$800 budget build

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Nexrus

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 13, 2006
Messages
164
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Star Wars: TOR
2) What's your budget? $800 total
3) Which country do you live in? Virginia
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? Mobo, CPU, Ram, HD, Gcard, CDROM, PS
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Reusing an Antec 900 2
6) Will you be overclocking? No
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? 1920 x 1080
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Asap
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? Something that will utilize my parts to their full capacity
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? Yes, 64 bit windows 7

I intentionally didn't list a mobo because I'd like for you guys to make a suggestion. The overall budget is $800 but I expect Ill go over that after you guys make a mobo suggestion. It would be great if something could be worked around to get the price down without decreasing the performance too much. Thanks

Gforce GTX 560
ASUS DRW
CORSAIR 650W
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB
Intel Core i5
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212
Crucial M4
 
Do you already have a HDD? If not, that Crucial M4 isn't going to fit your OS + programs + games. At best it'll fit a few core programs and games (the os takes up a huge chunk).

If you don't plan on overclocking, the default HSF with the intel i5 would be sufficient.

As for a MoBo, any Asus or MSI P67 board should do you fine, as long as it's a B3 revision.

You can probably find some cpu+MoBo combo deals on newegg or Amazon or wherever.
 
I do already have a HDD that will handle the programs, etc. The only thing on this HD will be the OS and TOR
 
a 60gb SSD will work as long as you organize it properly and have a secondary junk drive(mechancal) for that purpose

if you have base OS and drivers that neeed to be on it on the SSD and move everything else like favorites, documents, install packages and stuff 60GB SSD is enough, obviously you do not have much room for games and such though.

I use a 60 gb Agility 3 and I have 25gb free space left on it, I moved as mcuh as I could to my caviar black 640 though. The side benefit of moving things that do not need to be there is SSD will retain its speed for much longer.

Also AHCI should be on, defrag/superfetch/prefetch all off for the SSD, second drive you can have partitioned if you want, I have 4 partitions set on my CB 640, paging file is one, games is 2, documents/games/os junk is 3, 4 is general junk that i barely use such as pictures and such. This will keep SSD fast and will also make sure mechanical stays organized/fast.

As a suggestion for build, this is what I am using(with exception to GPU which I have 6870)
Phenom II x4 955BE C3 revision $109
ASUS M5A99X EVO $138
Gskill Ripjaw X 1866 8gb 9,10,9,28 1.5v $58
Coolermaster hyper 212+ with second bladmaster fan and mx4 thermal paste $28+$12+$10
Corsiar HX750 $130
OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD $114
Radeon 6950 2gb XFX dual fan overclocked or XXX $279~(might be less or more not sure they sale lots:p
(for gpu you could go 560Ti or 560TI 448 core or 6950 2gb as mentioned, all very good cards, or you can wait for the Radeon 7800 or 7900 series to appear in January to finalize your decision you may get the Nvidia cards cheaper by then as well)
ASUS B1ST DVD $21

Crucial M4 will work, as will i5 2500 or 2500k, many motherboards for them Z6k8 recomended such as ASUS Z68-V or V pro but they are pricier or you could go for ASUS sabertooth one or another one, alot of choices after all just if you do go make sure P67 or Z68, P67 make sure it is B3 revision. Intel would be overall faster yes, but, in a general sence, not by a whole hell of alot in MOST cases. To each thier own. I get around 43-55fps+(last I checked) with my 6870 in BF3 cpu at 4.1Ghz and gpu at 965 core 1135 memory. I have AA defered/ambient/AA off and AF at 8x, to me very playable at 1920x1080 on a 24.5 screen @60Hz

Anyways, the Intel route faster, but costs a bit more, the extra savings by going AMD might be able to get you the larger SSD or a faster GPU both of which would help even the difference in speed vs the Intel route.

Lots of choices of course, best of luck to you. But yes as other poster said, if you do go 60Gb you dont have much room top play with, but it can easily be done, and you could save a few $ on the heatsink if you do not plan on overclocking. NCIX and pricematching can help as well*(thats what I did) course newegg tends to have lots of good deals and a very nice selection.
 
Yeah stick with Intel for the CPU and Crucial for the SSDs. So far, the setup looks ok to me.

Yes a 650W PSU is more than enough power for that setup. However, do you actually need a modular PSU? If not, you could save some money by dropping down to this PSU:
$69 - Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W PSU

You can save about $8 by going with this similar DVD burner:
$17 - Samsung SH-222AB SATA DVD Burner
 
I've been toying with the idea of dropping to a cheaper PS. I don't _need_ modular but it would be covenant.

I've read good things about Antec power supplies. You're sure it can output the advertised wattage of 620?
 
Well I hear you on the cpu it is a personal choice after all.

As far as SSD, I would not say miles ahead, they do have better firmware approach though

Antec makes good power supplies, if you choose the right one :p Antec TP new 650 is an excellent one as are the strider series, if you want lower cost well HX650 or even a CX might do ok, I like Corsair myself, and I would never go back to non-modular setup for various reasons, to me its worth the extra cost. XFX or even NZXT hale 82 650 would be not much more then one listed by Danny.

As long as you have 50a on the 12v you are fine, I wouldn`t go much below this though, most mid range setups will use aorund the 34a range without overclocking by you or factory, always better to have overhead after all, that and if you choose to go dual card or up the card to a more powerfull one at some point it would be good to know you have extra power ontap.

If you go for the ASUS Z68 make sure it is v or v-pro variants, they tend to be better overclockers and have much better Vregs and such, it is more costly then the LX or LE variants for sure, but much better overall, most folks I have seen recomend them or the higher priced ASUS boards for pretty much the same reason *worth it* in regards to bios set, power availability, components and such, not to sure about the M variant though.
 
Nexrus said:
I've been toying with the idea of dropping to a cheaper PS. I don't _need_ modular but it would be covenant.
Click to expand...
It definitely is continent in ways. With that said, for me, since I end up using a lot of the cables anyway, modular loses a bit of its luster to me.
Nexrus said:
I've read good things about Antec power supplies. You're sure it can output the advertised wattage of 620?
Click to expand...

Yes, I am absolutely sure.
 
Typically the neccessity of a modular PSU depends on the case and what parts you get. If you're going to have a lot of parts in a decently sized case, then chances are you'll end up plugging in most of the wires anyway, so you might as well get a non-modular one and do proper cable management (all good mid sized/full sized cases have some built in cable management system). But if you don't have that many HDDs/drives/accessories, and are looking for a more space saving case, then definitely a modular helps a lot. I love my modular seasonic, it lets me keep the case nice and tidy.
 
Well, I do use alot of the cables on my corsair HX750 for my build, but not all of them, I guess it really does depend on how far the cables need to go, what components used and the amount of them.

For a single card, dual DVD and dual HDD there will be alot of cables left with most power suppplies. I know for myself at least it can be troublesome to have everything wired cleanly especially with multi moelx use but that is why alot of them can be daisy chained together after all.

At least with my current and previous builds, the less wires used the easier it is to hide them, and generally less stuff to have to clean or get in the way of airflow, I suppose with proper management in a proper case, like Danny pointed out, modular may not have the nice effect it may in some scenerios, and I fully agree with that.

I also need to say though, alot of power supplies in the same price rnage can be had in modular or non modular designs, I prefer modular, it generally doesnt cost much more if anything and can help wiring managment a bit anyways. I suppose it comes down to the unit you are looking at or the price you have to spare on the power supply alone.

Nothing can really be future proofed in a current computer system, the closest to these is the DVD drives, the case, and the power supply. Sometimes it is worth paying a little more as for example in the power suppply department, at least this way here you know more then likely it will work for not only the current build intended, but will be able to support higher ended builds or future builds.

I figure around $140 for a good power supply that can handle anything I throw at it for a single card use(650-750watt) is a reasonable cost to factor in, if you can get something cheaper that is bronze or silver certified, that has all the power, the connections, and some overhead available even better. There really is tons of choices out there, some better then others, some less cost but just as good, some even better for slightly more cost.

To me, pick out a couple things that you like and shave off some choices there, so you can get the best you can, for the prices you can afford, and hopefully, you get something that can be used later on as well :)

Zipties, and daisy chaining molex connectors helps alot, most new case fans typically have connectors to plug direct to the board or to one another, a small package of Zipties can keep it all tidy and make it easier to clean and keep the airflow smooth to keep dust down and temps as good as possible, the less wires, the better in my books, they also make sata cables that can be linked for this reason, so you get the cleanest look possible, if that is your thing.
 
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