New System Build (550)

Niden230

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Nov 4, 2009
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18,510
Approximate Purchase Date: Tomorrow

Budget Range: 500-550
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Graphic Design, Web surfing.

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS, Hard Drive

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg.com, Tigerdirect.com

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: No real preferrence

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Additional Comments: I found a great build through the forums here (http://www.squidoo.com/electronicandmore) that I thought was in my budget til s/h and taxes kicked in and it ended up going way over my budget, so I now I want to see if there's a budget build that keeps all this in mind as I really can't afford to go over the 550 limit no matter what. May seem like a tall order as this rig is going to be for playing games on high if not maxed out settings and will handle graphic design as well being future proofed a bit.
 
Solution
ok. that took me longer than I thought. Your budget is pushing it. The following are not exactly premium parts but they should work and will give you excellent performance per dollar.

i3-2120 Don't forget the promo code! and get the 2100 if you buy after the sale
560 ti
Gigabyte h61 mobo
G.SKILL 8GB DDR3 1333mhz ram
Rosewill 530W
Apex cheap case this is big enough but not the best quality. Watch those sharp edges.
LG super-multi dvd burner

Total: 546.57 shipped (if taxes are added, let me know. I can grab a cheaper mobo)

I was going to suggest a pentium level sandy bridge cpu but graphic design will benefit from the hyper threading on the i3.
That gpu should be able to play any current...

slicedtoad

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Mar 29, 2011
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ok. that took me longer than I thought. Your budget is pushing it. The following are not exactly premium parts but they should work and will give you excellent performance per dollar.

i3-2120 Don't forget the promo code! and get the 2100 if you buy after the sale
560 ti
Gigabyte h61 mobo
G.SKILL 8GB DDR3 1333mhz ram
Rosewill 530W
Apex cheap case this is big enough but not the best quality. Watch those sharp edges.
LG super-multi dvd burner

Total: 546.57 shipped (if taxes are added, let me know. I can grab a cheaper mobo)

I was going to suggest a pentium level sandy bridge cpu but graphic design will benefit from the hyper threading on the i3.
That gpu should be able to play any current game on max (bf3 might graphics turned down a tad).
 
Solution

Niden230

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Nov 4, 2009
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hmmm, after taxes its certainly a lot cheaper, but not by a lot, and that was with the promo code, trying to see if we can shave off another 15 somewhere, but if not I think I can live with this.
 
Hey thanks for checking out my link! I'm going to assume that you live in CA? You should check out Amazon, mainly because you won't be charged tax. With that said, some adjustments to my build, $80 off (Since you don't need the HDD) that'd bring you to $570. Bring the 6870 down to the 6850 that'll save you $20 bringing you below your budget and still allowing you to still have the i5 2400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125353
(With the promo, the 6850 is only $150)

Another area you could save money is the PSU
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-430-Watt-Certified-Compatible-Platforms/dp/B004W2T2TM%3FSubscriptionId%3D19BAZMZQFZJ6G2QYGCG2%26tag%3Dsquid1240995-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB004W2T2TM
This'll be able to even power an i5 2400 with the 6870 so no worries (That saves you $15)
Another area is the motherboard, though you lose SATA 3 and USB 3 you save another $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157241&Tpk=h61%20vs
 

slicedtoad

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Mar 29, 2011
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When you win the lottery tomorrow you can use this build instead.

7970 x4 with four Koolance water blocks
MSI big bang II mobo
i7-3960X cooled with a Koolance 370 cpu block
64GB G.SKILL DDR3 2400mhz ram
Corsair AX1200 PSU
Crucial M4 514GB x6 raid array
th10 case with 3 black ice GTX 480, 12 NB m12 fans to cool them and a couple 200mm BitFenix fans for case ventilation.
Triple water loop using 3 Bitspower modded D5 vario pumps, many feet of Black PrimoFlex , 3 bay reservoirs, around two dozen compression fittings and a killcoil

That'll run you a nice 13 thousand. Oh, you'll need 3 2560x1600 screens to properly exploit those gpus, make that 16 thousand.