~800$ US Budget Gaming Build

goony20

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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 1 Month/Give or Take
BUDGET RANGE: US$ ~800

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming, surfing the internet, watching movies, encoding, macromedia, tv card, dual monitor possibly TOTAL WAR SERIES: ROME AND MEDIEVAL 2 are my kryptonite!!!

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg

PARTS PREFERENCES: Have used Intel in the past but am not a fanboy. Also, used seagate in the past buy WD Cavier black seems to review well.

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: In Iraq, dunno at the moment

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Cool, quiet pc, possibly an aftermarket cooler if it fits in case on mob without obstructing gpu or mem slots. Got HD4850 gpu, but thinking of 4770s in crossfire for 220$. Not sure how well 4850s in crossfire are value/performance wise compare to 4770s. Might get new speakers and monitor. Also, my other options include the e7400.


Antec 300 55$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

E5300 2.6ghz Intel 80$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116074

Gig UD3P mobo 135$ 115$after MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358

GSKILL PI Black 4GB 2X2 DDR2800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209

Lite on opitical drive 30$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106291

Seasonic S12 550watt energy plus series 90$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151027

WD Cavier Black 640GB sata 3.0g/s 32mb buffer 70$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

Gigabyte GV-R4850C 1GB 256BIT GDDR3 160$ 140$after MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125236

Vista 64 Bit 100$

Total approx 780$ or ~750$ after MIR
 

kevin1212

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It seems that all roads lead to phenom + radeon 4770. Given that you want a crossfire board, you could get an AM3 or AM2+ 790x/fx board, with a Phenom X3 720BE. The 4770 has much better value than the 4850, its more efficient too.

Here is what i would change:

GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P - $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387

AMD Phenom II X3 720 - $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649

SAPPHIRE 100277L Radeon HD 4770 - $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102835

About the same price in total to what you currently have there. You'll have the option to double up the video card, which i would recommend if you have a high res monitor.

The phenom X3 is a pretty big jump from that pentium dual core, mainly because of the additional core, some can argue that the performance gain will be no big jump when gaming, but at the very least, you would be closer to futureproof, and bottlenecks would be out of the question.

These 3 parts i have here should perform slightly better than the 4850/e5300 combo, since the 4770 is barely slower, but the phenom should offer some gain. Given the unbeatable value and efficiency of the 4770, anyone around a $1000 budget should get one, if not, two.
 

fullmetall

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tsk tsk, should look at the amd 720be rig there for that kind of stuff.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152
LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102802
SAPPHIRE 100258-1GL Radeon HD 4850 1GB


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209
G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB)


http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.186064
1. Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit
2. Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB


http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.190734
1. AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz
2. GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X


650tx for crossfire later on, if your not looking to do that, drop it down to a 550vx or a pc power&cooling psu.

Use the Stock cooler for no oc or a little oc, if your wanting to do a big oc, aftermarket cooler would put you over $800.

All n All, comes out to be $772.89 with out m-i-r's.


with m-i-r's : $742.89

 

fullmetall

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Getting a 4770 now which would lower it down to around $700 then the psu to a 500w pc power cooling would lower it from $100-$105 to $74, so another $30 dollars.


you could get ddr3 ram which is the same price as the ddr2 pi blacks basically and the am3 combo with the 720be which isn't much more. Case, recommend the rc-690. but, since he has one already, get another which would be better than 2 4770's
 
+1 for Fullmetall's list.

Since you've already got a HD 4850, it makes more sense to just buy a second one than to throw it out and buy two HD 4770 cards.

HD 4850 Crossfire and HD 4770 Crossfire are very close in performance. The HD 4850 should win (it has 1600 stream processors, while hD 4770 CF has only 1280). It depends on the clocks, I guess. Anyway, looking at these reviews, you see HD 4850 CF getting 171 fps in Call of Duty 4 at 1600x1200 with 4xAA, while HD 4770 CF gets 138 fps at 1680x1050.
http://en.expreview.com/2009/04/28/first-look-at-radeon-hd-4770-crossfire-benchmark.html/4
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...0-hd4850-crossfire-performance-review-11.html
It's hard to compare directly because the two reviews used different CPUs and other parts, but still I'd say the HD 4850 wins in that game at those resolutions.


 


He's already got a HD 4850. Given that, your first post with the second HD 4850 and 650TX was just perfect.

 

Kill@dor

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I agree with aevm...although cost is a factor. There is no question the HD 4770's are less in cost...and provide almost similar results with the HD 4850. I guess it would be up to him on this one...but they are both valid points from aevm and fullmetall.

+1
 

goony20

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I've always used intel in the past, but I'm not adverse to going amd if the performance to price ratio is better. I've read that intel has amd on this point currently. Would I be better off with the amd rig over the e7400 upgrade? Also, the seasonic wasn't enough power for crossfire (80% certified)?

Lastly, aren't the thriple cores just quads with either a defective or manually shut down core? If defective, isn't that a bad thing:)?
 
"Intel has AMD"??? It depends.

If you want to spend $1000 or $1700 on a CPU, you can get an Intel CPU that beats anything ever made by AMD. Yeah, from that point of view, Intel is way ahead.
If you need tons of power and money is no object, Intel is the way to go.

However, if you compare a $140 AMD CPU (x3 720) with a $167 Intel CPU (E8400) and see the X3 720 winning in benchmarks, I'd say AMD owns that market segment.

The triple cores are quads with a 4th core intentionally disabled. This is done for marketing purposes, to sell to people who need quads but can't afford them. They're not defect. They're just filling a hole in the product lineup, between the people who can spend $70 on a CPU and those who can spend $200. It's cheaper for AMD to do this than design and implement a whole new product with 3 cores from scratch.

The Seasonic 550W is enough for HD 4850 Crossfire. Kind of close, i.e. the minimum recommended, but it will do. However, it makes no sense to pay $90 for it when the 650TX is better and costs $20 less.
 

goony20

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if I were to go with a better cpu for multitasking purpose (ie video editing/encoding, macromedia, dual monitor, etc.), would it best to look at the Q6600 or stay on the AMD side and go with the phenom x4?
 
Here's a chart showing various CPUs transcoding a video:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-phenom-ii-x4-920-and-940-review-test/13

The Phenom II 940 is 36% faster than the Q6600 in that benchmark. The Phenom II 920 is 29% faster. The Phenom II 955 does not appear in that chart, but based on the clocks I'm estimating it's 45% faster than the Q6600 (because it's almost 7% faster than the Phenom II 940)

That's with all 4 CPUs at stock. With overclocking, it's probably similar because all 4 are good overclockers.
 

fullmetall

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But, just remember, the x4 940 doesnt have the upgrade path the x3 720 would have, it's not a am3 cpu, its a am2+ socket cpu. Well, actually saying that, im also not sure if a am2+ cpu can work with a am3 motherboard but, I don't think it works that way.
 

goony20

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Aevm, thanks for the link. For my price range, it seems AMD is the way to go if I'm not willing to splurge for a higher end intel quad or i7.
 

fullmetall

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i7 will be $1200 without monitor for a descent build and over $1400 with a monitor and a descent build, best to go for something in your budget at a lower price. An x3 720 should do the job for what you have posted in the first thread. But, if ther was any possible way to make the 955 make $800 then we would but, i dont see that on a descent build.
 

goony20

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that 790X-ud4p gig board good for overclocking? I would like to learn some more about it. I was browsing other forums and I ran into some references about the ud4p/gig boards being poor overclockers (not true for intel version board), and they should check out Biostars.
 

goony20

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Here's an update of what I'm looking at now:

Gig-UD4P a Phenom II 940- 270$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.190732

Antec 300- 55$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129042

GSKILL PI Black 4GB 2X2 DDR2800- 55$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231209

LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X- 25$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827136152

Gigabyte GV-R4850C 1GB 256BIT GDDR3- 160$ 140$after MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814125236

Corsair 650TX- 100$ 79$ after MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.186064- 155$
1. Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit
2. Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB

Total~ 820$ US 780$ US after MIR

Other considerations: Considering dropping off another 40-60$ by going with 4770. Also considering upgrading the 55$ for the phenom x4 955 black. Any thoughts on the Gigabyte 4850? I remember someone recommended a sapphire, any particular reason? Not sure if memory will fit into case considering massive heat spreaders. Should I get an aftermarket cooler to protect my investment as I take the OC learning curve? I've read that these memory will be blocked from using the first channel (first two slots of mobo) with a lot of aftermarket coolers.

Thanks again for the help guys, coming along nicely. I'm excited about going the AMD route after looking at benchmarks and price/value comparison. Seems to be a sweet cpu.
 

goony20

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Btw, the 800 budget is flexible. I use it b/c I really don't want to spend more than 1000$, and 800 seems like a sweet spot for price/value. I haven't spent any money in months being in Iraq, so I could build an NSA supercomputer, but it just be a waste giving that kind of power to a noob :)