My Gaming Build for $1200

[tvor]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post to these forums. I have been browsing these build forums because I'm in the process of building my new gaming PC.

My budget is $1000 - $1200 (CAD) and I'm looking to go SLI in the future. Below are the specs of my new build which comes to $1200 (CAD) after MIRs from NCIX. Please let me know of any suggestions. Thanks!

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.0GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB
EVGA Nforce 750I SLI Ftw LGA775 ATX DDR2 2PCI-E16 1PCI-E1 2PCI SATA RAID Sound GBLAN Motherboard
Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X4096-6400C5 4GB DDR2 2X2GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 5-5-5-18 240PIN Memory Kit
BFG GeForce 9800GT OC 625MHZ 512MB 1.8GHZ 256BIT GDDR3 Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out Video Card
Coolermaster NV-690 Mid Tower Black ATX Case 524.5X213X482MM Standard ATX PS2 USBX2 Firewire & eSATA
Corsair TX650W 650W ATX 12V 52A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 120MM Fan
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition 64BIT DVD OEM
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 640GB 3.5IN SATA2 7200RPM 32MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive OEM
Pioneer DVR-216DBK Black 20X SATA OEM DVDRW

 

[aeiouandxyz]

A HD4850 will outperform the 9800GT in almost every game. Another thing about Nvidia is that their chipsets don't have the general consensus of a good motherboard. P45 chipsets have crossfire support for the 4850 and have higher stability than Nvidia boards. Asus and Gigabyte boards have been known to reach well beyond 500 FSB. An Asus P5Q Pro is a reputable board and costs only 140 USD (don't know conversion rate atm).

 

[xnem3s1sx]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021&Tpk=antec%20900
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102797
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138118R
^ its open box, but don't worry about that.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227198
^its only 2gb, but unless your video editing, you rarely if ever use more than a gig and a half, (i only use that when editing hd)
I could come up with a full build if you want, but i just built one for my friend for about 800 bucks that would destroy that one. (had a quad core too)
Good hdd, you could save 10 bucks on your dvd drive though, just get the lowest cost lite-on drive under the dvd burner section of newegg.
and I don't see that power supply on newegg, but for a setup like that, you could use a 530w psu, unless your using crossfire, you don't need that much.

 

[njalterio]

Do not buy open box motherboards!
There is no return on open box items, and you never know if it is going to work. Considering you have a $1200 budget, there is no need to take a risk with open box items.

+1 for the HD 4850 and Asus P5Q Pro.

All of your other choices seem pretty good.

 

[eklipz330]

nemesis, why shouldn;t he worry about an open box motherboard? i would never buy open box computer hardware... its like asking to get garbage

and 4gb is the standard

tvor, i would strongly suggest you got to newegg [they opened in canada now], and look for COMBO DEALS.... you can save hundreds in some decent combo's, you'll probably end up with better components as well

 

[spidy]

current exchange rate 1USD=1.2229CAD, but the canadian version of newegg should be converting everything anyway.

 

[r-sky]

My budget is $1000 - $1200 (CAD) and I'm looking to go SLI in the future. Below are the specs of my new build which comes to $1200 (CAD) after MIRs from NCIX. Please let me know of any suggestions. Thanks!

Make sure you shop around... NCIX has bumped up the prices a lot with the exchange rates and other places are much cheaper. Good thing is that they let you price match.

 

[tvor]

Thanks for all the comments. I have a few more questions.

How good is the OpenGL support for ATI? I've heard Nvidia has better support. But with the few comments recommending going ATI, would it make more sense to get Crossfire ready instead of SLI ready?

 

[njalterio]

Motherboard wise the only way you can get an SLI setup is by using the Nvidia chipsets. These chipsets have been known to be substandard in terms of overclocking ability and RAM compatibility compared to other motherboards.

Considering that ATI currently has cards that are the best performance (HD 4870X2) and best value (HD 4850) it makes sense to get a crossfire compatible setup.

The ATI 4800 series currently supports OpenGL 2.1 (same as the latest Nvidia series). OpenGL isn't widely used anymore so you really don't have to worry about this anyways, unless you have something specific in mind.

If you want to go crossfire, two HD 4850s is the best for your price range. This is really all that is necessary anyways. Unless you are playing at ridiculous resolutions, you could handle all settings maxed.

 

[jcummons]

I like the WD 640 better an i think its cheaper http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218]

The Asus P5Q-E is $50.00 US cheaper than the 750i board and will run your 4850 which way outperforms that 9800GT

This Mushkin Ram is the best deal out there according to the forums and can be had for $44.99 US after rebate http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146731

This PALIT 4850 runs cooler than the reference boards and can be had for $169.99 US http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261027

 

[tvor]

The reason I bring up OpenGL is that most of my gaming will be with X-Plane which uses OpenGL. Are there any benchmarks showing the differences between ATI and Nvidia with OpenGL?