Gaming PC on a budget

[ninjosh]

I have $400 to get a new motherboard, cpu, ram and case/power supply and looking for some help deciding what to get. I am mainly getting it to run Dragon Age (have a geforce 9800 gpu). Thanks for any help.

 

[jimmysmitty]

So essentially its roughly $100/part....

Lets see.....

AMD Athlon II X4 620 $99.99:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103706

Asus M4A77TD $84.99:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131603

OZC DDR3 1066 $72.99:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227346

Antec 300 $49.95:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066

Raidmax 630w PSU $54.99:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152035

Total comes to $362.91 without shipping. Gives ya $38+/- for shipping and such.

 

[hell_storm2004]

Isn't 630W PSU a bit too much for a 9800GT? A 400W - 450W is enough!

 

[ainarssems]

drop that Raidmax PSU get something 450-550 W range from a reputable brand like corsair VX450

 

[mi1ez]

And a Raidmax? Who are supplying them these days?

 

[vznoobie12]

For the prioritized purpose of gaming, I would recommend the x3 720 as it performs better at games than the x4 620:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649&Tpk=x3%20720

However, if you want to do more than just game (like encoding), then definitely opt for the extra core.

I would normally go for a tried and true mobo like:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128395

Normally, I would also recommend an antec 300; I've had a rig with the illusion that jimmy recommended in the past.. and it did work well. But I've also built rigs with CM's RC-690, which is on sale for $40 on newegg (after MIR):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137&cm_re=coolmaster_690-_-11-119-137-_-Product

These should be your budget memory sticks:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134792

also on sale @ newegg.

Normally I would also recommend a corsair, but going with your budget, I would pick up a:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022

It's $40 after MIR, considerable cheaper than corsairs 550w, which IIRC should be around $80. It's also modular in case that appeals to you. Note that I've never personally worked with this specific psu, I have used other OCZ branded psus and am quite satisfied. So definitely a cheaper alternative without sacrificing too much quality.


Oops, forgot to say. Comes out to about $350 after MIR. Tax not included, so you'll find a more definite price clicking the link and calculating it yourself before MIRs are taken off

 

[ninjosh]

Great, thanks for the responses! vznoobie, I'm thinking I like your build a bit better mainly since the mobo you suggest does have more reviews on it (was a bit leary on the just 1 review for the asus). I just have a few questions.

A coworker of mine who builds computers told me that intel was the way to go now but you guys have only recommended AMDs (which I've used when I built my PC years ago). Is there any reason AMD is better than Intel to you guys or is it just for my budget constraints?

I also forgot to mention that I was interested in SLI down the road and neither of the suggested boards have it (the Gigabyte having CrossfireX, but I have a geforce card). What SLI boards would be good and would it be worth it when I could probably just buy a better card once I get to that point?

Thanks again.

 

[vznoobie12]

Your coworker is definitely right. If you're looking for performance, an i5 or i7 is definitely the way to go. But as you have hinted at, it'll be WAY over your budget. This is especially true considering you also want to SLI mobo.

General knowledge is that if you willing to spend approximately $170+ on your processor, you might as well get an i5 (arguing that since the phenoms were pretty close in price to an i5, you might as well splurge a bit for it; this may not be the case anymore though, I believe they dropped some of the phenom prices a bit).

But I digress.. So, anything under that price range is AMD territory simply because intel does not have any processor of comparable quality to say an x3 720 or x4 620 at that price range (at least not yet). Thus, yes, as you guessed... AMD is the budget route. You can also get ddr2 RAM with an am3/am2+/am2 mobo, which gives you a little future proofing while being immediately cheap, which is what you are after. (I linked ddr3 RAM because newegg had it on sale, but I just clicked the link again and it seems the price is back up use these instead if you're still going that route
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227267 )

Those are going for pretty cheap at $74 after MIR.
Though personally, I <3 g.skill
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231207

 

[ninjosh]

I think for the extra performance of the better RAM you linked earlier I'll channel some extra money for the ddr3.

What about the mobo tho? Does CrossfireX work the same as SLI?

 

[vznoobie12]

Well, I build computers part-time and its not too often that I'd find someone who wants an nvidia in an AMD mobo :]. AMD owns ATI, so most AMD mobos cater to crossfire and not sli. (XF and SLI are essentially the same thing, but are exclusive to their perspective brands, so you cannot run "crossfire" with an nvidia card). I did a quick browse of all the am3 mobos

This board is the cheapest but the SLI is 8x, which would not make proper use of 2 video cards
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130235

Your second option would be:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130236
which offers SLI at 16x operation... its triple SLI too if that appeals to you

I found about 2-3 other boards, but they were not worth mentioning or did not support ddr3.

 

[hell_storm2004]

The Raidmax PSU is almost equal to the price of of the VX450. If you can find anything cheaper than that with 450W rating and reliable get that!
Also if you are looking at DDR3 get a minimum of 1600Mhz.

 

[ninjosh]

Lol, so I'm an outlier then with my AMD + geforce then? Never knew AMD and ATI were a couple =P

So I think I will just pass on the SLI then unless that MSI board goes on sale. I did notice tho that the Gigabyte board you first suggested only supports DDR2 yet you then suggested DDR3 RAM for it. A slight oversight maybe?

Now that I have some ideas of what to look for I'm going to look through everything and see what I can come up with and hope that some good deals come my way (I won't actually have the $400 for another 2 weeks).

If anyone has anymore suggestions they will be greatly appreciated still! =)

 

[hell_storm2004]

It would be great if you could post your final config on which you have decided.

 

[ninjosh]

I will once I look into a bit more. I have noticed this board:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157167

Looks nice and has a very good price but I've never heard of asrock so I'm unsure if it would be a good choice or not.

 

[vznoobie12]

Whooops! Good catch, I jumped the gun with my links :]. This is actually what I was going after:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128392

I've never worked with that specific board, but ASRock is definitely a reputable brand. They have a few highly recommended p55/x58 boards that I've also worked with and found to be solid.


EDIT: Whoops, some clarity... i wrote some confusing stuff last night . The two links for ocz/g. skill were under the assumption that you go for an am2 board. But since you are deciding on ddr3, I would not recommend the Kingston for full price that I first linked (good on sale, but there's others at the $90 range)

Dominators:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145265

And Ripjaws come to mind:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277



EDIT2: Okay, a short comment before I go out lol. If you end up with an am3 mobo / ddr3 RAM, you will have pretty good future proofing for the next year or two. Say you get a x3 720 or x4 620 now... and you decide you need a better performance in a year... picking up a 955 (or whatever's cheap in a year) would be possible.

 

[Jaspel]

i5 $150 @microcenter
ASRock P55M $100 @newegg
antec 300 $50 @newegg
2x2 gb ocx $63 @newegg After Coupon and Rebate
500w ocz $35 @newegg After Rebate

totals about $400

 

[Jaspel]

mb supports sli(1 2.0 16x and 1 2.0 4x) but is a micro atx. I haven't had any issues with asrock

 

[ninjosh]

Do you have a link to that i5? I went to microcenter's website and they don't list any i5s. If it's in-store I live nowhere near one.

 

[Jaspel]

Do you have a link to that i5? I went to microcenter's website and they don't list any i5s. If it's in-store I live nowhere near one.

shoot, looks likes its in stores only

 

[hell_storm2004]

Gigabyte P55 board is also a good choice!

 

[amdfangirl]

And a Raidmax? Who are supplying them these days?

Jimmy gets paid a commission to make people buy the wrong PSUs, blow them up and make them buy another one.

 

[ninjosh]

OK, after talking with my coworker I'm thinking of going for a X4 again. What's the difference between the Athlons and Phenoms? Primarily these 2:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103656

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103706

 

[hell_storm2004]

Athlon X4's dont have a L3 cache whereas Phenoms have an L3 cache. That is the primary difference. When going for a budget PC Athlon X4 is a good choice. L3 cache may not come in all that handy every time!

 

[warmon6]

Here what the difference looks like between AMD Athlon II X4 630 - 2.8GHz
vs. AMD Phenom II X4 920 - 2.8GHz (only difference is L3 cache.)

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=105&p2=81

In my option get an Athlon II x4 cpu's.

 

[amdfangirl]

Athlon X4's dont have a L3 cache whereas Phenoms have an L3 cache. That is the primary difference. When going for a budget PC Athlon X4 is a good choice. L3 cache may not come in all that handy every time!

It's the only difference.