Building new PC - low cost, light gaming

[14532]

Hi everyone - I'm hoping to build a new PC. If you can offer any suggestions I would appreciate it.

1. What YOUR PC will be used for - general internet use and also capable of playing half-life series (so a nice graphics card would be great)

2. What YOUR budget is. $500 maximum (would prefer if its more around $400)

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

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. monitor, keyboard, mouse, and I have a 320 GB external hard drive so the hard drive I will buy doesn't need to be huge capacity.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads. No

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds. No overclocking

8. WHEN do you plan to build it? One or two weeks

 

[DaveSimmons]

Newegg $500 combo:

$85 - Gigabyte P43 motherboard - Item#:N82E16813128380 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...380&Tpk=gigabyte%20p43
$165 - intel E8400 core 2 3 GHz retail box with heatsink - Item #: N82E16819115037 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115037
(or +$15 for E8500 3.16 GHz - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115036 )
$47 - Crucial 4GB DDR2 RAM - Item #: N82E16820148160 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820148160
$110 - Antec NSK4480 with Earthwatts 380watt PSU
$100 - Radeon 4830 - (many, with a game)
or -$25 for Radeon 4670 instead,
or +$30 for GTX 250, or +$50 and look for some 4870 deal in Hot Deals

The case runs cool and quiet with the included 120mm exhaust fan and reliable power supply.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Phenom II 720BE / Biostar 790gx combo deal: $212 before rebate

An e7400 or a PhII 710 will save you a few more bucks. To hit $400 you will need to look at an X2 7750 Kuma or an e5200.

 

[Denithor]

Buy a Dell or HP with an e7500 or e8400 and drop in a 4830 for $70AR.

/thread

 

[yh125d]

I would go with the lineup DaveSimmons posted, but step down on the processor to a e7400 or e5400 (either would be plenty of power for HL2 and the episodes) to save $50, and step down to the 4670, which can be had for around $60, and will still have plenty of HL2 power. Hell, my brothers PC with an 8600gt plays episode 2 at 19x10 with like 80-100fps on max settings. I'd also switch to this G.Skill (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16820231226) ddr2-1066 for 43 + free ship

However, if you think you will play anything other than HL2 in the near future, an extra 15-20 for the 4830 is probably warranted

 

[MykC]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.165025 Phenom II 720 and Biostar 790GX deal $212http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820145184 2x2GB Corsair DDR2 800 $45 - $25MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811129042 Antec 300 case $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817341010 OCZ 600W PSU $70 - $20MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16827136152 LG DVD Burner $25
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136074 WD 320GB AAKS $55

$462 - $55MIR = $407

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...yCodeValue=679%3A44946 512MB 4830 $95 - $15MIR

$557 - $70MIR = $487

I stongly recommend considering overclocking, it easier than before and its safer than before. The software to overclock an unlocked AMD CPU (like the 720) is provided by AMD (for both the CPU and GPU). Here an article that shows how easy it is: http://www.tomshardware.com/re...clock-athlon,2161.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835186020 Artic MX-2 Thermal Compound $7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835233003 Xigma $37 - $10MIR (AMD)

I basically have this exact sytem and it plays any game very well. Crysis at 720p on high settings at 1080p on medium with high shaders and high physics. Far Cry 2, Fear 2, Fallout 3 all play on high settings flawlessly at 1080p.

 

[nestlewater]

Originally posted by: MykC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.165025 Phenom II 720 and Biostar 790GX deal $212http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820145184 2x2GB Corsair DDR2 800 $45 - $25MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811129042 Antec 300 case $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817341010 OCZ 600W PSU $70 - $20MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16827136152 LG DVD Burner $25
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136074 WD 320GB AAKS $55

$462 - $55MIR = $407

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...yCodeValue=679%3A44946 512MB 4830 $95 - $15MIR

$557 - $70MIR = $487

I stongly recommend considering overclocking, it easier than before and its safer than before. The software to overclock an unlocked AMD CPU (like the 720) is provided by AMD (for both the CPU and GPU). Here an article that shows how easy it is: http://www.tomshardware.com/re...clock-athlon,2161.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835186020 Artic MX-2 Thermal Compound $7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835233003 Xigma $37 - $10MIR (AMD)

I basically have this exact sytem and it plays any game very well. Crysis at 720p on high settings at 1080p on medium with high shaders and high physics. Far Cry 2, Fear 2, Fallout 3 all play on high settings flawlessly at 1080p.

This is good,

Take out the case
Take out the DVD burner
Take out the Hard drive

Put that into a 4870 1gb instead of the 4830, THE DIFFERENCE IN PERFORMANCE IS HUGEEEEEE. dont' ever consider the 4830

The reason is you can strip the above removed piece from your old computers.

You have an external for storage, use your old hardrive as boot drive.

Break your boot drive into 2 partitions, the boot partition 20gb max, and another for games/etc

Install VITAL loadup programs on the 20gb partition. Defragment hard drive after you install any programs/drivers

Torrents and download to the second partition, and extract to your external. etc

This is to prevent fragmenting which really hinders computers with small /limited space

 

[nestlewater]

Originally posted by: nestlewater

Originally posted by: MykC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.165025 Phenom II 720 and Biostar 790GX deal $212http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820145184 2x2GB Corsair DDR2 800 $45 - $25MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811129042 Antec 300 case $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817341010 OCZ 600W PSU $70 - $20MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16827136152 LG DVD Burner $25
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136074 WD 320GB AAKS $55

$462 - $55MIR = $407

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...yCodeValue=679%3A44946 512MB 4830 $95 - $15MIR

$557 - $70MIR = $487

I stongly recommend considering overclocking, it easier than before and its safer than before. The software to overclock an unlocked AMD CPU (like the 720) is provided by AMD (for both the CPU and GPU). Here an article that shows how easy it is: http://www.tomshardware.com/re...clock-athlon,2161.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835186020 Artic MX-2 Thermal Compound $7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835233003 Xigma $37 - $10MIR (AMD)

I basically have this exact sytem and it plays any game very well. Crysis at 720p on high settings at 1080p on medium with high shaders and high physics. Far Cry 2, Fear 2, Fallout 3 all play on high settings flawlessly at 1080p.

This is good,

Take out the case
Take out the DVD burner
Take out the Hard drive

Put that into a 4870 1gb instead of the 4830, THE DIFFERENCE IN PERFORMANCE IS HUGEEEEEE. dont' ever consider the 4830

The reason is you can strip the above removed piece from your old computers.

You have an external for storage, use your old hardrive as boot drive.

Break your boot drive into 2 partitions, the boot partition 20gb max, and another for games/etc

Install VITAL loadup programs on the 20gb partition. Defragment hard drive after you install any programs/drivers

Torrents and download to the second partition, and extract to your external. etc

This is to prevent fragmenting which really hinders computers with small /limited space

DO NOT OVERCLOCK, it is not worth it for this setup, because gains will be minimal, and you will NOT feel it whatsoever.
Just make sure your memory timings etc are manually set to correct specifications. Motherboards seldom detect timings correctly.

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: nestlewater

Originally posted by: nestlewater
This is good,

Take out the case
Take out the DVD burner
Take out the Hard drive

Put that into a 4870 1gb instead of the 4830, THE DIFFERENCE IN PERFORMANCE IS HUGEEEEEE. dont' ever consider the 4830

The reason is you can strip the above removed piece from your old computers.

You have an external for storage, use your old hardrive as boot drive.

Break your boot drive into 2 partitions, the boot partition 20gb max, and another for games/etc

Install VITAL loadup programs on the 20gb partition. Defragment hard drive after you install any programs/drivers

Torrents and download to the second partition, and extract to your external. etc

This is to prevent fragmenting which really hinders computers with small /limited space

DO NOT OVERCLOCK, it is not worth it for this setup, because gains will be minimal, and you will NOT feel it whatsoever.
Just make sure your memory timings etc are manually set to correct specifications. Motherboards seldom detect timings correctly.

Um...you do realize that HL2 doesn't need much of a system at all to run beautifully, right?

4870 is utterly silly to recommend for HL2 & general use computing.

Just do what I suggested above: buy a Dell or HP and drop in a 4670 or 4830, load the newest drivers and you're done.

 

[alcoholbob]

Hell you might even go with an E5200 if you want to go with a cool and low powered solution.

 

[14532]

Thank you all for your suggestions. As I was going through your recommendations I got an idea (bear in mind I'm not really computer-savy): I have a dell laptop (latitude D620). Would I be able to remove the dvd drive, the hard drive (100 GB 7200 rpm), and the cpu (intel core 2 duo) and use those parts in the new computer? If so, then I can save some more money.

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: 14532
Thank you all for your suggestions. As I was going through your recommendations I got an idea (bear in mind I'm not really computer-savy): I have a dell laptop (latitude D620). Would I be able to remove the dvd drive, the hard drive (100 GB 7200 rpm), and the cpu (intel core 2 duo) and use those parts in the new computer? If so, then I can save some more money.

DVD drive - No, wrong connection to motherboard
HDD - possibly but not really recommended
CPU - mobile chips are different beasties than desktop versions

Why would you strip down a laptop to build a desktop?!?

Ok, you pushed me into it - here's you a parts list.

e5200 (2.5GHz, 2MB cache) $70
Gigabyte G41M-ES2L $65
G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2-800 $40
Powercolor 4830 $80AR
WD2500YD $40
Sony 22X DVDRW $23
Antec Sonata III $107
Vista Home Premium 64-bit $100

Total: $525

You could trim $30 by going with this Gigabyte 4670 ($50AR) instead of the 4830 above, for HL2 it won't make much difference but you will definitely notice it in other, more demanding games.

 

[nestlewater]

DON"T listen to these people, They just want you to buy fluffffff with your money. Things that you'll seldom use/need/want at all.

No, you shouldn't strip the laptop.

4870 is utterly silly to recommend for HL2 & general use computing.

Just do what I suggested above: buy a Dell or HP and drop in a 4670 or 4830, load the newest drivers and you're done.

This kid doesn't know what he's talking about, he's just jealous that your 400 dollar budget comp is gonna blow away his crummy 8800gts/9800, because he bought a 70 dollar computer case and a bunch of Light up fans that gave him 0 performance boost.

Best comparison I can Give you is, you're blind, so would you rather have a hot chick that is terrible in the sack, or a plain looking chic who is AMAZING in the sack.

The phenom paired with a 4870 would be at least 15-30% faster than the 8400 + 9800/8800 in games.

Go for the plain chick with a heart of gold, amiable personality, and porn star moves.

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: nestlewater
DON"T listen to these people, They just want you to buy fluffffff with your money. Things that you'll seldom use/need/want at all.

No, you shouldn't strip the laptop.

That's the first piece of good advice I've seen nestlewater give so far.

4870 is utterly silly to recommend for HL2 & general use computing.

Just do what I suggested above: buy a Dell or HP and drop in a 4670 or 4830, load the newest drivers and you're done.

This kid doesn't know what he's talking about, he's just jealous that your 400 dollar budget comp is gonna blow away his crummy 8800gts/9800, because he bought a 70 dollar computer case and a bunch of Light up fans that gave him 0 performance boost.

Best comparison I can Give you is, you're blind, so would you rather have a hot chick that is terrible in the sack, or a plain looking chic who is AMAZING in the sack.

The phenom paired with a 4870 would be at least 15-30% faster than the 8400 + 9800/8800 in games.

And that's the first time in a long time I've either
1) been called a kid (I've been building & servicing computers for nearly 20 years now) and
2) insulted like that.

I'm not worried that $400 today will beat up my system. Makes no difference to me at all. And by the way, my system's not for gaming - it's for F@H ppd, which it handles quite nicely.

What bothers me is people paying for "fluff" as you called it - stuff they don't need. Like a 4870 to play HL2. I won't argue that a 4870 will be faster than other cards - but once you go above 60fps your LCD monitor simply doesn't display any difference. And a 4670 or 4830 will easily run >60fps in HL2.

So, nestlewater, unless you want a vacation for a little thing called a personal attack which is not allowed here on the forums, please contain your comments to debating my points, not calling names.

 

[Schmide]

OK my fun

HEC 6C28BB8S Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $35

TUL LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX $33 AR free shipping

ASUS Radeon HD 4870 512MB $135 AR

Vista 64 Ult OEM + e5200 $200

Thermaltake Purepower 600W + CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) $55 AR

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32M $80 Promo Code EMCLPNL32

SAMSUNG sata dvdr $25

$563 + ~$10 shipping.

Edit Oops ram twice replaced case

 

[nestlewater]

Originally posted by: Denithor

Originally posted by: nestlewater
DON"T listen to these people, They just want you to buy fluffffff with your money. Things that you'll seldom use/need/want at all.

No, you shouldn't strip the laptop.

That's the first piece of good advice I've seen nestlewater give so far.

4870 is utterly silly to recommend for HL2 & general use computing.

Just do what I suggested above: buy a Dell or HP and drop in a 4670 or 4830, load the newest drivers and you're done.

This kid doesn't know what he's talking about, he's just jealous that your 400 dollar budget comp is gonna blow away his crummy 8800gts/9800, because he bought a 70 dollar computer case and a bunch of Light up fans that gave him 0 performance boost.

Best comparison I can Give you is, you're blind, so would you rather have a hot chick that is terrible in the sack, or a plain looking chic who is AMAZING in the sack.

The phenom paired with a 4870 would be at least 15-30% faster than the 8400 + 9800/8800 in games.

And that's the first time in a long time I've either
1) been called a kid (I've been building & servicing computers for nearly 20 years now) and
2) insulted like that.

I'm not worried that $400 today will beat up my system. Makes no difference to me at all. And by the way, my system's not for gaming - it's for F@H ppd, which it handles quite nicely.

What bothers me is people paying for "fluff" as you called it - stuff they don't need. Like a 4870 to play HL2. I won't argue that a 4870 will be faster than other cards - but once you go above 60fps your LCD monitor simply doesn't display any difference. And a 4670 or 4830 will easily run >60fps in HL2.

So, nestlewater, unless you want a vacation for a little thing called a personal attack which is not allowed here on the forums, please contain your comments to debating my points, not calling names.

........ I was assuming, fine, I take it back.

However, for his purposes, which 'playing games' being the most demanding work, My suggestion caters more completely.

I will not argue frames with you, because more = better is ubiquitous amongst competition gamers.

now performance wise, put on "4xTRAA and 16AF" <contemporary minimal setting>, 4830 will absolutely start dropping the ball Here/there, while 4870 will not.

 

[yh125d]

Originally posted by: nestlewater

Originally posted by: Denithor

Originally posted by: nestlewater
DON"T listen to these people, They just want you to buy fluffffff with your money. Things that you'll seldom use/need/want at all.

No, you shouldn't strip the laptop.

That's the first piece of good advice I've seen nestlewater give so far.

4870 is utterly silly to recommend for HL2 & general use computing.

Just do what I suggested above: buy a Dell or HP and drop in a 4670 or 4830, load the newest drivers and you're done.

This kid doesn't know what he's talking about, he's just jealous that your 400 dollar budget comp is gonna blow away his crummy 8800gts/9800, because he bought a 70 dollar computer case and a bunch of Light up fans that gave him 0 performance boost.

Best comparison I can Give you is, you're blind, so would you rather have a hot chick that is terrible in the sack, or a plain looking chic who is AMAZING in the sack.

The phenom paired with a 4870 would be at least 15-30% faster than the 8400 + 9800/8800 in games.

And that's the first time in a long time I've either
1) been called a kid (I've been building & servicing computers for nearly 20 years now) and
2) insulted like that.

I'm not worried that $400 today will beat up my system. Makes no difference to me at all. And by the way, my system's not for gaming - it's for F@H ppd, which it handles quite nicely.

What bothers me is people paying for "fluff" as you called it - stuff they don't need. Like a 4870 to play HL2. I won't argue that a 4870 will be faster than other cards - but once you go above 60fps your LCD monitor simply doesn't display any difference. And a 4670 or 4830 will easily run >60fps in HL2.

So, nestlewater, unless you want a vacation for a little thing called a personal attack which is not allowed here on the forums, please contain your comments to debating my points, not calling names.

........ I was assuming, fine, I take it back.

However, for his purposes, which 'playing games' being the most demanding work, My suggestion caters more completely.

I will not argue frames with you, because more = better is ubiquitous amongst competition gamers.

now performance wise, put on "4xTRAA and 16AF" <contemporary minimal setting>, 4830 will absolutely start dropping the ball Here/there, while 4870 will not.

On half life? No, no it won't. A 4830 would have no problem at all maxxing out HL2 entirely at big resolutions. A 4870 would be just ridiculous for the half life series

 

[heyheybooboo]

MykC built a great rig.

And to not OC a PhII 720 **Black Edition** is heresy. It's so easy even a Dook Fan could do it.

 

[nestlewater]

Originally posted by: yh125d

Originally posted by: nestlewater

Originally posted by: Denithor

Originally posted by: nestlewater
DON"T listen to these people, They just want you to buy fluffffff with your money. Things that you'll seldom use/need/want at all.

No, you shouldn't strip the laptop.

That's the first piece of good advice I've seen nestlewater give so far.

4870 is utterly silly to recommend for HL2 & general use computing.

Just do what I suggested above: buy a Dell or HP and drop in a 4670 or 4830, load the newest drivers and you're done.

This kid doesn't know what he's talking about, he's just jealous that your 400 dollar budget comp is gonna blow away his crummy 8800gts/9800, because he bought a 70 dollar computer case and a bunch of Light up fans that gave him 0 performance boost.

Best comparison I can Give you is, you're blind, so would you rather have a hot chick that is terrible in the sack, or a plain looking chic who is AMAZING in the sack.

The phenom paired with a 4870 would be at least 15-30% faster than the 8400 + 9800/8800 in games.

And that's the first time in a long time I've either
1) been called a kid (I've been building & servicing computers for nearly 20 years now) and
2) insulted like that.

I'm not worried that $400 today will beat up my system. Makes no difference to me at all. And by the way, my system's not for gaming - it's for F@H ppd, which it handles quite nicely.

What bothers me is people paying for "fluff" as you called it - stuff they don't need. Like a 4870 to play HL2. I won't argue that a 4870 will be faster than other cards - but once you go above 60fps your LCD monitor simply doesn't display any difference. And a 4670 or 4830 will easily run >60fps in HL2.

So, nestlewater, unless you want a vacation for a little thing called a personal attack which is not allowed here on the forums, please contain your comments to debating my points, not calling names.

........ I was assuming, fine, I take it back.

However, for his purposes, which 'playing games' being the most demanding work, My suggestion caters more completely.

I will not argue frames with you, because more = better is ubiquitous amongst competition gamers.

now performance wise, put on "4xTRAA and 16AF" <contemporary minimal setting>, 4830 will absolutely start dropping the ball Here/there, while 4870 will not.

On half life? No, no it won't. A 4830 would have no problem at all maxxing out HL2 entirely at big resolutions. A 4870 would be just ridiculous for the half life series

THERE is no such thing as ............overkill............., in terms of PRICE / Performance ratio"

You can have a DVD burner, a nice looking case, some extra lit fans, 300gb extra..
which comes into no real use

Dvd burner- seldom used since hard drives are so cheap and large, and day after day getting cheaper AND larger

A nice looking case, yay, ur ferrari looks great, too bad it was beaten by a souped porsche 944. Better luck nx time.

extra comp fans, Not necessary at all, since this rig is not going to gen thattt much heat.

300gb HD, well he already said he doesn't need the space.

 

[yh125d]

Originally posted by: nestlewater

Originally posted by: yh125d

Originally posted by: nestlewater

Originally posted by: Denithor

Originally posted by: nestlewater
DON"T listen to these people, They just want you to buy fluffffff with your money. Things that you'll seldom use/need/want at all.

No, you shouldn't strip the laptop.

That's the first piece of good advice I've seen nestlewater give so far.

4870 is utterly silly to recommend for HL2 & general use computing.

Just do what I suggested above: buy a Dell or HP and drop in a 4670 or 4830, load the newest drivers and you're done.

This kid doesn't know what he's talking about, he's just jealous that your 400 dollar budget comp is gonna blow away his crummy 8800gts/9800, because he bought a 70 dollar computer case and a bunch of Light up fans that gave him 0 performance boost.

Best comparison I can Give you is, you're blind, so would you rather have a hot chick that is terrible in the sack, or a plain looking chic who is AMAZING in the sack.

The phenom paired with a 4870 would be at least 15-30% faster than the 8400 + 9800/8800 in games.

And that's the first time in a long time I've either
1) been called a kid (I've been building & servicing computers for nearly 20 years now) and
2) insulted like that.

I'm not worried that $400 today will beat up my system. Makes no difference to me at all. And by the way, my system's not for gaming - it's for F@H ppd, which it handles quite nicely.

What bothers me is people paying for "fluff" as you called it - stuff they don't need. Like a 4870 to play HL2. I won't argue that a 4870 will be faster than other cards - but once you go above 60fps your LCD monitor simply doesn't display any difference. And a 4670 or 4830 will easily run >60fps in HL2.

So, nestlewater, unless you want a vacation for a little thing called a personal attack which is not allowed here on the forums, please contain your comments to debating my points, not calling names.

........ I was assuming, fine, I take it back.

However, for his purposes, which 'playing games' being the most demanding work, My suggestion caters more completely.

I will not argue frames with you, because more = better is ubiquitous amongst competition gamers.

now performance wise, put on "4xTRAA and 16AF" <contemporary minimal setting>, 4830 will absolutely start dropping the ball Here/there, while 4870 will not.

On half life? No, no it won't. A 4830 would have no problem at all maxxing out HL2 entirely at big resolutions. A 4870 would be just ridiculous for the half life series

THERE is no such thing as ............overkill............., in terms of PRICE / Performance ratio"

You can have a DVD burner, a nice looking case, some extra lit fans, 300gb extra..
which comes into no real use

Dvd burner- seldom used since hard drives are so cheap and large, and day after day getting cheaper AND larger

A nice looking case, yay, ur ferrari looks great, too bad it was beaten by a souped porsche 944. Better luck nx time.

extra comp fans, Not necessary at all, since this rig is not going to gen thattt much heat.

300gb HD, well he already said he doesn't need the space.

There is such thing as overkill. GTX295 to play minesweeper is kind of pointless

Case 1: You play HL2 with maxed settings, at high res and get 95 fps steadily

Case 2: You play HL2 with maxed settings, at high res and get 100 fps steadily for $100 more using more power and generating more heat


Thats more or less 4830 vs 4870 in this scenario. Thinking 4870 is anywhere near necessary to play HL2 maxed out is just foolish, and you're tempting the OP to waste his money. Not to mention how dumb it is to spend $200 on a video card for a $400-500 computer To use your own alanogy, its like buying a Porsche GT2, and putting 13" donuts on it.

 

[nestlewater]

Originally posted by: yh125d

Originally posted by: nestlewater

Originally posted by: yh125d

Originally posted by: nestlewater

Originally posted by: Denithor

Originally posted by: nestlewater
DON"T listen to these people, They just want you to buy fluffffff with your money. Things that you'll seldom use/need/want at all.

No, you shouldn't strip the laptop.

That's the first piece of good advice I've seen nestlewater give so far.

4870 is utterly silly to recommend for HL2 & general use computing.

Just do what I suggested above: buy a Dell or HP and drop in a 4670 or 4830, load the newest drivers and you're done.

This kid doesn't know what he's talking about, he's just jealous that your 400 dollar budget comp is gonna blow away his crummy 8800gts/9800, because he bought a 70 dollar computer case and a bunch of Light up fans that gave him 0 performance boost.

Best comparison I can Give you is, you're blind, so would you rather have a hot chick that is terrible in the sack, or a plain looking chic who is AMAZING in the sack.

The phenom paired with a 4870 would be at least 15-30% faster than the 8400 + 9800/8800 in games.

And that's the first time in a long time I've either
1) been called a kid (I've been building & servicing computers for nearly 20 years now) and
2) insulted like that.

I'm not worried that $400 today will beat up my system. Makes no difference to me at all. And by the way, my system's not for gaming - it's for F@H ppd, which it handles quite nicely.

What bothers me is people paying for "fluff" as you called it - stuff they don't need. Like a 4870 to play HL2. I won't argue that a 4870 will be faster than other cards - but once you go above 60fps your LCD monitor simply doesn't display any difference. And a 4670 or 4830 will easily run >60fps in HL2.

So, nestlewater, unless you want a vacation for a little thing called a personal attack which is not allowed here on the forums, please contain your comments to debating my points, not calling names.

........ I was assuming, fine, I take it back.

However, for his purposes, which 'playing games' being the most demanding work, My suggestion caters more completely.

I will not argue frames with you, because more = better is ubiquitous amongst competition gamers.

now performance wise, put on "4xTRAA and 16AF" <contemporary minimal setting>, 4830 will absolutely start dropping the ball Here/there, while 4870 will not.

On half life? No, no it won't. A 4830 would have no problem at all maxxing out HL2 entirely at big resolutions. A 4870 would be just ridiculous for the half life series

THERE is no such thing as ............overkill............., in terms of PRICE / Performance ratio"

You can have a DVD burner, a nice looking case, some extra lit fans, 300gb extra..
which comes into no real use

Dvd burner- seldom used since hard drives are so cheap and large, and day after day getting cheaper AND larger

A nice looking case, yay, ur ferrari looks great, too bad it was beaten by a souped porsche 944. Better luck nx time.

extra comp fans, Not necessary at all, since this rig is not going to gen thattt much heat.

300gb HD, well he already said he doesn't need the space.

There is such thing as overkill. GTX295 to play minesweeper is kind of pointless

Case 1: You play HL2 with maxed settings, at high res and get 95 fps steadily

Case 2: You play HL2 with maxed settings, at high res and get 100 fps steadily for $100 more using more power and generating more heat


Thats more or less 4830 vs 4870 in this scenario. Thinking 4870 is anywhere near necessary to play HL2 maxed out is just foolish, and you're tempting the OP to waste his money. Not to mention how dumb it is to spend $200 on a video card for a $400-500 computer To use your own alanogy, its like buying a Porsche GT2, and putting 13" donuts on it.

Read it again,, "no ...overkill.... in terms of PRICE/ PERFORMANCE RATIO." You have 400 dollars,, now what do you do with it. Get the most performance, or buy fluff, or hire hookers.

And it is more like buying a keyed up porsche with a brand new engine and new intake/exhaust + twin turbo.

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: heyheybooboo
MykC built a great rig.

And to not OC a PhII 720 **Black Edition** is heresy. It's so easy even a Dook Fan could do it.

:laugh::thumbsup:

I agree - Dook fans suck.

You'll probably disagree with this but - go Wolfpack!

 

[will889]

Here's a good alternative to the AMD setup posted earlier. Both would do well. This is more than enough for any HL2 action. This setup should cost you around $503.00 (or thereabouts). You can sub the giga P43 for MSI if you like both are good. This is the setup I would by if it were me in your situation, and I build plenty of systems.


E7400 $119.00

MSI_P43 $74.00 AR

Gskill DDR2 1000 (4GB) $45.00

MSI_9800GT $95.00 AR

320GB SATA $55.00

Case = COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534 $55.00

Corsair 450VX PSU $60.00 AR

DVD-Optical (SATA) LG Black 22X $25.00

 

[Schmide]

will889 you forgot the OS. Tack on an extra 100-150.

Edit: O'Doyle Rules! and so does my build.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Almost everyone here is forgetting the operating system costs..

Complete fail in my eyes.