$700 Budget Gaming Build

[DcS]

First, hi.. just found the site recently.. seems like a lot of really well informed intelligent people here. Anyway... following the sticky

1. Used for gaming / general use. Not really doing any type of graphics or anything like that
2. Right about $700
3. USA
4. No Brand Preference
5. A friend is giving me a case.. I'm not entirely sure as to what it is but he assures me it will be fine. I also have two power supplies, one of which I think will be sufficient.. correct me if I'm wrong http://www.ultraproducts.com/p...Path=383&productID=383
Other one is also an ultra, rails aren't as good though (If I understand power supplies correctly) http://www.tigerdirect.com/app...tails.asp?Sku=ULT31841
6. I've done some research on these on the forums and other sites, read the stickies, etc, to get to the parts I have. I haven't done a build in 4 years though and I'd like some confirmation or tips from those more experienced
7. Planning on overclocking to 1:1 with DDR2-800, which I think is 3.8 ghz with an E8400. A more experienced friend is going to help with the overclock.
8. I plan on pulling the trigger sometime next week or the week after.


GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P45 ($107.99)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 ($174.99)
Mushkin 4gb DDR2-800 5-4-4-12 @ 1.8v ($89.99, plus $25 MIR)
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 ($174.99, plus $20 MIR)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB ($89.99, plus $5 promo code)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro ($31.99)
Samsug Black 22x Sata DVD Burner ($26.99)

Subtotal: $696.93
Shipping: $12.02
Promo Code: $-5.00
Total: $703.95
MIR: $45
Total after rebates: $658.95

 

[DSF]

A 1:1 overclock with the E8400 is 3.6GHz. You might consider the E7200 instead, which would overclock to 3.8GHz 1:1 and cost less. It has half the cache, so it's not quite as fast clock-for-clock, but that isn't going to matter at 3.8GHz. (Note that getting to 3.8 isn't a guarantee, but a lot of people are hitting that from what I've read.)

 

[DcS]

3.6Ghz is actaully fine, I wasn't sure if the multiplier was 9 or 9.5. One thing I am looking at is perhaps getting RAM with 4-4-4-12 timings. How big of a difference would that be compared to the 5-4-4-12 I have listed? Not sure which particular one I would pick, but there's another Mushkin one for about $20 more with 4-4-4-12 @ 2.0-2.1v. http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146726

 

[scotyard]

what do ram timings have to do with mobo? can you explain a bit.

 

[DcS]

I'm not entirely sure where that question came from or what you're getting at with it..

 

[DSF]

Timings make essentially no real-world performance difference. Don't worry too much about them, the Mushkin you were looking at is fine. My point though is that if you're going to stop at the limit of your RAM, there's no reason to get the E8400 when the E7200 will OC to around the same point and be less expensive. If you're overclocking, the only real benefit the E8400 has over the E7200 is that it has a higher ceiling, but you need faster RAM to reach that ceiling.

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

You could get an e8300 for ~150-165. You wouldn't sacrifice the cache while offering something between the 8400 and the 7200