Just a (very long) question~

[AbysmalLimbo]

Would all these components and parts work with each other to build a decent gaming rig? And do you have any suggestions for better parts for a reasonable amount of money, within 25 dollars of each piece?

OS : Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit.

Case and Powersupply : RAIDMAX Tornado ATX-238WRP Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Raidmax RX-450K 450W Power Supply

Processor: AMD Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition Callisto 3.3GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Desktop Processor HDZ560WFGMBOX

MotherBoard: BIOSTAR A870 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard

Graphics Card: EVGA 01G-P3-1526-KR GeForce GT 520 (Fermi) 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

HDD: An old harddrive of mine, for the sake of the saved data.

and finally

RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ4GX3M1A1600C9B (Just to start off)

So to ask again. Is this a decent PC for the price I'm paying? Can you offer me some advice on other options for each part? Please and thank you

 

[Outlander_04]

an impossible question to answer when we dont know your budget

and a few other details that you can work out by reading the thread about how to ask for advice

 

[AbysmalLimbo]

Sorry, I didn't remember to add the budget. The budget is around 700 dollars. I'm going to be buying the parts one or two at a time. Rather than all at once. Does that help?

 

[clarkjd]

The problem with buying parts over a period of time, is that by the time you have all your parts together, the warranty of the parts you bought first may be expired. If they are bad, then you have to buy them over again.

 

[Onus]

Your initial parts are all wrong for a gaming build.
Old Raidmax PSUs are among the worst you can buy. That one will croak trying to put out 375W. A quality modern PSU has full range active PFC (no little voltage switch) and some level of 80+ certification for efficiency. Seasonic, Antec, Corsair, XFX, and Enermax/LEPA are among the better brands. An Antec Earthwatts or Corsair Builder would probably do well for you.
You want a minimum of three cores, but more than four really won't make a difference for games.
If you build an AMD rig (probably best for your budget), get an AM3+ mobo with a 900-series chipset. They'll support Bulldozer, have all the latest interfaces, and can do SLI as well as Crossfire.
The GT520 is not a gaming card at all. On a tight budget, a HD6770 is an excellent choice; even tighter a HD5670 will manage until you can afford an upgrade. What is your monitor resolution, or must a monitor be included in your budget?
You want to get a new hard drive. Your old one can be added to the rig as a secondary drive. If it is older, it may be getting near the end of its useful life, and it will certainly be slower than a new drive. If it is IDE, your best option may be to get an external case for it.

 

[AbysmalLimbo]

Corsair Builder would probably do well for you.

430w, 500w, or 600w? Which would work better?

You want a minimum of three cores, but more than four really won't make a difference for games.

So upgrade from x2 to x4? Any recommendations on that?

... get an AM3+ mobo with a 900-series chipset. They'll support Bulldozer, have all the latest interfaces, and can do SLI as well as Crossfire.

GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard would be a good MoBo then, correct?

The GT520 is not a gaming card at all. On a tight budget, a HD6770 is an excellent choice; even tighter a HD5670 will manage until you can afford an upgrade.

Must it be Radeon? I was leaning towards nVidia due to PhysX and because of how good they were to me in the past. Any good nVidia for that price range?

What is your monitor resolution

I have a monitor that does 1600x900, but my little sister bought a brand new HDTV so shes selling me her 1080p hdtv. So 1920×1080 I suppose.

Also, any good cases that you would say I should get for this rig?

 

[Onus]

The wattage you need will depend most on the GPU you choose. A 500W PSU will be sufficient for anything in your budget; only the very top couple of cards need more.
A Phenom II X3 720BE is only $75 right now, but you'll need to spend another $25-$30 on a cooler for it. It may or may not unlock to a X4. The X4 955BE is $120, and includes a basic cooler; you'll want another cooler only if you're interested in significant overclocking.
That mobo would be decent, or look at some of ASRock's offerings, like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157262 for $105.
You don't have to buy an ATI card, especially if you want PhysX. On your budget, you could probably fit a GTX560, but a GTS450 is in the $110 range like the HD6770. If you're at all interested in bitcoin mining, you'll need to forsake PhysX, because ATi cards outperform nVidia there by some 5x.
Case is very much a matter of personal choice, but I've always been satisfied by Rosewill's cases; no quality issues and the included fans are quiet. OTOH, I don't like Coolermaster cases. I used a $90 Enermax Hoplite (now $50 if you play the rebate game and win) for my last build, and I absolutely love it. It is remarkably quiet, has plenty of room, and has lots of drive mounting options including an external dock, a pair of 2.5" mounts, and a 2-slot backplane. The fans are whisper-quiet, including the additional 800-RPM Scythe I mounted in the top using silicon mounts.

 

[AbysmalLimbo]

The X4 955BE is $120, and includes a basic cooler; you'll want another cooler only if you're interested in significant overclocking.

I'm not good at overclocking. I destroyed my off the shelf computer while overclocking. Maybe if I got some help with it, I might look into it. :lol:

That mobo would be decent, or look at some of ASRock's offerings, like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157262 for $105.

I like that motherboard. 3 PCI Express 2 slots. Very nice.

You don't have to buy an ATI card, especially if you want PhysX. On your budget, you could probably fit a GTX560, but a GTS450 is in the $110 range like the HD6770. If you're at all interested in bitcoin mining, you'll need to forsake PhysX, because ATi cards outperform nVidia there by some 5x.

If I may ask, what is Bitcoin Mining (in basic English) so I may know my options? Also, would this be good for gaming? GIGABYTE GV-N450OC-1GI GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

I used a $90 Enermax Hoplite (now $50 if you play the rebate game and win) for my last build...

I looked at that case, and I'm quite impressed. I'll go through other cases like that for now.

 

[Onus]

Bitcoins are an online virtual currency, which can be traded for actual money on various exchanges. A few online vendors are apparently beginning to accept them for payment (though I haven't looked for any yet). They are generated through a process called "mining" which is basically solving a complex math problem much the way Folding@Home, SETI@Home, and BOINC work. For reasons that aren't entirely clear to me (I believe it involves an encryption algorithm), the calculations are much more efficiently done on an ATi card than nVidia. With enough GPGPU computing capability, you can apparently net anywhere from 50 cents to a couple dollars a day doing it, counting the cost of the power your rig is using. I'm just learning about it myself, so I haven't gotten too deeply into it yet, nor have I started mining. Though entirely unfamiliar, it is no more bogus than, say, US Dollars (and other fiat currency), which are no longer backed by anything (e.g. gold).

 

[AbysmalLimbo]

That's extremely new to me. Thank you for the information Maybe I'll look into building a second computer for that sometime, who knows. If I could make a few dollars a day, that could easily get me an upgrade later on. Maybe a year from then. That plus a job would mean a high amount of money, which would be very nice. And extra money for vacations and what not.