A gaming build, help needed.

[DmitryS]

Unfortunately, I haven't read anything about hardware for about 4 years so I have no idea how to build a good PC myself nowadays. Could you please suggest what would be the best way to spend around 2000-2500$ not to care about upgrading for another 5 years? Overclocking capabilities are not important as I don't plan to bother with that. What would be the best build?
Thanks in advance.

 

[guanyu210379]

Proc :
Q9300 or Q6600

Proc Fan :
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 or Zalman CNPS9700 or Scythe Orrochi

RAM :
2x2GB DDR2 800 Crucial, or Corsair

Mobo :
ASUS P5EX38 or Gigabyte GAX38DS5

Case :
Coolermaster RC690 or Antec 900 or 1200

GPUs :
2xATI HD4870 from ASUS, HIS, or Shappire. (Xfire)

PSU :
750W Corsair, Tagan, Silverstone, Enermax or Antec.

HDD :
640GB WD or 500GB Seagate 32MB 7200.11

Dives :
Samsung S203B or a blue-ray ddŕive.

I assume that you already have keyboard, mouse, monitor, extra soundcard, and speaker, also those modem, W-LAN, or other things.

Without a single upgrade for 5 years? hmmm...that is tough! Perhaps there will come one or more crazy games just like crysis sometime near in the future.

 

[galta]

Proc: E8400. Quads don't pay for a gamer. US$200

Proc fan: Zalman CNPS9700@US$80. Indulge yourself and buy AS5 thermalpaste for an extra US$6.

Mobo: 780 from nVidia. If you plan to overclock, EVGA or XFX. If not, Asus. US$269 to US$300 (Asus is more expensive)

GPU: GTX260. One card should be enough by now. In a year from now, when price drops, buy another one if you need and go SLI. (US$400)

Memory: 2X2Gb from any known manufacturer. Corsair, OCZ, Patriot. US$110

PSU: I would recomend some extra watts, maybe around 850W. Any major brand (Thermaltake, Corsair) would do. US$230 on 850W Thermaltake's.

Case: Silverstone TJ10. Yes, it's much more expensive than any other case, but it's worth. US$300

HDD: Seagate 7200.11 750Gb. US$130

Drive: DVD burners for US$30. Plus blue ray reader, US$130

With these, you're around US$1,900. If you plan to expend your whole US$2,500 budget, buy another GTX260.

And forget about not upgrading for 5 years. In five years from now, you'll only be able to boot your OS with this system...

 

[aevm]

LOL, the man doesn't plan to overclock and you guys are telling him to spend $80+shipping + $6+shipping on an aftermarket cooler. I'd just get a retail Q9450 and use it with the stock cooler provided by Intel.

Maybe get a single video card for now, if your monitor is 22" or less. It depends on what you play.

Apart from that, I agree with guanyu on all points.

 

[shadowduck]

+1 for guanyu, -1 for galta. nVidia motherboards are terrible just like the current crop of nVidia cards (GTX 2x0). Stick with ATI for video cards, and also avoid nVIdia's craptacular chipsets.

 

[dirtmountain]

aye to guanyu and aye to the Q9450. 5 years is really stretching it though.

 

[DmitryS]

Thanks for your advices, the HD 4870 variant seems more attractive to me. However, I still don't know whether I should go for a quad CPU - I've heard that most games now don't support this anyway and cheaper duals would be more effective. So should I buy something from the Q series like the beforementioned Q9450 or will E8500 or E8400 be better?
P.S. And yes, 5 years might have been an overstatemnt.

 

[aevm]

Even if a game doesn't support quads, and it only uses two cores, it still benefits if there are two other cores there to handle all the s**t Windows does in the background, or the antivirus or downloads or whatever else is running there.

Also, games will eventually support quads, at least the good games that you are most likely to want. It may not happen this year, or next year, but long-term it has to happen.

Before you worry too much about the CPU choice - it doesn't really matter. The HDD or video cards will probably be limiting factors before either the E8400 or the Q9450 gets even close to 100%. They're just that good, both of them

 

[flyin15sec]

+1 for guanyu, -1 for galta. nVidia motherboards are terrible just like the current crop of nVidia cards (GTX 2x0). Stick with ATI for video cards, and also avoid nVIdia's craptacular chipsets.

/chuckle out of this comment. -1 for shadowduck.

 

[DmitryS]

And btw, is there any point in getting 2 HD4870s if I don't plan to go beyond 1280*1024 resolution right now? Wouldn't 1 card be enough?

 

[aevm]

Oh yes, one card would be plenty. Even an HD 4850 would be enough.

 

[guanyu210379]

for only 1280x1024? HD4870 is more than enough even for Crysis, if it is played on that resolution.

 

[shadowduck]

/chuckle out of this comment. -1 for shadowduck.

When a 4870 costing $300 can run a game at the same resolution with a higher FPS as the GTX280 costs $649 my comment is merited.

 

[aevm]

Why are we even talking about GTX 280 and SLI, if the OP is running 1280x1024? With the money for a GTX 280 he could buy a HD 4850 and a 22" monitor and a game or two.

Is "craptacular" a new word, like "w00t"???

 

[guanyu210379]

BTW...
Why are you not going higher than 1280x1024? You have plenty of money there mate! USD 2000-2500! 2 GPUs are not a problem to you, especially when you already have the monitor, keyboard and stuffs.
hmmm....
How much is your real budget? be honest..

 

[DmitryS]

Oh, money is not a problem, I just don't want to buy a new monitor right now as I am perfectly happy with my current one. It doesn't go beyond 1280x1024 but it's ok, I am used to this. When I feel like it, I'm just going to buy a second GPU and a more appropriate monitor.

 

[flyin15sec]

When a 4870 costing $300 can run a game at the same resolution with a higher FPS as the GTX280 costs $649 my comment is merited.

I'm just messin with ya. I'll be picking up 2 HD4850 after the July 4th weekend.

**EDIT. It's just that you tickle my curiosity, since you have a profound hatred for Nvidia. I'm sure there is a story behind it.

 

[shadowduck]

I'm just messin with ya. I'll be picking up 2 HD4850 after the July 4th weekend.

**EDIT. It's just that you tickle my curiosity, since you have a profound hatred for Nvidia. I'm sure there is a story behind it.

Actually I don't all of my builds except 1 has nVidia graphics cards in them I just think nVidia really screwed up with the current generation and their chipset really cause trouble in my shop.

 

[aevm]

Even without overclocking, do they still cause trouble? Are you talking about data corruption, or something else?

 

[shadowduck]

Well they refuse to allow you to install Windows from a SATA optical drive without goofy workarounds.

The RAM that tends to work is very picky.

They chipsets produce more weird BSODs.