Gaming @ 1280 x 800 Build

SoundTheSurrender

Diamond Member
Mar 13, 2005
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What would be the minimum I need to run games @ 1280 x 800?

Games include Crysis, Oblivion, STALKER and others?

I'm on a budget, any ideas? I guess I don't want to go fully bare minimum but I would like some legroom so I can play future games as well.

Thanks

I have a monitor, OS and a case, so I need the bare bones for the system.

Motherboard/Video/Card/CPU/RAM
 

MarcVenice

Moderator Emeritus <br>
Apr 2, 2007
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HD3870 + e4500 or so, when overclocking just buy a e2180 and overclock it. 2gb of ram at least, mix it up with the abit ip35-e and you should be fine. This should cost roughly 400$. Need a new PSU too ?
 

SoundTheSurrender

Diamond Member
Mar 13, 2005
3,126
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Yeah a PSU as well.

Thanks for the input!

What would be the Nvidia equivalent to the HD3870? I'm not much of a ATI fan.
 

Dahak

Diamond Member
Mar 2, 2000
3,752
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heres my build that i run at 1280x1024 running all those games at pretty much max
intel e6850 3ghz. asus p5k deluxe, nvidia 8000gts 640mb(2 months before the 8800gt came out), 2gb ram
aslo built the same system for my brother with the 8800gt 512mb as well and runs all fine as well, with asus p5k-e instead of the dlx

 
Oct 4, 2004
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Get one of Gigabyte's P35 motherboards. There's a whole bunch - you can choose based on how you like the expansion slots layout, things like eSATA/IEEE1394, Northbridge cooler etc. Most people have had great luck with their boards and are an easy recommendation. Marc's IP35-E suggestion is a proven performer too. He's pretty much offering you the best solution so listen to him.

Try to squeeze in a E4xxx CPU. I'd stay away from the E2xxx series because of the low L2 cache. It's debatable how useful that L2 cache is (some benches show it only to be a factor in media encoding, some games don't show a difference, some show a pretty significant one). I'd say the E4xxx series is a decent middle of the road option.

You can easily score a 2x2GB DDR2 800 @ 5-5-5-15 kit from G.Skill/Geil/Mushkin for $80-ish. I only recommend 4GB coz it's so darn cheap. You don't actually NEED 4GB but if it's within your budget, why not? The only trouble with DDR2 800 (CAS 5) kits is they may not have much (if any) legroom. If you decide to upgrade to a 1333FSB CPU in the future, you won't have much overclocking room. For now, it won't be a problem at all.

However, if the savings between 2GB & 4GB mean a better video card for your rig, by all means go for the better video card at the expense of doubling your RAM. The 512MB 8800GTs have really come down in price and the 3870 only makes sense if you can get it much cheaper and your budget is tight. But if you can score a GT for, say, an extra $30-$35, those $30 would be well-spent.

The Corsair PSUs are gold, Jerry, GOLD!!!

An actual budget would be nice to really fine-tune your options.