My Budget Build

[dbrons]

I really am paying a lot more for socket/mobo upgrade. $45 difference.

you don't have to buy a video card though.....

 

[mfenn]

New total is $491. Wow, I really am paying a lot more for socket/mobo upgrade. $45 difference.

The only difference is in the mobo, which has a better featureset. There are plenty plenty of decent H61 mobos out there for $60 if you want to keep the costs the same.

 

[truepusk]

This XFX HD-485X-ZNFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit for $47 after promo and rebate looks like a great option! I might jump on this. It has reviews on Newegg stating no issues w/ L4D2 1920x1080 w/ high settings, I just need to make sure it's quiet. Seems like very good price versus performance value.

 

[mnewsham]

at $47 it is good price vs. performance BUT just keep in mind you wont be getting stellar performance in modern games.

 

[mfenn]

This XFX HD-485X-ZNFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit for $47 after promo and rebate looks like a great option! I might jump on this. It has reviews on Newegg stating no issues w/ L4D2 1920x1080 w/ high settings, I just need to make sure it's quiet. Seems like very good price versus performance value.

A 4850 is going to be pretty loud at idle by the standards set by newer cards.

 

[truepusk]

at $47 it is good price vs. performance BUT just keep in mind you wont be getting stellar performance in modern games.

Yeah, decent budget gaming at 1920x1080 is the goal. I know that LFD and L4D2 are the target games my wife wants to be able to play right now, and I know neither of them count as 'modern'. Diablo III will probably be the next target game, and it's too far out to really know right now, but knowing Blizzard, they tend to scale their games nicely for slightly weaker hardware.

A 4850 is going to be pretty loud at idle by the standards set by newer cards.

Well, I know that as I replace louder computers with quieter ones my standards are going to get higher, but for now I'm very happy with the idle noise of my Zontac GT 460 (768MB). Do you have any idea of how this might compare to one of those?

 

[mfenn]

Well, I know that as I replace louder computers with quieter ones my standards are going to get higher, but for now I'm very happy with the idle noise of my Zontac GT 460 (768MB). Do you have any idea of how this might compare to one of those?

It depends on the cooler. The reference one that Anandtech tested back when the 4850 first came out was not bad, but I don't have any specific details about the non-reference cooler on that XFX.

 

[truepusk]

[*]Motherboard MSI H67MA-E45 (B3) LGA 1155
I found it at Microcenter for ~$110 after tax and $10 rebate, but now I'm a bit concerned. It's a new product with only one review on Newegg, but the new H61/67 MSI boards don't seem to be off to a stellar start. It's hard to find much info on them.

I'm assuming it should have the same nice fan and processor stepping abilities that my LGA1156 does.

 

[mfenn]

[*]Motherboard MSI H67MA-E45 (B3) LGA 1155
I found it at Microcenter for ~$110 after tax and $10 rebate, but now I'm a bit concerned. It's a new product with only one review on Newegg, but the new H61/67 MSI boards don't seem to be off to a stellar start. It's hard to find much info on them.

H67 and H61 boards from reputable manufs. are good basic boards w/o the overclocking bells and whistles. Check out Anandtech's recent roundup for an overview of the H67 chipset's design goals.

I'm assuming it should have the same nice fan and processor stepping abilities that my LGA1156 does.

I guess that depends on what you mean by "processor stepping". You won't be able to overclock if that's what you mean.

 

[truepusk]

I guess that depends on what you mean by "processor stepping". You won't be able to overclock if that's what you mean.

I mispoke. I think Turboboost is the term I meant. Auto clock and voltage setting based on the load, along with good pwm control on the fan. Sounds like I'm worrying too much about random reviewers on newegg, who could be idiots.

 

[mfenn]

I mispoke. I think Turboboost is the term I meant. Auto clock and voltage setting based on the load, along with good pwm control on the fan. Sounds like I'm worrying too much about random reviewers on newegg, who could be idiots.

H67 supports the full range of Sandy Bridge CPU features including Turbo Boost and C1E sleep states. You should be able to control the fan ramps as well.

 

[truepusk]

Alright, I pulled the trigger on everything. Here is what the part list looks like.

• CPU i3 2100 $110 after tax. Same price as the LGA 1156 i3 I was original considering if you get it from Microcenter.
• Motherboard MSI H67MA-E45 (B3) LGA 1155 ~$111 after rebate from Microcenter. I'm a little bit nervous because MSI's sandy bridge boards don't have GREAT reviews (the few reviews they have - they ARE pretty new) from buyers on NewEgg. I might be irritated until some bios updates come out, but we'll see.
• Memory G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) $44 after a promo code I received for 10% off desktop memory. Yes, the 1333 would have been just as good for this motherboard, but I already have a set of two of these in my i5 760, so I liked having identical memory in the future for swapping out/upgrades.
• Case Thermaltake V3 Black Edition VL80001W2Z $30 after rebate + promo code. (Already purchased). It had some minor shipping damage, but I'm not going to return it. I'll probably have to get or use 1 additional fan right away (I have some scythes I could put in it) for the front HDDs.
• Hard Drives 80 GB Seagate Barracuda SATA, 1TB Seagate Barracuda SATA $0, already owned (only parts I'm taking from the old computer). Probably won't be using the 80GB, or at least nothing important, as others have pointed out that it will be pretty slow.
• Optical Driveony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R $20
• Power SupplyS12 II 430 W $70 Buy it now from EBay no less (LOL) - yes it's brand new.
• GPU XFX HD-485X-ZNFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB $47 after rebate. It really went up in price since I grabbed that deal.
• Operating System - I already have a copy of Windows 7 Enterprise ready for this computer - $0.
• Monitor - eMachines E233Hbd Black 23" Already own - $0

That comes out to $432. As you can see, I'm not shy on rebates (had a lot of luck with them recently). I'm going pretty cheap here, and it should be a very nice system for the price, but I'm taking a risk. I have pretty bad return options on most of these, due to either getting the rebate or where I decided to get them from.

I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[Fhistleb]

Thats looking great.

 

[mfenn]

Looks good! Post here if you have any problems during the build.

 

[truepusk]

Is the ALC892 supposed to use the AC 97 or the HD Audio connector? From my deductive logic, it looks like the former (the mobo lists a "no connect" two down from the alignment pin, and the AC 97 has no wire in the same pin) but from a quick google search I'm thinking the latter.

 

[mfenn]

Is the ALC892 supposed to use the AC 97 or the HD Audio connector? From my deductive logic, it looks like the former (the mobo lists a "no connect" two down from the alignment pin, and the AC 97 has no wire in the same pin) but from a quick google search I'm thinking the latter.

It should be the HD Audio connector.

 

[truepusk]

H67 supports the full range of Sandy Bridge CPU features including Turbo Boost and C1E sleep states. You should be able to control the fan ramps as well.

Looks like the i3 2100 doesn't support the Turbo Boost based upon the charts here:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/2

I'd assume that the motherboard will/should support it if/when this computer gets an i5.

 

[truepusk]

One thing ended up changing. I got a message a day and a half or so after I ordered the PSU stating that it wasn't in stock. I could have gotten the 420 or 530 for upper 70s, if I searched hard, but new I'd get it quickly if I just went with NewEgg, so I payed the $85 for a 520.

• CPU i3 2100 $110 after tax. Same price as the LGA 1156 i3 I was original considering if you get it from Microcenter.
• Motherboard MSI H67MA-E45 (B3) LGA 1155 ~$111 after rebate from Microcenter. I'm a little bit nervous because MSI's sandy bridge boards don't have GREAT reviews (the few reviews they have - they ARE pretty new) from buyers on NewEgg. I might be irritated until some bios updates come out, but we'll see.
• Memory G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) $44 after a promo code I received for 10% off desktop memory. Yes, the 1333 would have been just as good for this motherboard, but I already have a set of two of these in my i5 760, so I liked having identical memory in the future for swapping out/upgrades.
• Case Thermaltake V3 Black Edition VL80001W2Z $30 after rebate + promo code. (Already purchased). It had some minor shipping damage, but I'm not going to return it. I'll probably have to get or use 1 additional fan right away (I have some scythes I could put in it) for the front HDDs.
• Hard Drives 80 GB Seagate Barracuda SATA, 1TB Seagate Barracuda SATA $0, already owned (only parts I'm taking from the old computer). Probably won't be using the 80GB, or at least nothing important, as others have pointed out that it will be pretty slow.
• Optical Driveony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R $20
• Power SupplyS12 II 520 W $85
• GPU XFX HD-485X-ZNFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB $47 after rebate. It really went up in price since I grabbed that deal.
• Operating System - I already have a copy of Windows 7 Enterprise ready for this computer - $0.
• Monitor - eMachines E233Hbd Black 23" Already own - $0

That comes out to $447. Now realistically if I add the $6 restocking fee on the memory I RMA'd earlier, the $1 on RMA postage, and ~$2.00 on postage for rebates that comes to $456.

I pulled three nice blue LED fans that can be set to VERY quiet out of a coworkers dead ANTEC case. One of them is already in this computer, so I have two for other uses. Just go the power supply today and installed windows... so far so good, but a long ways to go before L4D and L4D2 are done downloading.

 

[mfenn]

Sounds good! It should be quite a bit faster than the Clarkdale that you were originally considering.