Case ~80$ +Mobo ~120$ +Possibly sound card if the mobo integrated sucks +CPU ??? +Video card ??? +RAM ~50$ +Hard Drive ~80$ +Case ~100$ +Power supply ~70$ ____________ 800$ or less. There's approximately 300$ to split between the CPU and GPU. I can't figure out if I want to go AMD or Intel for this build. I will overclock as far as stock coolers go, or if I can I will even squeeze an aftermarket cooler in. The reasonably priced C2Ds (e7xxx and under) have my attention as well as the new Ph2 720 BE. I'm trying to balance CPU power and GPU power. The 720 seems to match the 7xxx fairly well, even when both are overclocked (though I see in a number of benchmarks the 7xxx surpasses the AMD by easily hitting as far as 4 Ghz when you might get 3.5 out of the Ph2). Alternatively, I could save 60$ and get a 5xxx C2D and get a 4870 or even a GTX 260 on sale instead of something like a 4850 or GTS 250. Although, the 4830 is like 90$ now. I think you can overclock that to about the equivalent of the 4850... It seems more games are becoming GPU bound, and with my limited budget I could live off an overclocked 60$ 5200 C2D, and when I really need a quad core Intel will finally have dropped prices on the LGA775 quads. Maybe. Alternatively, games are becoming more multi-threaded and that triple core would hold out longer than the C2D. When I really need a super GPU they will be much cheaper. Or will PCI 2.0 16x still be used by then? I might have to replace the mobo to get a better video card, but I know for both the AM2+ and LGA775 there is much rooms to upgrade to a better CPU then the selection I'm currently looking at. What's the professional opinion? Oh right: I have and will continue to use monitors that are 150$ or less which means I don't do much over 1280x1024. I'm also the kind of guy that can go through Crysis seemingly without any emotion, but will crack a smile when my pixilated marines accidentally blow each each other up (again) in XCOM. I play last generation games usually and really only play new games for the mods, such as HL2, which is the kind of thing this machine will be doing. I want to be able to play whatever multiplayer games are the thing and have the lag be my connection, not my 32 bit Athlon and Geforce 5200. This machine will likely not be replaced or receive an upgrade for up to five years.
For a 800.00 dollar...good quality...gaming computer you better go with AMD...If you want something better you will need to increase your budget by about 200.00 dollars...and go with Intel.
Alright, well I got it together for $780 including the Os. Dvd- Newegg.com - Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner with LightScribe - CD / DVD Burners Case- Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases Hd- Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F DT HD502IJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives Mobo- Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards Video Card- Newegg.com - XFX GS250XYDFC GeForce GTS 250 512MB Core Edition 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards Psu- Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies Ram- Newegg.com - Patriot 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory CPU- Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X3 710 2.6GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops Os- Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - Operating Systems Good video card, big case, CPU power, alot of ram, storage space, powerful PSU Very good build.
