Help with 300-450$ gaming computer?

[spaniel53]

I want to build a cheap gaming computer

Approximate Purchase Date: This week sometime

Budget Range: 300-450$ AR

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, want to smoothly run modern and upcoming games (30fps+)

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, Speakers, OS, Optical Drive, Case, Wireless Card.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg, amazon, tigerdirect...anything I can trust!

Parts Preferences: I'm guessing that for price, an AM3 mobo would be best. I would also like digital 5.1 surround out (The orange, green, black out)

Overclocking: No overclocking experience, so this will run at stock settings.

SLI or Crossfire: Sure, but I want this baby for cheap!

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: Don't care about noise, as long as it doesn't sound like a Jet engine.

I was also hoping to be able to steal whatever I can out of this thing two years from now to build a more expensive (800-1000$) machine, so I'd like as many parts future proof as possible.


I know all this is a lot to ask, but I'd love some input! Thanks guys!

 

[spaniel53]

Here is a build I was checking out(throw in a 50$ hdd as well). It is about 410 after rebates and shipping.

 

[simple_inhibition]

the problem with building a system today with the intent to use the parts out of it tomorrow is that its hard to say what will be the standard. just think, 2 years ago DDR2 was in the majority of systems built. just keep that in mind as i list my suggestions. enough with the lecturing ;-) heres what i came up with

CPU
Athlon II X3 450 $84.99
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 $93.99
(maybe reusable depending on amd's next gen processor codenamed bulldozer)
Ram
Mushkin Enhanced Essentials 4GB DDR3 1333 $65.99
(may be reusable)
Hard Drive
1TB samsung spinpoint F3 $69.99
(definitely reusable)
Video Card
Gigabyte ATI Radeon 5770 $139.99
(in a pinch, reusable)
Total with shipping $462.28 - $10MIR = $452.28

 

[simple_inhibition]

ah crap, i didnt see that you needed a PSU >.< anyway with what you linked, replace that ram with the mushkin kit i suggested and take the samsung hard drive i linked and that will be a pretty sweet system for the money

 

[spaniel53]

Thanks for the help!

Yeah, I had the Kingstons because of their 7 latency (versus 9) and I had never heard of/used mushkin brand.

So here is the final build(About 427$ AR):

Oh, and about the re-usability, I definitely understand where you are coming from. I was thinking of maybe SLI'ing the gfx later? I dunno.

Also, do you think it would be worth my time to wait it a bit for prices to drop? The reason I ask is, black friday is coming up, the ati 6xxx series is coming out, and I guess a new proc named 'bulldozer' is also coming out.

 

[batuchka]

Budget Range: 300-450$ AR

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, want to smoothly run modern and upcoming games (30fps+)

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, Speakers, OS, Optical Drive, Case, Wireless Card.

$391AR

While the wait for HD 6K may make sense i think not so at your budget point

 

[spaniel53]

Thanks for the input batuchka. That is a sweet deal. Oh and I did not plan on buying the new 6xxx series, I just meant that maybe the prices of the 5xxx and 4xxx series would drop drastically upon its release.

Hmmm sooo
Pros:
-36$ cheaper
-better gfx(about 10% better?)

Cons:
-lose about 25% cpu power (may not be necessary in the games)
-halve hdd space
-about 10% smaller power supply (doesn't really matter)

May be worth it...my only real worry is the cpu...are any games cpu intensive enough to bottleneck that proc? (I want to run the highest settings I can @ 1920x1080)

 

[batuchka]

The Game Rundown: Finding CPU/GPU Bottlenecks, Part 2
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/game-performance-bottleneck,2738-16.html

Conclusion: A Trend Toward 3+ Cores

The average optimal number of CPU cores suggested by the test results is 2.75, showing a clear trend towards at least three CPU cores.The question of whether the CPU or GPU is most important is easily answered. If you don't have a multi-core CPU, then upgrade it. If you have a dual-core CPU at around 3 GHz, then invest your money into a graphics card, as most games are GPU-limited. This is not something that will change with new DirectX 11 games.

As for GPU: DX11, lower power consumption, etc on top of better peformance?
NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 460: The $200 King
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3809/nvidias-geforce-gtx-460-the-200-king/17

 

[spaniel53]

Best answer selected by spaniel53.

 

[spaniel53]

Awesome man, thanks for the quick responses and sourced data.

I can see that the gtx stays quite a bit cooler, and seems to run alot cleaner. Wow.

Well you have convinced me that your build is better, but I wonder if we can alter it a bit for a quad-core?
I only say this because I want to play games like left 4 dead and starcraft 2, two games I know are more cpu intensive. However, if you think the x3 will do fine in these games(won't bottleneck the gtx 460) then I am happy enough to take your word for it!

Oh and keep in mind I have never oc'd anything (sad, I know...)

Thanks.

-----------EDIT------------

[strike]Hmmm. Can you provide the links to these combos? I can't seem to find them :/[/strike]

Found them.

 

[batuchka]

Nah at higher res/settings bottleneck is pushed to GPU always Happy shopping/building and u are welcomed ^^

 

[spaniel53]

Cool. Thought so. Just ordered your build.

Thanks so much!

 

[simple_inhibition]

nice finds batuchka!

hey spaniel53, if you are comfortable enough and willing to explore the bios a bit, you could potentially unlock the 4th core on that processor. its not guaranteed that it will work, but there is always the chance of successfully doing it. if you need help, just ask around the forums here and we'll be more than happy to lend a hand. and if your not comfortable doing that, well dont worry about it at all as that system is going to be pretty dang quick as it is

 

[spaniel53]

Wow. The X3 is an under-utilized quad core? Interesting. How does amd justify the price when they are using the same amount of hardware? Odd. And thanks for your help too simple_inhibiti! I will certainly look into that.