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Sub-$450 gaming build

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Aceuniverse

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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
A bit of a challenge here but as a result I came out with this:

CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 960T (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103995)

GPU: NVIDIA GTX 260 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125391)

PSU: Coolermaster Elite 460w (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817171046)

RAM: G.Skill 1066Mhz 4GB ram stick (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231307)

Motherboard: ASUS M4N68T-M V2 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131669)

HDD: 500GB Hitachi (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822145299)

Mouse: Rosewill RM-2400L (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826193058)

Case: NZXT Source 210 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811146075)

Total w/ Shipping: 446.28

Ialready have a DVD-drive, a keyboard

I dont need it to be "bulldozer" ready, and I would like the $450 to be BEFORE rebates, not after.

Thanks in advance!
 
Xinoxide

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#3 ·
Id drop to Phenom II 955/965 cheaper CPU and get a better gpu.

Your choice in a gpu is like 80+% of your gaming performance.
 
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mdocod

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#8 ·
Xinoxide

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#9 ·
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Nick0matic

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#10 ·
This HDD Free shipping + $5 off is cheaper than your Hitachi. $2, but hey. Get a different PSU as well. Try to squeeze a 5770/6770, which would be marginally better. It could be worth it to try for the rebates. Combos make it cheaper, too.

EDIT: ninja'd, go with mdocod
 
PsYcHo29388

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#11 ·
$442.73 shipped

 
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Liranan

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#12 ·
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mdocod

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#13 ·
Quote:


Originally Posted by PsYcHo29388
View Post

$442.73 shipped



Challenger>Blackbone
Biostar VRMs w/Heatsinks > MSI VRMs without (MSI has a really bad track record on VRMs on lots of AM2/AM3 boards)
6850>6750
530W green > anything "stallion" (green and hive series are the only respectable rosewill PSUs, avoid all others)
8GB>4GB
Higher clocked triple core Rana > Propus for gaming and cheaper to boot.
Where's the optical drive?
 
mdocod

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#14 ·
Here's another idea:

CPU/RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.747242
Case/PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.742876
MOBO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157241
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131397
HD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136769
ODD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135204

(GPU, HD, and ODD all have promo codes)

$448 shipped.

The Rana build I proposed before would be better in GPU bound titles (most shootemups), the Pentium Sandy build proposed above would be better in CPU bound titles like SC2 and other RTSs.

--------------------------

Or if you want to fit an i3-2100 in the budget:

CPU/RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.747176
MOBO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157241
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133416
Case/PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119218
HD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136769
ODD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135204
(promo codes on HD/ODD)

$450 shipped.

---------------------------

You can actually get a 6870 into this budget if you want to...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.745265
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.752019
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119218
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136769
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135204

$453 shipped.

Eric
 
J

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#15 ·
Didn't see where you said it all had to come from online retailers, there is a great for sale section here. Snag a used GTX 460 for a gpu and I think you could really make $450 go a long ways.
 
PsYcHo29388

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#16 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdocod;15325314
Challenger>Blackbone
Biostar VRMs w/Heatsinks > MSI VRMs without (MSI has a really bad track record on VRMs on lots of AM2/AM3 boards)
6850>6750
530W green > anything "stallion" (green and hive series are the only respectable rosewill PSUs, avoid all others)
8GB>4GB
Higher clocked triple core Rana > Propus for gaming and cheaper to boot.
Where's the optical drive?
Click to expand...
I forgot to look at what you picked out before posting. However, i have to disagree with some stuff you said above

Challenger>Blackbone
No Comment

Biostar VRMs w/Heatsinks > MSI VRMs without
It does make sense, however i really don't see why almost everyone says MSI AM3/AM2+ boards are terribad, because i have used a total of 3 MSi boards over the past 4-5 years and i never had any problems with them.

6850>6750
Derp

530W green > anything "stallion"
So you are saying that from experience or from what other people have said? I bet you that the PSU I picked out would work just fine and so would the one you picked out.

8GB>4GB
Well yeah but unless you do some extreme amouts of photoshop and video editing you will never use more than 4 anyways.

Higher clocked triple core Rana > Propus for gaming and cheaper to boot.
Yeah it is cheaper but, is it faster? no and heres how:

Propus = 3.0 x 4 = 12.0 Ghz total
Rana = 3.2 x 3 = 9.6 GHz total

Not only that, but if this guy plans on playing BF3 and you chooses the parts you got him, his minimum FPS will be horrible, like mine is, 20 FPS looking at alot of stuff to render, ex looking down the subway, playing on a map like Caspian border, etc.

BF3 isn't gonna be the only game like this, Most unoptimized console ports require a good CPU to run at decent framerates, you could have a 6670 and a 2500k and you could pretty much max Splinter Cell Conviction (just an example) because that game eats your CPU up in open areas, and there is alot of open areas in SCC.

Where's the optical drive?

OP said he already had one.
 
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mdocod

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#17 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by PsYcHo29388;15329689
I forgot to look at what you picked out before posting. However, i have to disagree with some stuff you said above

Challenger>Blackbone
No Comment

Biostar VRMs w/Heatsinks > MSI VRMs without
It does make sense, however i really don't see why almost everyone says MSI AM3/AM2+ boards are terribad, because i have used a total of 3 MSi boards over the past 4-5 years and i never had any problems with them.
Click to expand...
Please follow this link: http://www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/943109-about-vrms-mosfets-motherboard-safety-125w.html Scroll down to the chart of failures. MSI VRM failures outnumber all other reported failures from all other boards combined by an enormous margin. MSI also has an enormous number of VRM failures reported there at STOCK CPU speeds. I'm not making the recommendation based on rumors or feelings about motherboards, I'm making the recommendation based on data that supports the position that MSI screwed up on that round.
Quote:
6850>6750
Derp

530W green > anything "stallion"
So you are saying that from experience or from what other people have said? I bet you that the PSU I picked out would work just fine and so would the one you picked out.
Click to expand...
I agree that either PSU would probably work fine. Based on 3rd party reviews, the ABS made green series are built better, with more overhead, and cleaner power, than the solytech made stallion series. I recommend the better PSU, however, based on the fact that this is a very limited budget build, it's worth exploring other options as well.
Quote:
8GB>4GB
Well yeah but unless you do some extreme amouts of photoshop and video editing you will never use more than 4 anyways.
Click to expand...
Lots of people are reporting over 4GB of use in recent times during normal activities like gaming while leaving a browser and some various clients running. There's no excuse for not building a machine with 8GB these days, it's too little difference in cost to matter. With combo specials, 8GB kits are literally only a few dollars more than 4GB kits.
Quote:
Higher clocked triple core Rana > Propus for gaming and cheaper to boot.
Yeah it is cheaper but, is it faster? no and heres how:

[quotePropus = 3.0 x 4 = 12.0 Ghz total
Rana = 3.2 x 3 = 9.6 GHz total
Click to expand...
Irrelevant comparison because there is currently no mechanism in place to scale a single thread across multiple cores. The vast majority of games still only have 1 dominant thread that will actually use a full CPU core, the other threads in most games hover in the 10-60% range of core utilization. A handful of games will fully utilize 2 cores with a little excess spilling onto a 3rd. Very very few will fully load 3 or more cores. In the vast majority of cases, having a higher clocked triple core will result in better gaming performance than a lower clocked quad with the same architecture. have a look at some gaming benchmarks for CPUs, in most cases, the dual core i3-2100 matches or beats all of the AMD CPU options, including the quad and hexa cores.
Quote:
Not only that, but if this guy plans on playing BF3 and you chooses the parts you got him, his minimum FPS will be horrible, like mine is, 20 FPS looking at alot of stuff to render, ex looking down the subway, playing on a map like Caspian border, etc.
Click to expand...
If that's true, then the minimum FPS on your suggested build would be even worse, so exactly what was the point of saying this....?
Quote:
BF3 isn't gonna be the only game like this, Most unoptimized console ports require a good CPU to run at decent framerates, you could have a 6670 and a 2500k and you could pretty much max Splinter Cell Conviction (just an example) because that game eats your CPU up in open areas, and there is alot of open areas in SCC.
Click to expand...
Console games are designed around console hardware, Consoles have triple core CPUs.
Quote:
Where's the optical drive?

OP said he already had one.
Click to expand...
Ya got me... I guess that means my build could have been even better
smile.gif
 
mdocod

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#19 ·
Actually.... Here's another idea: (HD6870! in budget!)

CPU/RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.745259
GPU/MOBO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.752019
Case/PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119218
HD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769
Mouse: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826193058

$451

I don't like the PSU and Case here very much, but it's the same PSU originally selected by OP.
 
T

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#20 ·
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