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$500 Gaming Rig - MOBO/CPU/RAM/GPU/PSU

Forum Homebuilt Systems : General Homebuilt - $500 Gaming Rig - MOBO/CPU/RAM/GPU/PSU

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I've been trying to piece together a rig for around $500. This is not a strict price cap, but I would like to stay as close to $500 as is reasonable. The rig will mainly be used for gaming and general windows use. I'm trying to hit the sweet spot for performance/price around this budget. I have all the accessories(case/dvdr/monitor/etc) I need from other systems. I only need the core parts(MOBO/CPU/RAM/GPU/PSU) to of the system. Here is my initial effort:

ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - $129.99

EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 - $149.99

CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - $105.00

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz Socket AM2 125W - $112.99

OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W ATX12V - $149.99

Subtotal: $612.96

There is also $85 worth of mail in rebates with this purchase bringing my current total to: $527.96

Any comments or suggestions on trading one part out for another or even a completey differant set-up would be greatly appreciated.

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I have something better for you:

CPU: e8400 170$
RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB (keep it it's good) 75$ after MIR
GPU: radeon 4850 150$ after MIR
MOBO: Gigabyte ep35-ds3l 85$
PSU:Antec True Power Trio TP3-650 650W 70$ after MIR

total: 550$ of pure power

p.s. for the power supply anything of good brand >500watts will do

Message edited by georgy on 08-11-2008 at 10:19:46 PM

Reply to georgy

I agree with Georgy since the cpu/gpu setup will outperform previous setup. Also check the benches around the net to see how much of an increase this gives you. If its slight and you like amd go with that, but if its great increase in performance go with Georgys setup. By the way what harddrive will you be using.

Reply to syche9876

A P35 board is hardly a substitute for an SLI board, combined with a PSU that will run a second 8800GT.

Having said that, I'm not sure that's the right PSU. Check out the Corsair 750TX on newegg. That will solve some load balancing problems when you get a second 8800GT.

If you wanted to go Intel you would need to get a P5Q Pro

E7200 120.00
P5Q Pro 150.00
4850 160.00 after MIR
Your Corsair RAM 75.00
Corsair 750TX 120.00 big sale on the egg. 100 after MIR.

605.00 after MIR. Around 645 before. Now that would be a good upgrade over your list, and leave you with the room to upgrade to a second 4850 and a higher end quad core CPU, in the future. Best I can do, if it's too much just switch PSUs and stay with your rig.

Message edited by Proximon on 08-15-2008 at 01:06:34 PM

Reply to Proximon

if you go to microcenter.com you can get an e8400 for 150

Reply to rctycoon

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