Suggestions for new build

[MnWilly]

OK. This stuff changes rapidly.

I want to build a new system. My best description would be a budget gamer system. Looking for suggestions for; case, cpu, mobo, mem, hd, and of course video card. I would like to get it done for under $800. I HATE flashy lights on the case! They are an automatic disqualifier

I am open to AMD or Intel whichever gets the job done. I am also open to Gforce or ATI. Again whatever gets the job done. Oh, and I want it kinda quiet. I don't need to play the brand new high end games maxed out, I just want the ability to play todays and tomorrow's games smoothly.

Thanks in advance!

[Grafton]

With the help of Moradrim I'm actually rebuilding my computer tonight! Going to NCIX.com and ordering everything from the case up.

My budget is going to be a little more than yours at around $1300, but I'll certainly post here what I end up going with. If anyone has any quick suggestions I'd love to hear them, but for the most part I'm putting my trust in Mora.

Hopefully will have the new system up and running by next week. Very excited to not run SC2 at the lowest possible settings or take the flight from Dalaran to Shadowvault to load my toon onto the screen.

[Ender]

Just shop around a bit on Newegg. I like the Coolmaster cases, and they are pretty cheap. If the case does not come with a power supply make sure to get one separately. If you aren't going with any kind of high powered graphics card, you don't need more than a 350W or so. Just make sure it has at least one 6 pin PCI-e for the card. Some of the newer power supplies also have removable cords so you only have the cords on it that you are using, which is nice to avoid clutter. Definitely look for one with that feature.

I like AMD CPUs and either Foxconn or Asus motherboards, but I don't think it matters that much. Just look for a CPU/Motherboard combo that is in your price range (under $300 probably).

RAM is cheap, and you want 4 gig minimum... seriously. This is the one place you shouldn't short yourself on to save money. I usually end up getting Corsair RAM, but there are slightly cheaper options out there that are just as good.

Selecting a video card is probably the hardest thing. I just bought a PNY Nvidia GTS 250 1gig, and it has problems... games crash my computer (as in it randomly turns off) ever since I got the card. I switched in my girlfriends old card, and I don't have crashing problems anymore. I just figured this out recently so I haven't done the RMA yet, but I would stay away from PNY... I heard some bad things about them before buying it, but took a chance because the card had a nice rebate. I wonder why?

The most important thing about a video card is the warranty. If you can find a card that offers more than a 1 yr warranty, that is very good. If you can find one that offers a lifetime limited, even better. JUST MAKE SURE YOU REGISTER IT AS SOON AS YOU GET IT, otherwise the warranty is void.

I always used to go with EVGA cards, and never had problems, so I would recommend that brand over PNY for sure... I have heard good things about BFG cards though.

However, you should probably consider ATI cards rather than Nvidia right now... they offer much more bang for your buck. I know shit about ATI cards because I have never owned one... but my next card may be one.

[Grafton]

So we finally got my new build all sorted out and ordered. I ended up getting a new case, motherboard, processor, RAM, video card, solid state hard drive, and an SATA to IDE chipset.

The way I intend to run my machine is using the 120 GB SSD for my operating system and games. This should greatly improve my loading times and overall performance. The reason I went this route is that I have a year old IDE 500 GB hard drive that I didn't want to just toss, but at the same time I wanted something with a bit quicker reads and the newer motherboards don't really support IDE as well anymore. So using a chipset is going to be fine for data files and videos, but wouldn't be great for running the OS off of. So not sure if you need a new hard drive, the solid state was about $200 more expensive a 1 TB SATA hard drive with 880 less GB. But like I say, I wasn't really worried about space on my OS/games drive and I just said fuck it and went for the performance.

Obviously you wanted to do something on a budget and I ended up spending about $1900 after taxes, but using my build I think I can suggest something closer to your price range that'll work for you.

I'm posting links to a Canadian website based out of Vancouver, but the model numbers should all be good and you can at least get a look at what I'm referring to. The prices are probably a bit cheaper in the States.

First I'll post my build then I'll suggest slight downgrades that you might be interested in to get to your budget.

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 ATX 9 Drive Bay No PS Top USB2.0 1394 Audio

Price = $ 90 CAD

Tim (Mora) has this exact case and it just seems like an all around great case.


Motherboard: ASUS P6X58D-E X58 ATX LGA1366 3PCI-E16 PCI-E1 2PCI CrossFire SLI USB3.0 SATA 6GB/S Motherboard

Price = $ 250 CAD

Processor: Intel Core i7 950 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 3.06GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 4.8GT/S

Price = $ 350 CAD

Went pretty high end within reason on the motherboard / processor. My current MB and CPU are so outdated that I wanted something that I could stretch a little further time wise, but you can go lower end without decreasing performance that much I think.


Memory: Corsair XMS3 Dominator CMP12GX3M3A1600C9 12GB DDR3 3X4GB DDR3-1600 CL 9-9-9-24 Core i7 Memory Kit

Price = $ 315 CAD

I went with 12 Gigs of RAM over 6 Gigs just because in order to get from 6 to 12 in terms of expansion, I'll have to just buy 3 sticks of 4 brand new anyway.


Solid State Hard Drive: Corsair Force Series 120GB 2.5IN SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD Sandforce

Price = $ 250 CAD

Like I say above, if you're just getting a new Hard Drive and not reusing one, a SSD is probably not a great bet. It's not a lot of space for the price, but it is very quick.


Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 470 Superclocked 625MHZ Fermi 1280MB 3.4GHZ GDDR5 2XDVI Mini-HDMI PCI-E Video Card

Price = $ 300 CAD

Apparently you can overclock the 460 to get the performance of a 470. But I'm not an overclocker, so I just went with the 470. Again, I think you can go lower without losing too much.


Chipset for IDE Drive: nGear SATA & IDE PCI Controller Card VIA 6421A Chipset 1SATA 1ESATA 2IDE

Price = $ 30 CAD

Doubt you'll need this if you aren't reusing an ICE drive.

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT DVD OEM

Price = $ 120 CAD

I'm still using XP, so with a new machine, makes sense to finally upgrade.



In terms of a downgraded machine on a budget, based on what Tim proposed to me for a cheaper machine, this is what I'd recommend looking at:

Case: Antec Three Hundred Mini Tower Gaming Case 300 ATX 3X5.25 6X3.5INT No PS Front USB & Audio

Price = $ 60 CAD

This is a smaller case, so it might get tight in there. It's not a huge price drop, so I'd recommend just going with the 900, but this is another solid option for less money.


Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D-E Pro LGA1156 P55 DDR3 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 2PCI SLI CrossFireX USB3.0 SATA 6GB Motherboard


Price = $ 200 CAD

Processor: Intel Core i5 750 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield LGA1156 2.66GHZ 8MB Cache Retail Box

Price = $ 230 CAD

Like Tim said to me, this seems to be a very solid MB/CPU combo and the price certainly isn't terrible for what you're getting.


Memory Option: Corsair CMP8GX3M4A1600C8 Dominator 8GB 4X2GB DDR3-1600 CL8-8-8-24 Core i5 i7 Dual Channel Memory Kit

Price = $ 220 CAD

Based on the MB I note above, I think going for 8 Gigs of RAM is going to be a lot more future proff than if you were to go 4 Gigs at a slightly cheaper cost.


Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM

Price = $ 100 CAD

Seems like a solid choice, a SATA 1 TB for only $100.


Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Fermi 720MHZ 1024MB 3.6GHZ GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini-HDMI PCI-E DX11 Video Card

Price = $ 220 CAD

So the price for the 460 is about an $80 drop, not too big, but it might be big enough to consider just doing that and then doubling up with two 460s when the price comes down even more.


Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT DVD OEM

Price = $ 120 CAD

In case you want an Operating System. Should be noted if you like to play old XP-only games you need to get the Profressional version of Windows 7. Personally I don't care about old games, so I went with Home.


Hope this helps a little. I know it brings your price to about $1000 without Windows 7. But, like I say, these are all Canadian prices and I'm sure you can get this stuff cheaper in the States. I certainly know next to nothing about this stuff, so big props to Moradrim for guiding me along.

[Kyrillian]

Can you total this and then convert it into real money?

[Grafton]

Can you total this and then convert it into real money?

Hah! Well, the Canadian dollar is about par with the American at the moment. Unfortunately the price for your stuff is a lot less expensive as a general rule, and I am not familiar with US websites for pricing. I suspect you'd save up to 20% for living in Canada's underpants though.

edit: I went to Newegg and the American prices are listed there. I had to stop looking because I was getting way too depressed. The i7 processor is $300 there instead of $350 here (not including taxes). So I was right, it's about 20% cheaper.

[Klaus]

I highly recommend the Intel quad core processors. I have been running one for about a year and I couldn't be happier... I was a AMD fanboy but the performance gap just got too big to not go back to Intel after 10 years of AMD.

[Ender]

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 ATX 9 Drive Bay No PS Top USB2.0 1394 Audio

Price = $ 90 CAD

Tim (Mora) has this exact case and it just seems like an all around great case.

A warning about this case: Jeanna has the same one and the large top fan had a blade that broke off of it somehow (no idea how it happened). I guess that doesn't mean every one of those cases will have that happen, but it is something to watch out for.

[Klaus]

I have that cast also - no problems with mine (1 year old). Love the quiet fan.

[MnWilly]

Thanks everyone.. all good info! I will be getting closer to ordering stuff in a few weeks after San Fran.