$700 Gaming Build

[ixivaderixi]

Ok, I am under a strict $700 dollar budget. I cannot spend a penny over $700 yet I want a gaming pc that can be upgraded when I run into more cash.

Here is what I came up with so far...

DVD Burner: Lite On 20x (23.99)
Case: Raidmax Smilodon (74.99)
Hard Drive: Western Digital 320 GB (64.99)
GPU: EVGA GeForce 8800 GT 512mb (149.99--129.99 after MiR)
PSU: Rosewill RP500 ATX12V 500 Watt Power Supply {Single Rail} (44.99)
RAM: G.Skill RAM 1x 2GB DDR2 800 ($39.99)
MoBo: GIGABYTE GA-G31M-S2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Intel Motherboard (58.99)
CPU: Intel Core Duo E8400 (169.99)

Total: $674 shipped

I wish I could have...
HD4850 instead of 8800GT
640GB instead of 320GB (only $20 more)
A Corsair PSU instead of a Rosewill
4GB Ram instead of 2GB Ram
Q6600 instead E8400

Bottom Line: How is the current build, and what could/should I swap out so that I can attain at least one of my wishes?

Thanks.

 

[pous]

DVD - Good
Case - Save 24.99 and get the Centurion 5 or the Centurion 534
HD - Good
GPU - See Below
PSU - Don't get rosewill psu. Go with Antec or another reliable brand.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371005&cm_sp=DailyDeal-_-17-371-005-_-Homepage
$30 for this PSU and if you read the reviews people run quads and 4850's and such on it with no problems. I can't recommend any other PSU for the price range.
RAM - Good
Mobo - Good stuff, just got one of these for my GF. It OC's real nice.
~~
With my recommended changes here's your rough price point:
DVD - $25
Case- $50
HDD - $65
PSU - $30
RAM - $40
Mobo-$60
CPU-$170
~~~~~~~
Total: 440

Leaving you 260 for shipping and video card.

If you can do rebates, you can get the 4850
for around $150, leaving $90 for shipping.

Depending on shipping you could afford that 640gb hard drive.

So that's 2.5 of your wishes.
1. GPU (Most important)
2. Hard drive
3. Antec PSU (not corsair, but f-ing awesome PSU)

Hope this helps, anymore questions feel free to ask

 

[ixivaderixi]

Absolutely brilliant advice.

 

[effel]

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=10482608

This set-up will give you a few options for the future. You can add on a cpu-heatsink if you want to overclock in the future, and dropping in more ram is always easy. Around a year from now, something like the q9450 will pretty cheap and upgrading to a quad core will be easy and more justifiable.