New System build

[easy_55]

Building my first system. Here are the specs:
(Prices are in CDN funds)

XFX nForce 750i SLI Mobo
Intel Pentium E5400 CPU
Patriot 4GB DDR2 RAM
Seagate 7200.12 HD - 750gb
EVGA GeForce 9500 GT Video Card - 1GB DDR2
Ultra X-Blaster Case
Ultra LSP650 650W PSU
Lite-On DH-24AAS Internal DVD Writer
Philips 192E1SB 18.5" LCD Widescreen Monitor
Iogear GKM502 Compact Desktop Combo
Logitech LS21 2.1 Stereo Speaker System

The entire thing cost me $680.85, plus shipping and tax it was $785.47

Untill Newegg ships to Canada, I'll keep going through Tigerdirect...

Not bad for a budget gaming system thought right?

Any additions I should have in there? I'm not gaming too hard, I'll probably get Doom 3, HL2, maybe a few others... but no Crysis at Full or anything crazy.

I was looking at the price of the EVGA GeForce 9500 GT Vid Card and thought "Why not get 2 and SLI?"

Any thoughts on SLI Price - vs - Performance? Is it worth it for 70 bucks to SLI the cards? Will my 650w PSU handle it?

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.

 

[gkay09]

^ 9500GT and gaming ? I dont think so...
And sticky would help us help you...
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice
Fill and paste it here...

 

[requiemsallure]

you do know there is a newegg canada

www.newegg.ca

 

[easy_55]

This is a true budget build. I don't classify myself as a gamer, but I play the occasional game.

The 9500GT came with the barebones kit, and thats why I asked about SLI. I will upgrade sometime in the future if I feel I need to, and the 9500 isnt good enough.

 

[easy_55]

And I actually had no idea there was a Newegg.ca, lol, but I do now

 

[builderbobftw]

Uh, You might be able to max out Starcraft...(at 800x600)

 

[easy_55]

Rofl, it can't be that bad... can it?

 

[requiemsallure]

lol, thats an exaggeration, but the point is that card is no good.

 

[whitefang]

Get the 4670 instead, the 9500 GT is ancient.

 

[easy_55]

Well I understand its an old card, but it came with the combo deal I got. Lik I said, ill upgrade to a 2xx series card later.

Anyone have any experiance with the Philips monitor though? It seemed a little cheap at 95 bucks...

 

[requiemsallure]

ill find you a better combo deal.

 

[whitefang]

I think he's saying he purchased it already.

2XX series card? What's that? the GTX200 series?

You will want to upgrade to the ATI 5XXX series.

 

[requiemsallure]

ahh, ok, i agree with you whitefang, he should get a 5770 i think.

 

[easy_55]

Yeah I already purchased it, waiting on it now. When it gets here I'll let you all know if I have any issues with it and maybe even do a benchmark, lol.

Is ATI better than Nvidia?

As you can tell I don't know diddly about computrons...

 

[obsidian86]

ati is better value then nvidia at the same price point

 

[builderbobftw]

ati is better value then nvidia at the same price point

+1.At the current momnent.

 

[requiemsallure]

+2, i would say untill they start releasing the lower end gf100's it will be for a while (at least another ~3 months and im being kinda optimistic)

 

[builderbobftw]

+2, i would say untill they start releasing the lower end gf100's it will be for a while (at least another ~3 months and im being kinda optimistic)

Nvidia says Q2/Q3 2010. (Summer ishy)

 

[requiemsallure]

their pricepoints (based on the gtx470/480) might be half a card above ATI's cards price point. thats why it might be optimistic. then again we do not know yet

 

[builderbobftw]

Right, but the Nvidia CEO said on an Interview on Tom's that the full list of Fermi based products will be gradualy comong out from March 26th to the end of summer.

 

[requiemsallure]

ahh, i knew that i suppose, i remember reading that article a while back, i guess i forgot.

 

[builderbobftw]

Hey I wonder when Northern Islands is coming out. Will it be competing with Fermi, or Fermi 2?

 

[easy_55]

Update: Got the monitor in the mail today. Sucks to get it first, I want something to tinker with, lol.

For $100CDN its a 18.5" 720p monitor, and I couldn't be happier with it.

 

[easy_55]

Well I got everything a few days ago and put it all together, but the dang case didn't come with any fans

Ordered 2 case fans and a sata cable so I can actually use my DVD drive and install windows.

How is windows 7 x64 with gaming? It's cheaper than x32 and will utilize more ram, so I assume it's a no-brainer...

Also, I think im ordering this:
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4683600&Sku=B52-0262

The CPU is definitely going to be holding my computer back, but I was thinking of overclocking it a little.

 

[easy_55]

Got everything put together and it's working great. Can play borderlands and mass effect 2 at medium resolutions with no slow down. 3dmark vantage score over p1850, which is pretty brutal, but I'm getting a new GPU right now, which brings me to my question here:

For a price range of >$150ish what would my best bet be?

I found a GTX260 on kijiji for 180 bucks, I offered 150 so we shall see.