Buying the rest, suggestions on lowering the price?

[Pigbearman]

Hello again everybody,

I posted here a while ago about my new system. So far i have ordered and recieved my case, PSU, Optical drive, and Hard drive.

Everything got here in one piece, and looks good (newegg rocks)

But now comes the expensive part of the build, the internal workings.

Here is what I have so far:

Coolermaster HAF 932

PC Power & Cooling S75CF 750W EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified

Western Digital Caviar GP WD5000AACS 500GB 5400 to 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223F - OEM (I'm a noob still, will this run CD's just like a regular drive but can burn DVD's too? or do i need a different optical drive?)

And a free copy of Windows Vista Business (64bit)

This, with shipping, totaled out to be $387.

Now, the rest of my system will look like this (thanks to some help from this forum before =D ) :


GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail -$134.99

SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail - $224.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail - $164.99

mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996587 - Retail - $47.99

Acer X203H bd Black 20" 16:9 5ms Swivel Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail - $129.99

Hercules XPS 4769177 5 Watts RMS 2.0 Stereo Speaker Kit - Retail - $16.99

Now with shipping this adds up to about $750.........which i can get but it will take a while (college student =( )

So, i'm looking to drop the price down a bit, but still have a powerful PC. I play WoW (25man raids) and some first person shooter games (would love a system that can run F.E.A.R. 2 when it drops).

The only thing I am really concrete on is the monitor, unless you can find a 20" cheaper than $130 =D

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[aevm]

The SH-S223F can run CDs or burn DVDs, yes.

You can switch to P5Q Pro. It's still $115, just like the GA-EP45-UD3P, after rebate, but you only pay $130 instead of $135 before the rebate.

You can drop from E8400 to E7400, save $45, and overclock to make up the loss.

You can get only 2 GB of RAM for now, but you'd better add two more quickly because Vista won't play nice in 2 GB.

Since this is a gaming box, I'd cut the graphics card last. If necessary, you can reduce it to HD 4870 512MB, or even to HD 4850 512MB.

 

[Pigbearman]

How big of a difference is there between the 4870 1gb and the 4850 1gb? It will mostly be for WoW but i'll probably load Age of Empires 3 on there, and maybe some FPS games (like Fear2 and the new Chronicles of Riddick game)

I'm not too sure about OC'ing my CPU since that might mean i would need a new fan+heat sink anyways (though the HAF case is a monster for cooling). And there is always the fear of fing something up =P

 

[aevm]

You could also save $60 compared to E7400+P5Q Pro, or $105 compared to E8400+GA-EP45-UD3P, with this AMD combination:

X2 6000+ $78
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103773

ASRock AOD790GX/128M AM2+/AM2 $105
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157141

The MB is Crossfire capable. Without overclocking, the X2 6000+ is just as good as the E7400.

 

[aevm]

How big of a difference is there between the 4870 1gb and the 4850 1gb? It will mostly be for WoW but i'll probably load Age of Empires 3 on there, and maybe some FPS games (like Fear2 and the new Chronicles of Riddick game)

I'm not too sure about OC'ing my CPU since that might mean i would need a new fan+heat sink anyways (though the HAF case is a monster for cooling). And there is always the fear of fing something up =P

It's a big difference.

Since you have a 20" monitor you don't really need 1 GB cards. You can get a 512MB card without losing more than 3 or 4 fps in most games.

A HD 4870 512MB usually beats a HD 4850 1GB card, btw.

 

[Pigbearman]

You could also save $60 compared to E7400+P5Q Pro, or $105 compared to E8400+GA-EP45-UD3P, with this AMD combination:

X2 6000+ $78
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103773

ASRock AOD790GX/128M AM2+/AM2 $105
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157141

The MB is Crossfire capable. Without overclocking, the X2 6000+ is just as good as the E7400.

What kind of FPS would i be getting in games (WoW, Fear2, etc) ?

Anything is a step up for me since i use an alienware laptop with a 6600 GO card, my FPS drops to 2fps in most cases during a 25man raid in WoW =(. Thanks for the suggestions though, that could cut my costs quite a bit.

 

[Pigbearman]

Dropped my CPU down to a Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80571E7400, and my video card to a SAPPHIRE 100259L Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

Total cost of $675 now, if I went with AMD it would probably down a bit more, but I have heard bad things about the processors and mobo's.

So total cost to build this system with shipping is only $1062 with a monitor, and $1017 after rebates. Not too bad =P.

Any other thoughts?

 

[kubes]

I think with what you've built so far and what avem's suggestions are, i think you'll be pretty happy with that build.

I'd say going with the p5q pro and e7400 combo is a really good idea.

Good idea to stick with the 4870 vs the 4850. 4870 has some really good deals right now and is a solid card for most games. Expecially for wow.

 

[Pigbearman]

I think with what you've built so far and what avem's suggestions are, i think you'll be pretty happy with that build.

I'd say going with the p5q pro and e7400 combo is a really good idea.

Good idea to stick with the 4870 vs the 4850. 4870 has some really good deals right now and is a solid card for most games. Expecially for wow.

K, thanks

Now i just have to wait for my taxes to come back and its off to new computer land.

 

[Pigbearman]

What kind of OCing can I do with the stock HSF? Or should I just not even bother OCing it until i can get a good aftermarket one?

 

[kubes]

Maybe a slight overclock. Your case isn't bad so it'll help move air. I wouldn't go past a slight OC however with the stock HSF.

 

[Pigbearman]

Well I was planning on spending around $700 anyways, know any good aftermarket fans?

 

[shortstuff_mt]

The Xigmatek Dark Knight is an excellent cooler that comes with the mounting back plate. I'd get it if you can squeeze it into the budget.

XIGMATEK dark knight - s1283 120mm CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233024&Tpk=xigmatek%20dark $44.99

 

[Pigbearman]

Just a quick question.

What Video Card should i get? What is the difference in preformance between a 9800 GTX+ vs. a 4870 (both 512mb)? Because I could lower the price of my build another $20ish if I grabbed:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130416
(EVGA 9800 GTX+ 512mb w/ free CoD: World at War game, $156 after MIR)

 

[shortstuff_mt]

The 4870 is a much faster GPU. The 9800GTX+ and the 4850 compete with each other and go back and forth in the benchmarks. The 4870 is a pretty big step up from the 9800GTX+. The 4870 actually competes with the GTX 260, not the 9800GTX+.

 

[Pigbearman]

Just found a 4870 512 for $189, 24 hour savings special. Guess I better throw some cash in my checking and buy it before its gone.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102810

Plus it comes with a $15 rebate, so thats $175, pretty good price.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Just found a 4870 512 for $189, 24 hour savings special. Guess I better throw some cash in my checking and buy it before its gone.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102810

Plus it comes with a $15 rebate, so thats $175, pretty good price.

Yup, that's a good price on a nice GPU. Grab it before it's gone!

 

[Pigbearman]

Well, just finished buying the remainder of the things I need.

I'll be posting pic's of the build in progress and the finished product once its all up and running.

I'd like to thank everybody here on the forums, you've all been great help and amazingly with the suggestions lowered my first build's cost from $1300+ to just $1051!

See you all soon =D

 

[Pigbearman]

Hello again all, parts will be here tomorrow, then i'll start posting pics of the build process =D.


Just one thing though. The Windows vista Buisness edition (64bit) that I was going to download is somehow corrupt (on the host server, gotta have my teacher redo it), but i was able to download and burn a Windows XP 64bit CD. Will I have any problems with this? I have done a good amount of reaserch on the Vista 64bit but now that i have to use XP 64bit I'm a bit worred.