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Gaming rig for girlfriend

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Hey Everyone,

I'm going to be building a gaming computer for my girlfriend and reusing some of my computer parts (that I'm replacing off my system) to save some money. I have a mid tower ATX case, 750w 20+4pin PSU and a CD drive, nothing special but it's a start. I'd like to build something that will handle Diablo3 and Portal2 on High settings, she'll also play WoW but really... who cares about it's graphics. a calculator will max those out.

so she has a budget and I hate making cheap systems, help us find a happy medium. I'd like to build something that will handle the games on medium and be upgraded (I'm thinking adding a second graphics card here) down the road so i want a good initial card that will respond well to crossfire. I'm air cooling so I'm thinking an FX processor b/c they tend to run cooler from my experience. I also don't want to skimp to much on the mobo but I do understand you get what you pay for... but OEM windows locks itself down to these part sooo... also I'd like a SSD boot drive and HDD data drive or maybe a seagate hybrid drive.

anyway, budget is 500-700.

throw some idea's my way,
thanks!

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okay so you have the atx case, psu, and optical...what about the monitor? :D 

anyway here is my recommended list
$60 BIOSTAR A880G+ AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

$150 GIGABYTE GV-R777D5-1GD Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

$23 G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBNS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

$120 AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

$110 Seagate Momentus XT ST95005620AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ Solid State Hybrid Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Subtotal: $462.95 -$120 in savings + shipping

90% sure I have a corsair 750w bronze rated... also I'd drop the extra $40 to go to a FX-4170 and get 8gigs, the rest of your build looks solid alvine. I like the inclusion of the 7770, I never thought of dropping a 7xxx card in their b/c of the cost of the 78xx but the 7770 should crossfire very nicely... make a new x-mas gift to bump up the FPS and hit a higher graphical setting in game! also the 880G (wait a second...)

okay I see why you went with a Phemon now, I'm going to joot those parts down and see if I can tweak the parts to get a board that supports FX but I know those Phenoms are solid, had one myself for my first build earlier this year.
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Gaming Expert

Exactly what case do you have? I restrict to micro-ATX because you said you have a mid tower case.

Also, wait until more Z75 mobo out and make a build from it instead of H77 makes more sense for this budget.

For your price get an I5 or an I3. It will perform a lot better for gaming. I would get a 6770 because it will perform better and you have a good psu.
6770 $99 after rebates
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

I5 2400 $149
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

GA H61-M micro atx mobo $44 after rebates
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

XMS 8GB DDR3-1333 (PC3-10666) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit $29 after rebates
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

Get the hard drive alvine suggested

The case supports a full mobo, these thread is going faster then i can keep up at work but I'm going to write all these down and do the research tonight, getting much more responses then I thought I would. my girlfriend's going to love this Forum lol
Gaming Expert

Good to know your case can fit a full ATX mobo. The MSI micro-ATX mobo is terrible at XFire.

If your case can fit full ATX mobo, then this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... 139.99

Since the full size mobo is z77, you may as well pick up a i5-3570k for about $225 when it come out to use the z77 overclock potential for a total of about $750.

Sorry it went over. Just a suggestion, you don't have to take my advice.

I was wanted to do a AMD build but the more I think about it as long as an Intel board will fit in my ATX case (never something I've looked into) the i5's don't look to bad. I won't be overclocking her machine like I've done mine so I'm not worried about frying the chip and having to replace...

what does anyone think of the Llano A8 with a dual card set-up? the gains are not the same as a crossfire config but they are still notable over either single card and it would bring the price down a good bit I think...

That will give you better graphics but worse processing power. If you don't care about overclocking it, save by getting an I5 2400 and an H67 motherboard. It should game similarly but will be quieter, cooler, and cheaper.

okay well I don't want worse processing power, I can upgrade and crossfire GPU's... CPU's just need to be replaced or overclocked and either way can get pricy. best to just do it right from the start. I'll stick with the CPU + Discreet GPU option and look into the Intel 2400k on a H67 platform as well as making an Phenom x4 or FX work on some kinda of mobo

Keep in mind that it is a dance. Sorta like having to keep the wife and girlfriend happy at the same time. Have too little CPU and it will bottleneck your SLI/Xfire GPU setup.
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