Please help with my new build.

[Jelloman]

Hi guys, I'm new here, awesome place this is by the way .

I'm planning on building a new gaming PC as I'm currently running a top of the line Pentium 3 . It will be primarily used for gaming and I'd like your help in getting the best possible hardware for my tight budget ($300).

I live in Sri Lanka, so the prices for hardware are higher than, say, in the US. One of the biggest problems I'm facing is on what to invest the most.

This is the build I was hoping to get (prices in US $):

Foxconn G31 motherboard - $50.0091
Intel E2200 - $78.6507
2GB DDR2 800 Kingston RAM - $43.1897
512MB GeForce 8600GT - $81.8331
450W PSU - $16.3654

Totals to ~$306

I know that the 8600GT isn't as good as the 8800s or 9600s, but the 8800GT costs $400 here and the 9600GT is about $200! I also read a lot about how the P31/G31 chipset is not all that good at overclocking (which I plan to do). So I thought of another build:

Intel G45 motherboard - $126.377
Intel E2200
2GB DDR2 800 Kingston RAM
450W PSU

Totals to ~291

As you can see, the only thing different is the motherboard, and I don't have a VGA card as I won't be able to afford it, but I do plan on adding one later on.

So, what should I do? Should I get one of those builds? If so, which one is worth more? It would really help me if you could look at the prices from this website and give me the best possible rig. In Rupees, my budget is ~30,000. I plan on re-using my HDD and case by the way, so there's no need for them.

Thanks. I really appreciate any help.

 

[Denithor]

Welcome to the forums!

If your main intent is gaming the second option isn't really an option. Integrated graphics (especially from Intel) aren't good enough for even basic gaming in any of the newer games (or even most older games, for that matter).

So go for the first option but maybe try to find a little better video card. The 8600GT is seriously underpowered today. If you can find a 9600GSO or a Radeon 4670 you'll be much happier with the performance.

 

[Jelloman]

Thanks a lot for the quick reply and the welcome. I'll try and find one of those cards.

So, do you think the G31 chipset would allow for a high overclock? This and the fact that the motherboard has only two RAM slots are what's holding me back from getting this motherboard.

Is the processor good too? Or should I invest in something else?

By the way, if I can't find a 9600 or 4670 (very unlikely to find a 4670), will an 8600GT be okay? I won't be running at resolutions higher than 1024x768 most of the time, but I'd like to have other settings such as AA, AF and other details maxed.

Oh and how much is needed on the 12V rail for the 8600GT?

 

[Denithor]

Well, I'll be blunt here. For a gaming system you need all components to work together to get the best performance. Gaming performance basically is limited by the weakest part of the whole system. For example, if you have a crappy low end video card (or integrated graphics) your games won't perform any better on an overclocked QX9770 than they will with a stock e2140.

So if you're putting together a system with an 8600GT, that's going to be the limiting factor in most games, not the CPU (whether overclocked or not). The 8600GT/stock e2180 is actually fairly well balanced and you should be able to enjoy some slightly older games just fine (HL2, Farcry, etc). Newer games will be tougher but if you turn down the graphics they should still run.

And just a note, don't buy a motherboard made by Intel, they don't have overclocking options at all in the BIOS. Stick with any of the other makers (Foxconn, Asus, etc) if you plan to overclock.

 

[Jelloman]

Thanks a lot. So, since the video card is the limiting factor, it doesn't matter as much as I'm planning on replacing the video card later on when the prices aren't as sky high as they are now.

I got another problem, I have a choice of either a Foxconn 250W PSU, a Mercury 400W PSU or a Amacrox 500W PSU. Which one do you think would be best (in a bang for buck way) for me?

 

[Jelloman]

Anyone?

 

[Denithor]

Well...Foxconn I've at least heard of, although not for making powersupplies.

Do you have any idea how many amps they put out on the +12V rail? That's the critical thing for systems today.