• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Looking for moderate gaming build

Y

yang88she

2[H]4U
Joined
Nov 10, 2004
Messages
3,834
This is actually Yang's lil bro so in case anything dumb is said don't want my bro to be held accountable... since I can't register with g-mail, I have to use his account. Since my AW notebook keeps blue screening every time I start a game, I need to rebuild my desktop while it gets shipped back to be fixed. I have a budget of around $700 give or take since I also have to invest in a new LCD. I would prefer to stick with intel and an nvidia since have had bad experience with AMD and ATI. Anyone have any suggestions?

So far I am pretty set on getting a 9600gt but does anyone have any personal experience with this card? Or would I be better off dropping a few extra to get a 8800 series? Thanks in advance.
 
intel e2180 @newegg for $80 and overclock to 2.8-3.2ghz
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro $35
Gigabyte IP35-DS3L $85
9600gt with your budget $185
Windows XP for gaming and your budget $90
2gb pc6400 memory $45
160gb IDE or SATA hdd $75
Antec Sonata III Case/Psu $120
DVD-R drive- $30

grand total= 745...

but then you also need mouse, speakers, and keyboard
 
So is the LCD included in that $700 budget? Is an OS, speakers, keyboard, mouse also included in that $700 budget? What about tax and shipping, also included?

$170 - 19" Widescreen LCD
$180 - 9600GT
$80 - E2180
$80 - GA-P35-DS3L
$45 - 2GB DDR2-800
$65 - SATA HDD
$30 - SATA DVDRW
$35 - Case
$52 - XClio Stablepower 460W
$50 - Vista Home Basic
=========
$787 + tax and shipping
 
No LCD will be separate I plan on spending around 700 on just the parts

Sorry and forgot to add case and supply may not be necessary since I may use my old ones but if the price is right may pick up some nice fancier ones,
speakers/keyboard/mouse got those


not dead set at 700 but if tax/shipping put me a little over its not a big deal
 
Looks like we both recommended the same stuff. If your not getting an OS spend the extra money on the 8800gt.
 
yang88she said:
Sorry and forgot to add case and supply may not be necessary since I may use my old ones but if the price is right may pick up some nice fancier ones,
Click to expand...

What power supply do you have?
 
I'm no expert on parts, but if I can make a suggestion, you'll be saving some serious money if you try and get a few parts here and there off of the F/S/T forum here. I've bought most of the parts for my new rig here, and I've saved $240 over newegg already. that being said, if you don't have your heart set on intel, you can still get some serious bang for your buck with AMD.
 
Danny Bui said:
What power supply do you have?
Click to expand...

I am not sure exactly, its ages old but according to my bro it can take a 9600 but will probably have to upgrade if I decide on the 8800

the processors you guys recommended is a dual core instead of a core 2 duo, is there a big difference there? the 2.2 core 2 duo is about 125 from newegg I believe.

I search through it for sale forums all the time just I would like to get an idea of what I want before I go trying to make deals but definitely know what you mean but probably going to stick with Intel
 
yang88she said:
I am not sure exactly, its ages old but according to my bro it can take a 9600 but will probably have to upgrade if I decide on the 8800

the processors you guys recommended is a dual core instead of a core 2 duo, is there a big difference there? the 2.2 core 2 duo is about 125 from newegg I believe.

I search through it for sale forums all the time just I would like to get an idea of what I want before I go trying to make deals but definitely know what you mean but probably going to stick with Intel
Click to expand...

How old? Please get the make and model of that PSU ASAP. Though TBH, I suspect your bro is wrong and that PSU will now be able to take on the new video cards.

Yes, the E2180 is a Pentium Dual Core CPU. The differences are pretty minimal, mainly a smaller L2 cache for the Pentium Dual Cores. However, the Pentium Dual Cores still OC very well and can still outperform their similarly priced/clocked AMD counterparts by a large margin once overclocked. So I recommend Intel as well.
 
Currently at work but will try to find out what the make is tonite, assuming you meant not* instead of now that would make more sense, but to give a rough estimate it is 5 years old hah. If I can manage to get a decent looking case and power supply I could fork out around a hundred for that

if the difference is minimal then I may just go with the dual core since that 50-60 I save can go else where but I am not too keen on OCing
 
5yr old PSU? Yes, you need a new one. What case do you plan on using?

The Pentium Dual Cores are based on the same Core2 architecture. As Danny said, the main difference is the L2 Cache size, which doesnt matter much when gaming, especially if you're on a budget:
Cache size reviews:
Does cache size really boost performance? @ Tom's
Influence of L2 Cache Size on Conroe Processors Performance @ XBit
UT3 Review: Cache Scaling: 1MB, 2MB, 4MB @ AnandTech (from Danny)
2MB or 4MB Cache? @ AnandTech (kinda old)

Since the monitor is seperate, what about the OS? Do you have an OS already? If so, go for this:

$180 - XFX PVT94PYDF4 GeForce 9600GT 512MB
$125 - Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Allendale 2.20GHz 800Mhz 2MB L2
$22 - Cooler Master RR-CCH-L9U1-GP 92mm Hyper TX2
$80 - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35
$46 - A-DATA 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-800 ADQVE1A16K ($10MIR)
$75 - WD Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200RPM SATA300 16MB Cache
$52 - XClio StablePower 460W
$35 - Cooler Master Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black ATX Mid Tower Case
$32 - Lite-On 20x DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA LH-20A1S
============
$647 + tax and shipping - $10MIR
 
Danny Bui said:
How old? Please get the make and model of that PSU ASAP. Though TBH, I suspect your bro is wrong and that PSU will now be able to take on the new video cards.

Yes, the E2180 is a Pentium Dual Core CPU. The differences are pretty minimal, mainly a smaller L2 cache for the Pentium Dual Cores. However, the Pentium Dual Cores still OC very well and can still outperform their similarly priced/clocked AMD counterparts by a large margin once overclocked. So I recommend Intel as well.
Click to expand...

don't be fooled by Intels st00pid nomenclature. The "Pentium" dual cores are allendales (65nm stock 2mb L2), with half the L2 disabled (for 1mb total). It is the same core, transistor for transistor, as the Core 2 Duo E4XX0 lineup. The "Pentium" Dual cores share nothing with the old Pentium Ds or the Pentium 4s.

as for the above builds, they look good to me. Get a 9600GT, it fits your budget perfectly and is the peak of Nvidias price/performance. an "upgrade" to an 8800 is really not much of an upgrade for significantly more dough.
 
Poor choice for a power supply. The only good Rosewill power supplies worth buying, so far, are their Extreme Power line of PSUs. I recommend these other choices:
Silverstone ST400 400W PSU - $45
XClio Stablepower 460W PSU - $52

Also, don't bother with that Best Buy deal, not worth it. Other than that, looks good to me.
 
Ah okay was tempted by the pretty colors, while searching through newegg I saw they offered cases that came with power supplies, are there any decent combos? or am I better off buying them separately?
 
yang88she said:
Ah okay was tempted by the pretty colors, while searching through newegg I saw they offered cases that came with power supplies, are there any decent combos? or am I better off buying them separately?
Click to expand...

The only decent Case/PSU combo are the ones made by Antec. Check out the Antec Sonata III and NSK4480. If you don't like those cases, then buy the PSU and case separately.
 
Case and PSU combos tend to come with underpowered/low amp power supplies. I would not recommend using one for a gaming machine. Like Danny Bui said, the only combos that are decent are antec.
 
Oh okay gotcha, well with the first 5 I posted that puts me at about 500 not including shipping, I can chance it and try to see if my case/PSU holds up, any case recommendations? I like leds :)
 
yang88she said:
Oh okay gotcha, well with the first 5 I posted that puts me at about 500 not including shipping, I can chance it and try to see if my case/PSU holds up, any case recommendations? I like leds :)
Click to expand...

I do not recommend chancing it and see if your old PSU can handle the new system. Power supplies are the single most important part in a PC. An old or poorly made power supply can deliver incorrect voltage and power to your hardware, killing the hardware over time. Or if the PC is too much for the PSU, the PSU can die. Now here's another problem, if that PSU dies, will it take out your system as well? That old power supply, when it dies, may kill your system as well if it was poorly made or age really took its toll.

So do not skimp on a new PSU and don't use that 5 year old power supply with your new system.

As for case recommendations, here's a few:
Cooler Master Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $35
Cooler Master Centurion 534 ATX Case - $50
Cooler Master Centurion 532 ATX Case - $55
Antec NSK4480 ATX Case With Antec Earthwatts 380W PSU - $70
Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $80
Cooler Master Mystique RC-632S-KKN1-GP ATX Case - $85
Lian Li PC-7B Plus II Silver ATX Case - $90
XClio Windtunnel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - $110
Antec Sonata III ATX Case with Antec Earthwatts 500W PSU - $110
Antec P180B ATX Case - $109
Antec P180 ATX Case - $115
Gigabyte Aurora GZ-FSCA1-ATB ATX Case - $110
Antec P182 ATX Case - $124
Thermaltake Armor VA8000BWS Full Tower ATX Case - $130
Lian Li PC-A16A ATX Case - $150
Thermaltake Armor VA8003BWS Full Tower ATX Case - $150
Cooler Master Stacker RC-830-SSN2-GP Full Tower ATX Case - $150
Cooler Master Stacker RC-832-KKN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case - $150
Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 RC-1000-KSN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case - $153
Lian-Li V1000A Plus II ATX Case - $180
Lian Li PC-V1200 ATX Case (Silver) - $210
Lian Li PC-V1200 ATX Case (Black) - $214
Lian-Li PC-V1100A PLUS II ATX Case - $220
Lian Li PC-V1200B Plus II ATX Case - $240
 
Yeah I see what your saying thecenturion 532 looks fairly nice as do some of the other coller masters, thanks for the recommendations what brands of PSU do you recommend, silverstone/xclio? any others?
 
yang88she said:
Yeah I see what your saying thecenturion 532 looks fairly nice as do some of the other coller masters, thanks for the recommendations what brands of PSU do you recommend, silverstone/xclio? any others?
Click to expand...

Other power supply recommendations:
Enhance ENP-5150GH 500W PSU - $69
Antec Earthwatts EA500 500W PSU - $70
Corsair 450VX 450W PSU - $72
Corsair 550VX 550W PSU - $89
Corsair 520HX 520W PSU - $106
Corsair 650TX 650W PSU - $140
Corsair 620HX 620W PSU - $139
Corsair 750TX 750W PSU - $156
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad - $162

I try not recommend just "brands." Not all power supplies made by a certain brand will be good. (With the exception of Corsair :))
 
SLI as an upgrade path "later" isn't a good idea. You're better off selling your old card and buying a newer gen card instead. SLI is only worth it if you have a 24" monitor or larger, and want to game at native resolution with high settings (1920x1080+). So, what size monitor do you plan on getting?
 
I plan on getting the 24" westing house from BB, I bought it once before and returned it but seeing as it has HDMI and a nice price tag I think I will give it another shot
 
Alright in that case its not that important to me that I have to break the bank :/ I can settle for a single 9600
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top