Budget Gaming System (first build too...)

edit: Thread recycling.
Please see the Dec 1st post for current discussion.


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Well, this all started when I got the notion to upgrade my SS51G and realized (much to my unsurprise) that it is too far gone to make it worthwhile.

Anyways, here's the plans. I wanted to put together a decent gaming rig but on my student budget it's not possible to go out an grab all the latests and greatests. Ie - Probably no dual core processors (but who knows what the impending price war will bring), no fancy $400+ dollar video card, certainly not two $400 vc's for SLI, etc etc. But, at the same time I want the system to be a little bit 'future proofed' as people call it.

With Conroe soon on it's way out and war waged between AMD and Intel, it seems like as good a time as any to start looking at a new system. This is my first crack at assembling my own pc so I'd really appreciate if someone would give it a quick glance and let me know if anything in my list is incompatible with anything else in it.

The prices indicated are in Canadian funds - I'm planning to purchase through www.ncix.com

Case: Thermaltake Mambo VC2000BNS ATX Tower Case Black No PS w/ Front IO Ports -- $59.66 (Link)
PSU: Thermaltake TR2 W0070 430W ATX 12V V1.3 24pin/20pin Dual 80mm Fan /W 6pin PCI-E -- $46.65 (Link)
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Processor Socket AM2 Orleans 2.4GHz 2000FSB 512kb LS Cache 62W 90nm -- $186.99 (Link)
Mobo: Asus M2V ATX AM2 K8T890 DDR2 1PCI-E16 1PCI-E1 4PCI SATA2 -- $102.25 (Link)
VC: Evga E-GeForce 7600 GT KO 580mhz 256mb 128bit 1.5GHz GDDR3 Dual DVI-I HDTV Out -- $199.28 (Link)
Mem: OCZ Gold PC2-5400 1gb (2x512mb) DDR2-667 CL4-4-4-12 240pin Dual Channel W/ Heatspreader -- $99.83 (Link)

So grand total of $694.66 before S&H, taxes etc. I got a few price breaks based on combination deals on the site. Additionally, theres a $15 mail-in rebate on the OCZ mem, and a $30 rebate on the 7600 GT.
So call it $650 CDN.

I plan to reuse my current 200gb Maxtor HD and LG Dual Layer DVD burner, and my parent's and gf have said that they'll chip in to purchase me an LCD monitor for my B-day as soon as I pick one out (I made sure to get that in ink ). Oh, and I have a TV Wonder Pro I might try tossing into the mix as well, despite how infrequently I use it nowadays.


Like I hinted earlier, I won't be placing my order until after the price cuts take affect at the Conroe release. At that time it might become feasible for me to go to a dual core AM2. Or if the price is right, I might get a Conroe myself. This is all very preliminary.

My largest uncertainties at the moment are in the PSU (will it be enough juice?) and in the memory.

Please leave comments/suggestions.

That looks fine and you should wait until conroe to see what the prices will do.

I personally would suggest getting a different psu. The forton 400w unit may have less overall power but it has dual 12v rails (with 18amps each) for more stability and total amps (probably around 24amps) on the 12v rail. The TT TR2 you listed costs more and only has one 12v rail with 18amps.

Glad to help.

I think the reason some are suggesting the 3200 and more ram is that doubling the ram will make more difference than the 0.4 ghz increase for the cpu to your overall computer performance.

As to power supplies. The most important factors are probably overall power and the total amps available on the 12v rail(s), this is because all your major components run off the 12v rail(s). more rails offer more stability as well, for instance, with a quad rail system you could have one rail dedicated to the cpu, one to the motherboard and ram, another for the video card(s) and the other for drives.

I Agree With You

the only reason I can see is the cool pipe fanless chipset cooling and the nforce chipset as opposed to the via.

I do personally prefer the nforce chipset but really I don't think it will make a difference to you but...

If you plan on upgrading the cpu and video card in the future then a better mb is a good idea.

Waylander hit it on the head about the PSU. A Fortron or Sparkle 400W would be a much better choice. 18A on a single 12V rail just doesn't cut it for most new PCs now.

id go 939

Okay... bit of a bump on this thread:

Firstly, thanks to everyone that helped in 2006. This PC has been great so far, now I'm just trying to extend its life a little further with a few upgrades.

I'm looking for some suggestions for the CPU and Video Card. Nothing substantial has changed from the last post I made here, save for installing a second DVD burner last spring.
I expect that I'll eventually retire this PC to a non-gaming role in another 1-2 years - I'll skip the 45nm architecture entirely and put together something serious around a Sandy Bridge then (if the 2010 release rumours can be trusted).

My thoughts for now are as follows:

CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.1GHz Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core Processor

Video Card:
SAPPHIRE 100245L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
(I was also considering a 9800GTX, but all the charts I've seen give a slight edge to the 4850 and it's less expensive.)

I do also intend to upgrade to 2x2gb of memory.

The monitor I'm currently using is a 19" BenQ FP92G+, native 1280x1024.



Does this seem reasonable, or do people have some better ideas?

I'm aware that the deneb cpu's are due out in a few months and could lead to lower prices on the current AMD roster once released - but as the 6000+ is already down to $90 (and it may be coming to me as an X-mas gift if I ask for it) I'm not terribly concerned over that.