Sub $750 light gaming build

[Dominato3r]

Hello, I'd like so help picking out parts for a >$750 build. I have experience in building it, but I have no idea what parts are the best for this price range.

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Email, browsing, and very very light gaming. Maybe an RTS or Wow once in a while.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
Preferably less than $750, but i'm willing to go to $850


3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
Canada. From Newegg.ca or NCIX

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
Intel and WD Fanboy, Ati/Nvidia are the same for me.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
No current parts at all.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
I've read a $800 build, but it's and AMD one 🙁

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Default speeds.

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.
16x9


9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
End of this summer.

Comments:
This build is coming on the heels of my old system crashing, if you guys could recommend a good external backup drive, that'd be nice. I don't mind dishing out $70 - $100 for a decent back up drive.

 

[Sp12]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2082638

I realize it's an AMD build, but this is easily one of the best bang/buck builds I've seen.

Do you live near microcenter? If so, you can pick up an Intel 875K for 200$, which is phenomenal considering that the Newegg price is 330, and is actually a better bang/buck than an AMD build.

If not, you could still replace the Amd CPU and mobo in that build for an intel set.

 

[Dominato3r]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2082638

I realize it's an AMD build, but this is easily one of the best bang/buck builds I've seen.

Do you live near microcenter? If so, you can pick up an Intel 875K for 200$, which is phenomenal considering that the Newegg price is 330, and is actually a better bang/buck than an AMD build.

If not, you could still replace the Amd CPU and mobo in that build for an intel set.

I assume you mean this:

Phenom II X4 955 $160
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 $100
G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB $110
Radeon 5770 $152
Samsung F3 1TB $70
DVD Burner $20
Antec Three Hundred $60
Corsair 400CX $50
Windows 7 Home Premium $100

It looks decent, but I have questions with that PSU and Video card. Would I be possible for me to easily make upgrades in the future witht hat 400w PSU?

Is there anything better than the 5770 for a bit more? What about the 4850/4870? Anything good from Nvidia?

 

[mfenn]

I assume you mean this:



It looks decent, but I have questions with that PSU and Video card. Would I be possible for me to easily make upgrades in the future witht hat 400w PSU?

Is there anything better than the 5770 for a bit more? What about the 4850/4870? Anything good from Nvidia?

Since you specify "very very light gaming," I don't think you would upgrade to anything with a huge TDP. Midrange cards have been sitting at ~100W for a while now.

 

[Dominato3r]

Since you specify "very very light gaming," I don't think you would upgrade to anything with a huge TDP. Midrange cards have been sitting at ~100W for a while now.

Ahh. Just wondering.

What Mobo/CPU combo would go best with that system?

I'm looking at the Intel 875K, but i have no idea as to how well these core i* CPU's preform

 

[Sp12]

It looks decent, but I have questions with that PSU and Video card. Would I be possible for me to easily make upgrades in the future witht hat 400w PSU?

Is there anything better than the 5770 for a bit more? What about the 4850/4870? Anything good from Nvidia?

Admittedly, the PSU is moderately limiting going forward, but it's 30 dollars after rebate and from an excellent brand. If not, a good 5/6 50 watt can be found for not too much.

But anyway, components haven't been consuming exponential amounts of power anymore now that performance scaling is basically limited by thermodynamics and Moore's law allowing more transistors in a given power/thermal budget.

The 5770 is the best modern bang/buck below the 5850. The 4870s with 1gb of ram are only 10-20 dollars cheaper on Newegg, so unless you're looking to go used it's the best deal. However, Nvidia's gf104 is set to be released next month sometime, but there's been no press so there's no real way of knowing how it'll perform.

Do you have a reusable OS key? Do you live near microcenter?

Core i* CPUs perform ~20% better per clock than Phenom 2 CPUs (maximal, best case of media transcoding). In games, they perform identically. The i7 875K is an awesome value at 200$, but not at all at retail.

 

[mfenn]

Ahh. Just wondering.

What Mobo/CPU combo would go best with that system?

I'm looking at the Intel 875K, but i have no idea as to how well these core i* CPU's preform

I would say the Phenom II X4 955 and the Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3, but I'm assuming you want an Intel option? 😛

First, the 875K would probably blow the budget by quite a bit (assuming you pay ~$330 for it). Also, since you specify default speeds, I don't really see what it has over the 750 or 860 except a higher price.

Basically my thinking is this, if you want to go P55, you are going to be spending $450-550 on just the CPU/mobo/RAM, leaving you with only a couple hundred bucks for the rest of the system. Since you need a case, PSU, etc. that's really tough to fit into $750. I honestly think AMD is going to be the best bang for the buck in your price range.

 

[Dominato3r]

Admittedly, the PSU is moderately limiting going forward, but it's 30 dollars after rebate and from an excellent brand. If not, a good 5/6 50 watt can be found for not too much.

But anyway, components haven't been consuming exponential amounts of power anymore now that performance scaling is basically limited by thermodynamics and Moore's law allowing more transistors in a given power/thermal budget.

The 5770 is the best modern bang/buck below the 5850. The 4870s with 1gb of ram are only 10-20 dollars cheaper on Newegg, so unless you're looking to go used it's the best deal. However, Nvidia's gf104 is set to be released next month sometime, but there's been no press so there's no real way of knowing how it'll perform.

Do you have a reusable OS key? Do you live near microcenter?

Core i* CPUs perform ~20% better per clock than Phenom 2 CPUs (maximal, best case of media transcoding). In games, they perform identically. The i7 875K is an awesome value at 200$, but not at all at retail.

I don't have a reusable OS key unfortunately, and I don't live near a Microcenter. I'm willing to go to 850-900. I just like intel :\

 

[mfenn]

I don't have a reusable OS key unfortunately, and I don't live near a Microcenter. I'm willing to go to 850-900. I just like intel :\

OK, well then just take the above build and swap the CPU and mobo for an i5 750 ($200) and an ASUS P7P55D-E LX ($130). That's about $70 more. The total should be around $850 AR.

EDIT: Oh an regarding the backup drive, pretty much any external will do. I would recommend getting an eSATA drive so that the backups don't take an eternity. Something like this would be fine.

 

[Dominato3r]

Thanks, I'll make sure to comment back here once Ive finalized what im going to buy.

 

[Dominato3r]

Okay, Ive found some extra funds, I can go up to $1000.00 now. Which is good, because I know $750 is restrictive.

$70.00 Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$60.00 Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 Modular Active PFC Power Supply. Gone with this for possible future upgrades
$103.00 G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory. Will this RAM be compatible with my Mobo?

$155.00 ASUS CuCore Series EAH5770 CuCore/2DI/1GD5 Radeon HD 5770
$75.00 Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD5000BEVT 500GB 5400 RPM 8MB
$130.00 ASUS P7P55D-E LX LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA
$209.00 Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156
$25.00 SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD burner/drive
$150.00 Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 32-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

Comes to $977.00. How does this look? I took pretty much everything you guys told me too. Anything I should change?

 

[mfenn]

Yeah, that RAM will be fine. Only thing I would would change is the HDD. You don't want to be stuck with a 5400RPM laptop drive as your system drive. Take a look at the Samsung F3 1TB for $80CAD.

EDIT:

Oh and I would go with 64-bit Windows as well.

 

[Dominato3r]

Yeah, that RAM will be fine. Only thing I would would change is the HDD. You don't want to be stuck with a 5400RPM laptop drive as your system drive. Take a look at the Samsung F3 1TB for $80CAD.

EDIT:

Oh and I would go with 64-bit Windows as well.

Well Iam kinda of a WD fanboy, but i'll check that out. And I added the 64bit OS into my cart, it was actually 2 dollars cheaper than the 32bit one ^_^. Thanks!

 

[mfenn]

Well Iam kinda of a WD fanboy, but i'll check that out. And I added the 64bit OS into my cart, it was actually 2 dollars cheaper than the 32bit one ^_^. Thanks!

Well, WD makes plenty of desktop drives as well. 😀 WD Blacks are good drives, just a bit more expensive than the Samsung. My main point was that you don't want a Laptop or "Green" drive as your system drive.