Evaluate my build please ;)

[grizzlymatt]

So, I'm looking to make a decent gaming rig, I am in no way elitist. I am perfectly fine with low-medium graphics in my games, as long as it is a stable, cost efficient system .
Here is what I have so far, please tell me what you think, I have looked up reviews on each individual piece. This may change depending on new sales or existing ones disappearing since I am planning on building this the week after xmas.


http://www.techspot.com/review/163-radeon-hd-4770/page13.html
around 100 bucks

A bundle package off a website:
Biostar G41D3C LGA775 Intel G41 m-ATX Motherboard & Intel Celeron E3400 Wolfdale 2.60GHz Socket 775
Dual-Core Processor
100 bucks

http://www.directron.com/996768.html -that or something similar
Mushkin Silverline 4GB (2x2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 (PC3-10666)
Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory 996768, 9-9-9-24, w/ Stiletto
Heatsink
Regular price:$79.99On Sale: 22$

http://www.directron.com/pl500rpf.html
Pixxo 500W ATX Computer Power Supply PL-500RPF, Supports
SATA and PCI-E, w/ 80mm Cooling Fan
30 bucks or 15 on sale

http://www.directron.com/rc342kkn1gp.html -
Black Cooler Master Elite 342 Mini-Tower Micro-ATX Steel
25$

Computer Case RC-342, with 120mm Fan. P/N: RC-342-KKN1-GP
Regular price:$49.99On Sale: 25 bucks

http://www.directron.com/wd800bbnp.html
*New Pull* Western Digital (WD) Caviar 3.5in 80GB IDE Internal
Hard Drive, 7200RPM, 2MB Cache, Model: WD800BB/WD800JB.
OEM
Regular price:$69.99On Sale: 24.99$

http://www.directron.com/sh222ab.html
Black Samsung SH-222AB 22x DVD+/-R SATA Internal DVD Writer,
16x DVD+R DL, 12x DVD-R DL, 8x DVD+RW, 12x DVD-RAM.
OEM
Regular price:$29.99On Sale: 18$

In the end, like I said it'll all be very similar to this in specs, but a thing to note is people have reported succesful overclocking of the CPU here of up to 3.6ghz without much extra strain. So, all together it'll be about this:

2.6ghz duo core processor
4gbs RAM
80gb HDD
500w Power supply
4 usb ports
for 300$, thoughts?
I put all the info into a can you run it site and it said Battlefield 3 would be playable on medium settings on 1920x1200, and the only problem was the cpu. .

Any thoughts/ideas/suggestions/evaluations ^^?

 

[Emelth]

Whats your overall budget?

 

[grizzlymatt]

Anywhere between 300-400, it depends. Why? Don't like it ;p?

 

[Emelth]

its not that lol its just cause knowing your budget would help us assist you better.

Its a very old build you are trying to put together not much upgradability since its all pretty much outdated, i would advise you to save up more money to get a build that will allow you to upgrade better

 

[Arzhur]

Are you sure that 80Gb memory is enough? Battlefield 3 takes up at least 11.3Gb, you also have to take into account that Windows will also take some of it and once formatted it be a bit less than 80Gb (my 1Tb Hdd has only 931Gb of available space).

 

[grizzlymatt]

For the upgrading, from what I understand, the graphics card is good enough to play games for a while from now on medium settings, and like I said, I'd be fine with low settings ;p. If I upgraded my PSU couldn't I upgrade other things? The Motherboard can handle up to a quad core processor, and it has a few more slots on it.
For the memory part, I know. It'd be fine till I could purchase a cheap external drive.
I went over the whole thing with a friend that took a bunch of computer classes, including 1 on building computers. Did we miss something o;?
From what I understand BF3 is a monster to run, and this can run it on medium settings on a full 1920x1200, isn't that good o.o? Could ya evaluate my current build and tell me what you think ;p?

 

[boiler1990]

If you're building a computer with older hardware, I'd say get parts off of the forums. I see a lot of people letting 4870x2s go for ~$100, and you could easily find a solid Core2Quad for about the same $$.

Also keep in mind that games are moving away from DX9 and are requiring at least DX10, so some older cards won't work with new games.

 

[grizzlymatt]

If you're building a computer with older hardware, I'd say get parts off of the forums. I see a lot of people letting 4870x2s go for ~$100, and you could easily find a solid Core2Quad for about the same $$.

Also keep in mind that games are moving away from DX9 and are requiring at least DX10, so some older cards won't work with new games.

That card i posted scored really high compared to other cards. The friend whose a techie said it's a beast card that he wants as well. http://www.techspot.com/review/163-radeon-hd-4770/ I'll look around the forums later if you think I could find some deals. I hate to say it but is it reliable? I'm always worried when I buy from other people. Is my setup for 300 bucks really that bad? I mean battlefield on full resolution on medium is that bad for 300 dollars o.o?

 

[boiler1990]

The 4870 and 4890 are better than the 4770 last time I checked (which was a while ago, so I'm not entirely sure), and the 4870x2 has 2 of the 4870 GPUs in one card, so it performs about twice as well as the 4870.

I was recommending buying from a forum simply because A) you're looking at much older hardware, and there's a lot of it floating around on the forums, and B) it can be found for MUCH cheaper on forums.



I buy stuff on hardforum.com and anandtech.com (two other HUGE computer sites; more hardcore into computing) and so far haven't had any issues. I tend to stay away from Tom's Hardware, because not enough people use feedback systems (described below).

Just make sure the seller has some form of feedback/reputation. Heatware is the most common - you can check out mine as a sample: http://www.heatware.com/eval.php?id=75353.

You'll see that I have 34 positive reviews and 0 negatives, which is about your average trader. Some people have less (20 or below), and many have more (in the hundreds).

The other protection method is to pay only by Paypal (for goods/services[/b]) or Amazon Payments (for goods/services[/b]). Do not pay with 'Gift' payments. You have no buyer protections if you use gift, and you aren't supposed to pay for items using it so Paypal will kick you to the curb if you try to ask you for help.

 

[grizzlymatt]

Ah, thank you. I'll look into those sites. I'm on a pretty tight budget ;p so maybe I'll find something good, all I know is I want a semi decent gaming rip ;p.