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Cheap $700-$800 i5 recommendation for gaming?

L

lektrix

Golden Member
Haven't been paying attention to the new 'i' series so looking for some advice. My friend has $700 to play with. He wants to game. He wants the $700 to incl. tax, shipping, and genuine W7 OS. I said "good luck" to him. Can anyone recommend a build without the OS for now? C2D or i5? AMD (ughh)?

Thanks.
 
Best you can do is a cheap AMD quad-core using the 620 Propus. What resolution does he game at? Is he reusing anything? If you want a full build with something from the 1156 platform, you'd probably need close to $800 (About $1100 for a 5850).
 
Slow(-ish) GDDR3 on 320bit doesn't necessarily provide much better bandwidth than the current fast DDR5 on 128bit (57xx = mid-range), let alone on 256bit (58xx = high-end).
 
About $800 with Win 7 HP 64 in
ilha.jpg
 
Great build. The only argument I have against it is the 5830, which I think was a total failure from AMD :/. Consider a 4890 or shell out more for the 5850. It would all depend on the types of games he's planning to play and resolution. It's tough to find a good full build for that budget.
 
Unfortunately he wants to stick with INTEL. HE was going to buy this Dell Studio XPS 8100 for $750+13% tax CAD :

Components
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
Intel® Core™ i5-650 processor(4MB Cache, 3.20GHz)
McAfee SecurityCenter, 30-Day Trial
Microsoft® Works 9.0
1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
3GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz
500GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
No Monitor
NVIDIA GeForce G310 512MB DDR3
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
No Modem Option
Dell Studio Consumer Multimedia Keyboard
Dell Studio Optical Mouse
No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
 
lektrix said:
Unfortunately he wants to stick with INTEL. HE was going to buy this Dell Studio XPS 8100 for $750+13% tax CAD :

NVIDIA GeForce G310 512MB DDR3
Click to expand...

That's a big mistake, that graphics card is nothing.

If you really want an i3/i5 on that budget, you're looking at something like this:

Core i3-530 $125
Cheap H55 mobo $85
4GB DDR3 $100
500GB 7200 RPM drive $55
Case + PSU + Optical $100
Windows 7 home premium retail $180
Total without a GPU: $645

If your budget is $800, you can fit an HD 5770. This would be waaaay better for gaming than that Dell.

The moral of the story: find a way to not pay retail for Windows.
 
No point in getting a 530 if you're getting a dedicated card, but that's just me. I like to have full functionality of everything I have (which is a little hypocritical at times). With a budget like that, you can easily build your own... I would only buy pre-built if I was on a $200-$300 budget and needed a surfing-the-net machine. Again, what resolution does he game at?
 
MisterDonut said:
Great build. The only argument I have against it is the 5830, which I think was a total failure from AMD :/. Consider a 4890 or shell out more for the 5850. It would all depend on the types of games he's planning to play and resolution. It's tough to find a good full build for that budget.
Click to expand...

Seeing its better than both the $210 HD 4890 and the $260 GTX 275 it is not a pointless GPU IMO - granted i picked out the cheapest one but the power consumptions levels (compared to HD 4890/GTX 275), raw frames and tech makes it a viable option for Full HD if one just simply cannot go for the next step up : HD 5850
Power-8.png
 
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Decent argument, but I've never really factored in power consumption for any of my parts...Performance definitely comes before it. IDK, get it if you want, but FYI, AT has recommended against it. I've never seen anybody get one, and all my friends also think it's not a great release. But honestly, it's only $70 more for a card that's much, much faster.
 
lektrix said:
Unfortunately he wants to stick with INTEL. HE was going to buy this Dell Studio XPS 8100 for $750+13% tax CAD :

Components
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
Intel® Core™ i5-650 processor(4MB Cache, 3.20GHz)
McAfee SecurityCenter, 30-Day Trial
Microsoft® Works 9.0
1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
3GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz
500GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
No Monitor
NVIDIA GeForce G310 512MB DDR3
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
No Modem Option
Dell Studio Consumer Multimedia Keyboard
Dell Studio Optical Mouse
No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Click to expand...

As has been noted, this would be a big mistake.

The ONLY dual-core i-series chip that is worth it is the i3 530. All of the others are overpriced relative to the i5-750 and AMD. The G310 is also laughable.

Batuchka's build is much, much better. I'm not sure what your friend has against AMD, but it seems a little silly. Why does he want to stick with Intel?
 
Last edited:
He no longer wants to "game" as much as he originally thought. 22" monitor 1650 res. Mostly developing and some gaming. How's this build?

Processor
Intel Core i5-750 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield LGA1156 2.66GHZ 8MB Cache Retail Box $199.79 (pricematch BestDirect.ca)

Motherboard
Gigabyte P55A-UD3P ATX LGA1156 P55 DDR3 2PCI-E 2PCI GBLAN CrossFireX USB3.0 SATA3 $156.99-$15 MIR (NCIX.com)

Memory
G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL Ripjaws PC3-12800 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Core i5 1.5V Memory Kit $108.49 (pricematch Newegg.ca)

Video Card
Powercolor Radeon HD PCs 4850 625MHZ 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E VGA DVI-I HDMI $104.99-$10 MIR (NCIX.com exclusive offer)

Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA Hard Drive WD6401AALS $65.97 (pricematch Onhop.ca)

Power Supply
XFX 650W XXX Edition Single Rail Modular ATX 12V 52A 24PIN ATX Power Supply $99.99-$30 MIR (NCIX.com)

Case
Azza Helios 910 Black ATX Mid Tower Case 9X5.25 1X3.5 4X3.5INT 230MM Blue LED Fans & Window $67.99-$20 MIR (NCIX.com)

LCD Monitor, OS, keyboard and mouse not included.
*all prices gathered from NCIX.com using their Price Match

Subtotal – $804.21
Tax (PST) – $40.21
MIR deduction – ($75.00)
Shipping – $5.99
TOTAL – $775.41
 
lektrix said:
He no longer wants to "game" as much as he originally thought. 22" monitor 1650 res. Mostly developing and some gaming. How's this build?

Processor
Intel Core i5-750 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield LGA1156 2.66GHZ 8MB Cache Retail Box $199.79 (pricematch BestDirect.ca)

Motherboard
Gigabyte P55A-UD3P ATX LGA1156 P55 DDR3 2PCI-E 2PCI GBLAN CrossFireX USB3.0 SATA3 $156.99-$15 MIR (NCIX.com)

Memory
G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL Ripjaws PC3-12800 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Core i5 1.5V Memory Kit $108.49 (pricematch Newegg.ca)

Video Card
Powercolor Radeon HD PCs 4850 625MHZ 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E VGA DVI-I HDMI $104.99-$10 MIR (NCIX.com exclusive offer)

Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA Hard Drive WD6401AALS $65.97 (pricematch Onhop.ca)

Power Supply
XFX 650W XXX Edition Single Rail Modular ATX 12V 52A 24PIN ATX Power Supply $99.99-$30 MIR (NCIX.com)

Case
Azza Helios 910 Black ATX Mid Tower Case 9X5.25 1X3.5 4X3.5INT 230MM Blue LED Fans & Window $67.99-$20 MIR (NCIX.com)

LCD Monitor, OS, keyboard and mouse not included.
*all prices gathered from NCIX.com using their Price Match

Subtotal – $804.21
Tax (PST) – $40.21
MIR deduction – ($75.00)
Shipping – $5.99
TOTAL – $775.41
Click to expand...

Power supply is way overkill. Look for a quality 450W unit.

Otherwise, that build looks good!
 
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