Building a "casual gaming" computer

[chubbyfatazn]

I've been using an old Socket 939 PC for about three years now and it's getting a bit long in the tooth for a few things. I figured that with prices being what they are right now it's the right time to build. I basically am looking for a CPU, mobo, RAM, and a gfx card. Build will be kept for roughly 2-3 years.

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Standard email/word docs, along with some gaming on the side (TF2 and the like mainly)

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

$400

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

USA

4. IF YOU have a brand preference.

None

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

AC Freezer Pro 64, NEC DVD burner x2, a 74GB Raptor and a 250GB Seagate, Corsair 620W (HX620W), CM690, speakers, 26" Toshiba LCD TV (monitor), XP 32-bit or Vista 64-bit

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

Yes

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

OC

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?

Within this month


I've been eyeing the following:

Phenom II X3 720 - combo with board for around $230
Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-UD4H
This set of DDR2 Ballistix (will be traded direct to Crucial for a set of dead DDR Ballistix)
4870/GTX 260, whichever is cheaper at time of build - around $160

Total $390

The aforementioned dead set of Ballistix can be traded for anything worth about $60 at Crucial's website, so if there is a compelling reason to go with DDR3 I'm open to that as well.

If it would be wiser to go with a Core 2 build or even save for i7, then I'm open to it as well.

Thanks.

 

[Zap]

You didn't list a case.

Is that seriously a 2X burner?

The stuff all looks good. I don't have experience with that particular motherboard, so since you want to OC you may want to research that in particular.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Zap
You didn't list a case.

Is that seriously a 2X burner?

The stuff all looks good. I don't have experience with that particular motherboard, so since you want to OC you may want to research that in particular.

I think he means that he has 2 of the NEC DVD Burners

 

[chubbyfatazn]

Originally posted by: Zap
You didn't list a case.

Is that seriously a 2X burner?

The stuff all looks good. I don't have experience with that particular motherboard, so since you want to OC you may want to research that in particular.

Yeah, I have two of them.

I have a Coolermaster 690 case that I am going to reuse.

Thanks guys.

 

[richierich1212]

A few days ago Newegg had the 720 + Biostar TA790GX mobo combo for ~$199.95 or so, so just wait for a good combo deal to come back, and the 955 should be out around the 20th of this month. The 4830 can be had for ~$84 or so after rebate and shipping from newegg as well. If you are casually gaming I don't see the need for the 4870 especially since the 4830 can be overclocked easily to 4850 speeds. And 4GB of decent ram (overclockable) should be only around $45-$50. That leaves you with a good amount of $ leftover for a future upgrade.

 

[TidusZ]

An o/c'd 4830 will get him by in MOST titles today but not all. He's using a 26" monitor, so I'm assuming 1920x1080 resolution or something close to that. Having run all of todays games, including crysis, at 1920x1200 on a 8800gt, I can say that the 4830 will be fast enough for all except crysis. If more games come out with higher requirements it's not really gonna fly though. I think either way makes sense, he's not really buying something so expensive that the price-performance is getting bad.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

I have read that the 4830 and even the 4670 would be enough for my monitor (which is actually a tv, so 1360x768), but I figured if I were to keep the system for 2-3 years and not do upgrades on it at all it'd probably work out better to pick up a 4870/GTX 260. Unless I really should be buying a new mid-range card every 1-1.5 years, as I have also read here.

I don't play anything more intensive than TF2 because my X2 3800 @ 2.7GHz and my X1900 still struggle to pull above 25fps in TF2. I do hope to expand into games like Crysis after the completion of this build, however.

 

[TidusZ]

Computer technology moves pretty fast, video card technology doesn't move fast, it teleports and wallhacks... I bought a 8800gt for 300 and a year later its worth 100, I bought this 295 for 650 and 1-2 months later its on sale for 550. You are definitely better off going for something that's good enough and cheap and buying a similarly priced card 1-2 years down the road. Ya ya, do as I say not as I do. Eat your vegetables too while I'm at it.

And btw, if your cpu still doesn't run crysis to your liking when your finished upgrading, don't worry too much about it. It's more of a benchmark than a game, and I did finish the first and get ~1/3 through the second.

 

[richierich1212]

Yup video cards are constantly getting faster and cheaper these days, best to get good enough now and then upgrade later as the games get more advanced

 

[Plutoburn]

Originally posted by: richierich1212
Yup video cards are constantly getting faster and cheaper these days, best to get good enough now and then upgrade later as the games get more advanced

Doesn't this statement hold true in perpetuity?