Thoughts on this build...

G

graedus

New Member
Hello all, i'm new here. Just wanted an opinion from those who can actually appreciate the excitement of getting a new rig.

Here's what i put together under a tight budget that (IMO) gives me the best bang for my buck in regards to what i plan on using it for.....mostly playback of downloaded movies/tv shows, some school work, and a little gaming (FPS, driving, skate games mostly....not really a MMORPG type).

Mobo:
ASUS M2A-VM mATX AM2 AMD 690G DDR2 Motherboard $67.50

Input:
Microsoft CA9-00001 Basic Value Keyboard And Optical Mouse $16.86

Hard Drive:
Hitachi Deskstar P7K500 500GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB $95.88

Ram:
Mushkin SP PC2-6400 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-800 $126.14

CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ AM2 Windsor 2.8GHZ 2000FSB 2X1MB $143.76

Case:
Coolermaster CAC-T05 Centurion 5 Aluminum Tower Case $49.68

Video Card:
Gigabyte Gf 8500GT 600MHZ 512MB GDDR2 Passive Turbo Force $88.23

i'll be taking the sound card (SB live w/cambridge soundworks 5.1 dolby digital surround speakers), psu (450W, i know it's weak so i'll be getting a new one when some more cash becomes available), and a 40GB maxtor w/xp pro sp2 on it out of my old rig. and i'll be sticking with my shitty crt monitor for now too, because i really just use it as a staging monitor for moving the videos to the 32" tv hooked up via s-video. because i'm happy enough playing my games on the tv instead of some stoosh widescreen LCD (denial!).

total price ~$675 after taxes....free shipping and all money is in canadian dollars not american (not that there's a difference in exchange now anyway).

opinions would be welcome. oh, and like i said, when more money becomes available i'll be upgrading the psu, and also the mouse. then i'll save for a nice LCD.

thnx.
 
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Deskstar hard drives are also know as the Deathstars, as they have a large count of failure..

Everything is great. Until the graphics card. That card is horrible. I would recommend something in the GeForce 7 series for that build... either that or something like a X1650.
 
i was looking for a video card with heatsink only, and i read good things about this one....the one i had chosen before settling on this one was a 7 series 256mb turbocache to 512mb it also had heatsink only, but it was only available at another wholesaler that was charging too much for shipping.
 
looks like a nice card, but i'm not fond of the dual dvi, i still need to run an d-sub 15 for a while. nor do i trust the ddr3 yet...
 
Why can't you trust GDDR3? You DO know that GDDR4 is out correct? So "basically" it's slightly outdated... And thus GDDR2 is... very outdated.
 
sorry, not a bandwagon type of guy. i didn't go pay $650+ for a PS3 when it first came out either.
many bugs to work out of ddr3 before i'll try. latency being one.
 
I think you are confused with DDR3 system ram with the DDR3 memory on the graphics cards. There is NOTHING wrong with GDDR3 ram, I have a XFX 512MB 8800GTS and it runs like a charm. I think you are thinking about the system ram version of DDR3, DDR3 RAM for the system is the dodgy one. It is expensive and the performance is not that much better than DDR2, well much like when DDR2 first came out. I don't like DDR3 too, but as far as the integrated memory chips on graphics cards, they are really good.
 
ok, ur right i was thinking system ram. still, i'm not sure i can spend the extra cash. anything i do get will be outdated by summertime anyway, and i won't be doing that much gaming on it, so i don't see why it's such a "horrible" (such a strong word) card.
 
Well I just think the 8500 is not a very good valued series. I think you are better off getting a high end 7 series card or something, you would get more bang for your buck with another card that's all. The 7900GT uses GDDR3 ram and I'm sure you can get it off ebay for a pittance, that's the card I had before I upgraded to the 512MB 8800GTS.
 
For a Harddrive go for a Western Digital or Seagate. Like oscary1 said the 8500 is a pretty low end card and theres nothing wrong with DDR3 thats why you only see lower end cards with DDR2. In the long run you would be alot better off going with something like a 8800GT 256mb- 3850 256mb/ 3870 512mb. Cost about twice what the one you picked out but will do you better now and alot longer down the road.
 
i've never heard anything good about seagate, and my WD drive died on me (3.5 years in) and gave me many problems while it was still working (files would corrupt frequently/easily). my maxtor is still going though, 7 years later. but this time i wanted something different and i hear good things about hitachi's rise in reliability.
 
If you want best value, then the new G920 8800GTS is the way to go, if you can't afford it then go for the slightly cheaper 8800GT, but the extra 10 unified shaders on the GTS do make a difference.
 
8800gts costs half what the whole build i listed costs. i doubt i'll be gettin that.


edit

anyway thx for the suggestions guys. much appreciated!
 
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Don't go for a very low end "DX10" GPU... I'd say either go for a 7600GT or a 8600GT, its not much pricier, but at least it will enable u to play ur current games. Yes they will be outdated in June, but the 8500GT was outdated before it even came out. No problem if you're not a gamer, u won't be playing Crysis, don't go for anything more than 8600 series otherwise it will struggle even with the games you play. And try to go for an EVGA that way if it doesn't work good enough for u in the first 3 months, u can exchange it for a better card.

Edit: do you have examples of the games u play ?
 
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well decided to go with this one: evga 7600GT 256mb ddr3 $90.25
it's DX9, has the interfaces i want, and fits my price range. i guess i'll just have to bite the bullet about wanting a heatsink with no fan on the gpu.
thanks again for the help guys.
 
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