Budget i5 build

[ncatanza05]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: End of October

BUDGET RANGE: Trying for anything under 80o

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, coding, music

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg

PARTS PREFERENCES:

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215

GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3R LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128401

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBHK
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231189

EVGA 01G-P3-1155-TR GeForce GTS 250 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130469

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

Antec Nine Hundred + EA650 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 650W Power Supply
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129064

G Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 22X DVD±R DVD Burner
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136144


OVERCLOCKING: Yes

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Don't have one but plan on getting a nice one

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Trying to keep the budget low and still get a nice gaming system out of this. I'm just going to buy the monitor, OS, and other peripherals later on.

 

[BohleyK]

Nice build. I only have one gripe with it. The GTS 260 is pretty much a rebranded 9800GTX+ and you won't see much more performance increase out of it. Why nVidia does this, I don't know. To save production cost and increase profit I guess.

So you can do two things with the GPU card.

1) Swap it with a 9800GTX+ for about $20 less with MIR

2) Swap it with a 4870 1GB for about $10 more

I would go with the latter.

You will also need an aftermarket heatsink fan for you CPU if you want to OC. Xigmatek makes a very affordable and effective HSF for about $30 dubbed the S1283.

 

[callousdigits]

Depending on where you live, microcenter has the I5 for $159.99 -- but it's only good for in store pickup, so if you're not near one, not so helpful. Picked up mine last week, and you'll love it! I built an almost identical system, but with a 4850.