New Build Advice Please

walrusgoat

Junior Member
Feb 6, 2008
3
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Ok, I'm going to try to make this as short as possible. I came on these forums on a different username around the same time during 2005 and got help from most of you on building a PC gaming rig. So, I feel that my PC is out of date and I think its time for an upgrade/new build. It's been so long since I've read about all the new hardware out there so I figure I'd ask people who know what there talking about. Before I go on I must explain my situation.. I'm on a budget of about around $2600. I need a laptop for my work, which involves photography, web design, video editing, and making music with ProTools, etc.. So I was thinking more on the lines of a MacBook Pro. But on the other hand I also like playing games which macs seem to lack. So for games I'm looking to build an up to date gaming rig but not too expensive.

This is my current gaming rig

COOLER MASTER Centurion 532 RC-532-SKN1 Black Aluminum bezel, SECC chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard

EVGA 256-P2-N376-AX GeForce 6800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card

FSP Group SAGA+ 450R ATX12V 450W Power Supply

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 2.2GHz Socket 939 Single-Core Processor Model

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model VS1GBKIT

Do you suggest I upgrade this, or sell it or use extra parts to build a new rig?

I'm willing to spend $600. If its not enough how much do you suggest I save up for? I'm currently playing Team Fortress 2 and Battlefield 2142. Sorry this post came out longer then I expected, I'm just really indecisive. Help would be appreciated.
 

krnmastersgt

Platinum Member
Jan 10, 2008
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Don't get the 6800, I'm not good at budget systems but the 6 Series isn't all too popular :p
 

BlueAcolyte

Platinum Member
Nov 19, 2007
2,793
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No, that's his current rig.

You can reuse the case. Sell the rest. DDR RAM is pretty expensive because it's hard to get. I'm not sure how much the rest would go but $600 is plenty for a screamin rig.

 

krnmastersgt

Platinum Member
Jan 10, 2008
2,873
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Oh my bad, well I would do something along the lines of E21x0, some $80 mobo, 2 gigs of ram, and an 8800 GTS, the 512mb model of course.
 

PolymerTim

Senior member
Apr 29, 2002
383
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$600 will pretty much get you the current hot items with very little sacrifice. Below is my understanding of the current price/performance sweet spot for gaming rigs. Note that the E8400s just came out and so their price is high. If you shop around or just wait a bit, you should be able to at least find one for closer to $200. This setup should even be able to handle some decent overclocking if you're into that. The only thing you might need is an aftermarket CPU cooler, but only for more than moderate overclocks.


CPU - E8400 - $183 (currently is $240, but supposed to come down soon)
Downgrade - E6750- $190 (if E8400 is too expensive)

RAM - Patriot DDR2-800 (2x2GB) CAS5 - $105 ($70 AR)
--or upgrade to Patriot DDR2-800 (2x2GB) CAS4 - $128 ($98 AR)

MB - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L - $90

Videocard - EVGA GeForce 8800GT 512MB - $240
 

Twoboxer

Junior Member
Feb 6, 2008
9
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Trying to stay within your budget of $600 . . .

Case - Yours
PSU - Yours
MB - Gigabyte GA-73VM-S2 mATX - $59
CPU - Intel E8400 - $240
Cooler - Stock Intel, incl w/cpu
Memory - Kingston 2x1GB DDR2 800 - $45
OS - Vista Home Premium OEM - $110
HD - Yours
Keyboard - Yours
Mouse - Yours
DVD/CD - Yours
Speakers - Yours

$454 spent leaves $146 for discrete graphics. The 8800GT is the card you should save up for . . . along with any shipping costs and taxes on the above. If for some reason you do not need a new OS, you are pretty much home free with $256 left. If you need a new hard drive, or optical drive . . . well, you are a few dollars short.

Hang in there. You are very close to a fine system.