Advice for Budget Gaming PC

[latimer]

I'm looking for some advice on a budget gaming rig I will be building. I will be using it for everyday web browsing and some gaming like League of Legends and Starcraft II. My budget is ~$500 including shipping and tax. I will be buying the parts in the US. I am not partial to any brand, just looking for the best bang for the buck. I will be using the optical drive, 1 TB hdd, monitor, keyboard, and mouse from my current computer. I will not be overclocking and my monitor is 1920x1200. I intend to build as soon as possible as my current computer is on its last legs.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition

Motherboard: Leaning towards the Biostar A770E3 or A780L3G as they have the best rating on Newegg: http://www.microcenter.com/specials/...ndlePROMO.html (CPU + mobo = $130)

Heatsink: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler ($30)

RAM: G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) OR G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) ($30)

PSU: RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-530SS 530W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular LED Power Supply ($40)

Hard drive: Kingston 64GB SSD V-100 SERIES SV100S2N ($70)

Video card: SAPPHIRE 100338L Radeon HD 6770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card ($105)

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ($60)

Total without shipping and tax: $465

I'm particularly interested in advice on which CPU/mobo bundle I should go with as I'm not that familiar with the difference between the boards and also whether I should go with 2x2 GB or 1x4 GB for the RAM. Thanks!

 

[aphelion02]

I don't like the RAIDMAX PSU, otherwise it looks pretty good to me. I would also bump up the graphics card to this 6850 w/ free dirt3 for $140:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150551

Change the PSU to one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371047
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371048

500W should be more than sufficient, but you get 100W more headroom for just $5; its a tossup to me.

 

[oynaz]

The 620W will probably be a bit less efficient at most loads. I would go with the 520W.

 

[latimer]

Ok thanks for the advice. I will be going with the Antec 520W PSU. I just realized that the CPU I listed is retail not OEM so it comes with a heatsink/fan. Will it be sufficient or should I go with a third party heatsink/fan? I will not be doing any OCing.

How big of a performance boost would I see by going with the 6850 vs the 6770? I don't really play much hard-core games but I would like LoL and SCII to play smoothly.

Also do you have any recommendations out of the mobos listed on the combo page I posted? I'm still a little lost on which to choose.

 

[oynaz]

Regarding CPU cooler, the stock coolers are fine if you are not OCing. The aftermarket coolers might be a bit quieter.

for difference between 6770 and 6859, see Anandtech's benchmarks.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I would go with a low end SandyBridge build. Atleast you'll have a nice upgrade path to a 2500K if you wanted. Start with the Core i3 2100

 

[aphelion02]

SB was my first thought too, but I think for his budget that Phenom combo is hard to beat and offers the best price/performance balance.

As for the 6770 vs 6850, I think for your resolution the 6850 will give you more options in modern games (Anandtech bench shows anywhere between 20%-50% performance increase). Also for just $40 or so you get a free copy of Dirt3, so I feel it is a better deal.

 

[lau808]

i know you said no oc but... isnt the 955 $10 cheaper and you could just bump the multiplier up 1 notch (x.5) to get 965 performance or even match it to one of the higher x4 clocks... free performance safely imo

 

[mfenn]

i know you said no oc but... isnt the 955 $10 cheaper and you could just bump the multiplier up 1 notch (x.5) to get 965 performance or even match it to one of the higher x4 clocks... free performance safely imo

That is true, but the MC promo doesn't include the 955.

OP, Aphelion has given you some good advice, so listen to him! You could safely use a 430CX though. As for the mobo, I'd get the 770 because you don't need the IGP.

 

[aphelion02]

Why not get one of those AM3+ ones from Asus or Gigabyte? They are the same cost and offer a free upgrade path to Bulldozer.

 

[latimer]

Thanks for the advice everyone! This is probably the finalized build I'm going to go unless anyone has some last minute feedback. I changed the following from my original configuration: stock heatsink/fan instead of third party to save some money, PSU is now the Corsair CX430, video card is now the Radeon 6850, and hard drive is now the OCZ Vertex 2 Agility.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P Socket AM3+ 760G mATX (CPU + mobo = $130)

Heatsink: Stock heatsink/fan

RAM: G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) ($30)

PSU: CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply ($35)

Hard drive: OCZ Agility 2 OCZSSD2-2AGTE60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive ($85)

Video card: XFX HD-685X-ZNFR Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity ($140)

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ($60)

Total without shipping and tax: $480

 

[mfenn]

Looks fine to me. The 760G is pretty meh as a chipset, but it will work fine considering your budget.

 

[latimer]

Alright so everything finally arrived and I assembled everything but... no boot. The fans all start spinning and I can hear the drive spin up but no video appears on the screen. I tried removing the RAM since that is supposed to generate warning beeps but I didn't hear anything. I removed the graphics card, and hard drive then cleared the CMOS and still no boot. I'm starting to suspect that either the CPU or mobo is DOA but is there anything else I can do to rule out an error on my part?

 

[oynaz]

Try another video card if you have one. Most boards won't boot without a video card, so that might be the culprit as well.

 

[mfenn]

The mobo you picked has onboard graphics, so you should be able to hook a monitor up to that. Make sure you have the 4-pin ATX12V connector plugged in.

 

[latimer]

I tried with both the onboard graphics and the video card and neither produced any video output. The 4 pin and 24 pin are both hooked up to the mobo. I tried a stick of ram from another computer that I know is good and tried in both RAM slots, but that didn't help either. At this point should I just exchange the mobo and CPU? I don't have something to switch either out so I don't think I can isolate the problem beyond that.

 

[mfenn]

Can you try another power supply as well? Or test your power supply with another machine? Another thing to try is to take everything out of the case (lay the mobo on top of its box) and try running there. That lets you rule out any grounding issues.

If you can rule out the PSU, I'd feel pretty confident that the mobo is the problem. Of course, since you bought them both at MC, they would probably be willing to swap both the mobo and CPU out at the same time.

 

[latimer]

Just an update. I exchanged the CPU and mobo and everything is working fine now. Got Windows installed with a 7.3 experience index and everything is performing like I hoped it would. Thanks for all the help!

 

[mfenn]

Sorry you got a bad part, but I'm glad that you got it fixed!