Possible 3.8GHz gamer for $565

[dspear]

I'm thinking of getting the following gamer for $565 and overclock to 3.8GHz. Comments please, especially on the mobo.

CPU: Intel Pentium D 805 Dual Core 2.66GHz 533MHz 2x1MB LGA775 OEM
www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=PD-805&c=fr&pid=1312df3b9320a21835569aa099720d60644aafbb264715b16da964afd353972e $67.00

MOBO: ASUS, P5GD2-X, Intel 915P, 800FSB, DDR2-533 4GB, PCIe x16, 4x SATA, Audio, Gb LAN, ATX
www.axiontech.com/prdt.php?item=73062 $64.99

RAM: Kingston 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300)
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820134045 $62.99

CASE: Rosewill R604-P SL 120mm Fan ATX Mid Tower
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811147059 $29.99

PS: LOGISYS Computer PS575XBK ATX12V 575W
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817170017 $29.99

CPU Heatsink: Thermalright XP-90 with LGA775 RM adapter, 80mm Nexus Silent Fan, Zalman Fanmate 2
www.heatsinkfactory.com/shop/product.php?productid=16160 $50.63

HD: WD Caviar SE WD2500JB 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822144309 $64.99

BURNER: LITE-ON LH-18A1P-184
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106041 $28.99

VID: ASUS EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M Radeon X1950PRO 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121031 $164.99

 

[sanjiwatsuki]

A slightly editted build from my guide...

Intel
Aim: Cheap entry level stuff with upgradablility.

This Intel build is based upon the Pentium D 805's massive OC potential. With the nice air cooling it has, it should be able to reach the Extreme Edition speeds of the Pentium Ds. The X1950PRO was my video card choice. For the price, it cannot be beat. The biggest pro of this build is the fact that Conroe is an upgrade path.

Case:Rosewill R604-P SL 120mm Fan ATX Mid Tower
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811147059
$29.99
CPU: Pentium D 805 OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116249
$71
Notorious for overclocking and it is a dual core.
Mobo:MSI P965 Platinum LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130055R
$71.99
Decent OCing mobo. Upgrade path to C2D opened.
RAM: Kingston 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model KVR667D2N5/1G
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134045
$65
Sets the stage for a 3ghz OC with an E4300 upgrade.
GPU: SAPPHIRE 100176L Radeon X1950PRO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814102061
$144.99 after MIR (Ends 3/28/07)
HD: Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822144415
$52.99
Reasonable sized HD.
DVD: SAMSUNG Black 18X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write E-IDE/ATAPI - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827151133
$30.99
DVD burner. Generic.
PSU: Hiper Type-R 480w
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817128005
$49.99
Solid PSU that can stand a CPU eating 200w of power.
CPU Cooling: Scythe SCNJ-1100P 120mm CPU Cooling Fan - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185038
$39.99

Total: ~$557

Better mobo and power supply. Those are the two parts you DON'T want to skimp on.

If I had to suggest any upgrades, it would be a Pentium D 940. There are $99 at TigerDirect. Those things'll hit 4ghz fairly easy.

 

[AeroB1033]

I would definitely go AMD on a tiny budget like that. Get the Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Brisbane. It's a fantastic overclocker and has much better architecture than those crappy PDs.

 

[sanjiwatsuki]

True.

No objections from me there =\.

Unless you want a Conroe upgrade, that is .

 

[randomizer]

Dont we all? 8)

 

[dspear]

SanjiWatsuki: You're right; mine is similar to your guide, which I didn't see till you mentioned it. Great minds...
I can increase the budget, but don't think the E4300 ($169 @NE) is worth the extra $100. The Pentium D 940@4.0 may well be worth the extra $34 over an 805@3.8. Is my mobo and PS really not sufficient for a 940@4.0? What budget mobo would be better? I much prefer AMD to Intel and the Brisbane3600 ($85@NE) with BIOSTAR6100 mobo($63@NE) O/C to 3.0 might beat the 940 O/C to 4.0. Opinions on this? Great input, thanx.

 

[MEGAWATTZ2000]

I recommend a Gigabyte mobo and Corsair ram, but just my opinion ..
I've owned just about every board out from msi, to asus, to abit, to fic ...
If I had to put them in order I put abit first then gigabyte, and then the rest follow ..

But it's all about preference and trial and error, because what may work good with one person doesn't always work good with the next ..

And that's why i return so much stuff back to the store I love to experiment .. :arrow:

Fyi add an extra $200 to your $500 and you could have a system like mine, but you must research and shop around .. I could help out if interested ..

 

[sanjiwatsuki]

SanjiWatsuki: You're right; mine is similar to your guide, which I didn't see till you mentioned it. Great minds...
I can increase the budget, but don't think the E4300 ($169 @NE) is worth the extra $100. The Pentium D 940@4.0 may well be worth the extra $34 over an 805@3.8. Is my mobo and PS really not sufficient for a 940@4.0? What budget mobo would be better? I much prefer AMD to Intel and the Brisbane3600 ($85@NE) with BIOSTAR6100 mobo($63@NE) O/C to 3.0 might beat the 940 O/C to 4.0. Opinions on this? Great input, thanx.

A 965P mobo will be advantageous when upgrading comes along. As for the PSU, never skimp on the PSU. A bad one can kill a system.

The X2 3600 at 3ghz will destroy a 940 at 4ghz. It's like comparing a Pentium EE against an FX-62. The only thing is that Barcelona isn't released yet and no one knows how good or bad it'll be.

 

[fender22]

How bout a nice Athlon x2 3600+ They are even out on Windsor now, not just brisbane wich could need a bios update for the 65nm tech... but the power savings are good over a 90nm Athlon x2, and tremendous over a PD. The 500 series nvidia chipsets are nice, but so are the AMD x580 AKA Radeon xpress 3200s, (same thing) and slightly cheaper than the 500 series.. on that budget maybe a GB of ram... Don't plan to OC to good with value ram like that, but it could be pretty good if you know your stuff.. For a 500-600 dollar budget AMD, IMO is the best to go with, not to mention that you will have an upgrade path to Agena/Barcelona.. Just read this months graphics card deals here on Tom's for the best for your money and buy one in the range u need. Good HDD for the budget... a Hiper sounds good for a PSU, but maybe a 580 instead of 480 if you can fit it, depending on the graphics card you get, you might want a little more heft, but 480 should be good for your budget.. Good luck with the build!

I urge you away from PDs a 9** has to cedar mill P4s and Im not sure what the 8** has.. but with Cedar Mill just a revision of Prescott core with no real performance enhancements, so take this into account as it has some relevance in your PD choice.. It took a 5.2 GHz Prescott core to soundly beat the performance of an Athlon FX-55 that clocked at 2.6 GHz

I bold soundly because I know that maybe less could do it but I have no other numbers than these so take heed to soundly but also take heed to the still tremendous difference in performance.. Oh and power consumption for PD is huge like the P4.. so imagine power usage OC'ed to that crazy degree... Don't get a Pentium anything! Core2 is good if u can afford it.

 

[skyguy]

Definitely AMD 3600 for your budget, hands down. But if you want to go Conroe at some point, then guess you gotta live with the 805 or 940 for the time being.

Or, get the 3600, get a cheap A$$ vid card, take the money left over and save for a little while, then jump up to a 8800GTS 320 in a few months. That is a GREAT gaming rig on the cheap, can't argue with that

 

[yquo]

The 915 chipset does not support any dual core intel processor.

If you wanna go cheap and Intel wait until prices drops when the new core line goes out.

Or buy amd

109 usd Athlon X2 4200+
Motherboard:
43 usd after rebate PcChips 6100 or
54 usd Biostar 6100 or
58 usd ECS Xpress 1100 or
59 usd Gigabyte 6100

 

[dspear]

Looks like a better rig uses the NE combo for $143.99 of
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Brisbane 1.9GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADO3600IAA5DL - OEM
BIOSTAR TFORCE 550 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138026

The heatsink can be made AM2 for $3.00 less. The rest of the rig is the same

From http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=501274 and others, this mobo is an excellent OC with the 3600+. Probably get 3.0GHz which is about 27% better than the 805@3.8 (according to extrapolation from Tom's BMs) which makes it equivalent to an Intel 4.8GHz for $573.56!

 

[AeroB1033]

Freezer Pro is good, Zalman 9500/9700 are better, Thermalright Ultra 120 or Tuniq Tower are better still.

 

[alcattle]

Freezer Pro 7
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU
$25.74 free shipping

 

[wiz83]

Why would people still build PD805 system when they could get C2D's for around $600? It can easily overclock above 3GHz, I have mine overclocked at 3.6GHz, the whole system cost me slightly above $600. I even wrote a guide for a C2D rig for $631.

 

[skyguy]

^^^ Listen to him, knows of what he speaks right there.

 

[dspear]

The Arctic Freezer 7Pro is LGA775, not AM2. I like the vertical coolers that blow directly to the exhast fan, if it fits the case. 120's are very tight, but 90's are good. The reason I chose the horizontal XP-90 is because I'm thinking of putting a standard 80mm fan in the bottom 2 DVD bays. It just fits and is in the perfect position to blow the CPU heat to Rosewill's 120mm exhast fan. But a fanless vertical heatsink with air ducts might be OK for cheaper.

WiZ83; the Core 2 Duo E4300 with no OC has about the same est BM as my rig with OC. But your CPU/mobo costs $283, $140 more than my rig. I wonder if the C2D (with OC) is really worth it in actual practice. I'm putting the extra money into a good video card for $165 rather than your middlin' $85 card. Do other gamers think at this level (plenty of juice either way), it's better to put the extra $100 into the CPU or vid card?

BTW WiZ83, my current boot drive is 2 x Raptor74 in RAID0 too. I like it, and est it runs roughly 30% faster than my other rig (both are Ath3700). But http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/03/12/cheap_raid_ravages_wd_raptor/ makes me wonder. Your excellent $631 guide doesn't use this either.

I now agree that the 805 was not the best idea. But the THG article did turn me on to trying overclocking, as I didn't know the benefit could be that great.

 

[skyguy]

On a tight budget for a gaming rig, AM2 is probably the way to go. A cheap 3600 and mobo combo will save alot of money, and that could go into a better graphics card. This setup will run an overall system just fine but 2 gigs of RAM is highly recommended, even if it's Value RAM. 1 gig could do for now to suit the budget though, but then just get 1 stick and add another 1 gig stick later.

Is the 3600 as good as an OC'd 4300? No, not even close. But is it "good enough"? Yes, it is. And it's better than an 805, though you don't get an upgrade path to Conroe later either. And we don't know what upgrade path AMD will have. So it's a bit of "pay the piper now or pay him later" scenario.

But if someone wants a cheap gaming rig, then an AMD 3600, cheap mobo, good graphics card is the way to go. It won't be a barnstormer in other CPU-intensive tasks, but it'll do fine for 2 years.

 

[chuckshissle]

Intel PDiddies are hot so with that you can go for X2 or better yet a Core 2. X1950 is good but for a wee bit more you can get the 8800GTS 320Mb and you are set for many more months to come.

 

[cattbert]

Considering the tight budget you propose, I would suggest getting the Ultra mid-tower case at Fry's that is free after a $40 rebate (even has free s&h):

http://shop3.outpost.com/product/5124886?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

That $40+ (incl. s&h) saved can be better spent on the performance parts.

I have used this case for a budget build for someone else and it is a decent case ... no sharp edges, both sides come off for easy installation of drives and it has front usb & firewire. I have submitted several rebates to Ultra and all were paid without any hassles (after the requisite 6 weeks).

 

[dspear]

Thanks. I just bought the case and Antec 500W PS from Frys for $37.83 incl shipping. Nice case

 

[cattbert]

Your welcome. I was so pleasantly surprised with the one that I used for that budget build that I have picked up two more since then for free that are sitting in storage waiting for the inevitable relative who wants their old system overhauled.

Knowing that every penny counts when trying to maximize your budget, I thought I would pass along that slickdeals listed a coupon for up to $10 off shipping at newegg if you use paypal ... if not for your whole order, you may want to consider it for whatever cost $10 or more in shipping. The code is: PAYPAL10

 

[wiz83]

This is what I would personally do, it's just a suggestion, you don't have to listen to what I recommend.

I'd definitely stick to C2D, just because it's the best in the market at the moment. I would go with a 7600GT, which sells for $90 after rebate, and trust me, 7600GT isn't a bad card. For now, save up, and wait for a DirectX 10 card to drop in price, and upgrade in the future.

Just as SkyGuy mentioned, we don't know what's AMD's plan for the future, they might change to a total new socket or structure, just to keep up or beat Intel, and you might or might not have much of an upgrade path for AMD, that's a risk you'd need to take. For long term, I'd definitely stick with C2D (C2D will easily last you at least 3-4 years before you need an upgrade), and another reason for why I chose C2D is because it's the only processor out there that could do real time video encoding, I could fully compress a 120 minutes DVD video to DivX in 102 minutes, and I do a lot of video compression, so, it is vital to me.

I had an overclocked Sempron 3100+ and a Athlon64 3000+, they encode 120 minutes of video to DivX in more than 8-12 hours, which is a whole lot of difference.

 

[skyguy]

Ya, that's a bit of a time difference on that, eh?


Wiz is the guy that got me learning how to successfully overclock. I owe my current success to him. At the time, I pushed my 6300 a bit with his help, and with his directions, I've been able to go even higher since then.

But my OC is limited Wiz, cuz my case is near the furnace vent Temps max out at 3.2 ghz, can't go higher for now. Nowhere else to move the case either. Oh well.