Help with Cheap Gaming Rig

[fedoracore13]

I am sorry I am asking this, I know you guys get a ton of this , but looking through I couldn't find one that matched what I am looking for. I have a case, keyboard, mouse, and optical drives allready. I am looking to spend around 6-700 more for now and I was planning on buying a water cooler in a couple weeks so I can overclock if that will help.

My biggest problems are; amd vs intel and ati vs nvida
and If i go intel should I go pentium D or core 2 duo?

 

[shadowduck]

I am sorry I am asking this, I know you guys get a ton of this , but looking through I couldn't find one that matched what I am looking for. I have a case, keyboard, mouse, and optical drives allready. I am looking to spend around 6-700 more for now and I was planning on buying a water cooler in a couple weeks so I can overclock if that will help.

My biggest problems are; amd vs intel and ati vs nvida
and If i go intel should I go pentium D or core 2 duo?

At your budget, water cooling is a total waste, forget about it.

ATI and Intel are your best bets right now. Pentium Ds are horrible, look at the Core2 E6300.

 

[angry_ducky]

Forget Pentium D's and water-cooling. Get a Core 2 Duo E6300 with a good air cooler and motherboard.

 

[The_Prophecy]

My opinion goes along with the theme of the other 2 replies.

Avoid the Pentium D's and water cooling altogether. Go for a good air cooler (depending on how much you want to overclock: if you're not OC'ing a 6300 by more than 600-800Mhz, you can use the stock cooler and be fine), a Core 2 E6300 and a supporting board. Then you'll be set.

 

[fedoracore13]

ok How does this look so far,

HD
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3160811AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive, $56.99

PSU
HIPER 4K530 ATX 530W Power Supply, $82.99

BOARD
GIGABYTE GA-945P-S3 Socket T (LGA 775 $90.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128015

CPU

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz $191.00

RAM
OCZ Gold Series 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820227046

That leaves about $200 for the Video card, which one would be best for around that price?

Thank you guys for the help, I have been out of building pc's for years.

 

[trixst4r]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102007

best bang for the buck

S3 will be ok to OC to 333FSB to meet that memory

 

[angry_ducky]

ok How does this look so far,

HD
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3160811AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive, $56.99

PSU
HIPER 4K530 ATX 530W Power Supply, $82.99

BOARD
GIGABYTE GA-945P-S3 Socket T (LGA 775 $90.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128015

CPU

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz $191.00

RAM
OCZ Gold Series 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820227046

That leaves about $200 for the Video card, which one would be best for around that price?

Thank you guys for the help, I have been out of building pc's for years.

Change the PSU to THIS, unless you really want modular. As for the video card, I'd wait until THIS comes back in stock. The rest looks good.

One more question, though: Do you have a copy of Windows? If not, factor in $90 for XP Home, and $150 for XP Pro. Or you could always use Windows XP PE (arr, matey :lol: ).

EDIT: Don't forget Arctic Silver

 

[fedoracore13]

Sounds good, Thank you. I am a linux guy anyways so my os is free, I have been pretty good at getting windows games to run. I do have a copy of xp that came with my laptop if i need to use it.