~$800 Gaming PC - First time builder, need feedbacks!!

hayab250

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May 12, 2009
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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Tommorow - Two Weeks

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: 95% Gaming, 5% Movies, Web, School Work.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Everything except a mouse and keyboard.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com

PARTS PREFERENCES: Doesn't matter

OVERCLOCKING: Yes

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION:1920x1080

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I am a hardcore gamer but play mostly WoW, CS, warcraft 3, which aren't that graphic intensive. I'd love to try out the newer games like crysis and farcry 2 but my current 10 year old HP P4, Radeon x300 128mb, ddr 400 1gb ram doesn't allow it.
This system that I'm building should be able to max out WoW, CS, and war3, and play at med-high settings on the newer games.




Antec 300 Case and Antec EA 500W PSU Combo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.208561
$115

AMD Phenom x3 720 BE and Asus AM3 M4A78T-E Mobo Combo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.205337
$205

G.Skill 2X2GB DDR3 1600 Dual Channel RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193
$64

Western Digital Caviar 640GB 32MB Cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319
$70

SATA DVD Burner
~$20 - $30~

Asus 21.5" HD 1080P Monitor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236053
$170


Okay, so far its about $650, and I have about $150 for a video card. Theres a few choices but I'm not sure which to buy.
I could get a 4850 or 4770 now and buy another to crossfire in a few weeks, but I'm not sure if the EA 500W could handle the pair with an OC'd CPU.
Or I could just get 1 Good card like the 4870.

Anyways here's some links to some card that I'm thinking about.

HIS 4850 1GB IceQ+4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161245
$130

Any of the 4770's
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000048&Description=4770&name=Desktop%20Graphics%20%2f%20Video%20Cards
$110

Plan on crossfiring either of these if my PSU allows, if not I might have to go a bit over my budget or downgrade some other parts.

Sapphire 4870 1GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102801
$150

XFX GTX 260 216 Black Edition
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150330
$190
A bit over my budget but I believe the free games, COD World at War and Farcry 2, which I already planned on buying, come with it FREE!


Ok, well theres just a few cards I'm thinking about.


OS: I was planning on getting the Windows 7 RC for free and using it until the expiration time but I read somewhere that you can't get it anymore? Can someone elaborate that for me? It would suck if I had to make room for a $100 OS on my budget.


Please leave me some feedback or suggest some parts!!!
Thanks for reading this long wall of text and links :p
 
You can still the the RC from microsoft. Get it here
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/home?os=nonwin7

Also a 4870 is the highest that the EA500 can support. AMD wants atleast 550Watts for 2 4850's in crossfire and while the EA500 gives you 2 pci-e connectors it doesnt have the necessary wattage. If you want to do 2 4850's then switch the PSU to this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004
It technically costs even less after MIR than the EA500 in the combo.
 

erdinger

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Dec 26, 2008
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Nice build. Take a 550watt Psu and Xfire 2 4850.

The advantage is you take buy the second one later when you have more money