Comp for wife

[srobison62]

Hey guys,
Today was a lucky day I found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow; My wife told me she wanted to play an MMO with me! back when we first started dating she played FFXI with me and we had a good time, but now that FFXIV is about to come out I figured that would be a great game to get her into. However the PS3 release isnt until march and I would like to get started. I have been trying to find recommended hard ware specs for the game without any luck, I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with the benchmark test and if you think it would be feasable to build her a comp for around $500 that would be playable. I would really like to do this for her.
thanks in advance,
Sammy

 

[dndhatcher]

Is that $500 for just case, PSU, mobo, CPU, RAM, GPU? <should be ok if this is the case>
Or do you also need monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers inside that budget? <going to be tough>

 

[Shadow703793]

@ OP could you fill this out please: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice

 

[batuchka]

Yep lots of blanks to be filled like any usable h/w, LCD and resolution for gaming, yada yada

 

[srobison62]

I think we can live with just the system itself. I can scrounge up a keyboard mouse and speakers.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: October

BUDGET RANGE: $500 before rebates

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Playing FFXIV

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: New Egg

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States of America

PARTS PREFERENCES: I am most familiar with Nvidia but I am open to whatever

OVERCLOCKING: Sure

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes

MONITOR RESOLUTION: prob a 27 in lcd so pretty high

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Im pretty sure Im gonna paint the whole thing with pink appliance paint, so some adjustable red (pink) neons would be nice.

 

[srobison62]

Found the minimum system req's:
processor: Intel core 2 duo (2.0 ghz)
amd athlon x2 (2.0 Ghz)
21 gb hdd space
Ram: 1.5 gb windows xp, 2 gb windows vista or 7
Video: Gefore 9600 512 vran or equivalent
ati radeon hs 2900 series with 512 vram or equivelant
Resolution: 1280 x 720 32 bit

 

[srobison62]

I was actually thinking of tis with a video card upgrade
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883114088

 

[batuchka]

If your 27" display is an LCD monitor then its native resolution is 1920 x 1080 so i would say hitting a GTX 460 for a wee bit over $500 flat would be the best solution for gaming

 

[calguyhunk]

That C2D / DDR2 system will have no upgrade room in a couple of years. It'll be a strong enough system for now, but the following will have a lot of headroom for upgrades.

CPU : $75 AMD Athlon II X3 440

MOBO : $90 ASRock 870 EXTREME3

RAM : $90 Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 4GB (2 x 2GB)

HDD: $55 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 500GB

PSU: $55 OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY

GPU : $140 Sapphire Radeon HD 5770

DVD : $21 LG SATA DVD Burner - Bulk LightScribe Support

Case: $50 Rosewill CHALLENGER Gaming ATX Mid Tower Case

Total = $576. The Mobo can be cheaper, the PSU can be cheaper, as can the Case. Still, a good gaming build is difficult to have for under 500 using quality components.

Cheaper Mobo : $60 ASRock M3A770DE. Support for DDR3 1600 off the rack, but no USB 3.

Cheaper but reliable PSU brand : $40 Rosewill Green Series RG430-S12 430W (31A on the +12V Rail should be good enough for the 5770)

Cheaper No-bling Case : $30 GIGABYTE SECC ATX Mid Tower Case

That brings it down to $511. That's as far down as I would go. I won't downgrade the GPU for a gaming build.

EDIT - You'll need a different (read - more expensive) PSU if you wanna OC (CPU,RAM,GPU) & XFire the 5770 at the same time.

 

[mosox]

A couple of combos:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.492759

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.492964

 

[calguyhunk]

Love the PSU + HDD combo. Absolute must.

Never used NZXT. Dunno a thing. Also, going with C9 seems weird 'coz it's the same price as C7. Yes, doesn't matter much, but still.

 

[mosox]

Here's a review:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lue7vlG8To

Combo DVD-case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.492959

 

[srobison62]

i think what im gonna do is mod my case and cut out a heart with a jigsaw and put pink plexi glass behind it so i dont need to have an expensive case.

 

[srobison62]

cal guy thats a really good $500 build thx alot for the info.

 

[dndhatcher]

You just needed to ask:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144248

 

[srobison62]

Great news I have two sticks of 2gb ddr2 laying around at my house

 

[srobison62]

They sent me this in my email yesterday. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103873&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL090210&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL090210-_-EMC-090210-Index-_-ProcessorsDesktops-_-19103873-L01C

 

[dndhatcher]

Great news I have two sticks of 2gb ddr2 laying around at my house

So you dont have to buy new keychains? :lol:

All of the new motherboards use DDR3; DDR2 isnt very useful except to sell on ebay to get more money in your budget.


That dual core CPU is only $6 less than the triple core.

 

[srobison62]

what I should do is put my old mobo and ram in my wifes comp and upgrade myself. I am currently running this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130081

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

 

[srobison62]

I think im gonna try and trade/sell my random ram that I have, I have 3 gskill 1gb sticks and two 2gb gskill sticks.

 

[dndhatcher]

what I should do is put my old mobo and ram in my wifes comp and upgrade myself. I am currently running this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130081

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

Yep - Q6600 overclocked is still a decent gaming CPU that can easily keep up with mid-range graphics cards (5770, 460, 260, 4870)

 

[srobison62]

yea I wanna get something I can upgrade into an I7, Im running a gtx 295 right noow on that mobo.

 

[dndhatcher]

Thats like putting a big-block hemi in a Honda...

 

[srobison62]

lmao, yea i have been feeling the pull of a mobo with ddr3 for a while now.

 

[srobison62]

I talked to my wife I think thats what im gonna do this way I dont have a spare mobo and ram hanging around, but I wont be able to use my current cpu chip if I get a mobo with the I5/I7 chipset right?