$1000ish Gaming Build, total newbie.

[LowNSlowIan]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within at least a Month.

BUDGET RANGE:800-1000~

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, old Asus with problematic video card will do the internet

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor ill get these later

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: I've heard on more than one occation that Intel > AMD but i cant form an opinion of my own hoping you guys would lead me in the right direction

OVERCLOCKING: Yes

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: ?

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: This is mostly for StarCraft 2 and for preparation on DC Universe and Guild Wars 2. I may be new but i have a few friends that can help me put this bad boy together plus im really looking forward to learning about all this. Thanks in advance guys.

 

[batuchka]

Well in design and build gamers we have to take account of what resolution u would games on but $1k with carefully picked out parts can land ya a Full HD + decent gaming system with OS these days ^^

Tower @ $649AR

23.6" LCD free photo printer free ship $180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009252
OS $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754
$929AR

 

[coldsleep]

Intel's most expensive processors are better than AMD's most expensive processors for most tasks. At midrange budgets, the processors perform about the same. At the low end of the budget ($100 or less), you get much more for your money with AMD.

Your budget is a little low for an Intel i5-750, which is the standard Intel gaming processor. The AMD Phenom II X4 955 performs similarly on most games (Far Cry 2 excepted, for some reason), it's $40 less expensive, and you can generally buy a less expensive motherboard with the same features as an equivalent Intel motherboard.

SLI/Crossfire refers to pairing up 2 (or more) graphics cards to get more performance. SLI is nVidia's version of this technology, while CrossFire is ATI's version. Most Intel motherboards support both, while most AMD motherboards only support CrossFire. Generally it's not a cost-effective (or future-proof method) of making a new build, but it is a good way to extend the life of a serviceable system. For this build, you probably don't need it.

Sample build, I don't have time to track down combos right now.

CPU - Athlon II X3 445 - $78
Mobo - MSI 870A-G54 - $100
RAM - G.Skill ECO series 1600 MHz CL7 4 GB kit - $103
GPU - XFX 5850 - $290
HDD - Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB - $75
ODD - Lite-On DVD burner - $20
PSU - Antec Neo ECO 620W - $70 (-$20 MIR)
Case - Antec 300 Illusion - $70 + 10 shipping
OS - Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM - $100

Total: $916

That leaves some room to find a HSF off of Frostytech's Top "5" Heatsinks.

EDIT: Agh, beaten to the punch by batuchka. And (of course) he has combos. And a monitor. Man. Nice build.

You could probably shave some off of this build by tracking down combos. This build only has a 3-core processor, but the graphics card is more capable than the GTX 460 in batuchka's build, and going from 3 to 4 cores doesn't affect gaming all that much. Even SC2 only uses 2 cores max.

 

[LowNSlowIan]

awesome, thanks guys! So i should essentially go with batuchka's build? It'll run SC2 on Medium-High smoothly right? Along with a few future games fairly well. Also how long do combo's last on new egg?

 

[Juanchioo]

AMD ATHLON II X3 RANA 440

MSI GTX 460 1GB CYCLONE

GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-UDH2

XFX 650W or CORSAIR HX650W

G.SKILL 4GB DDR3 1600MHZ CL7 7-8-7-24

SAMSUNG SPINPOINT F3 1TB

arround $500+100 of OS ...



and for arround $1000




AMD PHENOM II X4 955

XFX ATI RAEDEON HD5870

ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3

XFX BLACK EDITION 750W

G.SKILL 4GB DDR3 1600MHZ PC-12800 CL7 DUAL CHANNEL 7-7-7-24

SAMSUNG SPINPOINT F3 1TB



all of thoose + the case u want

 

[batuchka]

awesome, thanks guys! So i should essentially go with batuchka's build? It'll run SC2 on Medium-High smoothly right? Along with a few future games fairly well. Also how long do combo's last on new egg?

Hmm Full HD/ultra with AA even but i'd say ya good to go if u just happy with high Combos get reset at the beginning of a new month

 

[LowNSlowIan]

Hmm Full HD/ultra with AA even but i'd say ya good to go if u just happy with high Combos get reset at the beginning of a new month

What's AA? :/ and how do i find the items/combo's you listed on new egg? Write down the item #? :O

 

[batuchka]

Chip/mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.470529
GPU/PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.470418
Case/RAM (price dropped a few $$ hehe)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.469344
F3 500
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181&Tpk=F3%20500
ODD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

 

[LowNSlowIan]

^awesome thanks, would the parts you listed work with the case coldsleep listed?

 

[batuchka]

Yes it would but that's a tad high for an Antec 300 Illusion and combo broken up IMO You are welcomed ^^

 

[LowNSlowIan]

OUtside of the obvious, performance/longevity wise is there a big difference between the 500gb or the 1tb HD? Sorry im full of questions :/

 

[coldsleep]

No, the only difference between the 500 GB & 1 TB is storage space.

The only real difference between batuchka's build & my build is that his has a more powerful CPU, while the GPU from my build is a little better. Well, and he found some awesome combos (as per usual) and managed to fit a monitor in there.

Generally for gaming, the GPU is more important, but batuchka's build is really good. If you go with either one, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

 

[LowNSlowIan]

Ah okay, im thinking later down the road ill get end up purchasing another 'newer more powerful' GPU from the same 'teir' ha. and its no problem to have an nvidia card with an AMD PSU? I know there wouldn't be a problem in my specific case otherwise why would the experts i.e. you suggest it to me, im just asking what i've heard. :/

 

[coldsleep]

Well, there would be no point in selling graphics cards if you're only selling to part of the potential consumers. ATI/AMD would really be shooting themselves in the foot if that were the case, as they don't have nearly the market share that Intel does in the first place. There are hardware standards for a reason.

In general, any ATI/nVidia GPU will work with any AMD/Intel CPU (as long as the motherboard has appropriate slots, an old AGP-slot GPU won't work in a modern motherboard that only has PCI-E 2.0). It gets weird when you move to multi-card setups. I believe that all Intel mobos can do either SLI or CrossFire. Most ATI mobos only do CrossFire, but there are some that have an nVidia northbridge that can do SLI.

Aside from multi-GPU setups though, there's no reason that they should work better one way or the other. At any given point in time, ATI or nVidia may have better cards than the other, and AMD or Intel may have better CPUs, so it's possible that one might see benchmarks that suggested that nVidia/Intel was better, or AMD/ATI, but that would be a function of the power of the GPU/CPU, not due to branding.

 

[LowNSlowIan]

awesome, you two are SAINTS haha. Thanks for all the info guys, as soon as i sell what needs to go this desktop will be in!! Hope i sell it before those combo's break up though :[

 

[batuchka]

Well combos reset at the start of the new month. Happy shopping/building and u are welcomed ^^