An attempt at a ghetto gaming PC

[MONTY MASTIFF]

Hi, I just joined these forums but have been reading for a long time. I haven't played games on PC in about 7 or 8 years. My current rig is 533mhz, 256 ram, 20 gb HDD, Geforce 2, and so on. No doubt, I think it's time to upgrade! FYI, I don't know much about computers and parts but have done a lot of reading so I have a general idea.

I read the sticky about rules for posting a thread like this so here is the required info:

1. Use: Gaming (TF2, Crysis, RTS games, etc.), watching movies, general PC stuff
2. Budget: A little over $400
3. Country: U.S.
4. Brand preference: N/A
5. Reused parts: Monitor, keyboard, mouse
6. Read other threads: Yeah
7. Overclocking: Depends on price
8. Time frame: This month


Parts (all prices include shipping):

Case ($60 shipped): Rosewill R5601-BK 0.8mm Japanese Cold Rolled Steel Screw-less Dual 120mm Fans ATX Mid Tower LINK (I'm 100% set on this case. The reviews are great and I really wanted one with the audio and USB ports on the top and it has that, all for only $60 shipped)

Power Supply ($40): ?? (I know you're not supposed to skimp out on the power supply but I'm on a very tight budget

CPU ($75-85): ??

Motherboard ($50): Could one of these be fine? LINK

GPU ($100): I have seen a bunch of deals for 8800 GT 512 mb for $119.99 after rebate so I'm thinking they should be around $100 later this month. Other option is ATI 3870 which is around $100. I forget which is more powerful

RAM ($20-25): Should have no problem finding 2GB of RAM for $20-25 after rebate somewhere

HDD ($50): Western Digital 160 GB, 3.0/s, 7200 RPM: LINK Has anyone seen cheaper deals? I've only checked Newegg. The HDD is more expensive than I thought it would be

DVD ($25): One of these for $25 shipped: LINK

Extra cooling: Still need if I don't overclock?

Total: $425 - $435

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[BassBomb]

Try Antec Sonata III w/500w psu instead of the case and psu you chose. It can be found sometimes for 90-100$

 

[littleprince]

The 945 based MB from solid brands such as Foxxcon and MSI are fine.
As mentioned, there are some cases with decent PSU already that will fit your budget.

I would add a couple of case fans, keep the stock cooler.
Do you not have a spare DVD Drive yet?

 

[MONTY MASTIFF]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
Try Antec Sonata III w/500w psu instead of the case and psu you chose. It can be found sometimes for 90-100$

That sounds pretty good, and the 500 watt Antec PSU is probably better than any other PSU I could get for $40. I really liked the audio ports on the top of the Rosewill case, though.

 

[MONTY MASTIFF]

Originally posted by: littleprince
The 945 based MB from solid brands such as Foxxcon and MSI are fine.
As mentioned, there are some cases with decent PSU already that will fit your budget.

I would add a couple of case fans, keep the stock cooler.
Do you not have a spare DVD Drive yet?

Just a CD-RW. Most new games are on DVD now, right? It sucks; I wish I had one because $25 is gone right there.

 

[DSF]

The list I came up with for the same budget is in the following link, but I can understand the desire to go Intel. It's probably not feasible in your price range unless you're planning to overclock though.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2214384&enterthread=y

 

[Fenix793]

Like the others said it's probably best to get a case/PSU combo for this build. For CPU get either a E2180 or E2160. Both are less than $60 and fly when OCed. For graphics an 8800GT or 9600GT even would do nicely. I would also try to find a cheap P35 board if possible but that might be pushing it.

 

[MONTY MASTIFF]

Originally posted by: DSF
The list I came up with for the same budget is in the following link, but I can understand the desire to go Intel. It's probably not feasible in your price range unless you're planning to overclock though.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2214384&enterthread=y

That's a great post, thanks. So the AMD 5000+ you linked there is not as good as one of the Intel CPUs E2160? Also, the 8800 GS is how much of a downgrade from the 8800 GT?

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Originally posted by: MONTY MASTIFF

Originally posted by: DSF
The list I came up with for the same budget is in the following link, but I can understand the desire to go Intel. It's probably not feasible in your price range unless you're planning to overclock though.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2214384&enterthread=y

That's a great post, thanks. So the AMD 5000+ you linked there is not as good as one of the Intel CPUs E2160? Also, the 8800 GS is how much of a downgrade from the 8800 GT?

At stock speeds, the 5000+ is definitely faster than the E2160.

The 8800GS is a fairly significant downgrade from an 8800GT, but it can handle TF2 very well. If was forced to give an estimate, I would say the 8800GS is 25-30% slower than the 8800GT on average. In some games it may do really well and in other games it may tremendously be outperformed by the 8800GT.

You should go with DSF's list. Those are some pretty good deals.

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: MONTY MASTIFF

Originally posted by: DSF
The list I came up with for the same budget is in the following link, but I can understand the desire to go Intel. It's probably not feasible in your price range unless you're planning to overclock though.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2214384&enterthread=y

That's a great post, thanks. So the AMD 5000+ you linked there is not as good as one of the Intel CPUs E2160? Also, the 8800 GS is how much of a downgrade from the 8800 GT?

I believe there's an 8800GT going for $125 or so after rebate. If you can spare the extra 25 bucks, I'd upgrade.

The 5000+ is faster than an E2160, but if you take overclocking into account, the E2160 can go faster I think.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Here's my effort:

$24.99 Samsung DVD Burner w/free shipping
$94.99 Radeon HD3850 512MB w/$15 MIR + $8.97 shipping
$29.99 Hitachi Deskstar w/free shipping +$30 combo savings with Athlon 5000+
$66.00 Athlon X2 5000+ w/free shipping
$52.99 Foxconn TLA566 case w/free shipping (and ports on top!)
$49.49 2x1GB OCZ Platinum DDR2 800 w/$30 MIR + $6.99 shipping
$29.99 380W Antec EarthWatts $10.87 shipping
$67.99 Foxconn A7VMX-K AM2+/AM2 AMD 780V Micro ATX w/free shipping

Shipping: About $17.24
Subtotal: $433.67 (aka, what you're going to pay at Newegg's checkout)
Rebates: $45
Grand total: $388.67

Just a few notes: The 380W Antec EarthWatts is certainly enough power for this system. However, if you wanted to upgrade to a high end video card and/or a quad core Phenom, then you would have to upgrade the power supply as well. But again, as it stands, it's more than capable for the above system.

The HD3850 512MB is also faster than the 8800GS, but it's not as fast as a 9600GT or 8800GT. But the great news is that it costs virtually the same as the 8800GS, so you're getting more performance for your money.

You should also try to take advantage of some of these deals as soon as possible. Who knows how long combo deals will last, and Newegg doesn't keep free shipping on items all the time. In a week it is completely feasible that combo deals will end, rebates will end, and free shipping deals will end, leaving you with a much higher priced computer.

 

[MONTY MASTIFF]

Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
Here's my effort:

$24.99 Samsung DVD Burner w/free shipping
$94.99 Radeon HD3850 512MB w/$15 MIR + $8.97 shipping
$29.99 Hitachi Deskstar w/free shipping +$30 combo savings with Athlon 5000+
$66.00 Athlon X2 5000+ w/free shipping
$52.99 Foxconn TLA566 case w/free shipping (and ports on top!)
$49.49 2x1GB OCZ Platinum DDR2 800 w/$30 MIR + $6.99 shipping
$29.99 380W Antec EarthWatts $10.87 shipping
$67.99 Foxconn A7VMX-K AM2+/AM2 AMD 780V Micro ATX w/free shipping

Shipping: About $17.24
Subtotal: $433.67 (aka, what you're going to pay at Newegg's checkout)
Rebates: $45
Grand total: $388.67

Just a few notes: The 380W Antec EarthWatts is certainly enough power for this system. However, if you wanted to upgrade to a high end video card and/or a quad core Phenom, then you would have to upgrade the power supply as well. But again, as it stands, it's more than capable for the above system.

The HD3850 512MB is also faster than the 8800GS, but it's not as fast as a 9600GT or 8800GT. But the great news is that it costs virtually the same as the 8800GS, so you're getting more performance for your money.

You should also try to take advantage of some of these deals as soon as possible. Who knows how long combo deals will last, and Newegg doesn't keep free shipping on items all the time. In a week it is completely feasible that combo deals will end, rebates will end, and free shipping deals will end, leaving you with a much higher priced computer.

Wow, that looks perfect. The Hitachi HDD + CPU deal ends on 8/8 so I'd have to order them tonight. By the way, this Antec 500w PSU is only $10 more shipped and would probably work with a higher end card if I decide to upgrade later. This is great, thanks. I'm going to mull it over for an hour or two before buying the HDD + CPU combo.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I'd still honestly go with the 380W Antec. They both put out about the same amount of amps combined on the +12V rails. 27A for the EarthWatts compared to about (since I can't confirm this) 29A for the Basiq. But the Antec wins in two other areas: It is 80 Plus Certified, making it more efficient, and it has a 3 year warranty, compared to the 1 year warranty offered from the Basiq.

You could also consider the 430W Antec EarthWatts, which in my mind is definitely more powerful than the 500W Basiq. It's currently $60 with a $30 MIR.