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Looking for help with a build (gaming computer)

E

ethix

n00b
Joined
Jul 18, 2010
Messages
4
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

Mostly gaming and general use.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

Around 800 dollars (I can stretch If I its important)

3) Where do you live?

Pennsylvania

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

Case, CPU, RAM, Power supply, Mother Board, Hard Drive, do I need a CPU cooler?, Video card, and Disc Drive. Are there any essential parts that I am missing? I'm a first timer with this :) (have a cousin who is going to help me but he is away right now so I cant pick his brain)

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

My 22" Samsung LCD as a monitor

6) Will you be overclocking?

I had not planned on it. What is your opinion on this?

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?

22" LCD Samsung

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

In the next week. My old CPU crashed unexpectedly

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.

I do not want SLI or Raid.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?

No

Ty in advance for any replies :)
 
My suggestion (mad combos!):

$219 - Phenom II X4 925 + Win 7 Home Premium 64bit

$150 - Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 + G.Skill DDR3-1333 4GB

$200 - EVGA GTX 460

$145 - Corsair 650TX + Samsung F3 1TB

$70 - Cooler Master CM 690 II
-------------------------
Total = $785

Then you could pick up a aftermarket cooler at a later time if you decide you want to either OC or just replace the stock one for whatever reasons (noise, heat, etc).

Strong points of this build:
-GPU is one of the best right now for the price (better than the 5830 for cheaper).
-1TB of storage with a fast HD (dual 500gb platter design).
-Quality psu with a quality case.
-Win7 and a cheap yet powerful quad core.
-Solid motherboard with reliable ram (ignore that they don't have heat spreaders, doesn't make a huge difference now-a-days).

This build should destroy any game you throw at it on your 22" lcd.
 
Ah yep, only thing I forgot was the DVD drive, luckily you do have a little bit of budget left so it should come out to just right around $805ish.
 
Shadowssong said:
My suggestion (mad combos!):

$219 - Phenom II X4 925 + Win 7 Home Premium 64bit

$150 - Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 + G.Skill DDR3-1333 4GB

$200 - EVGA GTX 460

$145 - Corsair 650TX + Samsung F3 1TB

$70 - Cooler Master CM 690 II
-------------------------
Total = $785

Then you could pick up a aftermarket cooler at a later time if you decide you want to either OC or just replace the stock one for whatever reasons (noise, heat, etc).

Strong points of this build:
-GPU is one of the best right now for the price (better than the 5830 for cheaper).
-1TB of storage with a fast HD (dual 500gb platter design).
-Quality psu with a quality case.
-Win7 and a cheap yet powerful quad core.
-Solid motherboard with reliable ram (ignore that they don't have heat spreaders, doesn't make a huge difference now-a-days).

This build should destroy any game you throw at it on your 22" lcd.
Click to expand...

Impressive build. Most impressive. That Mobo + Ram combo is killer!
 
Thank you so much for the quick responses! I love the build you posted, the combo's are a great way to save money and maximize the bang for my buck. I had a question about the processor and the disk drive. 2.8ghz seems kinda slow, but does the fact that its a quad core make this number deceiving? I am trying to learn as fast as I can about this stuff but processors are they one thing I can not seem to get a firm grasp of despite much research. Help understanding this or a link to a good site would be much appreciated. The disk drive I have in my current computer is 6 years old but can play dvd's, burn music, and obviously read disks xD, has technology advanced in this area enough to make it worth spending the extra money on a new one?
 
Last edited:
For the CPU, don't worry, 2.8ghz is plenty fast with the Phenom II architecture. If anything you could possibly upgrade it to a Phenom II X4 955 + Win7 for about $30 more, but keep in mind that is $30 for only 400mhz of speed increase. Either way, it is still a very powerful processor. I don't have much time atm so I can't exactly get you any benchmarks but I will try to do that tomorrow.
As for the DVD drive, like tiraides said, you can use your old one. Especially considering how easy it is to use ISO's, flash drives and dvd emulators it isn't even all that important to have a DVD drive, but if you have an old one then yeah it should work fine. I'm assuming its IDE? Most modern motherboard (including the one I suggested) do still have atleast 1 IDE slot so you should be ok. Hope this helps!
 
ethix said:
I had a question about the processor and the disk drive. 2.8ghz seems kinda slow,
Click to expand...

I had a feeling you would make a comment on the 2.8ghz cpu. Here's another triple combo with a Phenom II X4 955 cpu. The difference though is HDD is at 500GB and different Case.


Corsair 650TX + AMD Phenom II X4 955 both for $229.98 ($10 MIR on PSU)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.432017

GIGABYTE GA-870A-UD3 + G. SKILL 4GB DDR3 1333 both for $149.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.443520

MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit + Coolermaster Elite 335 both for $139.98 ($10 MIR on Case)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.437504.11-119-161

EVGA Geforce GTX 460 768MB for $199.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130562

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 500GB for $54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181

Sony Optiarc 24X Sata DVD Burner for $19.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039

Total: $794.91
Shipping: $1.99
Grand Total: $796.90

Note: If you still want to stick with the Coolermaster RC 692 case, it will just add $20 more to the total to make it $816.90
 
bleh, just grab a Hyper 212+ and OC the CPU to 3.4Ghz or so.
 
Ty for all your help guys. I think I have decided to go with the original build, and later OC it and get a cooler if I need or want to.

P.S. YOU GUYS ROCK!
 
ethix said:
Ty for all your help guys. I think I have decided to go with the original build, and later OC it and get a cooler if I need or want to.

P.S. YOU GUYS ROCK!
Click to expand...

Glad to help, post some pictures up here when you get it built!
 
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