$800 build recomendations

[tanoril]

Approximate Purchase Date: this month

Budget Range: $800

System Usage from Most to Least Important: (gaming, internet)

Parts Not Required: keyboard/mouse/monitor

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: none

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Additional Comments: Needs to include the price for the OS (windows 7) as well.


Thanks in advance.

 

[FinneousPJ]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/261222-13-build-advice

 

[nekulturny]

CPU-$120- Phenom II 965
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

Motherboard- Asrock 970 $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157280

Video Card- Radeon 6870 $170
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948

RAM-Gskill 2x4GB $47
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314

Case- CoolerMaster HAF 912 $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233&Tpk=haf%20912

Power- Corsair CX500 $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027&Tpk=cx500

HDD- WDC 500Gb -$80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769

Windows 7- $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

CD/DVD Burner- $18
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

CPU Cooler- $35
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Total- $770 TADA!! :lol:

 

[tanoril]

Great, thanks a lot. Out of curiosity (not that I'm opposed to Radeon), what would be the Nvidia equivalent to the video card you listed?

 

[nekulturny]

Nvidia equivalent? The 6870 was originally built to compete with the GTX 460... In my opinion its right up there with the 560 TI.

Its pretty close, see for yourself:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/290?vs=330

 

[tanoril]

I see your point and I agree. Confession - I've never used a Radeon in any system I've built (which numbers about 5-6) and I didn't realize they were that on par with the 560's.

I've also read many good things about the Phenom's, unfortunately I've been out of the loop since the last system I built is going on 5 years old now.

 

[nekulturny]

I've usually had Nvidia cards myself, not because I had anything against Radeon, just more familiarity with their product line. From what I've heard Radeon is sometimes slow on putting out drivers updates, but I don't know if that really has any serious implication on performance or not. I tend to doubt it does.

Well, as far as being back in the loop for computers, right now the absolute best gaming CPUs on the market are Intels. Specifically the I5-2500k, if you could find a way to get one of those in your budget, that would be your best bet, but with 800 dollars to fit, the only way I could see you pulling it off is to go cheaper on the video card, and for a gaming system, that isn't a hot idea, since just about any CPU is going to handle games.

Intel has a pretty big price gap between their dual cores and their quads unfortunately.

Their dual core i3s work pretty good and cost about the same price as the Phenom II I recommended, but its limitations are the 2 less cores. This may or may not be a problem playing online multilayer games (since Online play is more CPU intensive than Single Player, or as new games come out (Since right now I think BF3 is one of the only game that can use more than 2 cores).

 

[tanoril]

I think I'd lean more toward more cores at this point. My gaming is trending more toward single player (RPG's like Skyrim, Deux Ex, etc) than MMO's and online play.

If I have money to spare, I'd prefer to put that extra money in the GPU if it's doable so I'm perfectly fine with the Phenom. Although seeing how it's not a huge gap between the 6870 and the 560's, there really isn't a whole lot of room there unless I want to bump up the budget to 850, then perhaps some other cards may come into play?

That case is perfect also, I've always done flashy cases in the past but I'm getting older, the case should reflect a more rugged, dare I say more mature, aesthetic.

 

[nekulturny]

Well on the Nvidia side of things, the next step up is the GTX 570, they run about 300.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130593

Or you could consider a 7850 from the Radeon side. This one is overclocked by the factory and runs about 260.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125419

 

[tanoril]

Best answer selected by tanoril.