Gaming Compatibility help!?

B

Blackthoven

New Member
Hey guys!

So, I was looking into building my own gaming rig as gaming desktops are too expensive, and why not? I've been learning a lot throughout the process, and knowledge is power

Essentially I was just wondering what you guys think!

I picked out a well ventilated, inexpensive NZXT Mid Tower case which supports ATX, MATX & Baby AT. I think Motherboard's are what I know the least about so I was just wondering if someone could help me out ^.^

As I'm trying to keep things under $800 (keep in mind I don not have a monitor either), I found a very nice EVGA Intel LGA 1156 MATX: 4x240pin, DDR3 1600MHz, and compatible with the i3 (which is the processor I've chosen) for under $84.99! As shown here:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produ [...] 6813188064

The problem is however, I was just concerned with how that would function in regards to compatibility with the other parts.

Here's what I've compiled so far:
i3 540 LGA 1156 ($118)
Western Digital 500Gb caviar Black 7,200pms ($59.99)
Radeon HD 5770 ($144)
G.Skill DDR3 1600MHz Ripjaws ($53)

I found a Hec X-Power PRO 600W PSU and chose it mainly because it was inexpensive and had fairly high Wattage, thus it could manage if I were to decide that I wanted to CrossFire, even though I think 700W+ would be ideal for that...

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produ [...] 6817339025

I don't want anything to bottleneck, and I'm especially worried about the motherboard and how it will work with everything, maybe I should just stick with an ATX. However, I couldn't find anything else this inexpensive that was 4x240pin with a DDR3 1600MHz memory standard.

Also, I should add that I've included an ASUS CD/DVD burner for under $20 with an extra $12 XIGMATEC 140mm fan for the top exhaust on the NZXT cas, and finally a 19" ASUS widescreen LCD monitor.

Anyway, any help and opinions are appreciated!

P.S. What tools will I need to assemble the desktop once all parts have arrived?
 
The links don't work...

I am sure this is the mATX eVGA board you are talking about correct?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188064

I have seen in a few places around the internet about issues this board has. Personally, I would stay away from it. There are some good Gigabyte and Asus mATX boards for the same price or even cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128457

As far as a power supply...it is hard to pick one on a tight budget. Here is a 550w Corsair that has a mail in rebate. Corsair is really good about their rebates.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004
 
Oh! Sorry about the links, I copied the post from another forum, I'm asking in multiple places ^.^

Yes, that appears to be the same Mobo except this one is $10 cheaper :P

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188064

That Gigabyte motherboard is pretty nice, except that it's only got 2x240pin :(. Although that shouldn't be the biggest deal as I only have dual channeled RAM for the time being anyway.

Also that PSU is pretty good lookin' :), and isn't much more expensive than the one I was looking at after the rebate!

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817339025

Do you recommend a mATX board over an ATX? I don't really know much about Mobo's or the differences that mATX & ATX boards will present to a computer. There were some people complaining about their PSU cables not being able to reach the mATX mobos :S... Anyway, does everything else look good to you?

Also, are GPU's usually compatible with every mobo, processor, etc...? Do they even attach themselves to the motherboard? :P
 
Dont skimp on your PSU its the most important part of you computer. The Corsair TX series is said to have gotten worse from the use of cheaper internal parts. Id go with this one, and with the rebate its in your range. Its good quality as well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...cm_re=xfx_power_supply-_-17-207-002-_-Product

The difference in mATX and ATX is the board size. The mATX being about 80% of the size of a ATX board, just stick with the ATX. I'll throw 2gether a build for ya if youd like... I'll be finished with mine today, waiting on the HD 6950 it gets delivered today.

Are you set on the i3? On a budget AMD setups are usually they way to go because they are less than intel chips up to you though

Also remember your going to need an operating system such as Windows 7, thats gonna run you $100
 
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Ok with rebates and shipping this build comes out to be around $850 and that includes the monitor

Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 912
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808

GPU: XFX HD-577X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150462

Mobo: ASUS M4A77TD AM3 AMD 770
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131603

Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303

PSU: XFX P1-650X-CAG9 650W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207002

Monitor: ASUS VH232H Glossy Black 23"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236079

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395

DVD drive: ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

OS: Windows 7 64bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754
 
Thank you for your input Sslagle ^.^

I will take your advice and look for a new PSU, as the hex X-Power I've chosen is a little sketchy anyway. I've also noticed the Prices on Newegg.com are different than those on Newegg.ca...

But anyway, as for AMD V.S. Intel I think I'm going to stick with the i3, I did a lot of searching and the i3 with a Mobo is cheaper than any AMD/mobo combination I could find that would perform equally.

I'm not too sure if the Ripjaws you suggested are the same as the one's I've already picked out but these are less expensive :D

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

I found this Intel ATX mobo:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121396

The only thing is this motherboard only supports up to 1333MHZ, and the Ripjaws are 1600, can you overclock a mobo? :P

I changed my Western Digital HDD to that Seagate Barracuda, which is cheaper and apparently more reliable, so thank you! :)

As for the monitor the one you found is nice, but too much $ :(, I have to sacrifice the size to lower the price so I'll most likely stick with this one:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236077

And finally I found a nice inexpensive Rosewill, I'm not sure if they're good with PSUs or not but they've gotten some good reviews, and a friend of mine recommended them:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182032

Once again thanks for all your help!

EDIT: Just found this other Rosewill PSU for comparison...

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182200

Although, it's not as sexy as the other Rosewill with that blue LED light ;)
 
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SslagleZ28 is right,the PSU is the MOST important part of a build.it is know that if a PSU blows or short circuits it can and will take other parts with it.

CPU/Mobo- http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.580615
Case- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233
RAM- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303
PSU/GPU- http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.578348
DVD/CD Drive- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
OS- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754
Monitor- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009275
HDD- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136795

TOTAL WITH SHIPPING=$873.93 (with the tatol of $50 mail-in rebate=$823.93)
 
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Well, the thing is I'm forced to order from the Canadian website so prices for some things are more expensive than on Newegg.com including the Anthlon II X4 / Mobo combo you found, which is over $200.

However, I wasn't aware of that combo section so I'll take a look :).

The i3 540 and Gigabyte motherboard that ScOut suggested combined is cheaper than the AMD mobo/Anthlon x4. The only problem is that is that it's a mATX, which is not the biggest deal but I'm sure a full ATX would perform better. So then there's the Intel Mobo I previously linked:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121396

But again it only claims to support 1333/1066 memory. If I wouldn't be able to OC the Intel motherboard, I'll have to look for another. I was considering AMD and found this Mobo:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131647

With the Phenom II x2:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103887

It's not too much more expensive than the i3/mobo I was looking at, the only difference the full ATX board. If there are any cheaper ATX or good mATX AMD mobos I'm open to suggestion :), same goes for intel as well.
 
you do know that the i3's are dual cores right?

the athlon is four cores and is at @3.0 and is only $109
 
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Does that make a significant difference? I was looking at benchmarks and the i3 scored better...

I thought the phenom II x2 was better than the Anthlon II x4 as well, for a game like Starcraft 2 especially :).

EDIT: I found this combo deal and with the savings it essentially makes the Phenom II x4 the same price as the i3 and only a little more than the Anthlon II x4. Everything else is press much what I had already chosen!

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.548060
 
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