Help with a gaming build

[Wnh5001]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing

Will be used mainly for gaming.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread.

$ 700-800

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

USA

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

No preference

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

Already have the os, the optical drive and hard drive.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

I've looked around but it didn't fit my needs.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

Plan to overclock a little.

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.

1920 x 1080

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?

ASAP


As of now i'm looking to have an i5 processor. not sure whether i would need 4 gb or 6gb of ram. Looking to use this desktop for gaming, especially for the upcoming release of civ 5.

 

[fralexandr]

would you prefer to buy all the parts at the same place?
do you have a microcenter near you? they usually have good deals on processors
does the 700-800 include monitor/speakers?
do you have any particular form factor in mind? will you be taking it to LAN parties?

this link is sort of up to date, and is good for getting an idea on some prices and parts
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=553826

core i5 650 140$
http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0325942

motherboard
probably an h55/p55 $80-$130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ue=706%3A50781

ram probably dual channel 2x2gb ddr3 ~$80+ (lynnfield doesn't tri channel)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2%20x%202GB%29

gpu wise you might be looking at
ati 5850 > nv 460gtx 1gb> nv460gtx 768mb> ati 5770 (~$140) (iffy for 1080p gaming but may be necessary if price doesn't include monitor)
i would recommend getting a 460gtx 1gb (~$220) (the 768 has crippled cores)
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2095908

case $40-$70
probably something around 50$ w/ 2x120mm fans or something
cm 690, antec 300, rosewill
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...NG&PageSize=50

psu 450-550w ~$50-$100
corsair is generally considered the best, but the antec earthwatts is ok and usually on sale

speakers ?? $10-$130
2.0? 2.1? 5.1?
do you want cheap surround? or quality stereo?
or headphones (~$20-$50) usually provide good sound quality for their price

monitor TN 22-23" (1920x1080) ($120-$180)

what kind of hard drive do you have? it might be worth it to just buy a new one w/ 500gb platters, or get an SSD and use your drive as storage

i might have some 2x2gb ddr3 1066 ram you could have since i bought a 2x4gb kit but i haven't gotten it yet (my mobo says it doesn't like different rams)

 

[mfenn]

Friends don't let friends buy dual-core i5's. You should be able to fit an i5 750/760 and a good GPU into the mix since you don't need an HDD, ODD, or OS.

i5 760 + GA-P55-USB3 + Cooler Master case combo $380
G.Skill DDR3 1333 4GB $82
GTX 460 1GB $205 AR
Corsair 650TX $80 AR
Total: $747

 

[fralexandr]

yeah though it might be a stretch going quad if he needs a monitor/speakers unless he wants to go phenom :S

is there something wrong with the dual core i5s? sorry i didn't know T.T

 

[Sp12]

They're overpriced for what they offer. If you don't have the money for the i5-760 I would be looking at a phenom.

IMO 80$ for that PSU is kinda meh when a modular, silver-efficiency one can be had for 10$ more. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...0edition%20750

 

[Wnh5001]

thanks for your recommendations. i made a rough compilation of items that i think would work:

CPU Core i5 -750 Lynnfield 2.66 ghz 8 mb cache 195
Motherboard gigabyte ga-p55-usb3 lga 1156 120
RAM ddr3 g skill ripjaw series 4gb 93
Video card XFX HD-577X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit DDR5 160
Power supply corsair cmpsu-550W 60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...%20w%20corsair

Case COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black SEC 50

Hard drive ADATA 500 series AS592S 32 gb 90
2 fans 15
DVD burner ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black 20
Cooler ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 36

total comes to about 850

I also found a combo at newegg that advertised similar products but comes with a combo price. but did not come with a video card, and i was wondering if it would be a viable option: link to combo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboB...t=Combo.492369.

 

[Sp12]

i5-650, that's a dual-core.

 

[mfenn]

thanks for your recommendations. i made a rough compilation of items that i think would work:

CPU Core i5 -750 Lynnfield 2.66 ghz 8 mb cache 195
Motherboard gigabyte ga-p55-usb3 lga 1156 120
RAM ddr3 g skill ripjaw series 4gb 93
Video card XFX HD-577X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit DDR5 160
Power supply corsair cmpsu-550W 60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...%20w%20corsair

Case COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black SEC 50

Hard drive ADATA 500 series AS592S 32 gb 90
2 fans 15
DVD burner ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black 20
Cooler ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 36

total comes to about 850

I also found a combo at newegg that advertised similar products but comes with a combo price. but did not come with a video card, and i was wondering if it would be a viable option: link to combo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboB...t=Combo.492369.

I would not bother with an SSD at your budget, especially not a measly 32GB one from a no-name brand. Also, I thought you didn't need an optical drive?

I would definitely put the GTX 460 back in there. It's worth the $45 over the 5770, especially at 1080P.

 

[fralexandr]

i agree on the 460, i have the 5770, game at 1920x1080, and kinda want to upgrade but can't justify buying a whole new gpu

 

[Wnh5001]

whats the difference between 768 mb and 1 gb version of the gtx 460 video card. how much of a difference will it make in gaming?

 

[fralexandr]

the 768 has a 192bit memory bandwidth and 24 ROPs instead of 256bit and 32 ROPs
anandtech has a review of them
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3809/nvidias-geforce-gtx-460-the-200-king/1
the author concludes that
"To purchase a $200 card with only 768MB of RAM today is shortsighted; it’s less RAM than last year’s $200 GTX 275 and Radeon 4890 cards had, and it’s going to come up short in tomorrow’s games. The difference is 256MB, but we’re willing to bet between that 256MB of RAM and the additional L2 cache and ROPs that the 1GB advantage will only grow from here. We would rather spend another $30 now for better performance in many of today’s games, knowing that we also will have a better shot at playing tomorrow’s games. NVIDIA’s marketing arm would seem to secretly agree – most of the 1GB cards will be coming with a pack-in game, while the 768MB cards will not. If nothing else we can’t accuse NVIDIA of giving too little for the extra $30."

 

[mfenn]

the 768 has a 192bit memory bandwidth and 24 ROPs instead of 256bit and 32 ROPs
anandtech has a review of them
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3809/nvidias-geforce-gtx-460-the-200-king/1
the author concludes that
"To purchase a $200 card with only 768MB of RAM today is shortsighted; it’s less RAM than last year’s $200 GTX 275 and Radeon 4890 cards had, and it’s going to come up short in tomorrow’s games. The difference is 256MB, but we’re willing to bet between that 256MB of RAM and the additional L2 cache and ROPs that the 1GB advantage will only grow from here. We would rather spend another $30 now for better performance in many of today’s games, knowing that we also will have a better shot at playing tomorrow’s games. NVIDIA’s marketing arm would seem to secretly agree – most of the 1GB cards will be coming with a pack-in game, while the 768MB cards will not. If nothing else we can’t accuse NVIDIA of giving too little for the extra $30."

:thumbsup:

The cheapest GTX 460 760MB cards are $170 right now (really putting pressure on the 5770!) so there's still about a $30 price differential. AT's reasoning still holds up though.