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Want to build a game rig for ~500 *insert chuckle*

R

r00st

Junior Member
1. What YOUR PC will be used for. ~ Gaming. I have a laptop for the net so this rig will only be used for gaming, probably tied to either a 50" plasma 1080 or a 55" LCD 1080.

2. What YOUR budget is. ~500! I know its low 🙁

3. What country. Good old USA

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. No Fanboyism here but I do think AMD has a little better performance per coin.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts? I have an older 18 inch lcd for when its at a desk, otherwise it will be 90% tied to a big screen. I already have peripherals as well, so just need a tower build. Also already have a copy of Win 7 to install so no OS needed.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads. ~Yes... I have just been out of the computer loop for YEARS so I am far behind on most of the new technology.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds. ~Shooting for a reliable setup so probably no OC'ing

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with. ~Not sure...the highest I can!

9. WHEN do you plan to build it? ~Within 1 month. Hoping black friday on the net delivers some good deals to help my crying budget build.

10. Don't ask for a build configuration critique or rating if you are thin skinned...Its ok, you guys can go ahead and laugh at the budget. I work at a damn DOLLAR STORE! 😎

Last computer I built was about 7 years ago... SATA cables were "cool" as were 500+ gb HD's... I am not looking for SSD as I am 99% sure its NOT in my budget and can always upgrade later when it gets cheaper and more stable. I have a 750mb external drive so I could probably get away with a 500gb unit, unless I can swing a TB on a sale for 50ish. As far as case goes... cheap and black fits the bill as long as it vents decent. I am not even sure on the ram...4gig's enough/in budget? Ill leave it up to you guys.

Last time I heard for this kind of budget the 5770 was the card to have but was told there was a new line of cards coming... I have done ZERO research, so anyone care to inform me? Did they come out? 5770 prices seem to have not dropped from a few months ago...

PS...Last games I played were CS 1.6/ CSS, Half Life 2 and Battlefield 2. On this rig I would like to be able to play Battlefield 3, the COD series (Black Op's looks pretty sweet) so really just FPS games, and hopefully not just ones from 2-10 years ago 😉

Thanks in advance!!!
 
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$500 is definitely a tight budget and there's no way we're gonna fit an SDD in there.

Supercombo:
# Rosewill R519-BK : $59.99
# MSI 880GM-E41 : $74.99
# AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz : $99.99
# G.SKILL 2x2GB DDR3-1333 : $64.99

* Combined Total: $299.96
* Combo Discounts: -$22.97
* Combo Price: $276.99

GIGABYTE HD 5770 1GB $140 ($120 AR)

Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D $45 -20% promo code = $36

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM $75 -10% promo code (EMCZZYR25) = $67.50
-
Total = $521 +shipping and tax

I added the Antec PSU in there to replace the most-likely-crappy PSU that comes with the case.
 
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Look for a Hot Deal on a nvidia GTX 460 768MB model, it's much faster than the 5770, and with the Radeon 8650 now available at $180 you might find one close to the 5770 price.
 
all good recomendations and that 460 768 ram nvidia card will outpace the 5770 a good bit, but it will use a good deal more power.I wouldn;t run less then a 600w in a 460 rig with extended gaming use. the 6850 is a good bit more power efficient even though its often beaten by the 460. that siad if the op overclocks the 460 vrs overclocking the 6850 hes in a whole new world of power supply issues.

all good cards and that athalon is a screamer. we pushed on up to 3.6ghz without doing anything fancy.
 
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ModestGamer said:
all good recomendations and that 460 768 ram nvidia card will outpace the 5770 a good bit, but it will use a good deal more power.I wouldn;t run less then a 600w in a 460 rig with extended gaming use. the 6850 is a good bit more power efficient even though its often beaten by the 460. that siad if the op overclocks the 460 vrs overclocking the 6850 hes in a whole new world of power supply issues.

all good cards and that athalon is a screamer. we pushed on up to 3.6ghz without doing anything fancy.
Click to expand...
You're overestimating the power requirements for a GTX 460.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3809/nvidias-geforce-gtx-460-the-200-king/17

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/07/12/nvidia-geforce-gtx-460-768mb-gpu-review/11

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...orce-gtx-460-1gb-gtx-460-768mb-review-17.html

For some reason, I couldn't find a cheaper 1TB HDD. OP could always swap that for a cheaper/lower-capacity HDD and reallocate the money for the GTX460 786MB. The GTX460 will work with the Antec 380W too.
 
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I have my GTX 460 1GB running in a SG05 300w PSU case. Good PSUs can really do things that seem crazy.

Anyway, if you have a microcenter near you, let me suggest the following:

http://www.microcenter.com/specials/...ndlePROMO.html

I would get the Phenom II x4 955 + MSI 785G-E53 AM3 785G ATX Motherboard (not listed on the site but available in stores) for $150 AR and $160 out of pocket. Can be cheaper for a lesser CPU (but you can get one that potentially unlocks).

6850 $185 shipped - 10% discount GPU code = $166.5. Can be cheaper for a lesser card.

Gskill 4GB 1333 RAM $65 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-190-_-Product

Tack on Blackmage's stuff, which are both good choices.

Then just tack on a $30 case. If you go with a cheaper AMD processor, you can stay under $500 shipped.

No room for an SSD.
 
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Unfortuanately, you've missed some very good deals already that would have helped out a lot. You could have got an Antec TruePower 550W PSU for $45 shipped AR yesterday, but that's now back up to $60 (the promo code on the 380W Antec PSU that fffblackmage listed expired as well). Cases were all free shipping last week at newegg, that deal is gone now as well. I actually see no components to jump on right now (for budget gaming), which is kinda sad. Newegg has been doing afternoon sales lately, maybe something will pop in the next couple hours.

You're best bet on video cards is to grab a used one off the forums. 5770 goes for ~$100. Not going to set the world on fire, but with your budget, you don't have a lot of options. Everything else play by ear in the hot deals forum, or bensbargains.net (my favorite out of all the deals websites).
 
look into power supply performance fall off vrs tempature. the longer it runs at high load the more unstable it becomes.

fffblackmage said:
You're overestimating the power requirements for a GTX 460.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3809/nvidias-geforce-gtx-460-the-200-king/17

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/07/12/nvidia-geforce-gtx-460-768mb-gpu-review/11

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...orce-gtx-460-1gb-gtx-460-768mb-review-17.html

For some reason, I couldn't find a cheaper 1TB HDD. OP could always swap that for a cheaper/lower-capacity HDD and reallocate the money for the GTX460 786MB. The GTX460 will work with the Antec 380W too.
Click to expand...
 
I would say 600 shipped is doable...preferring to keep it near 550 if at all possible.

I guess I am so far out of the loop I dont know what would be good to boost up and what can be sacrificed to be able to play todays games and hopefully some of tomorrows games (Not looking for 200fps @ Max settings...but at least be able to play them, you know?)
Ram is probably solid at 4gb right?
The processor being a quad core 3.0 with OC ability seems like its very strong so that should be semi-future proof?
I would be perfectly fine with that 320gb 7200rpm for 43 bucks to save a bit of coin. That way I can use external for backup and media. And in the future could always drop in an SSD for the OS and the games at least.

So with that...Is it probably wise (for future proof situations) to spend the extra coin on the 460 card. 300W on the 460 build? Should maybe go 400-500 just to be safe?


What does black friday look like for computer components the last couple of years? I picked up some small electronics online the last couple of years but have not really shopped for anything else.

I am in no hurry so I can piece together the system as the ads pop up (free shipping, discounts, combo's BF sales etc).
 
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r00st said:
I would say 600 shipped is doable...preferring to keep it near 550 if at all possible.

I guess I am so far out of the loop I dont know what would be good to boost up and what can be sacrificed to be able to play todays games and hopefully some of tomorrows games (Not looking for 200fps @ Max settings...but at least be able to play them, you know?)
Ram is probably solid at 4gb right?
The processor being a quad core 3.0 with OC ability seems like its very strong so that should be semi-future proof?
I would be perfectly fine with that 320gb 7200rpm for 43 bucks to save a bit of coin. That way I can use external for backup and media. And in the future could always drop in an SSD for the OS and the games at least.

So with that...Is it probably wise (for future proof situations) to spend the extra coin on the 460 card. 300W on the 460 build? Should maybe go 400-500 just to be safe?


What does black friday look like for computer components the last couple of years? I picked up some small electronics online the last couple of years but have not really shopped for anything else.

I am in no hurry so I can piece together the system as the ads pop up (free shipping, discounts, combo's BF sales etc).
Click to expand...

Well, the PSU that I recommended is 500W, so you should be safe there. 😉

You can always wait for better deals, and BF will have some, but I think that that build will suit you fine. (No such thing as "future proof"!)
 
mfenn said:
Well, the PSU that I recommended is 500W, so you should be safe there. 😉

You can always wait for better deals, and BF will have some, but I think that that build will suit you fine. (No such thing as "future proof"!)
Click to expand...


I'd recomend more especially if any overclocking is done, which drastically increases power consumption.

BTW I still say a 500w is to close to the edge of requirements to risk. ripple current will become a problem.
 
ModestGamer said:
I'd recomend more especially if any overclocking is done, which drastically increases power consumption.

BTW I still say a 500w is to close to the edge of requirements to risk. ripple current will become a problem.
Click to expand...

Well, the OP specifically said he wouldn't be overclocking, so no worries on that front.

The GTX 460 768MB only draws about 12 amps on the 12V rail (about 1/3 of the Silverstone's capacity). Add 8 amps to that for the CPU, and you're still only looking at slightly over half of the PSU's 12V capacity.

Hell, a GTX 460 768MB in an overclocked LGA 1366 i7 system only draws 310W from the wall (248W DC assuming 80&#37😉, under Furmark. I think the OP's Athlon will be just fine.
 
mfenn said:
Well, the OP specifically said he wouldn't be overclocking, so no worries on that front.

The GTX 460 768MB only draws about 12 amps on the 12V rail (about 1/3 of the Silverstone's capacity). Add 8 amps to that for the CPU, and you're still only looking at slightly over half of the PSU's 12V capacity.

Hell, a GTX 460 768MB in an overclocked LGA 1366 i7 system only draws 310W from the wall (248W DC assuming 80%), under Furmark. I think the OP's Athlon will be just fine.
Click to expand...


I'd like to know how my certified lab grade amp probe gets consistenly differing results from this website. these number don't look accurate becuase they don't account for the easy 5-10% SMPS loss you get.


23737.png
 
ModestGamer said:
I'd like to know how my certified lab grade amp probe gets consistenly differing results from this website. these number don't look accurate becuase they don't account for the easy 5-10% SMPS loss you get.
Click to expand...

Erm, AC measured at the wall is going to be higher than DC provided to the components due to switching losses that you mention. So those numbers are actually worst-case. The DC power requirements (how PSU's are rated) are actually less.

I trust that Anand's technique is correct and his numbers fall in line with what I've observed. They also seem to be in line with the manufacturer's TDP numbers. Maybe you can email Anand and explain to your testing technique to him? He is usually pretty responsive to queries of that sort.
 
Holy crap!

I can't believe that graph... seriously, 400 Wattts (and above) for a friggin' video card? That's like having four incandescent bulbs running at the same time - the amount of heat and waste of energy are inexcusable... Seriously, is it really worth it, for a couple of extra fps?
 
AnitaPeterson said:
Holy crap!

I can't believe that graph... seriously, 400 Wattts (and above) for a friggin' video card? That's like having four incandescent bulbs running at the same time - the amount of heat and waste of energy are inexcusable... Seriously, is it really worth it, for a couple of extra fps?
Click to expand...

No, it's 400W for the total system, and that's only with SLI/CF configurations (or a GTX 480 😀)
 
mfenn said:
No, it's 400W for the total system, and that's only with SLI/CF configurations (or a GTX 480 😀)
Click to expand...

Correct. I can run a GTX 460 1GB and an Intel i3 540 @ 4.0 in a 300w PSU (silverstone PSU 😉 ) system. Huge wattage amounts are highly overrated. Since the 12v rail powers the CPU and GPU, that's what you need to know about.
 
fffblackmage said:
$500 is definitely a tight budget and there's no way we're gonna fit an SDD in there.

Supercombo:
# Rosewill R519-BK : $59.99
# MSI 880GM-E41 : $74.99
# AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz : $99.99
# G.SKILL 2x2GB DDR3-1333 : $64.99

* Combined Total: $299.96
* Combo Discounts: -$22.97
* Combo Price: $276.99

GIGABYTE HD 5770 1GB $140 ($120 AR)

Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D $45 -20% promo code = $36

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM $75 -10% promo code (EMCZZYR25) = $67.50
-
Total = $521 +shipping and tax

I added the Antec PSU in there to replace the most-likely-crappy PSU that comes with the case.
Click to expand...

The Rosewill case/w PSU has 31A total on the 12V. Is that enough for a Radeon 5770?

http://rosewill.com/products/1601/productDetail.htm

I am considering this case due to its price but I'm just kind of worried about its ability to handle moderate video cards.

Sorry, didn't mean to take this off topic.
 
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