Build-A-Rig Parts list thread

[copulatingduck]

Friend is looking to build a machine that basically will run TF2 and Left 4 Dead when it comes out and nothing more.  Would need a case and HDD but not a monitor or anything.  Doable for < $500?  I saw the budget builds at the beginning from May, but assumed they're probably outdated now.

What size monitor (resolution)? Also, when you say he wants it to run TF2 and L4D and nothing else, you mean run at minimum, or with good framerate at med/high? For 500, he could def. scrape pretty much anything together to play, I'm just curious whether to shoot for 500 or maybe a little lower.

[Aerox]

[quote author=Aerox link=topic=277.msg41449#msg41449 date=1222444548]
Friend is looking to build a machine that basically will run TF2 and Left 4 Dead when it comes out and nothing more.  Would need a case and HDD but not a monitor or anything.  Doable for < $500?  I saw the budget builds at the beginning from May, but assumed they're probably outdated now.

What size monitor (resolution)? Also, when you say he wants it to run TF2 and L4D and nothing else, you mean run at minimum, or with good framerate at med/high? For 500, he could def. scrape pretty much anything together to play, I'm just curious whether to shoot for 500 or maybe a little lower.
[/quote]

I'm pretty sure he has a monitor already.  I think he's looking for something that will run the games pretty nicely, but it doesn't have to run Fallout 3 super fancy or anything.  He's mostly just interested in those 2 games, and anything else is a bonus.

[copulatingduck]

[quote author=CopulatingDuck link=topic=277.msg41459#msg41459 date=1222446240]
[quote author=Aerox link=topic=277.msg41449#msg41449 date=1222444548]
Friend is looking to build a machine that basically will run TF2 and Left 4 Dead when it comes out and nothing more.  Would need a case and HDD but not a monitor or anything.  Doable for < $500?  I saw the budget builds at the beginning from May, but assumed they're probably outdated now.

What size monitor (resolution)? Also, when you say he wants it to run TF2 and L4D and nothing else, you mean run at minimum, or with good framerate at med/high? For 500, he could def. scrape pretty much anything together to play, I'm just curious whether to shoot for 500 or maybe a little lower.
[/quote]

I'm pretty sure he has a monitor already.  I think he's looking for something that will run the games pretty nicely, but it doesn't have to run Fallout 3 super fancy or anything.  He's mostly just interested in those 2 games, and anything else is a bonus.
[/quote]

I was just curious was size his current monitor was, huge resolutions need beefier cards, especially with Source games, though honestly the CPU is probably the bigger player here. I'll throw together a suggestion sometime tonight.

[Aerox]

I was just curious was size his current monitor was, huge resolutions need beefier cards, especially with Source games, though honestly the CPU is probably the bigger player here. I'll throw together a suggestion sometime tonight.

Ah, I'm not sure.  I'll try to find out if I can, but I may not talk to him until tomorrow.

[s0lesurviv0r]

I've been looking for a hard drive for the antec enclosure that I bought a while back and I recently saw a recertified WD 1TB hard drive at the egg.  I'm tempted as it's so damn cheap, so I've been asking around to see if it's worth the dice roll and wanted to ask here also.

[copulatingduck]

Alright Aerox, here's what I come up with. It's just just shy of $500, but that's after rebates so possibly that's too much monies to tie up in computer purchases for your friend? If so, let me know and I'll look into doing something that hits $500 without relying on rebates. Regardless, I think this ends up being a pretty good system for the money, and would probably run said games on high settings.

[table][tr][td]Mobo[/td][td]$103[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]GPU[/td][td]$115 w/ rebates[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115052]CPU[/td][td]$120[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227269]RAM[/td][td]$48 w/ rebates[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341010]PSU[/td][td]$50 w/ rebates[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147073]Case[/td][td]$34[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106263]CD/DVD Burner[/td][td]$25[/td][/tr][/table]


103
115
120
048
050
034
025
---
495 after rebates

edit: oops, forgot to include a HDD. I don't know what size he would need, but just go with Seagate or Western Digital, SATA, and pick a size. Those will be the most reliable for the price. I don't really want to suggest one since I have no idea how much space your friend needs (does he have music or movies that waste tons of space).

If this is too pricey, let me know and I can try and put something together that's cheaper, or at least comes out to $500 without relying on rebates.

[Aerox]

Thanks Duck.

I showed it to him, and even though he said $500 was ok he started getting nervous about the price.  Is there anything you can swap out to bring it down some?

<3

[copulatingduck]

Sure thing. Any particular pricepoint I should aim for?

[copulatingduck]

Well, here's another suggestion. It likely won't run TF2/L4D on highest settings (the last one most certainly would), but it should be able to handle them without much of a problem. I only really messed with the Mobo/CPU/GPU, as everything else has a great performance/price ratio. Of note:

The motherboard is Micro ATX. I hate Micro ATX, simply because it's a bitch to plug things in. Too tiny for me to work with, and not much room for upgrading, but it should be fine for a budget gaming rig if he's not expecting to run Crysis, or planning to upgrade to a srs gaymer rig.

-The GPU I chose as per the suggestion of Tom's Hardware. It is still a great card, it's just no 9800GT

-The CPU is newer than mine (mine's a 4200), should be fine. Luckily (or unluckily?) Source engine games are PCU-hogs, so I'd imagine this CPU would do you right. He may notice that TF2/L4D chug at times (if he's used to 60fps anyways), but enabling mutlicore support (lol spelling ftl) would hopefully see a big boost in performance for him, should he NEED 60 fps.

The motherboard only has space for 2 SATA devices, one of which would be a hard drive and the CD/DVD Burner I suggested. If he want's the room to add additional drives later, I would suggest bumping the motherboard up a bit to this

-Couldn't stand recommending the other motherboard, I've since changed it to the current one, which is MUCH better imo

[table][tr][td][url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131172]Mobo[/td][td]$71[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103210]CPU[/td][td]$66[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131066]GPU[/td][td]$68 w/ rebates[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227269]RAM[/td][td]$48 w/ rebates[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341010]PSU[/td][td]$50 w/ rebates[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147073]Case[/td][td]$34[/td][/tr]
[tr][td][url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106263]CD/DVD Burner[/td][td]$25[/td][/tr][/table]
------------------
$362 after rebates

That's only slightly more than a sexbawks 360 these days, but so much more capable of playing sweet games. :p

edit: I also have an old ATi x1950 Pro sitting around somewhere, if my little brother doesn't claim it by tonight, I'll bump this with an offer to mail it to you, since nobody wants it. :'( That would save your friend an extra $68, bringing the price to $296 w/ rebates :o

edit x2: It looks like my little brother called dibs on the vidya card, so no go on that. :-\

[Aerox]

Thanks Duck, this is really helpful.  I'll pass it along to him.

He is having a tough time because he mostly games on the 360, but the games he plays are PC games and he knows they're better on the PC.  It's hard for him to justify the PC because it would mean the 360 would mostly go unused, and I guess he doesn't have a ton of money floating around.  I'm pushing hard for a PC though.

[Greatbacon]

Well, I'm looking into building a new computer after my old one took a shit over itself.  I've got a slightly modified parts list from the first one you posted for Aerox's friend.  I was wondering if you would take a look at the list  and give some feedback on weather it'll work, etc.  I'd like to keep it in the $500-550ish range.

[rumsfald]

How about some recommendations on silent/quiet parts. Quality first, silence second, about mid to high end (but not bleeding edge)
-PSU
-HSF (likely for intel core duo)
-GPU (nvidia/asus preferred)

(Yes, CopulatingDuck, I am capable of using Google and researching this.  I'm interested in first-hand experiences of folks who prefer quiet/silent pcs).

[Squishy3]

Mine's pretty quiet, only noise that comes from it is the fans

Asus m2n-sli deluxe motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual core 4600+
Nvidia 8600 GT with 256MB video RAM
1 gig of DDR2RAM, can't name the brand or anything off the top of my head at the moment
500w Antec PSU, model number SP-500
Trendnet TEW 423PI wireless adaptor

[x]

Mine's pretty quiet

AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual core 4600+
1 gig of DDR2RAM, can't name the brand or anything off the top of my head at the moment
Trendnet TEW 423PI wireless adaptor

Good thing you posted. Wouldn't want Rummy getting stuck with one of them noisy wireless adaptors.

[copulatingduck]

[quote author=Squishy3 link=topic=277.msg43955#msg43955 date=1223858365]
Mine's pretty quiet

AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual core 4600+
1 gig of DDR2RAM, can't name the brand or anything off the top of my head at the moment
Trendnet TEW 423PI wireless adaptor

Good thing you posted. Wouldn't want Rummy getting stuck with one of them noisy wireless adaptors.
[/quote]

Lol. That's what rummy gets for patronizing me. (:<

[rumsfald]

Lol. That's what rummy gets for patronizing me. (:<

The last time I patronized CopuD, he said "Thank you, cum again!"

[cbre88x]

Are they releasing any new CPU's  anytime within the holidays? I'd like to pick up one of the higher rated dual or quad cores after a pricedrop.

[copulatingduck]

Are they releasing any new CPU's  anytime within the holidays? I'd like to pick up one of the higher rated dual or quad cores after a pricedrop.

Same. As for whether or not anything new is coming out.... No idea.

[cbre88x]

Just check Newegg and found these. A whole of a lot cheaper than last time I checked. Anyways, I figure they'll get a price drop within the next few months. I think I read they are introducing some more quad cores soon so the prices on the quads will drop too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819103233

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819103272

[copulatingduck]

Tom's Hardware just did a $500 PC build.