New Build on Budget

[pottsy523]

I'm looking to upgrade my Dell XPS. I am on a budget and plan to reuse parts from my existing PC.

I'm a gamer (more than casual but not extreme hardcore) so want solid performance, but again, am on a budget $500 - $600.

Here's what I've compiled. What do you think? Are there ways I could cut costs without decreasing performance?

Mobo: $119.99
GIGABYTE GA-790XTA-UD4 AM3 AMD 790X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128416

GPU: $144.99
SAPPHIRE 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102873

CPU/PSU Combo: $239.98
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX

XFX P1-650X-CAG9 650W ATX12V 2.2 / ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCombos.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808&SubCategory=343&SortField=0&PageSize=10&page=1

Case: $89.98
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197

Total after shipping: $592.74
Total after mail in rebates: $542.74

 

[sp12]

Some additional mobos to look at, 800 series chipsets. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=Property&N=100007625&IsNodeId=1&OEMMark=1%2C0&Manufactory=1944%2C1312%2C1315%2C1314&PropertyCodeValue=719%3A57559%2C719%3A57237%2C719%3A57483%2C719%3A55462%2C7968%3A74809%2C7968%3A55465%2C7968%3A49719%2C7968%3A56407%2C7968%3A57760%2C757%3A7619%2C757%3A7618&bop=And&CompareItemList=22|13-157-198^13-157-198-TS%2C13-157-191^13-157-191-TS%2C13-130-276^13-130-276-TS

My personal pick would be the Asrock 880g. Do you need ram? What resolution will you be using?

 

[pottsy523]

The Asrock 880g looks pretty good. But will it's onboard video play nice with my video card? I assume I'll never use it since I'll have the video card, but being a noob at building, I have no clue.

Don't need RAM

 

[mailmanlove]

Why don't you need ram do you have some already? What kind is it, how mang GB do you have?

What resolution do you want to run your monitor at?

Do you want to CF or SLI later on?

Do you need a HDD?

Do you need a CD/DVD r/w?


This would be my build if it is all you need, some may say upgrade to the 460 GPU



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[wielander]

The Asrock 880g looks pretty good. But will it's onboard video play nice with my video card? I assume I'll never use it since I'll have the video card, but being a noob at building, I have no clue.

You won't run into any incompatibility issues with onboard graphics; they will automatically disable if not needed. If you match your motherboard and graphics card (AMD&ATI or nForce&nVidia), you may get a small boost in performance from hybrid graphics (Hybrid Crossfire or Hybrid SLI).

Don't need RAM

Do you plan to reuse RAM from your old system? If you are, make sure that it's DDR3. DDR2 is not compatible with these motherboards.

 

[pottsy523]

I plan to re-use parts from my existing PC and replace it with the new build. The parts I plane to reuse are:
CD/DVD
Hard Drive
RAM
network/comm cards

But good points on compatibility. I'll post their specs when I get home tonight.

 

[pottsy523]

As for SLI and CF...

At the moment, I don't think I would, but having the option is nice. Since budget is a big deal to me, I doubt I would because it increases the costs of future upgrades. However, since I'm going the AMD route, I can CrossFire between different chipsets, so I would theoretically only need to buy 1 card each time I wanted to upgrade (and replace the lower chipset).

And to add...i don't plan to mess with overclocking. I may get adventurous in the future, but right now I have no plan or desire to.

 

[pottsy523]

OK, here's more info...

My current resolution in Vista is 1280x800 (I know, I know...). The max on my 8600GTS is 1680x1050. So, I'd say as long as I can do at least that (and with any GPU upgrade, I can, so resolution is a non-issue).

My current components that I hope to re-use are:
CD/DVD: HG5894D VEG622Z SCSI
HDD: WDC WD2500JS-75NCB3 Serial ATA SATA-300

Would those have compatibility issues with my proposed components?

As for RAM...yeah, I have 3GB DDR2, so I guess I can't re-use them with the new mobo (suck).

But here's my current mobo: Dell 0CT017 775 LGA Socket. I know that since Dell gets special mobos, I really have no option to upgrade my CPU without changing mobos.

But, could I upgrade the GPU at the very least? I only have a 375W PSU, so I would need to upgrade that too, right?