Looking for some suggestions on building a budget gaming desktop

[krnmastersgt]

Originally posted by: yh125d
When the price drops come they'll be closer in price, not farther from each other in price. And there won't only be benefit in quad optimized games. As I pointed out already, the quad will still give 10% or so advantage in non quad optimized games due to the much larger cache

Last I read, the Q6600 isn't going anywhere in terms of price, only the mid/low range duals are affected by the price cuts, they're also introducing some new ones in the E5/7 series of chips. Mind linking me to where you read the quad price cut?

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: krnmastersgt

Originally posted by: yh125d
When the price drops come they'll be closer in price, not farther from each other in price. And there won't only be benefit in quad optimized games. As I pointed out already, the quad will still give 10% or so advantage in non quad optimized games due to the much larger cache

Last I read, the Q6600 isn't going anywhere in terms of price, only the mid/low range duals are affected by the price cuts, they're also introducing some new ones in the E5/7 series of chips. Mind linking me to where you read the quad price cut?

I read about the quad price cut on the AT review of PhenomII, don't know about him. Even on there though it's only an if.

 

[Arglebargle]

For the music software, a quad can definitely help. Cubase I know is multithreaded, not sure about Ableton. Depends on how many tracks and VSTs you like to juggle as well. I'd go with more ram (4GB) as well, but of course, it's not my mioney I'm allocating....;-}

 

[Mr Experience]

Sapphire 4830 $89.99AR[/quote]
+1 for HD4830

You can see the various reviews available on net, it easily beats 9800GT

 

[Denithor]

Sounds to me like you need two things.

1) $300 general-purpose computer. Build from scratch or buy from Dell.
2) $200 Xbox360. Play all your favorite games and not have to worry whether or not they'll run smooth.

Seriously.

Because for GTA4 you need a quad + $300 GPU minimum to get smooth frame rates (linky). Look at the e8500@4GHz with GTX 280: 33fps ave/24fps min at 1280x1024 with noAA. And those two components alone blow your whole $500 budget.

 

[phooka]

Well OK, I don't need GTA4 to run in the highest settings but I would like it to look good.
Anyone else have thoughts on the ATI vs. GeForce GPUs?
I'm pretty close to ordering now.

 

[krnmastersgt]

The 4830 would be your best choice cost/performance wise, and it's a good card too which should be able to play the vast majority of games without any real problems. However if you feel like moving up from there, there's the 4850 or the 9800 GTX+ for more performance. I'd say stick with the ATI as of now, they're rocking the midrange as of late.

 

[phooka]

Also, A friend of mine mentioned that DDR3 RAM would be beneficial. Any ideas on that?
Could I upgrade to DDR3 with this Motherboard if I wanted to later?

edit::In doing some research it looks like I won't see a whole lot of boost in performance with DDR3. I think I'll stick to DDR2

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: phooka
Also, A friend of mine mentioned that DDR3 RAM would be beneficial. Any ideas on that?
Could I upgrade to DDR3 with this Motherboard if I wanted to later?

No no and no. Tell your friend that DDR3 on a Core2 processor gives no noticeable real world performance gains and is a huge price difference between DDR2 and DDR3. There are some Core2 boards that offer support for DDR3 but it's not worth it.

 

[phooka]

Originally posted by: krnmastersgt
Motherboard: ASUS P5Q SE PLUS $97 ($82 after rebate) + shipping

Hey all, I'm placing my order now and am a bit sketchy about this board. It has a few questionable reviews. Does anyone have another in mind that would be suitable.
Also, the power supply is now out of stock [I knew I should have ordered it sooner.]
Any ideas on that?

If I do go with that motherboard I'm thinking of getting this combo:Rosewill TU-155 II 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply
+
ASUS P5Q SE/R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.151752

 

[krnmastersgt]

Denithor and quite a few other people use the P5Qs, don't trust the Newegg reviews, often time it's just people acting stupid because they aren't aware of how to overclock with it or don't realize they got a defective board. Also I wouldn't put my trust into the Rosewill PSUs, they have a bad rep around here as system killers/troublesome. I know it may seem a waste to put down a rather large chunk of cash for the PSU, but think of it as $30 extra to ensure your system is safer and less likely to die on you one day, since if the PSU blows it usually takes the system with it.