New mid-level gaming rig

[AiponGkooja]

1. Mostly want it for gaming.

2. Around $700, the less the better.

3. Purchasing mostly from newegg or buy.com (psu and case)

4. No brand preference

5. Will probably reuse:
2x combo drives
1x floppy drive (lol)
2x hdd (350gb and 300gb... but might get a new 640gb)
1x TV tuner card
1x X-fi sound card (maybe...)
1x Keyboard & Mouse
1x 4.1 Speaker set
1x Big clunker CRT (Use 1600x1200 res most of the time, less with most games at the moment though, see video card description at bottom)

6. Have been looking at others' threads for a while, so I think I have a good set-up, but I just want it double-checked.

7. Don't particularly care to OC, but if it's easy I might do a really safe minimal CPU OC. Definitely no GPU OC.

8. Plan on building within the next month.



This is what I have so far...

Rosewill R5601-BK Case
$59.99

Corsair 450VX PSU
$69.99 - $15 MIR

Mushkin 2x2gb DDR2 800
$88.99 - $25 MIR

Intel E7200
$119.99

ASUS P5QL PRO P43
$94.99

ASUS HD4850
$187.99 - $30 MIR



Totals
$620.94 - $70 MIR =
= $550.94 +shipping


Thanks for any help!
-Aip


Edit:

Btw, this is what I'm going from. I want to say I've had it for about 3-3.5, except the 7800gtx, which was more recently. (I'm at work, so sorry about lack of details):

ASUS A8N SLI-Deluxe (broken MB fan... broken replacement MB fan... after that I gave up and just let it get hot... sadness)

Athlon 64 3500+ (think it's 2.2ghz? works great, just want an upgrade)

BFG 7800GTX OC (overheats like CRAZY - 110C, I can cook soup on it - need a floor fan blowing on high straight into my case to play anything... other than that it works great)

2x1Gb OCZ memory(don't remember speed, but it's DDR1, works great)

Thermaltake Xaser III case (really heavy, annoying door, poor airflow, little "extras" work questionably at best... but I guess I need a place to store all my old parts anyway, hehe)

Enermax 535W PSU (Whisper II or something, works great)



Edit: Edit: Edit: Edit: I apparently edit like a crazy person...

 

[lurkmoar]

just some quick points, a sound card is definitely not necessary and it might be worth trying to spring for the 4870, maybe you can find a combo with that card

also, do you think you could try changing the fan on your 7800gtx and the fan arrangement in your case? it might give your computer some extra life

also, i think you have a pretty good psu, are you sure you'll need to upgrade from it?

 

[DSF]

The build looks pretty standard. Nothing to complain about there.

If you're willing to sell your old RAM for a decent price, shoot me a PM. I've been looking to pick up 2x1GB of DDR2.

 

[AiponGkooja]

4870 would be great, especially because of the dual-slot cooling, as I now worry a lot about video card cooling due to my current one, haha. (And I'm already aware that the 4850 and 4870 run hot, but it can supposedly be fixed by changing the fan profile, so I'm counting on that... and the fact that they apparently released it like that with no worries...)

I don't particularly want to try changing the fan on my 7800gtx. Perhaps I could just sell it to someone and inform them of the problem if they want to change it themselves for a cheaper card? *shrug*

My case fans are just all-around ridiculous IMO. There's 7 of them, they're 80mm, and they're horrible and grind and click and get jammed a lot, lol.

For the PSU, I figured it'd just be better to upgrade. Had this thread about it a month and a half ago.

 

[AiponGkooja]

I should probably mention more directly that I'm looking to bring the price down though... Anywhere that I could cut a little off without affecting performance too much would be great (for example, can and will only get 4870 over 4850 if I can keep the whole build under $700 AR).

And as noted in OP, I am willing to do minor OCing to CPU if it's easy and safe, just not sure how big of a cut I can take to CPU because of that... don't want to limit myself too much on speed.

 

[AiponGkooja]

Bumpity. Still looking to cut price a bit, without sacrificing performance. Even if it's just better deals for purchasing at other places. *shrug*

 

[DSF]

If you're not planning to go Crossfire, the Corsair 550VX is $70 shipped after rebate at buy.com:
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsai...loc/101/205852646.html

The 450VX is only $55 shipped after rebate, also at buy.com.

Either one would handle your computer fine.

If you're sure that an OC would be minimal at most, the P43 chipset is less expensive than P45 while still offering PCI-e 2.0. (No crossfire though.)

If you're trying to build a system with the expectation of going Crossfire, the one you've got it about as cheap as you're reasonably going to get.

 

[modoheo]

How big is your 'big clunker CRT' monitor? Unless it's 24+ inches and you're going to game at 1920X1200 or more, than the 4850 will be fine.

 

[drebo]

For a case/PS combo, you can't do any better than the Antec Sonata III. It comes with an EarthWatts 500W PS (more than enough juice for your build, built by Seasonic) and is cheaper than your chosen PS alone. And, besides, it just looks good.

 

[AiponGkooja]

In that case, as stated on my old thread, I do have a 535W Enermax still. It doesn't seem to have any problems... but most people suggested I get a newer more powerful one. *shrug*

I am quite positive that the OC will be minimal (if anything at all), so I will look into some good P43 boards (suggestions welcome).

Although I think dual vid-cards are kind of cool, and I've been meaning to use it as an upgrade path before, I'm pretty sure I will never actually do it. I always just tend to buy the next decent single card option.

Thank you much,
Aip


Edit: I think my CRT is about 24", and I like 1600x1200 for most things (although I do want to get a widescreen LCD eventually).

 

[drebo]

I've used the P5Q Deluxe (P45 chipset) board from ASUS before, and found it to be of absolutely superb quality and performance. To date, I think it's the single nicest consumer board I've ever used.

It's not cheap, though. There's a slightly scaled down model, the P5Q-E, which looks to be of similar features and quality, but is significantly less expensive.

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: AiponGkooja
Although I think dual vid-cards are kind of cool, and I've been meaning to use it as an upgrade path before, I'm pretty sure I will never actually do it. I always just tend to buy the next decent single card option.

This is how you get the best value for your money anyway.

The problem with the Enermax isn't that 535W is too little, it's the PSU is getting old and probably wasn't top quality in the first place.

 

[AiponGkooja]

Gotcha

 

[AiponGkooja]

Have been looking more at the 450VX PSU, but I just wanted to double check on it, because it WOULD save me some money. I do trust your judgement, DSF, and this guy's comment on newegg also supports the choice:

"Most PC builders nowadays vastly overdo the PSU because of what they read on the internet. Im running a quad core, 4 gigs of ram, HD 4850, two optical drives, two gigantic HDDs and lots more on this 450w. Computer is completely stable. "

I just want to make sure that choosing this PSU won't be limiting the lifetime of my new computer. Was hoping to not upgrade again for another couple years, and I don't want to be running a PSU at close to max capacity 24/7. Also, peak efficiency is around 50% cap, as with most PSU's. Not that that is a HUGE issue for me, but I just don't want to gimp its useful lifetime by overloading it.

Guess I'm just looking for some more success stories with similar (or more, hehe) power draw as my system. Or at least some additional confident comments.

Thanks again,
Aip


Edit: Also, btw, thinking about this mobo now:
ASUS P5QL PRO P43
Thoughts?

 

[cusideabelincoln]

The 450W Corsair would be more than enough, and you wouldn't be taxing it out unless you had GPU- and CPU-intensive programs constantly running. But if you are having reservations, you can get the 600W OCZ GameXStream for only $60 after MIR:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817341001

Or the 500W Antec EarthWatts for $60:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817371007

I'm not particularly seeing the combo deal still in effect for the mobo+video card. In any case, you could always just pick them out separately. I think a great alternative to P45 boards is the $110 Asus P5QL-E (or $95 P5QL Pro if you don't need firewire port, optical-out port, the extra eSATA port, or RAID of the P5QL-E). You could even go with a P35 chipset like the $120 Gigabyte DS3R.

The $158 Asus Radeon HD4850 looks like the cheapest one on newegg, so you can stick with that choice.

As for the case, this is really just personal preference. However, Newegg does have free shipping with the $70 Enermax Chakra. I used this case in my latest build and it's solid. Cooling is handled well. It has a large 250 mm side panel fan that can intake or exhaust, but you will need to buy (or reuse) two 120 mm fans since it does not come with any for the front or rear vents. The case is also quiet with the hardware I have installed - Asus Radeon HD3850 w/Glaciator heatsink, Arctic Cooling Freezer 64, and OCZ StealthXStream PSU. The 250 mm fan makes zero noise. In fact, the loudest component would the soft ticks of my 500GB WD hard drive (when in use). Newegg is also offering free shipping on the Antec Three Hundred for only $60, which should also be excellent for cooling. I just scanned buy.com and they have the Antec Nine Hundred for $100, so you have plenty of choices as far as cases go.

So a quick rundown of the parts I've suggested:

$60 OCZ GameXStream
$110 Asus P5QL-E
$160 Asus Radeon HD 4850
$70 Enermax Chakra.
$65 your Mushkin RAM
~$12 for shipping
-----
$477

Wow, that really puts you well under your budget, haha. Oh well, just some friendly advice.

 

[AiponGkooja]

Plus $175 for CPU = ~$650. But yeah, looks pretty good. I think I was editing while you typed that, because I addressed some of those things, hehe.

As far as my psu/case choices go: I've kind of become a fan of single rail PSU's, so if this one will work then I'm all for it. And with the case, I don't particularly like side fans or bottom mounted PSU's, so I think the one I picked out should do nicely.

 

[TestedAcorn]

Drop the e8400 and get an e7200 and overclock it just a little.

 

[AiponGkooja]

Originally posted by: TestedAcorn
Drop the e8400 and get an e7200 and overclock it just a little.

Thought about that. Would I be able to OC to 3.0ghz and have basically no difference between it and an 8400? Or would that be a fairly significant and involved OC (changing vcore, aftermarket hs/fan, etc)?

Edit...again: Nevermind, seems like most people can get to 3.0-3.2 without ever touching vcore or even necessarily needing aftermarket cooling, so that's cool.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Dang, I knew I was forgetting to add something to the total price. I really need to get more sleep. Anyway, what you've picked out looks pretty good. Like TestedAcorn mentioned, and somehow I forgot to mention, the E7200 is a really great processor if you are still looking to save even more money. At stock it performs very well, it overclocks well, and it uses less power than the E8400 on top of being $50 cheaper.

And for more reassurance, Anandtech's review of the HD4850 shows complete system draw (with an Intel quad core processor) under load at less than 250 watts, so you should be fine with the 450 watt Corsair unit.

 

[AiponGkooja]

Sounds good on the E7200 (although I keep looking at E8400 posts now and getting jealous of the 4Ghz OC's... bad, envy, bad... lol).

Modified OP to reflect all changes so far.

 

[AiponGkooja]

Quick question. Does anyone know what temp Cosair PSU's are rated at? Are they all 50C? Or at least 40C? I can't find the information anywhere...

 

[AiponGkooja]

Sorry to bump it after so long, but I'm getting closer to purchase time now.

I actually just picked up a 4870 (promo code expiring and couldn't pass it up), so I was wondering if that 450 PSU is still good for this setup. Still planning on:

e7200
2x2gb
1 hdd
1 dvd
and now the 4870

 

[onedestinazn2]

id get at least this antec earthwatts 500w, i built a computer that ran a 4870 with this psu. its 80% certified but id get it soon
since the price bounces between 90 and 59. also what are the other parts that youre planning to get?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817371007