$500-$600 Gaming Build

[Crimsonshadow]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Early August 2010

BUDGET RANGE:$500-$600 Before Rebates

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming> Internet> Movies> Schoolwork

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, Video Card (ATI Radeon HD 4650), Big Hard Drive, Speakers, Headset

PREFERRED WEBSITES FOR PARTS: Tigerdirect, Newegg

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States Of America

PARTS PREFERENCES: Case with room for expansion

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1440x900

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I have a 1TB External hard drive so a big internal drive isnt necessary. I also dont need a flashy case just one that keeps my components cool. Another video card wouldnt kill though and might be nice seeing the 4650 isnt that nice. I will be mainly playing WoW and Fallout 3 along with some Valve/Steam games and I would like to be able to play them with ease. Thanks for your time!

 

[MadAdmiral]

EDIT: Updated prices and combos.

CPU/Mobo: X3 440 and Gigabyte GA-790XTA-UD4 $183 after rebate
RAM: GeIL 2x2 GB 1333 mhz CAS Latency 9 $83
GPU/PSU: HD 5770 and OCZ StealthXStream 600W $215 after rebate
HDD: Seagate 7200.12 500 GB $55
Case: Rosewill Wind Knight $35
Optical: Cheap SATA DVD burner $19

Total: $590

 

[zooted]

 

[MadAdmiral]

The 5830 is a waste of money. There isn't anything it can do that the 5770 can't. Neither card can play games well at 1920x1080 resolutions, and the 5770 can play everything at lower resolutions than that. Why spend more money on a GPU that doesn't improve performance?

Not only that, but the build has a board that only has a single PCIe 2.0 slot, so when it come time to upgrade the GPU (I'll say 2-3 years), the OP would have to shell out a substantial amount of money ($150-300) to get a big GPU. With the 790XTA-UD4, the OP'd only have to spend a small amount ($50-75 for another 5770) and would get better overall performance.

The case/optical combo isn't bad, but the single fan worries me a little. There's also this combo (same case w/ the 7200.12 500 GB) that would save an additonal $15 if added to my build above.