Budget Gaming build review?

[icered]

I'm building a budget gaming rig and my system overhaul cycle is usually once in two or three years. I've bought a few components already and the rest would be bought this weekend. So in urgent need of reviews and feedback. So far have come up with :

Processor - E5200[2mb L2 cache] (and overclock as much as possible)
Motherboard - GA-EP45C-DS3R (with Crossfire support and PCI 2.0)/GA-P35-S3G (no crossfire and only PCI x16)
Hard Disk - 500GB Seagate
Graphics - ATi Radeon Sapphire 4850 512MB (Already purchased)
Keyboard - Logitech Ultraflat
Mouse - Logitech MX518 (Already purchased)
Monitor - Benq T2200HD (21.5" 16:9) (Already purchased)
RAM - 4GB Transcend DDR-2 800
Cabinet - with generic 450W SMPS
(And right now running Windows 7 beta and OpenSuse)


The only reason I'm goin with a cross-fire board here is, say 8 months down the line when the 4850s become cheap enough I could buy one more and run them in cross-fire.(And I hear only in P45 chipsets do they scale "acceptably OK" compared to the P35 or the 965 chipset boards) But the irony here is I'm spending almost thrice as much on the board than the proc. Is this wise?

For such a rig do I skimp on cross-fire and spend more on the proc (say get a E7400 instead of a E5200)

What do you guys think? Would the proc even OCed to 3~3.2GHz be a bottleneck for the card? Might get a quad later when prices are cheap enough as well...

PS: The above items are not being purchased from within the U.S

 

[error8]

Change the generic 450 crap PSU. It's dangerous. Get an 500W Antec or something like that, or even a beefier one if you plan on going cross fire later on.

That E5200 at around 3.6 ghz will not be a bottleneck for your videocard and it's fairly simple to hit that frequency, probably even with the stock cooler. Keep the P45, it's better to have Pci Express 2.0 for future generations of cards. Adding a quad later on can really help you extend the life of this rig.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

There is a section for this, its under General Hardware.

 

[icered]

Originally posted by: error8
Change the generic 450 crap PSU. It's dangerous. Get an 500W Antec or something like that, or even a beefier one if you plan on going cross fire later on.

That E5200 at around 3.6 ghz will not be a bottleneck for your videocard and it's fairly simple to hit that frequency, probably even with the stock cooler. Keep the P45, it's better to have Pci Express 2.0 for future generations of cards. Adding a quad later on can really help you extend the life of this rig.

Does it really make any sense going for a cross-fire board when I might be upgrading only after 1 year... Newer cards might be out for far less and it might be better ditching the 4850 for a better card + quad, rather than getting another 4850 and running it in cross-fire. Economically is a "new gen card"+"quad-core cpu" better than a "2-way 4850 CF"+"quad-core cpu" ?

Further if I plan to run to use CF, what is the minimum recommend rating of the smps? I've never faced problems with generic smps'. Do i really need a branded 500W for the gfx card?

Originally posted by BTRY B 529th FA BN

There is a section for this, its under General Hardware.

Sorry I didn't know that. How do I move the thread?

 

[error8]

Cross fire or SLI never makes sense for me. When the card is starting to suck at performance, I just sell it and buy a faster one. Multi GPU solutions usually have their part of issues, not scaling here and there.I would get a P45 though for that Pci-Express 2.0 slot. P35 have only Pci-ex 1.1, so not enough bandwidth for future generation cards.

Regarding the PSU, you could get away with that generic one, or it might blow up in your face, probably damaging some other components. It's up to you if you want to take this risk. For cross fire however, you really need a good 650 W PSU.

 

[Denithor]

You need to decide one of two things. Either go cheap & plan to upgrade about a year from now (cpu/mobo/ram/maybe gpu) or else go higher end and only upgrade the gpu when it gets too slow.

Games depend much more on GPU power than CPU so if you buy a 'muscular' quad today you won't need another cpu for probably 2-3 years. But more games are being released that benefit from (or even truly need) a quad for good performance (SupCom, GTA4, UT3) and this trend is going to continue/accelerate in the coming year(s) for one simple reason: the consoles are multi-core so games are developed around that hardware.

Your choices today:
e5200 ($75) + G31 ($50) + 4GB DDR2 ($45)
q8300 ($190) + UD3R ($100) + 4GB DDR2 ($45)
(Grab the UD3P instead if you're interested in crossfire down the road.)

Beyond those choices I would add the following.
WD6401AALS Caviar Black ($80 - much faster than 500GB Seagate)
512MB 4870 ($145AR - much better value than 4850) or 1GB 4870 ($180AR - will be usable longer - especially at your chosen resolution)

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I wouldn't get either of those boards. You should try to find a middle ground, such as Gigabyte EP45-DS3L or look at a different manufacturer altogether. The reason? The P35-S3G is a budget board, and fairly old by today's standards, and I think you would be wise to try to fit the E7400 into your budget. Or you could switch to the AMD platform and get a Phenom II 710, since you can get Crossfire boards for a bit less overall than on the Intel side.

 

[HOOfan 1]

Originally posted by: icered


Further if I plan to run to use CF, what is the minimum recommend rating of the smps? I've never faced problems with generic smps'. Do i really need a branded 500W for the gfx card?

For 4850 Crossfire at least a decent quality 550W....a generic 450W and crossfire is just asking for trouble.

 

[Jabbernyx]

Get a better PSU (Antec EarthWatts, Corsair TX, BFG, etc. see AT's PSU roundup).
Sticking with the E5200 is fine. Heck, I built a new system for my parents using it (OC'ed) and it felt a little faster than my current 3.6GHz E6600.

 

[icered]

Originally posted by: Denithor
You need to decide one of two things. Either go cheap & plan to upgrade about a year from now (cpu/mobo/ram/maybe gpu) or else go higher end and only upgrade the gpu when it gets too slow.

Games depend much more on GPU power than CPU so if you buy a 'muscular' quad today you won't need another cpu for probably 2-3 years. But more games are being released that benefit from (or even truly need) a quad for good performance (SupCom, GTA4, UT3) and this trend is going to continue/accelerate in the coming year(s) for one simple reason: the consoles are multi-core so games are developed around that hardware.

Your choices today:
e5200 ($75) + G31 ($50) + 4GB DDR2 ($45)
q8300 ($190) + UD3R ($100) + 4GB DDR2 ($45)
(Grab the UD3P instead if you're interested in crossfire down the road.)

Beyond those choices I would add the following.
WD6401AALS Caviar Black ($80 - much faster than 500GB Seagate)
512MB 4870 ($145AR - much better value than 4850) or 1GB 4870 ($180AR - will be usable longer - especially at your chosen resolution)

I guess going cheap rite now is the best option. But for a gaming ring(though budget), is G31 really a good option? Since i plan to OC the E5200 anyway wouldn't the g31 chipset based motherboards hold me back?

For 4850 Crossfire at least a decent quality 550W....a generic 450W and crossfire is just asking for trouble.

Point taken!

I wouldn't get either of those boards. You should try to find a middle ground, such as Gigabyte EP45-DS3L or look at a different manufacturer altogether. The reason? The P35-S3G is a budget board, and fairly old by today's standards, and I think you would be wise to try to fit the E7400 into your budget.

If i were to go for the EP45-DS3L, don't u think i might as well spend the $40 more and get the crossfire board(EP45C-dS3R)?

Its choosing the motherboard now I'm totally confused about considering the limited choices available to me as I not purchasing from the U.S.

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: icered
Its choosing the motherboard now I'm totally confused about considering the limited choices available to me as I not purchasing from the U.S.

You should tell us these things up front... the deals we have here do not apply (there's a G31 board for $50 with free shipping).

What I'm getting at is this - a dual core system is going to remain a good gamer for another year or so but not indefinitely. More games are shifting to the "quadside" and more will continue to do so. And all it takes is that "one" game you really really want to play - that requires a quad to run smoothly - and you're going to regret having a dual.

That said, for the moment I would personally go cheap dual + mobo and either 4850 or 4870 and then just count on a full upgrade (cpu/mobo/ram/gpu) in 1-2 years.

 

[icered]

Originally posted by: Denithor

Originally posted by: icered
Its choosing the motherboard now I'm totally confused about considering the limited choices available to me as I not purchasing from the U.S.

Sorry, I should have mentioned that in the first post.

You should tell us these things up front... the deals we have here do not apply (there's a G31 board for $50 with free shipping).

That said, for the moment I would personally go cheap dual + mobo and either 4850 or 4870 and then just count on a full upgrade (cpu/mobo/ram/gpu) in 1-2 years.

But your suggestion of a g31 board. I can get one here for around $50(~$60). Would this be enough as I plan to OC the proc anyway, hoping 3.6Ghz on the stock cooler. Do the G31 chipsets(like the GA-EG31MF-S2) allow for good overclocks? Or should i go for a P45/P35 board for PCI 2.0 and better overclocks like cusideabelincoln suggested?

 

[edplayer]

Originally posted by: icered
But your suggestion of a g31 board. I can get one here for around $50(~$60). Would this be enough as I plan to OC the proc anyway, hoping 3.6Ghz on the stock cooler.

Depends on which board you are talking about. Zap did a review on a few G31 boards:

Originally posted by: Zap
Separate reviews, not a roundup. Whew, that's it for me this weekend.

Zap's Mini Review: Asus P5KPL-AM/PS

Zap's Mini Review: Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L

Zap's Mini Review: ECS G31T-M

Search the web for some reviews on the boards that are available to you. 3.6GHz will run pretty warm on the stock cooler but it will work (assuming your cpu can do it which is a pretty good chance that it can)

 

[icered]

Originally posted by: edplayer

Originally posted by: icered
But your suggestion of a g31 board. I can get one here for around $50(~$60). Would this be enough as I plan to OC the proc anyway, hoping 3.6Ghz on the stock cooler.

Depends on which board you are talking about. Zap did a review on a few G31 boards:

Originally posted by: Zap
Separate reviews, not a roundup. Whew, that's it for me this weekend.

Zap's Mini Review: Asus P5KPL-AM/PS

Zap's Mini Review: Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L

Zap's Mini Review: ECS G31T-M

Search the web for some reviews on the boards that are available to you. 3.6GHz will run pretty warm on the stock cooler but it will work (assuming your cpu can do it which is a pretty good chance that it can)

That was a real cool review. The G31 board i am looking at is the GA-EG31-MF-S2. Although slightly different(this one includes 8channel audio and fire-wire support), judging from zap's review and the ones from newegg it looks like a solid board with good OC capabilities! The GA-EG31-MF-S2 only looks to be slightly advanced in feature set, so it should be as good an overclockable board as the GA-G31M-S2L!