Corsair VX 550W ATX Power Supply - CMPSU-550VX (before $20.00 Mail-in Rebate, exp. 3/31) - buy.com
CPU: $255-Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 newegg #N82E16819115017
MB: $90-GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L newegg #N82E16813128059
RAM: $45-G.SKILL 2GB DDR2 800 newegg #N82E16820231098
DVD: $30-LITE-ON Black 20X #newegg N82E16827106057
GPU: $170-PNY Verto GeForce 9600GT Model#VCG96512GXPB - buy.com
$755 // $40 rebates
 
aww man a raidmax? It takes more then the fingers on both hands to count the amount of cuts I've got due to that company.
 
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