New Build - Little help?

Rambo

Rambo

New Member
Hey guys. I'm on a trip to Texas in the next week, so I want to get a new build sorted out there. I'm going to be buying the parts on Newegg / Tigerdirect, and I'm going for a Conroe system, built for gaming.

I have around $940 to spend in total. I need the main computer, and a mouse. I already have my 17" CRT monitor and a Case (ATX).

I was wondering if any of you could come up with a system for me? As soon as I post this I'll be searching on Newegg for all the components, but just wondering whether you guys could set me in the right direction.

Thanks. :)
 
34erd

34erd

New Member
Rambo you sure you want to upgrade your rig so soon? I've got pretty much the same parts as you and I can still run games on medium-high settings. I dunno, If I were you I would just upgrade to an X2, now that they're so cheap.
 
Rambo

Rambo

New Member
YEA_PC_PHONICS said:
u an nvida man or ati?
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Don't mind, as long as it's good for the price :)

34erd said:
Rambo you sure you want to upgrade your rig so soon? I've got pretty much the same parts as you and I can still run games on medium-high settings. I dunno, If I were you I would just upgrade to an X2, now that they're so cheap.
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Well, that is quite tempting to do. But I can't, as I have already "committed" to selling this PC to my friends sister. I'm gonna sell it for...

*does the conversion*​

...around $600. I think that's quite a reasonable price for it, don't you? (just the main computer and mouse, no monitor)

I then have around an extra $340 lying around that I'm willing to spend. So, I figured I might as well go all out on it now, and sell it for just the same price around 5 months from now, and start from scratch. There's no point in me building an X2 rig when Conroe's are available for the same price (E6300).

Unless you can persuade me... :p

I've come up with a price list for the components I need to buy (don't need to stick by it):

CPU: $210 - E6300 (from TigerDirect)
MOBO: $170
RAM: $160
GPU: $270
PSU: $80..?
HDD: (don't really need one, I have a 200GB SATA, however I will buy if I have extra money)
CASE: N/A (Already have one)
==========
TOTAL: $890

As you can see, I'm not dead on with my total ($940), so the prices can sway a bit, I suppose.
 
34erd

34erd

New Member
There's no point in me building an X2 rig when Conroe's are available for the same price (E6300).
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I guess I should have been clearer (I meant just upgrading your processor to an X2), but if you're already selling it for $600 a new rig sounds like a good deal.
 
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Rambo

Rambo

New Member
34erd said:
I guess I should have been clearer (I meant just upgrading your processor to an X2), but if you're already selling it for $600 a new rig sounds like a good deal.
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I'd have to buy a new motherboard too though... My Infinity doesn't support X2 (atleast, last time I checked). And anyway, I couldn't justify spending $150-200 on a 939 X2. They will soon be obsolete, and if I were building an AMD rig, I would be going with AM2, no doubt. :)
 
34erd

34erd

New Member
Rambo said:
I'd have to buy a new motherboard too though... My Infinity doesn't support X2 (atleast, last time I checked). And anyway, I couldn't justify spending $150-200 on a 939 X2. They will soon be obsolete, and if I were building an AMD rig, I would be going with AM2, no doubt. :)
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Alright then, sounds good :)

I would consider something like:

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 -$149.99
Core 2 Duo E6300 -$209.99
Patriot 2GB DDR2 667 4-4-4-12 -$156.99 after $23.00 MIR
eVGA GeForce 7900GT -$239.99 after $30.00 MIR
Antec NeoHE 500 -99.99

Total: $856.95 after all MIRs

The RAM is only DDR2 667, but I've heard good things from it and that it can clock to DDR2 900 fairly easily, and its got a good price.
The motherboard and PSU could be better, but you've got some extra room in your budget to upgrade them.

My Infinity doesn't support X2 (atleast, last time I checked)
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Before you completely rule that option I'm pretty sure that a BIOS update would fix that.
 
Rambo

Rambo

New Member
34erd said:
Alright then, sounds good :)

I would consider something like:

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 -$149.99
Core 2 Duo E6300 -$209.99
Patriot 2GB DDR2 667 4-4-4-12 -$156.99 after $23.00 MIR
eVGA GeForce 7900GT -$239.99 after $30.00 MIR
Antec NeoHE 500 -99.99

Total: $856.95 after all MIRs

The RAM is only DDR2 667, but I've heard good things from it and that it can clock to DDR2 900 fairly easily, and its got a good price.
The motherboard and PSU could be better, but you've got some extra room in your budget to upgrade them.


Before you completely rule that option I'm pretty sure that a BIOS update would fix that.
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Man, that is pretty weird. I had mostly all the components you listed there on my list!

Same Motherboard, RAM and Graphics Card! :D Oh, and about the BIOS Update, yeah, I thought that may be able to add X2 compatibility, but it's ruled out anyway ;)

I don't like to depend on MIR's to be honest though, last time I was meant to recieve a $30 MIR, but it never came. But nevertheless, it's still a good price.

About the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3; the reviews on NewEgg are slightly off-putting :/

NewEgg Review 1 said:
Pros: a full featured board that is has a future upgrade path....

Cons: CL4 ram is incorrectly detected as CL3 and the system won't boot. You have to boot with CL5 ram first and manually set the bios to CL4.... More »

Other Thoughts: This is the cheapest board that supports Core 2 Duos and you get what you paid for.
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NewEgg Review 2 said:
Pros: It's a decent board... Might overclock high hopefully for core duo... Cheaper than other 965p boards....

Cons: I got this board and it seemed to work okay... I did not have core 2 duo processor.. But a pentium D 805... It would make weird noises from the motherboard... Later I played with Gigabyte software ... More »
to overclock within windows... After that it would never boot again...

Other Thoughts: I went with a Asus p5b instead... Works much better and more stable...
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Despite that, that is the first time I have heard about those CL4 Memory problems, and the OC problem sounds like it was his fault.

Here's the current line-up then:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3

Patriot 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM

eVGA GeForce 7900GT

Antec NeoHE 500

BenQ Black DVD+/-RW Burner

=================================

Total
$940 EXC. MIR's
$890 INC. MIR's

EDIT: Oh, bugger, I completely missed out a HeatSink Fan! Arrgghhh!! Hehe :D And I've read that after-market HSF's don't work too well with the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3:

AnandTech Review said:
Our one gripe is the Crazy Cool plate on the back side of the board underneath the CPU socket. While we noticed this option worked as well if not better than the ASUS Stack Cool 2 system, the plate is just thick enough to rule out the usage of several aftermarket cooling systems that require the use of a back plate. Granted, some quick and minor modifications to the attachment screw lengths worked in several cases, but for a high end board Gigabyte should expect the user to upgrade the retail CPU cooling system.
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34erd

34erd

New Member
I was also reading up about that, but I think the "crazy cool" plate only comes with the DQ6 model (what they were reviewing), so I dont think you need to worry about that.

The DFI Infinity 975X board seems to close the price gap between the lower end and higher end conroe boards (its supposed to be $190) but its either sold out or way overpriced or both.
 
Rambo

Rambo

New Member
34erd said:
I was also reading up about that, but I think the "crazy cool" plate only comes with the DQ6 model (what they were reviewing), so I dont think you need to worry about that.
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I hope so...

I was reading here: http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic53202.html

Alot of these guys are saying that the 7900GT has defects, and will fail to work after some time. Any of these things true? What would be the comparable ATi card to get? The X1900XT? Quite a bit more than the 7900GT's...

EDIT: I have read that the X1800XT is about on par with the 7900GT.

Here is an X1800XT for $235! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102007

So, I think I may go with that...
 
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Rambo

Rambo

New Member
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Rambo

Rambo

New Member
Well, since TigerDirect's Conroe CPU's are OEM, and have this stupid warranty on them:

VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING OUR RETURN POLICY ON CPU'S: Please note that all processors may be returned only for defective exchange. You must purchase a compatible heatsink and fan on the same order as the processor in order to preserve your warranty or exchange privilege. We are not able to accept returns for refunds on processors under any circumstances. All processors will be inspected and tested upon return and any damage caused by poor packaging, overclocking, or other tampering with the processor will be cause for the return to be refused, and exchange denied.
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I have decided to buy from Zip Zoomfly, as they have the reatail version (with HSF) for $10 extra!

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80858&prodlist=pricegrabber
 
Rambo

Rambo

New Member
Ok, here's the updated version:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz - $220

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 - $150

Patriot 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM - $180

Recertified: eVGA GeForce 7900GT - $203

Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply - $70

BenQ Black DVD+/-RW Burner - $30

=================================

Total
$853 EXC. MIR's
$830 INC. MIR's

What do you think about the $200 deal on the recertified 7900GT? Am I taking a risk if I buy this one? Do you recommend I go for the $270 eVGA 7900GT?
 
34erd

34erd

New Member
What do you think about the $200 deal on the recertified 7900GT? Am I taking a risk if I buy this one? Do you recommend I go for the $270 eVGA 7900GT?
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Does it still have a life time warranty? I personally wouldn't do it, but thats just me.

Maybe spend $10 more on this PSU, but otherwise it looks good to me.

If you dont want to rely as much on MIRs and want something $10 cheaper, you could go for the XFX 7900GT.

There's also an AIW 256 Mb X1900 in your price range, lots of options lol.

EDIT: Scratch the AIW X1900, it doesnt perform too good.
 
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Rambo

Rambo

New Member
34erd said:
Does it still have a life time warranty? I personally wouldn't do it, but thats just me.

Maybe spend $10 more on this PSU, but otherwise it looks good to me.

If you dont want to rely as much on MIRs and want something $10 cheaper, you could go for the XFX 7900GT.

There's also an AIW 256 Mb X1900 in your price range, lots of options lol.

EDIT: Scratch the AIW X1900, it doesnt perform too good.
Click to expand...

I'll look into the AntecNeoHe 550 actually... It's meant to keep overclocking really stable, and you mentioned it a while back too.

As for graphics, why don't I get the X1800XT?

Take a look here:

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_7900_gt_gtx_performance/page14.asp

The X1800XT is getting more FPS than the 7900GT. Which is also the case in COD2, and Serious Sam 2. The only place where it begins to beat it, is in Far Cry HDR, but even then it only gets a few FPS more. Whaddya think?

Also, why is it only you have replied in this topic, and no one else has? I feel like an outcast... :p

EDIT: Also, this http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/oblivion_high-end_performance/page3.asp is showing the X1800XT winning hands down over a 7900GT, and a 7800GTX!
 
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