Budget: $800-900

[hydric]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Next Week

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: MMORPG Gaming

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitor, Mouse, Speakers, Keyboard, OS

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Whatever I get a bigger bang for my buck

PARTS PREFERENCES: Whatever, just make sure everything is compatable

OVERCLOCKING: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: High End

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Only requirement is that the Graphics card is high def and has a HDMI output, so I am able to plug right into TV in living room. Finally, if I HAVE to go over $900 I will, but hopefully not by much.

Help me out please!

 

[TheDuke]

NZXT LEXA S LEXS $80
GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P $75
XFX HD-577X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 $165
CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W $95
AMD Athlon II X4 620 $99
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 $105
Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB $55
SAMSUNG 24x DVD Burner $26

$700 off newegg

 

[will31]

The above build is okay. But I would take the 5770 away and add a 5850, or even the 5870. Not exactly sure what your resolution will but the the HD5850 will be alot better than the 5770, and this will still put you in your budget range.

 

[hydric]

really? I still have $200 dollars left in my budget... anything that I should upgrade with what you ahve told me? Maybe a 1 TB hardrive?

and i will switch out the graphics card out for the higher end 5870. Thank you.

 

[antisyzygy]

really? I still have $200 dollars left in my budget... anything that I should upgrade with what you ahve told me? Maybe a 1 TB hardrive?

and i will switch out the graphics card out for the higher end 5870. Thank you.

NZXT LEXA S LEXS $80
GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P $75
XFX HD-577X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 $165
CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W $95
AMD Athlon II X4 620 $99
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 $105
Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB $55
SAMSUNG 24x DVD Burner $26

I just built a computer last week, so here is some advice.

No matter what, do not buy OCZ Obsidian ram. Its known for not being capable of reaching its clock rating on the box, as well as a high failure rate. I have personal experience with this problem and I just exchanged the OCZ ram with Corsair.

I tried using a Samsung Spinpoint and it was DOA. I had to exchange it for a Western Digital. I do not have a lot of experience with Samsung, so it could have been an outlier.

Get a better processor than that, try for a Phenom II 940 - 955. or at least the Phenom II 720. The higher clock rating on the 720 is known to improve gaming performance. I understand that you are gaming, but the Phenom II opens up some more multi-task capabilities. Try for a Athlon II 630 if its not that important to you. Don't bother with the Phenom II 965. You may consider going Intel if you aren't an AMD fanboy like me. I have to admit that intel is doing better than AMD right now tech wise.

Two 5770's in Crossfire are better than 1 5870, and are about 40-50 dollars cheaper combined. When I say "better" I mean that its better in some things worse in others. However, it is rated as one of the "best GPU's for the money, Jan 2010" on this website. The only problem is you need to invest a little more in a power supply. I got a Coolermaster 700w UPC for 100 bucks.

1 More thing, Microcenter is offering some good deals right now, such as Processor + Motherboard - 20 bucks in combo. They have cheaper processors than Newegg usually. Thing is, Microcenter is only in larger cities.

 

[anonymousdude]

The samsung f3 is a great drive though samsung does not have the best reliability, but they have been improving. I agree on the processor you may want to go for a better processor, although the 620 and 630 are not bad in any respect. Crossfire 5770's are faster in some situations, but that would cause more heat, eat more power, PSU upgrade, and all the usual issues with dual cards. Not a bad choice, but I fell that a single powerful card is a better choice and you can always add another 5870 in the future.

 

[hydric]

thanks for all the advice all