Cheap Gaming Rig at $700, aiming for $600

[BryanCampbell]

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core
MOB: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P45
RAM: Mushkin 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) 5-5-5-12 1.8V
GPU: SAPPHIRE 100243L Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V
FAN: ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler

New Egg Part List: http://secure.newegg.com/WishL...WishListNumber=8866966
$734.94

I might be able to get some parts in other places for cheaper.

I definately want a Quad, GPU under or close to $280, and I'm planning on overclocking.

Parts I have already: Case (need to be replaced), Hard drive (need to be replaced), Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, and DVD Drive

Concerns:
- Still a little too expensive
- Still need a hard drive and a case honestly

Recommendations Needed:
- Need Cheaper, same Quality P45 mobo
- Cheaper Ram, low settings and voltage for overclocking
- Want cheaper PSU and perferably one that comes with a case so I can knock 2 birds out with 1 stone.

Questions:
- Is 650W needed, can I go lower? What is the lowest number of Watts I should get?
- Should I try to get better ram, 1000/1066/1200, will it make a difference?

My Budget is very very low, like $600, but I'll pay more if I have too.
Rig Purposes:
1. Gaming
2. Gaming
3. Gaming
4. Some server applications, like streaming music across the web
5. Photoshop (no 3d work)
6. Web Programmer and multitask like non other

Please tell me your thoughts, thanks a lot!

 

[NBPTL]

this could save u some $
2gig OCZ 800

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

that's the same mb that i have my eye on. don't think you'll be able to get a quality P45 board for much cheaper, without sacrificing quality and stability.

 

[NBPTL]

why not got with Asus card?
Asus 4870

 

[NBPTL]

save up $50 for core 2 duo 8400?
Text

 

[NBPTL]

cheaper 600w PS
OCZ

 

[Shortass]

You could knock the PSU down to a 500w easily... I was going to mention the Antec Earthwatts 500w, which I picked up for $55 shipped a couple weeks ago, but it appears it's almost doubled in price at Newegg. Still, that should save $40 or so.

That said, there isn't a whole lot you can do to take it down much more while keeping a quad. You could go with an e7200 and OC it a bit which would game fine and save about $70. http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115052

Might want to knock down the video card to a 4850, which would save quite a bit as well. That should allow for a case/psu combo and a hard drive... the lower power requirements would certainly help in this regard. It will still game great, as my rig is similar (COD4 is flawless at max graphics 1680x1050..).

 

[Fenix793]

You mentioned that you also wanted a case and HDD. Given that you're budget is $600 and you are already over you either need to raise your budget or make some cuts. I would ditch the quad and 4870 and go for a Duo and 4850. That should knock off $200 giving you cash for a good case and HDD. Depending on the size of your monitor you might not even see a difference. Right now on Newegg you can get the Sapphire 4850 with 2GB of OCZ for $200 and there's also $50 in MIRs. Great deal basically free ram. As for your motherboard if you really want to go lower you can try looking at P43 boards or even P35 boards. The P35 version of the board you linked is something like $89.

 

[BryanCampbell]

This computer is probably going to last me 4-5 years, i never upgrade, always broke lol. I'll up my budget if need too but currently shooting for $600 unless I can't cut it, seems to me that that won't be the case.

I was thinking about going from HD 4870 to HD 4850, but since i wont be upgrading for a while, maybe thats a bad idea, I don't know really how big of a difference it is in performance.

I wanted to take my 650 watt to 500 watt, but I plan on overclocking. I'm not sure how much power overclocking needs because I never did it before, is it safe to jump down to 500 watt?

The ASUS GPU is like $30 cheaper =) Only reason I picked Sapphire is because thats what modoheo put on his list of recommended parts.
Why is Sapphire recommended over ASUS?
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2194271&enterthread=y

I picked the P45 because I was planning on overclocking and was getting the 4870 which I read really take advantage of the PCI Express 2.0
also I heard that the P43 doesn't overclock well.. I'm not sure what to believe. this is a very hard process lol.

 

[Lonyo]

Maybe go for a P45 with Crossfire support and get an HD4850, then in the future you can add a second card for probably $100 or so tops in a year or two if needed.

 

[BryanCampbell]

Multi Tasking meant to me having multiple applications open. I might have a MMO http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...ultiplayer_online_game open, as well as an IDE, photoshop, web browser, instant messenger, and some servers running the the background.

I was thinking about Losing the 4870, upgrading the mobo to a crossfire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossfire , getting a 4850 and then whenever i may need to in the future, just add on another card. Getting a ok PSU http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSU now, then if i ever need to get a new card and crossfire, also getting a new PSU.

I'm at $715, with insurance it adds up to almost $800 now... Maybe I just wont get insurance =( My wife says all I need to do is get it undr $700 and I can buy it..

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/ [...] er=8866966

How do you guys feel about my PSU and the Hard drive? I couldn't find much else with good quality that was cheaper, im already breaking the bank.

Is there a cheaper case I can get that will keep things just as cool?

 

[bluddsimple]

I'm in the market for something in the $600 price range as well so I've been doing some research on similar parts.

Mobo - you can cut it down to a p35 board which are some of the best bang for the buck boards out now if you are looking for budget. P45s don't give you much of a performance boost. Just do a search for p45 vs p35 and you'll get the picture.

I'd look at the Gigabyte ep35-ds3l board - it's the board with no extra features basically. You can upgrade depending if you need it to do more like raid, more sata etc but a nice buy for only only 80 bucks.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...8509&prodlist=celebros

Also another question you might want to consider is what resolution you plan to game at. A 4850 will game everything out now at 1600x1000. If you plan on gaming at 1900x1000 then you'll want the 4870 but if not then a 4850 should do and cut a few dollars off.

Heres an hardcop article on the 4800 cards - http://www.hardocp.com/article...UyNCwsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0

Also if you want to prepare for crossfire, the p45 route isn't really a good option. The bandwidth on the pci-express is only 8x compared to 16x from the x38 and x48 boards and really cuts down performance.

P45 boards are 150, you can get the dfi x38 board for around 180-190 at newegg. I too was considering possibly upgrading for the future but it would add another 100 dollars for my mobo and 100-150 on the vid card down the road.

By then it would probably just be cheaper to spend the 200-250 on a new vid card all together rather than upgrading to crossfire.

Also on the power supply, if you get the 80 plus ones then even a 430 watt one will probably do just fine with a 4850.. not sure on the 480. These are power efficient power supplies and they often have the higher rated wattage on the cards as it's a preventive measure on those who decide to buy really cheap units.

The memory speeds will depend on how much you want to overclock your cpu. Depending on that check to see if the modules you are getting can match the performance. I was going to get cheap ram modules but I would never be sure on the performance. Some people suggested to use G.skill modules as for the money they seem to be a good buy. Check out the newegg ratings.

Hope that helps a bit as I'm in the same boat. =)

 

[Jessica69]

I made some changes to your wish list, keeping the Q6600 and RAM.....but deleted the case.




http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102747
(Be sure to add code S4F50242L to knock $15 off the in-cart price.)


http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817371002

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146118

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813136045

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115018

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835233003


This totaled $675.19 after the $15 off for the video card using the code above, and after $8.25 UPS shipping.




Changes and why:

--Moved you to an X38 motherboard, the DFI LANPARTY DK X38-T2R ...... better OC'ing board and has two full X16 PCI-e slots for future Crossfire setup, no speed slowdown like with P35/P45 boards


--Moved you to a better power supply, the Antec True Power Trio TP3-550. Seasonic build, only $20 more than the Basiq, and is Crossfire certified for the 4850 cards, something the Basiq 500 you had listed isn't......why spend your money twice for a decent power supply?


--Changed your choice of heatsink to the XIGMATEK HDT-S1283. Essentially the same price but much more capable. I ditched an AC Freezer 7 Pro for one of these and did notice a nice drop in load temps on a quad core Xeon X3210 (same core as the Q6600, just not as fast.)


--Dropped the case because, well, save some $$ and try to reuse your case. The case you chose is $92 shipped, not a small price. I'd humbly suggest, if you can stand a door on your case, a CoolerMaster Mystique case.....almost exactly the same interior design, just 1" shorter front-to-back and 1" shorter in height compared to your choice.

SVC.com has them for $49.99 + shipping, and since I don't know where you live (you really need to update your profile...it'd help out lots!), I don't know what shipping from CA would be to you. But this is a very overlooked case, but very decent.....front 120mm fan, rear 120mm fan, and while it has a window, has provision for a side 120mm fan there, too.

http://www.svc.com/rc-631-kwn1.html



If you have a MicroCenter handy near you, you ought to look them up.....good prices on some cases and great prices right now on Intel cpus.

Hope this gives some ideas.......