Computer Building Help/Suggestions

[Maxon]

Since it seems that my video card is on the verge of dying according to the other thread, I'm saying screw all and going with my PC update that I've been wanting for abit now.  I basically need some help putting together a budgeted PC.  A few months ago I was able to find enough stuff to put together a Dual-Core, 2gb of RAM, new case w/power supply, PC for around 500.  But since my card is bunk, that'll toss more onto my budget.

Basically I want a nice dual core PC than can play current and up-and-coming games reasonably well.  Doesn't need to be Crysis high hardcore, but I want to play stuff smooth at medium to high settings like TF2 and the new STALKER game among others coming out.  Budget was hopefully gonna be around 500 bucks, but I'm gonna say under 1000 now.  Cheaper is better for me right now.

I need...
-Case w/power supply
-Dual Core mobo
-Processors
-2 to 4gb of RAM
-Reasonably good graphics card
-Possibly a new HD in the 500gb range if the mobo that is found doesn't support the IDE HD I have now (Requiring a SATA one instead)

I don't need...
- Monitor
- Keyboard/Mouse
- Speakers

New Egg is a nice place, though if the parts can be bought at somewhere like Best Buy or Comp USA, that would be easier since I can just drive a few minutes and go to either one of those, but if New Egg is the better deal, I want to do that over convenience.

[copulatingduck]

Newegg is definitely a better deal. Don't even bother with BestBuy. As I said in the other thread, a few people have vidya cards lying around collecting dust though, so you may be able to score one if money's tight right now. If you wanna go ahead with the new rig though, lemme know, I'll be happy to help.

[Maxon]

Newegg is definitely a better deal. As I said in the other thread, a few people have vidya cards lying around collecting dust though, so you may be able to score one if money's tight right now. If you wanna go ahead with the new rig though, lemme know, I'll be happy to help.

Yeah I'm definitely gonna just do the new rig.  The mobo I've had has given me shit since I got it, so I"m more than happy to toss the piece of crap and get a brand new everything.  I can get enough of a loan from the family till the money I have coming, comes in.  Just means I gotta work extra hard to find work so I have enough money for the trip to Vegas in December XD

*EDIT* After browsing New Egg abit, I think reasonably the parts I need could be bought for about 750.  If we can do it for that much or lower, that would make me a happy one.

[Wedge]

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Public...er=9498986

Here's just a random example with room to upgrade the GPU/CPU, add a SATA drive, or whatever and stay within your price range (everything supports an IDE channel still, but HDD's are dirt cheap if you wanna add one).  Stuff like a case is up to aesthetics and ports really, I just grabbed a high rated free shipping one from the 50-100 range. 

[Vandamguy]

can i have your account info to see ?

[Maxon]

Well just looking at stuff using ratings and reviews and generally what I'm looking for, I put together this stuff...This is just me browsing through New Egg.

-  TRICOD 9003 Black / Silver SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail $59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811240001

-  ASRock X38TurboTwins LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $159.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813157136

-  G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail $49.99 ( Possibly x2 )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820231144

-  Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail $169.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819115037

-  MSI N9600GT 512M GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail $124.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814127362

Around $564.99 for that.  I'm pretty sure it's mostly compatible, but I could've easily overlooked something there and it doesn't include shipping, though I think the case or something else has free shipping.  I know basically how to build a PC, but I'm no tech guy so I need you guys that know more tell me what to change and what to get, heh.

[copulatingduck]

Don't get that case/PSU combo, you always want to buy a REAL PSU when you're guilding a gaming rig, PSU's that come from case combos are hit-or-miss and many fry motherboards when they miss. That video card ain't very good tbh, you'll have a hard time even running crysis on anything beyond low settings I think. The motherboard; meh, if you really want to stick with a DDR2/DDR3 compatible motherboard, I guess it's fine, but I wouldn't burn money on features like that. Personally I think you're better off sticking with DDR2 (it's not going away anytime soon) and putting the extra money into something fancy like a mobo that supports SLI/Crossfire. I'll put something together later tonight after I get a shower and some breakfast (just woke up an hour ago).

[Wedge]

Wai would you get a 9600GT when I put up a 9800GT for the same price @.@

And if you wanna spend $50 more, just get a 4850 or 9800GTX

Oh, jeese, I set it to shared, but got the wrong link, mybad.  It's pretty close to my system, but can take higher end CPU/RAM if you wanted it. 

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Public...er=9498986

[Maxon]

Don't get that case/PSU combo, you always want to buy a REAL PSU when you're guilding a gaming rig, PSU's that come from case combos are hit-or-miss and many fry motherboards when they miss. That video card ain't very good tbh, you'll have a hard time even running crysis on anything beyond low settings I think. The motherboard; meh, if you really want to stick with a DDR2/DDR3 compatible motherboard, I guess it's fine, but I wouldn't burn money on features like that. Personally I think you're better off sticking with DDR2 (it's not going away anytime soon) and putting the extra money into something fancy like a mobo that supports SLI/Crossfire. I'll put something together later tonight after I get a shower and some breakfast (just woke up an hour ago).

And that is why I have a thread up for this since I'm less knowledgeable about things.  I know more than someone who feels accomplished when they get a program installed that works, but I don't know where the tech industry is going and what specs are good for what I need.  Pretty much I want a nice system that can run games well, but won't take all of my permanent fund to get it lol

Wai would you get a 9600GT when I put up a 9800GT for the same price @.@

And if you wanna spend $50 more, just get a 4850 or 9800GTX

Oh, jeese, I set it to shared, but got the wrong link, mybad.  It's pretty close to my system, but can take higher end CPU/RAM if you wanted it. 

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Public...er=9498986

That doesn't look bad at all.  It has 4gb and is around the price I like.  And if that is close to your system what can you run and how well do you run it?  I'm hoping that it'll last me for a few years at least, barring the possible hardware failure that could come up whenever.  Not expecting to be on top of things always, but I've gone two to three years with only a RAM/Graphics Card upgrade and was able to play the games I want with not too much trouble.

[copulatingduck]

[table]
[tr][td]Video Card[/td][td]$175[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]CPU[/td][td]$170[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]RAM[/td][td]$50[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]PSU[/td][td]$55[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Same PSU from ZZF[/td][td]$50[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Crossfire Motherboard[/td][td]$105[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Case[/td][td]$108[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Total Cost[/td][td]$655 after rebates[/td][/tr]
[/table]

The ram you had will do, though like you said, 4GB is better. The case is expensive, but I pop boners for Lian-Li, so it was an easy suggestion from me. You could definitely go with something cheaper if you need to, this is obviously the least critical part of your system.

For the GPU, I went with a 4850 because Tom's Hardware suggests that the 4850's are the best card for your money in that price range. Went with that particular card because the 4850's definitely run hot: this card has some monster cooling on it though, so hopefully you'll get better, more stable performance from it, as well as MSI's 2-year warranty.

The motherboard is one of the FEW (I saw 2 from Asus) crossfire motherboards available, and it's the only one that's new. Nevertheless, it leaves ample room between both PCI-ex16 slots so even though you have a dual slot card, you'll definitely have space should you ever decide you need another.

Also went with the e8400 as per the suggestion of Tom's Hardware. If this is a bit too rich for your blood, there are definitely things that can be tweaked, but keep in mind I built this rig with the intention of giving you an affordable rig with room for expandability.

Any questions or problems, let me know.

edit: man I really wanna build a new rig again

[Maxon]

[table]
[tr][td]Video Card[/td][td]$175[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]CPU[/td][td]$170[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]RAM[/td][td]$50[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]PSU[/td][td]$55[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Same PSU from ZZF[/td][td]$50[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Crossfire Motherboard[/td][td]$105[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Case[/td][td]$108[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Total Cost[/td][td]$655 after rebates[/td][/tr]
[/table]

The ram you had will do, though like you said, 4GB is better. The case is expensive, but I pop boners for Lian-Li, so it was an easy suggestion from me. You could definitely go with something cheaper if you need to, this is obviously the least critical part of your system.

For the GPU, I went with a 4850 because Tom's Hardware suggests that the 4850's are the best card for your money in that price range. Went with that particular card because the 4850's definitely run hot: this card has some monster cooling on it though, so hopefully you'll get better, more stable performance from it, as well as MSI's 2-year warranty.

The motherboard is one of the FEW (I saw 2 from Asus) crossfire motherboards available, and it's the only one that's new. Nevertheless, it leaves ample room between both PCI-ex16 slots so even though you have a dual slot card, you'll definitely have space should you ever decide you need another.

Also went with the e8400 as per the suggestion of Tom's Hardware. If this is a bit too rich for your blood, there are definitely things that can be tweaked, but keep in mind I built this rig with the intention of giving you an affordable rig with room for expandability.

Any questions or problems, let me know.

edit: man I really wanna build a new rig again

Well that sounds pretty good to me.  If everything seems compatible, it's definitely a setup I'd like to go with.  Could probably do a slightly cheaper case, so maybe...

NZXT Alpha Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Open Window - Retail $64.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811146041

It's about 40 bucks cheaper.  Would it work with everything else?  Basically I think the 50 to 75 dollar price range for a case would do me best right now unless you think the case you linked to is THAT much more bonerific XD

[copulatingduck]

Well that sounds pretty good to me.  If everything seems compatible, it's definitely a setup I'd like to go with.  Could probably do a slightly cheaper case, so maybe...

NZXT Alpha Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Open Window - Retail $64.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811146041

It's about 40 bucks cheaper.  Would it work with everything else?  Basically I think the 50 to 75 dollar price range for a case would do me best right now unless you think the case you linked to is THAT much more bonerific XD

Wow, I'm impressed that there are steel cases out there that still get free shipping! :o :o :o

Yea, that looks like a good case as well.

And if you wanted to go really cheap... you could try ebay. That's supposed to be a pretty good card (I think it's close to what Caff used to have, but I'm not really certain tbh). It's a damn good card and, if you trust ebay, a damn good deal. Course, something like that could use a different motherboard.

I bet if you really tried you could assemble an entire computer from ebay parts... Course, they're all used if they're a good deal, too close to retail price if they're new.

Also, I'm assuming you're recycling an optical drive? You didn't include one in your build, so I didn't bother with one either. But a SATA optical drive runs about $30 if you need one.

[Budr]

Also went with the e8400 as per the suggestion of Tom's Hardware. If this is a bit too rich for your blood, there are definitely things that can be tweaked, but keep in mind I built this rig with the intention of giving you an affordable rig with room for expandability.

The Core 2s are ridiculously over-clockable. I don't know the first thing about tweaking voltages or any of the more involved stuff, I just knocked my Q6600 (original stepping before the power reduction) from 266MHz to 333MHz (ie up to 3GHz from 2.4GHz) and it's run fine ever since.

[Maxon]

I have a drive from my current one that I can use.  Did the motherboard use SATA or IDE? If SATA, I could just run down to a store and get one of those since they aren't too expensive at all.

And if everything looks good with what you linked and my case, I'll order my stuff tonight or tomorrow ^_^

[Maxon]

According to someone I talked too, they said ASUS would be very hit and miss to go with on the motherboard.  Do you really recommend that one or would another brand, and some minor changes work? After thinking and talking with someone else, I might not even need Crossfire anytime soon and should last long enough till I'll need another upgrade before needing to do crossfire, if I do at all.  It was just an idea for something in the future and only one PCI slot saves a few bucks.

Here's another setup me and friend came up with...

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813128345

Kingston HyperX NVIDIA SLI-Ready 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail $47.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820104008

Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3500320NS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6822148294

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKA1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case Real Power Pro 550W Power Supply - Retail $109.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811119142

GIGABYTE GV-N98TZL-512H GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card w/ Zalman VF830 - Retail $139.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814125227

Then mixed with the CPU from before...

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail $169.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819115037

How's this looking?  It's about 667 bucks and that includes a HD, though I need to remember to buy some extra SATA cords cause the HD is OEM.

[Wedge]

According to someone I talked too, they said ASUS would be very hit and miss to go with on the motherboard.

Don't tell that to Caff.  Also you don't NEED a new HDD, everything supports one PATA cable still, so you're old drive will be fine.  I'd still totally support getting a second SATA drive anyways though.  Also that seems like a real good deal on a case/psu combo, as it's a real PSU, not a shitty generic in there.  And I'm still partial to AMD when you can get their highest end quad core for the same price as an Intel dual core.  But the Intel chips are more than solid and good on the power usage, so it's plenty well off to go with that.  Really it's hard to go that wrong with building a PC these days, it's just how right you wanna go.

[CaffeinePowered]

[quote author=Maxon link=topic=1381.msg38085#msg38085 date=1221173924]
According to someone I talked too, they said ASUS would be very hit and miss to go with on the motherboard.

Don't tell that to Caff. 
[/quote]

Eh, if someone had a bad experience it will sour them. Asus gives free 3 year warranties on all their motherboards, which is ridiculous. Its more their high end boards that are ridiculous, so chock full of features you don't know what to do with them all.

[copulatingduck]

Don't get a 9800GT, you'll be sorely disappointed. It's basically an 8800GT, and I don't really care for it. For the power/price ratio, you just can't do better than the 4850's. A little more money will do you a lot of good if you spring for the 4850. As for the motherboard, well, I've had fantastic luck with ASUS. And like Caff said, they give you 3 years warranties and have great service. Besides, you're paying more money for a board that has less room for expansion later. Personally, it's not even a hard choice for me. I have a Gigabyte board similar to that one right now, but I honestly wish I had gone with the ASUS instead. The new case and PSU are fine, but I wouldn't recommend the lesser GPU and motherboard. :-\

edit: That case/PSU combo comes out to costing more than the OCZ PSU and NZXT Case. Not sure if you were trying to save money, but when you factor in shipping, your current build is $40 more (the case, motherboard, and GPU all have shipping costs). :-[

[Maxon]

Don't get a 9800GT, you'll be sorely disappointed. It's basically an 8800GT, and I don't really care for it. For the power/price ratio, you just can't do better than the 4850's. A little more money will do you a lot of good if you spring for the 4850. As for the motherboard, well, I've had fantastic luck with ASUS. And like Caff said, they give you 3 years warranties and have great service. Besides, you're paying more money for a board that has less room for expansion later. Personally, it's not even a hard choice for me. I have a Gigabyte board similar to that one right now, but I honestly wish I had gone with the ASUS instead. The new case and PSU are fine, but I wouldn't recommend the lesser GPU and motherboard. :-\

edit: That case/PSU combo comes out to costing more than the OCZ PSU and NZXT Case. Not sure if you were trying to save money, but when you factor in shipping, your current build is $40 more (the case, motherboard, and GPU all have shipping costs). :-[

Alrighty.  Figured I'd bring up another person perspective on things.  If the previous one was good, I'll probably just go with what you had linked before along with the case I had linked.  Only thing I need to check is that if the motherboard takes SATA stuff or IDE?  If it's SATA, I gotta get another CD/DVD combo and a new HD like I had linked in the other build post.

[Vandamguy]

i'd take a sata HDD for the increased bandwidth, and aesthetic value of not having a big grey ribbon inside your guts

asus and gigabte are both very reliable brands. personally im an ass man