Build Suggestions for Gaming Desktop

Do you already have an OS or do you need one?

No OS required. I'll be using Windows XP.

I'm to tired to comment on anything really exept that the 460 is amazing and will write graphics history. It's beaten ati in bang for buck, has lot's of features ati doesn't. If ati doesn't do something quick nvidia will dominate the graphics world. They are bigger better and now they've proven they can also be cheaper.

All right then, for what you want, here's my crack at it.

CPU/Mobo: i5 750 and ASUS P7P55D-E PRO

Case/PSU: Antec Two Hundred S and Antec earthwatts 500w

RAM: G.SKILL ECO Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333

GPU: Gigabyte GTX 460 1GB

HDD: Spinpoint F3 500GB

CD/DVD: Sony Optiarc


Total comes out to $856.93 before shipping and there are no rebates so right around budget. In the future if you want to SLI you're going to have to buy a bigger power supply. Other than that it should be fine for now and give you some pretty nice performance for your money. However, and I'm sure someone else can come and make a build for it, with that budget you might be better off going AMD.

rcheung-

I know you said $850 before or after rebates, but before I start are you sure after rebates is ok?

Honestly if you have done much with rebates you know the odds are you will not ever receive these funds. I just dont want to leave you out to dry.

Yes, after rebates is okay. I've definitely read customer reviews where the reviewer never received their rebate(s). I appreciate the help.  

I'd get fharper's build upgrade the ram to 1600, upgrade the case to antec 300 and the psu to a 650w or 750w not sure how much 460 sli needs. And lastly upgrade the HDD to a 1tb if this is neccesary. It will put you over budget, but get a very decent system like this and then skimping out on some components is something I really don't reccomend. If this is too much then I'd downgrade to amd 955 and get a 555w psu as sli isn't possible with any decent amd chipset. I strongly reccomend the fromer option though.

Yeah, what somebody said. That would actually save you money as I believe 650 or 750 should be fine for a 460 sli so in the future you wouldn't have to buy another PSU in the future.

Another question for you guys, is there a big difference between the 1 GB and the 768 MB versions of the GTX 460? Thanks for all of the feedback so far. I'm going to wait and see if more folks post builds then I'll put something together for a final review.

At your resolution I would say probably. On some benchmarks there were some dropouts on the 768mb version that I didn't like so to be safe the 1GB would probably be a better bet for you.

Yes there is quite a big difference between the 1gb and 0.7gb, the difference is bassically the same as the price difference. Which is extrodinary in the world of technology where price ussually raises exponencially compared to performance. So IMO get the 1gb.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-r...

Can you guys advise on the selection below? There are links to the products in a more recent posting that I made.


Case: COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower OR Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower
CPU: Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard (This has the hardest for me to figure out - I'm not even sure that I'm happy with either of these selections): GIGABYTE GA-P55-USB3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 USB 3.0 ATX Intel OR BIOSTAR T5 XE CFX-SLI LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel
Power Supply: OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ700MXSP 700W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC OR RAIDMAX Blackstone series RX-700AC 700W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
CD/DVD Drive: ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal
Video Card: GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support

So that's the list of components that I've selected after four days of research, but I can definitely use any reassurance and advice from all you experts out there! Thanks!

Yup good build.

What cas latency is the ram? You should be looking for 8 or lower

I'd get the mobo suggested above it's very well regarded.

I'd get the OCZ psu instead of the raidmax

Cas Latency for the RAM is 9. Can you suggest one that is 8 or lower? Thanks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

good sticks at a good price

What do you think about this motherboard: EVGA P55 SLI 132-LF-E655-KR LGA1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard

looks good but no sataIII or usb3

What do you guys think about this build?

Case: COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower
CPU: Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor
Power Supply: XFX Black Edition P1-750B-CAG9 750W ATX12V v2.2 / ESP12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC
Memory: G.SKILL Trident 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
CD/DVD Drive: ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal
Video Card: GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support
Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D-E Pro LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

That's a very solid build, no bad comments here.

Looks like there's a new Intel Core i5-760 for only about 10 dollars more. Should I go for that then?

Yeah, for just the $10 more I would probably get it if I were you.

yeah maybe the 760 would be a better choice. Very solid build   hope you enjoy.

I think I'm going to stick to the i5-750 for the combo discount. I dunno. My biggest problem now is that the GPU I wanted is sold out. So once again, I need your guidance. I was considering this: MSI N460GTX CYCLONE 1GD5/OC GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support, but I'm not sure how good MSI products are these days.

here is an amd with gtx 460 build for $832.92(before rebates) but is sli capable
i know you want intel but did you know that lga1156 is going to be replaced by 1155 in Q1 2011 or so. but amd will still have an upgrade path as amd has the x6's and they will release bulldozer (new cpu) next year

cpu&mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...

psu&case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...
(top notch quality)

ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

gpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
(only one availabel now)

hdd: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

odd: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...