$700-800 Gaming Desktop

[scher168]

Hi, I'm considering building a desktop within the next month. My total budget for the computer + monitor + other necessary accessories is $700-$800 dollars, preferably closer to $700...though on the other hand, I'm willing to pay a little more for quality parts than simply getting the absolute cheapest components. I live in the US and would like to be able to play games like Borderlands or Fallout: New Vegas (mostly older games, assuming Win7 compatibility) at reasonable framerates at 1600 x 900 max resolution.

I'm looking for a 20" monitor, and have found one on TigerDirect for about $100. I'm open to suggestions -perhaps a 5670 would suffice for those games at that resolution?- and, since I'm new to building, would like to know if I am missing anything critically important.

Don't need a mouse or speakers.

Here's what I've chosen so far (all from New Egg, but I'm open to any other reputable sources):

SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model SH-S222L LightScribe Support - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151176
$17.99


Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153
$54.99 after $5 instant rebate


SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181
$54.99


TP-LINK TL-WN722N USB 2.0 High Gain Wireless Adapter - Yes, I need a wireless adapter of some sort.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704045
$19.99


HIS H577FK1GD Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161338
$129.99 after $20 instant rebate, $99.99 after mail-in


Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015
$69.99 after $30 instant rebate


LITE-ON SK-1788/BS 2-Tone PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823107120
$6.99


Mushkin Enhanced Essentials 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996586
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146748
$42.99


Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754
$99.99


COMBO:

AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus 2.9GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX635WFGIBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.572355

GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.572355
$162 after combo

Total after shipping: $670.89. Around $770 when including monitor.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[sadams04]

Looks good overall...

PSU - That Antec has three 12v rails. The one below has one rail and is a good unit with a similar price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005&cm_re=corsair_power_supply-_-17-139-005-_-Product

If you have a MicroCenter near you check out their AMD combo deals. Might save you some money...
http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html

The 5770 will be fine at that resolution.

 

[scher168]

So I take it that a 650W PSU is good enough (and not overkill)?

I do have a Micro Center nearby. Is the:

MSI 870A-G54 Socket AM3 870 ATX Motherboard with
Athlon™ II X4 640
$135.98 bundle
http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html -under "More Great Bundles"


pretty good? Also, when I click "buy bundle," it shows up in the cart as ~$200, not 135.98. Is that price after all the mail-in rebates? Thanks again.

 

[castle songbird]

The power supply you chose is in a combo with the Antec 200(v2) case- $30 off^^
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.570907

With the money saved I would reccomend this-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127512
It only has 768 mb of ram but at 1600x900 that won't matter

The 5770 is ALMOST good enough to play games at full settings; the GTX 460 is only one increment above it, but that one increment makes a significant difference here.

Also this disc drive is priced the same as yours but has free shipping and uses a sata connector-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039

Hope that helps

 

[batuchka]

So I take it that a 650W PSU is good enough (and not overkill)?

I do have a Micro Center nearby. Is the:

MSI 870A-G54 Socket AM3 870 ATX Motherboard with
Athlon™ II X4 640
$135.98 bundle
http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html -under "More Great Bundles"


pretty good? Also, when I click "buy bundle," it shows up in the cart as ~$200, not 135.98. Is that price after all the mail-in rebates? Thanks again.

That pricing is exclusively in store only - if i were u rather than hit a USB/SATA 3.0 mobo and Propus i'd really take the $170 965BE Deneb + MSI 785G-E53 bundle

 

[scher168]

The power supply you chose is in a combo with the Antec 200(v2) case- $30 off^^
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.570907

With the money saved I would reccomend this-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127512
It only has 768 mb of ram but at 1600x900 that won't matter

The 5770 is ALMOST good enough to play games at full settings; the GTX 460 is only one increment above it, but that one increment makes a significant difference here.

Also this disc drive is priced the same as yours but has free shipping and uses a sata connector-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039

Hope that helps

sadams mentioned something about the Antec having 3 12V rails. Is that a problem/unnecessary/incompatible for what I have spec'ed out? Also, would I need a different mobo for an Nvidia card vs. ATI? Sorry for the potential noobish questions, but like I said, this would be my first build.

 

[sadams04]

+1 on the Phenom II x4 965 BE, but I would opt for the MSI 870A-G54 motherboard for the USB 3.0 support. If that isn't important at the moment the MSI 700 series motherboards are just fine.

Also at Microcenter...
4GB DDR3 Memory => http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0317772
Spinpoint F3 500 GB => http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0340804
GTS 450 (good card as well) => http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0347361
Samsung DVD Burner => http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0293049

 

[sadams04]

Three 12v rails means you will have to split out your power distribution IF you have a lot of devices to power (keep track of the rails as to now overload one of them).

 

[scher168]

Three 12v rails means you will have to split out your power distribution IF you have a lot of devices to power (keep track of the rails as to now overload one of them).

What exactly is "a lot" of devices? I'm only planning on using one gpu, one monitor, etc...

How big of a difference in gaming -and I suppose, general use- would there be between the Athlon and Phenom? Would it be a few fps better/slightly higher detail settings or extremely notable?

 

[batuchka]

If i were slapping up a sub $500 rig and have to compromise a bit an AthlonII isn't a bad compromise by any means but at your price point....

 

[scher168]

Okay, thanks for all the suggestions. How about something like this (changes to original build in bold):

Samsung DVD Burner => http://www.microcenter.com/single_ [...] id=0293049
$17.99


Antec Two Hundred(v2) Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=
$39.99 after $20 mail-in rebate

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0340804
$44.99 at Microcenter


TP-LINK TL-WN722N USB 2.0 High Gain Wireless Adapter - Yes, I need a wireless adapter of some sort.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6833704045
$19.99


MSI N460GTX Cyclone 768D5/OC GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127512&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=
$149.99 after $40 instant rebate, $119.99 after mail-in


Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371015
$69.99 after $30 instant rebate

OR

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005&cm_re=Corsair_650W-_-17-139-005-_-Product
$69.99 after instant and mail-in rebates. Combo with case no longer available.


LITE-ON SK-1788/BS 2-Tone PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6823107120
$6.99


Mushkin Enhanced Essentials 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996586
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820146748
$42.99


Microsoft
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116754
$99.99


COMBO:

Either:

AMD Athlon II X4 640

or

Phenom™ II X4 965 Black Edition

WITH

MSI 870A-G54 Socket AM3 870 ATX
http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html
$135.98 (Athlon) / $199.98 (Phenom) after bundle

Approximate total after rebates etc., plus rough shipping cost:
$605 (Athlon/MSI Combo)
$670 (Phenom/MSI Combo)

So a couple questions still: Is 650W sufficient for this, overkill, not enough? Am I correct in saying that gpu's, unlike cpu's, are generally not motherboard-specific?

 

[batuchka]

1. EA650/650TX more than enuff
2. Yes as long as a mobo has a PCIex16 slot doesn't matter ATI/Nvidia

 

[ScrewySqrl]

an extra $70 over the 965 will get you the 1090t 6-core, for $740 from the above build.


6-cores are showing some advantages in some games. Games that actually use 4 cores, like FF XIV, GTA IV, StarCraft II and Civ V, can offload background processes (or you can force them in task manager) to unused CPU cores. Other games, Like Metro 2033 and World Of Warcraft: Catacylsm, will actually use all 6 cores. WoW showed a ~5 fps edge at ultra settings with a GTX 480 (x6: 62 fps vs X4 57 fps) at the same cpu frequency. And a 8-10fps improvement over an Athlon II X4 640.

 

[scher168]

I think I'll stick with the Phenom or Athlon Quad Core right now. Can't be too greedy , plus it'll give me something else to upgrade in the future.

Well one more question right now: Do I need to get any more fans, or will the one 120 mm fan suffice? I'm not planning on overclocking or anything beyond basic installation.

 

[batuchka]

I would have at least 1 fan intake fresh air and 1 fan exhaust hot air