Computer Build Help

[CSykes24]

Hello,

I'm building a low-end desktop to run Starcraft II. I was hoping to get some insight from the community members here that could help me out a bit.

Motherboard: ASUS M5A97 Motherboard w/ AMD 970 Chipset ($94.10)

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus---M5A97-Desktop-Motherboard---AMD-970-Chipset---Socket-AM3+/4981681.p?skuId=4981681&productCategoryId=abcat0507008&id=1218588820429

CPU: AMD - FX-4100 3.60 GHz Processor - Socket AM3 - ($123.07)

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/AMD---FX-4100-3.60-GHz-Processor---Socket-AM3+/4664239.p?skuId=4664239&productCategoryId=abcat0507010&id=1218500896939

Graphics Card: ??????????????

Gigabyte 1GB Radeon HD 6670 (79.99)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125375

RAM: G-Skill RipJaws 4GB RAM ($29.99)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

Everything else is standard. 500W Power supply, case. Monitor would be ran on 1650x1080 or 1920x1080. Also the HDD is a standard 500GB 6GB/s HD.

Does this look okay? I appreciate any help/criticism. It's my first time building a PC, I wanna do it right!

 

[CSykes24]

Also, I don't need SC2 to run on ultra. Medium/High is perfectly fine. I just want to have good framerate and no lag. My budget is $400-500 for everything.

 

[Guest]

AMD FX-4100 $109.99
ASRock 970 PRO3 $74.99
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7750 1GB $99.99
$89.99 after mail-in rebate card

use the RAM you picked . .was there something else?

 

[JefferyD90]

First things first, I think if you buy from TigerDirect.com you would be a much happier with your pricing... (especially when compairing to bestbuy)...

With that said, that set up would run Stracraft just fine, I think ASUS is the best motherboard manufacture on the market, and the FX-4100 (109.99 on TigerDirect) is one of your best value gaming CPU's. Your RAM choice is good and all, but in all honesty if your going for a budget build just pick up 8GB of cheep 1600mhz typically priced around $40-$50. Your would really benifit in StarCraft by getting a Solid State Drive, you can get a 60GB OCZ for not a whole lot, like $50-$75, if you need it as a system drive as well the 120GB versions are very nicely priced, there was one for $99 just the other day.

But you got the right idea going!

 

[CSykes24]

You guys are awesome. I'm gonna take a look at TigerDirect, as well as newegg, and then post again with another build to see if it's okay. Thanks for the help though, I really appreciate it.

 

[dd21]

AMD Build

Processor: AMD FX-4170 ($129.99 after promition) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819106009

Motherboard: ASUS M5A78L-M LX PLUS ($59.99) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131795

Ram: Team Xtreem Dark Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 ($42.99) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313080

Graphics: MSI R7770-PMD1GD5 Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition ($110 after MIR) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127687


Total for all this is $357.96 with out rebate


Intel Build

Processor: Intel Core i3-2120 ($109.99 with promotion) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115077

Motherboard: ASRock H61M-DGS ($44.99) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157315

Ram: Team Xtreem Dark Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 ($42.99) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313080

Graphics: Galaxy 55NGH8HX4UXX GeForce GTX 550 Ti ($103.99 after MIR) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162094

Total for all this is $321.96

 

[CSykes24]

AMD Build

Processor: AMD FX-4170 ($129.99 after promition) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819106009

Motherboard: ASUS M5A78L-M LX PLUS ($59.99) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131795

Ram: Team Xtreem Dark Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 ($42.99) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313080

Graphics: MSI R7770-PMD1GD5 Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition ($110 after MIR) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127687


Total for all this is $357.96 with out rebate


Intel Build

Processor: Intel Core i3-2120 ($109.99 with promotion) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115077

Motherboard: ASRock H61M-DGS ($44.99) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157315

Ram: Team Xtreem Dark Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 ($42.99) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313080

Graphics: Galaxy 55NGH8HX4UXX GeForce GTX 550 Ti ($103.99 after MIR) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162094

Total for all this is $321.96

Why such a cheap motherboard? I feel like the AMD 880 - 970 Chipsets are way better. I don't want to use Intel chipsets. Also, the GTX 550 Ti is a terrible graphics card, compared with the Radeon HD 7750 ... price wise, it outperforms it by a ton. I was watching some reviews on it. I'm about to post my new build in here in just a second.

 

[CSykes24]

Okay guys, here's my new build for the PC, tell me if this is okay?

Motherboard: ASUS M5A97 Motherboard w/ AMD 970 Chipset ($94.10) Newegg

CPU: AMD - FX-4100 3.60 GHz Processor - Socket AM3 - ($109.99) Newegg

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 - (46.99)

Graphics Card: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP (99.99)

HDD - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s (64.99)

Case - LOGISYS Computer CS305BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Enhanced SOHO Computer Case 480W Power Supply (29.99)

I'm going to buy extra fans and get some heatsink to do all this. The only question I would have here is: is this build good? is my case okay? obviously I don't want overheating problems here, and it comes with a 480W power supply, is that enough?


Total build = $400 total w/o shipping. Or a DVD-RX Drive, which I'm gonna take from my old desktop.

 

[Guest]

WHOA!
please do not trust a 480 watt psu supplied with a case . . just might turn out to be a flaming brick. i highly recommend:
CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 $44.99
$24.99 after mail-in rebate card

the final cost of $25 is more than worth it for the assurance. and the wattage is quite enough.

 

[CSykes24]

WHOA!
please do not trust a 480 watt psu supplied with a case . . just might turn out to be a flaming brick. i highly recommend:
CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 $44.99
$24.99 after mail-in rebate card

the final cost of $25 is more than worth it for the assurance. and the wattage is quite enough.

How can you tell what sort of wattage I will need? I thought my graphics card would need 400W or something around that. I would assume the motherboard/CPU would need atleast 50-70 ? I thought 480 was pushing it...but I definitely agree on the flaming brick thing, I'm a noob builder ... first time. I wasn't sure if that was even real, it's too cheap.

Thanks for the insight!

 

[Guest]

How can you tell what sort of wattage I will need? I thought my graphics card would need 400W or something around that.

there is NO graphics card that will need 400 watts!

that would require more than the power connector can supply - a 8 pin pci power connector has 150 watts.
a card with 2 of 8 pins get 300 watts. and then the PCI slot itself supplies 75 watts for 375 total.
btw, a 6 pin power connector supplies 75 watts also. still that does not mean that the card will use all the supplied power.

take a zero ( 0 ) off the end of that 40[strike]0[/strike] watts.

 

[CSykes24]

Haha oh wow, I'm sorry I posted that then. I could've sworn I read on the specifications for my other one I was gonna get that said minimum 400W power supply needed or something of sort. Thanks for clearing that up.

So does anyone think that build is good enough to go ahead and order?

 

[CSykes24]

Okay guys, here's my new build for the PC, tell me if this is okay?

Motherboard: ASUS M5A97 Motherboard w/ AMD 970 Chipset ($94.10) Newegg

CPU: AMD - FX-4100 3.60 GHz Processor - Socket AM3 - ($109.99) Newegg

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 - (46.99)

Graphics Card: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP (99.99)

HDD - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s (64.99)

Case - LOGISYS Computer CS305BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Enhanced SOHO Computer Case 480W Power Supply (29.99)

I'm going to buy extra fans and get some heatsink to do all this. The only question I would have here is: is this build good? is my case okay? obviously I don't want overheating problems here, and it comes with a 480W power supply, is that enough?


Total build = $400 total w/o shipping. Or a DVD-RX Drive, which I'm gonna take from my old desktop.



Does anyone think this is a good build? With me getting a better power supply.

 

[Guest]

that is a good modest light gaming build. though you may find this article informative for your budget
Build It: Picking Parts For Your Kid's Entry-Level Gaming PC

 

[JefferyD90]

For just a couple dollars more I would get a 7770... your looking at a instant 10-15% performance difference. I actually found a Gigabyte 7770 cheaper than a 7750 just a while back... only paid $100 for it and the cheepest 7750 was $105. Just watch for deals! Your build could EASLY be under $350 if you bought the parts at the right time.

 

[CSykes24]

I'm going to drop the Sapphire 7750 and pick up the nVidia GeForce GTX 550 Ti instead for $109.99. I did some spec looks and it performs way better, from what I'm seeing.

Are newegg and tigerdirect my only sites to look for pricing? It's turning into a $450-500 build and I feel like buying a $500 computer at this point would be the exact same.

 

[JefferyD90]

The 7750 is not a gaming video card... it was ment more for a mid ranged user, your Ti's on the other hand are ment for gamers.

And honestly TigerDirect and NewEgg are your 2 best places to buy electronics. They are most certainly the cheapest, and tiger offers the best return policy eva!