New PC Build/Purchase

[RyanB18]

Hello all,

I haven't built a pc in about 4 years, and I'm hopelessly out of date for components: Here's what I'm looking for:

Use: General use (music, email, browsing) and Gaming (Looking to play Starcraft 2 with this rig)

Budget: $500-$650

Country: USA

Overclocking: None, would love this to be super stable

Timing: I don't have to do this now (especially if people think I should wait because SC2), but I would be willing to execute in the next few weeks

Other: I already have Windows Vista, so OS is not an issue. Also, I would be happy to get a prebuilt.

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[brblx]

does $650 include a monitor?

 

[RyanB18]

I also already have a monitor.

 

[brblx]

case and psu, either of these includes an earthwatts 500, the 300's pricier than the sonata and they're largely the same.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.208561
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811129024

phenom x4 920 and mobo for 260-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128387
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819103472

4870 1gb is 150-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814150394

640gb hdd, dvd-r, ~100 bucks-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136319
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16827136168

4gb ddr2, 50-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820211188

that's about 650 bucks.

significant savings could come from finding a good mobo/cpu combo deal, you could also downgrade to an x3 720 and 4850 to keep it around $500.

 

[RyanB18]

Do you know of any prebuilts that I can get similar performance for the same price?

 

[brblx]

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Mega_Special_II/

most prebuilts are going to cost slightly more than buying the parts seperately, assuming you already have an OS. that cyberpower is competitively priced but just the parts for the machine could be done for about $500.

edit- you can get cheaper pc's with no dedicated gpu, also, but the fact that they usually merit a psu swap negates some of their savings.

 

[Denithor]

Another option is to price out a Dell or HP with the CPU you want. Go for minimal RAM/GPU and upgrade those yourself later as those parts are way cheaper from retail than through the OEMs.

 

[RyanB18]

Comments on this build?



SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model SH-S222A - OEM
Item #: N82E16827151175
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$25.99


Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16811129024
Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy
-$50.00 Instant
$149.99
$99.99


Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (bare drive) - OEM
Item #: N82E16822148337
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$10.00 Instant
$129.99
$119.99


ENCORE ENLWI-N PCI 2.3 Wireless Adapter - Retail
Item #: N82E16833180052
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$15.00 Instant
$39.99
$24.99


SAPPHIRE 100259L Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814102810
Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$5.00 Instant
$10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$139.99
$134.99


OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK - Retail
Item #: N82E16820227365
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
-$40.00 Instant
$10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$139.99
$99.99


Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115202
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy
ASUS P6T SE LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813131386
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$19.00 Instant
-$40.00 Combo
$15.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$508.98

 

[ChaiBabbaChai]

Why are you guys thinking about a 4870? You can get a 4830 and save over $100. The Core i7 is not budget (as $650 dictates). 1.5Tb HDD is not a good way to keep costs down either, and you don't need that much. I have about 170Gb of music, and I only have a 250Gb file drive. Going with a Core 2 Duo or Quad, or even Phenom or Phenom II X3-4 would save alot of money because mobo is way cheaper, and you only need 2 sticks of DDR2. You should also get the brand of gfx card that Starcraft 2 is designed for, whether it's ATI or nVidia - I don't know, I'm not into Starcraft. I would grab a WD Black 640Gb HDD, a Sapphire 4850 (1Gb is nice and only $10 more), an AMD CPU and go read lots of reviews on newegg and other sites about the motherboard. You don't want to skimp on the board or the PSU or the WiFi adapter. You can't really game on crappy WiFi, by the way.

 

[ChaiBabbaChai]

yo, here's a good deal on a 4870 1Gb (if you have the money right now), but $20 MIR and not Sapphire: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...p?ProductCode=10010111

Don't forget you need to add at least $50 for thermal paste, cables, heatsink, and other random crap - AT LEAST.

The i7 system is way over your budget of $650, if that isn't totally obvious.

 

[Lunyone]

Originally posted by: ChaiBabbaChai
Why are you guys thinking about a 4870? You can get a 4830 and save over $100. The Core i7 is not budget (as $650 dictates). 1.5Tb HDD is not a good way to keep costs down either, and you don't need that much. I have about 170Gb of music, and I only have a 250Gb file drive. Going with a Core 2 Duo or Quad, or even Phenom or Phenom II X3-4 would save alot of money because mobo is way cheaper, and you only need 2 sticks of DDR2. You should also get the brand of gfx card that Starcraft 2 is designed for, whether it's ATI or nVidia - I don't know, I'm not into Starcraft. I would grab a WD Black 640Gb HDD, a Sapphire 4850 (1Gb is nice and only $10 more), an AMD CPU and go read lots of reviews on newegg and other sites about the motherboard. You don't want to skimp on the board or the PSU or the WiFi adapter. You can't really game on crappy WiFi, by the way.

I agree with you there! I'd probably go with at least a 4850 1 gb GPU (~$100). I think the PhII x3 would be the cheapest way to go, unless you get a good combo deal from Newegg on an PhII x4 setup. Even a C2D w/p45 based mobo would be good too. They OC pretty good too, so you can push them a bit more than stock speeds for no extra $ out of your pocket. If you go with a PhII x3/x4 setup, try and get the Black Editions (BE), since they have an unlocked multiplier (which means easy OC's!!).

yo, here's a good deal on a 4870 1Gb (if you have the money right now), but $20 MIR and not Sapphire: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...p?ProductCode=10010111

^^^That is a good deal there for a 4870!! Just make sure you have a quality 500w PSU to go with it (Corsair/Seasonic/PCP&C/Antec) and you'll be good!

The i7 system is way over your budget of $650, if that isn't totally obvious.

I totally agree with this statement too. The i7 isn't even what you should be looking at w/a $650 budget limit. Most i7 builds will be at least ~$450-550 for just the mobo/CPU combo and then the DDR3 will be a bit more than DDR2 at this point. When you are looking for a gaming rig in the budget range that your talking about, you will want to have a decent mid-ranged CPU and the best GPU that you can afford to put into the budget.