Tom's Hardware > Forum > Homebuilt Systems > New System Build > [Solved] Budget gaming build -- $500 - $700

[Solved] Budget gaming build -- $500 - $700

Forum Homebuilt Systems : New System Build - [Solved] Budget gaming build -- $500 - $700

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Best answer from yoyojam55.

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goatjc   10-16-2009 at 06:23:42 PM

Hello all. Been a longtime lurker / stumbling upon TH for quite some time & I can't believe I'm making my first post :P

Anyways, my last rig I built was ~2004 for HL:2. It has recently took a turn for the worse & I don't want to throw more money into it just to get it back up & running. So, here goes it. (not copying the template as it looks easier to read how I have it lol)

Approx. purchase date: End of Oct. 09 to mid Nov. 09
Budget range: ~$500 - $700
System usage: Gaming (Guildwars 2!!), surfing the net
Parts not required: Case, monitor, keyboard / mouse, speakers
Part preferences: Newegg only please
Overclocking: Yes
SLI / Crossfire: Mabe
Monitor res: 1920 / 1080
Other: Windows 7 / Vista included. Would like SSD, but would raid 0 / 5 if it'd be worth purchasing more HD's as far as speed is concerned.

So far, I'm not too sure where to go w/ this build, but I'll list my ideas.

CPU: Intel Quad Q8200 -- Possibly OC'ing to ~2.8 or 3.0. This is where I probably need help the most as I'd like to go quad core if I could get the clock speed / similar performance of an E8400.

HS & Fan: Zalman 9500a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835118223

Mobo: I'm an Asus fanboy, but open to other options

Vid card: Toss up between a geforce 260 & a comparable ATI. Open to suggestion here.

Ram, CD / DVD burner, hard drives etc I'll probably go with whatever is cheap.

Ultimately, this build hinges on a few aspects:
* Is it worth going quad & OC'ing? Or would I be better off going the E8400 route? Or for that matter, considering my budget, would I be better off going w/ an AMD proc?
* Is it worth going the SSD route? How about raid 0 2 drives or raid 5 3 drives?

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Best answer from yoyojam55
Not bad, here's a few things I would change.

AMD CPUs need dual channel RAM. That should save you a bunch of $$.
The Athlon II x4 620 is $20 cheaper. The AII give you 4 cores, but the PII give you L3 cache. Your choice.

Switching to Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GBs will be cheaper and faster.

If you can afford it, try and upgrade to a 5850 when they are available. At 1920x1080 it should be worthwhile, and you get DX11.
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goatjc   10-16-2009 at 06:29:08 PM

**Note** I'm not going to go w/ a super cheap PSU. I know the pitfalls of that already :P

Reply to goatjc
yoyojam55   10-16-2009 at 11:12:17 PM
Best answer

Not bad, here's a few things I would change.

AMD CPUs need dual channel RAM. That should save you a bunch of $$.
The Athlon II x4 620 is $20 cheaper. The AII give you 4 cores, but the PII give you L3 cache. Your choice.

Switching to Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GBs will be cheaper and faster.

If you can afford it, try and upgrade to a 5850 when they are available. At 1920x1080 it should be worthwhile, and you get DX11.

Reply to yoyojam55
goatjc   10-16-2009 at 11:25:47 PM

Thanks for the reply. . .& yes I finally noticed the dual channel / triple channel (I've been eying the 920's for so long that I lost sight of the whole triple channel / dual channel deal)

This build broke the budget, but was curious if people had opinions if it'd be worth spending the extra $$ for i5 / i7 technology.

Also, any opinions if raid 0 would be worth purchasing another hard drive (as the SSD's I want are out of budget)?

http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/3773/intelx2.jpg

Reply to goatjc
ubernoobie   10-16-2009 at 11:26:53 PM

they don't need dual/triple channel ram, you can use any ddr3 ram so don't say amd cpus NEED dual channel ram, also it would save you about 30 bucks so it's worth considering

Reply to ubernoobie
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