Budget gaming rig (for a friend)

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dlaube

New Member
I'm at it again :)

Trying to put together a decent gaming rig. Only really looking to get some good FPS on online games, like WOW...counter strike...
watching movies and downloading music too

Trying to keep it under 400, but up to 450 Is acceptable, nothing more then that though...this is what I got so far. Let me know what I did wrong or right, looking for any suggestions.

Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129074
hard drive - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136797
MOBO - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157212
video card - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102855
RAM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

COMBO -$15
PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.578341
CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.578341

For a grand total of $446.02
 
dlaube said:
I'm at it again :)

Trying to put together a decent gaming rig. Only really looking to get some good FPS on online games, like WOW...counter strike...
watching movies and downloading music too

Trying to keep it under 400, but up to 450 Is acceptable, nothing more then that though...this is what I got so far. Let me know what I did wrong or right, looking for any suggestions.

Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129074
hard drive - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136797
MOBO - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157212
video card - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102855
RAM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

COMBO -$15
PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.578341
CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.578341

For a grand total of $446.02
Click to expand...

You dont have an operating system, or a dvd drive... OEM Windows 7 is $100 but offers no tech support, and a dvd drive will run ya around $20
 
Avoid that PSU like the plague...Raidmax makes some of the worst units on the market. the PSU is the very last thing you want to cheap out on. In that price range, look for an Antec Neo ECO, Antec Earthwatts, Seasonic S12II/M12II, or Seasonic SS. (note that the SS line doesn't come with a power cable)

I'd recommend at least 400W, though the 380W earthwatts unit would be fine.

The motherboard is good, but only has a 1-year warranty. If you're cool with that, it's a good pick.

Ram is fine, that's what most of us recommend to people in this price range. :good:

The CPU is ok, but with AMD chips, try and get one with a model number that ends in GMBOX, rather than GIBOX. That indicates a C3 stepping.(revision), while the GI ones are C2. C3's overclock better, and have more sable memory controllers. C2 chips aren't "bad", though...C3's are just a little better.

- Best deal on an Athlon II x2 right now is the 255, unless you find a combo on another one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103896

If you want to upgrade to tri-core, I'd grab this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103886

For the DVD drive, any old SATA drive should do fine as long as it does everything you need. Even an old IDE model will suffice, if you have one laying around. No sense in buying one, though.

I'd go for this hard drive...much faster than the Caviar Blue:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
Of this one if you want to drop the price a bit: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181

The video card is old-ish...I'd get a newer DX11-capable one. A 5570 would be fine...more powerful than that 4670, and cheaper:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102875




The case is, honestly, pretty awful for the price. In that price range, these are the ones to look for on Newegg right now:

NZXT- Gamma, M59, Beta EVO

Cooler Master- Gladiator 600, HAF 912 (the 912 is the best of any I've listed)

Diablotek- EVO

Xion- XON-EC001

Rosewill- Challenger


All of those offer good cable management, features, and airflow.
 
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Alright I made some changes, and for 4 dollars less this is what I picked out. Let me know what you think...

HDD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136805

The thing about the HDD, we arent really looking for a ton of memory, realistically we dont need more then 100gb, we just want a fast HDD.

CASE - I am pretty set on this. I dont know how I didn't find it in the first place.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153

CPU/PSU combo...I dont know much about this PSU, nor could I find any good info on it, but I like the CPU choice and the PSU SEEEEEMS ok
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.578354

Graphics Card - I was looking through the 5570's and the only problem with the one someone mentioned was the lack of HDMI port. I picked this one out...But again, I am always willing to change my mind.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814141118
 
Nope, that PSU is not ok.

The ones I listed are pretty much the only units in the price range with good build quality.

Technically Antec's "Basiq" line would also be acceptable, but they're not on the same level with the others...they do run in spec though.
 
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Few problems there, the code ends today so its back to 90$, because there's no way we could order anything today.
Its twice as much, and thats well exceeding the budget.

And I am not doubting that it is faster, but I dont see how....the other one is a sata 6.0gb/s and has a 64mb cache. I know for a fact that I dont know enough about hardware to make a good comparison, but that is why I am here =)
 
Well, I'm glad you came here :)
I personally wouldn't get a recertified drive. However, the sata 6.0gb/s is the max, which is hardly ever hit.
The drive itself spins at 7200rpm. The one I listed spins at 10.000rpm. Speeds are increased (latency and access times)
I would have to agree with the Samsung Spinpoint F3. The latency and seek times are much faster than
the WD Black drive. Plus you get more space, just in case.
In addition, the reason that WD is discounted is because of it being recertified.
 
I knew that was why it was so discounted, but I didn't think it would be any different from a new one.

SO both harddrives may be out of the question. I am looking for something between $40 and $50....really dont need much memory at all, I would say around 120-250 gigs would be perfect. Something faster would be nice though.
 
dlaube said:
Oh yeah, I keep forgetting to mention that....we need neither an OS nor a disc drive...the disc drive wont get much (if any use) so we will use an older disc drive. And already got the OS.

OK...I guess I give up trying to skimp on the PSU >.<

Edit: Changed the Antec Neo ECO 400w http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371029
Thats enough power right?
Click to expand...

Ah, alright. What OS? Is it 64 bit?


That PSU will be perfectly fine...plenty of power for this.

You're right to not skimp on it. The PSU is the most important part of a computer...like its heart. A bad one will likely not provide its rated power, and will probably run out of spec, which will damage your components. This is the primary cause of death in many OEM brands, like HP or eMachines. A bad one will also use cheap parts that fail long before good ones will, and they won't have any overcurrent/overvoltage protection, short circuit protection, or any other protections common in good units. What this means is that in addition to potentially damaging your system while running, they also tend to die somewhat violent deaths, potentially taking out some or all of your other components...and you can bet that the warranty won't cover that.
 
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Ah, you're good then. :good: The reason I was asking is, 32-bit systems can't use more than 4GB of RAM, and 32-bit Windows only sees 3.2GB of that. XP only supports DirectX 9, not 10 and 11 like Vista and 7.

Believe it or not, people still occasionally come through wanting to game on 32-bit XP systems. :/


Now that I've got some free time, I'll throw together a build for you...see what you think. I'm assuming you guys are ordering within the next few weeks?

edit: This should do just fine-
CPU- Athlon II X3 450- $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103872

GPU- Sapphire Radeon HD 5570- $70 ($15 mail in rebate) (He can add a second 5570 later on in crossfire)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102875

Mobo- Asus M4A79XTD EVO- $99 ($15 mail in rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131402

RAM- G.Skill ECO 2x2GB DDR3 1333- $53 (only 1333, but they're CAS8 and you can overclock the bajeezus out of them)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231317

Hard Drive- Spinpoint F3 500GB- $45
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=hd-hd502hj (Don't worry about buying from Superbiiz...they're good. Got mine from there.)

Case- Rosewill Challenger- $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153

PSU- Antec Neo ECO 400W- $48
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371029

Total cost- $450 shipped ($420 after the rebates come back)
Click to expand...

Now, if you want a bit more performance at the cost of not getting that case, change the following:

Case- NZXT Gamma- $40 (same thing internally as that Rosewill)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146061

GPU- Gigabyte Radeon HD5670- $90 (can still add another one in crossfire later on...this is the upgrade)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125339

RAM- Team Group 2x2GB DDR31600- $48 (not as good as the ECO, but still good...if you can spare the extra $5 I'd get the other stuff though)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313081

Total is still $450 shipped
 
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your the man =p
Unless anyone says otherwise we will go with that build. You would recommend both of those ram over the ripjaw series?
 
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