[tincanman]

Hi everyone from the SSF section,

My friend wants to switch to a custom built computer(micro-atx) from his Acer(

), and wants to spend about $500ish on it. He'll be letting me to build it.

I just want to ask what should I buy?? He is a semi-gamer and plays like COD4 combat arms and soon getting MW2. His max resolution is 1280x720.
so what should he buy for his current gaming style??

thank you

 

[Fear of Oneself]

Biostar TA790GXE Motherboard
Athlon II X4 230
Sapphire 5670
Ultra LSP 550 i think it's called
Cheap DVD drive
Cheap case
i don't know of any DDR2 anymore

but other ppl will post suggestions

 

[Mikecdm]

I'd say to go to fry's and look for some of the AMD combo deals. They usually have a decent mb with an athlon II quad core for around $110.

 

[tincanman]

yeah, i was also thinking about a combo
first time going into amd though

, i used to have a laptop with a sempron and it kicked some serious a55
for psu, i was thinking about getting him a corsair, antec, seasonic, or silverstone
ultra lsp is built off wintech crap, which is not good.

for gpu i'm thinking of a radeon 5670 would be perfect
the problem is the case. I want to get him a cube case, but I don't know which one is good and which is bad. I need some suggestions from the SSF experts. and the case must be under $100

 

[Tainok]

$500 including case or $500 + $100 case? Will make a big difference.

 

[hawaiian_geek]

I believe Fry's has a AMD Athlon II X4 Propus 630 cpu with a MSI mobo for $100.00. Not a bad deal at all. It was in their ad on Friday. I'm not sure if the MSI mobo is a matx or atx.

http://newspaperads.mercurynews.com/...28748911&type=

Looks like the MSI mobo is matx according to newegg's listing for that model.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130247

 

[ColdRush]

Just make sure he has a nice cooling setup. My cramped 250 gets up to 75C under load with two 80mm fans pushing air through the heatsink on top of its stock cooling in this mATX case. A front intake is a must.

 

[redalert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikecdm I'd say to go to fry's and look for some of the AMD combo deals. They usually have a decent mb with an athlon II quad core for around $110.

also check out Microcenter they have AMD deals like that also. For a case check out the Coolermaster Elite 341 sells around $40 and you can install 4 120mm fans in it.

 

[HandBanana]

Here's a wishlist I made for you on Newegg:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...Number=9064389

You can't add combos to wishlists so heres the mobo & CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.357440

Total = $499.93

Quick specs:
2.8Ghz dual core processor
2GB 1066 G.Skill Ram
XFX 5670 graphics card
Corsair 450W PSU
Antec P180 Micro ATX case
640 GB WD Hard drive

EDIT: Whoops, forgot to put in a DVD drive, they are only like $20 so its no biggie.

 

[tincanman]

cool thanks to everyone for their help
its 500 including the case and the p180 is a case I've always wanted to work with
i'll send him a link to this thread and see how he thinks
REPS+

 

[HandBanana]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tincanman cool thanks to everyone for their help its 500 including the case and the p180 is a case I've always wanted to work with i'll send him a link to this thread and see how he thinks REPS+

Hehe, I just ordered one a few days ago! I have a P183 currently, and it has been the best case I have ever owned. You cannot go wrong with the P180 series.

 

[tincanman]

yep, its a micro atx case that ACTUALLY HAS CABLE MANAGEMENT

it also have a bottom mounted psu, and a top 200mm fan
other goodies are like the removable hdd cage and front fan filter

 

[r31ncarnat3d]

You can try something like my rig, only replace the motherboard with something a tad bit cheaper, CPU with a e8400 and the GPU with a 9800GT:

Case: Silverstone Sugo SG02-F - $60 new
CPU: e8400 -$100 used
Motherboard: Gigabyte G41- $60 new
RAM: 2x2GB G.Skill 4GBPQ- $80 used (You can buy them from me

)
PSU: Corsair HX 620 - $100 used
Harddrive: 500GB WD Blue - $55 new
Optical Drive: LG SATA DVD-RW w/ Lightscribe: $23 new
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek Low-Profile Cooler (Keeps my Q9550 <60C @ 3.0 GHz) - $13 new

Total: $491

Hope this helps

 

[Erick Silver]

If you are gonna build a Gaming System thats going to do well I dunno if a C2D is gonna cut it honestly. And $500? I dunno how well its gonna play those games. The only Gaming I do is WoW on my system. Even with WoW I don't have the visual experience that I know is capable and it disappoints me. So. I decided just for the hell of it to seee what was available ffor a Micro ATX Gaming Setup. This build is of course going to go over $500. I did it because I am bored sitting here t work doing nothing. Enjoy my "Micro Madness"

Case: NZXT PanzerBox $109.00
Mobo: EVGA X58 Micro Motherboard $209.99
Processor:Intel i7 920 $289.99
CPU Cooler: Corsair H50 $79.99
RAM: 4gb Corsair Dominator GT Dual Channel 1333mhz $164.99
Video Card: BFG GeForce GTX 285 $379.99

TOTAL $1234.94

Thats what I have come up with. Its a mad mad mad build. I can't afford it. I wish I could afford it. But this was for fun. Enjoy it.

 

[whe3ls]

mine would cost close to 500. i have atm a 440 2gigs of ram and a 8800gt its a fairly nice matx gamer.

 

[r31ncarnat3d]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erick Silver If you are gonna build a Gaming System thats going to do well I dunno if a C2D is gonna cut it honestly. And $500? I dunno how well its gonna play those games. The only Gaming I do is WoW on my system. Even with WoW I don't have the visual experience that I know is capable and it disappoints me. So. I decided just for the hell of it to seee what was available ffor a Micro ATX Gaming Setup. This build is of course going to go over $500. I did it because I am bored sitting here t work doing nothing. Enjoy my "Micro Madness"

$500 is definitely enough. An e8400 and 9800GT are still extremely strong parts, and his friend is still gaming at a low res. Besides, I used to be able to max out MW2 on 1920x1080 with my e8500 myself. His friend definitely can stick to $500.

 

[tincanman]

hehe, the problem is that he doesn't want to buy used parts
I actually showed him a used c2d cpu about a week ago from ocn, and he said he doesn't want to buy anything that's used. I tried to convince him that it's ok to buy some used parts and save some $$, but he still won't flex

 

[PowerTrip]

Best mATX I could put together for a tight budget.

AMD Athlon II X4 620 + Gigabyte 785G $164.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.357501

OCZ 600w Modular + XFX Radeon 5670 $154.98 (+$25MIR from OCZ)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.347649

A-DATA 4GB (2x2) DDR2 800 $84.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820211188

Samsung Spinpoint F3 HDD $44.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152226

LG SATA DVD burner $22.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136168

Antec Mini P180 $64.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129044

Total after Mail in Rebate $523.85