Ok, it's been a while since I built one, getting back into gaming. I already have decent monitor, optical drives, etc. Budget needs to be under 1K including the OS (win 7 64bit). This is what I have so far total w/OEM Windows 7 is $983+shipping which should put me right at $1000 for everything I need. I will add a good CPU cooler to the list and the build isn't happening until I get my tax returns in a couple months so things may change a little if prices come down but you get the idea. Trying to get the best bang for the buck and be as future proof as possible, what do you think? Mobo: Yeah I know its not really "budget minded" but I want one that'll last ASUS Crosshair III Formula AM3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131392 CPU: Chose this one for its price and ease of OCablity AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 80W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680 GPU: I know the 4890 is better, but for how much longer? GIGABYTE GV-R577D5-1GD-B Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125301 RAM: A-DATA 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211409 ...........OR G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193 HDD: I also have a 1TB external already Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073 PSU: Either this or the Corsair 750W not sure yet KINGWIN Mach 1 ABT-800MA1S 800W ATX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121026 Case: Sexiest case in the $100 range IMHO LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62 Black http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112239 BTW Site looks great!
An better alternative for about $30 more: GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3R LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor or if you don't mind a smaller motherboard, you could take the Intel i5-750 and put it in a GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2 LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard for the same amount of money you are proposing. Gigabyte motherboards are better quality and the i5-750 is one of the best gaming processors out there. For $14 more I would go for the Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive I would also recommend your choice of the Corsair PSU. I will leave the rest of your components to others to comment on. Dick
I would get this memory, it is just as fast, more reliable, and it costs less: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260 The UD3R/750 combo is a great one. It is fast & stable, and allows for good overclocking if you have a nice cooler. The HDD should be a 7200 RPM. From WD, that is the black edition. Here is a decent basic case...this is all you need. Anything more you spend will just be for looks: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147074 I suspect all these prices will change considerably by the time you get your return, so you will have to do a whole new build at that time.
Avoid unreliable Asus boards and dangerously low quality Kingwin PSUs. The rest of it looks fine, but you really should try and stretch to an Intel core i5 instead, it's a vast improvement in performance. Killerbug: For future reference, both Caviar Blue and Black drives are 7200rpm.
Thanks for the suggestions guys. It looks like if I juggle things around a bit and get some combo deals I will be able to afford to go with an Intel CPU and stay very close to making my budget. Plus like mentioned before by the time I build this thing prices and availability will most certainly change, I could even be able to go with a i7 920 build. Would I be better off with going i5 750 with a 5870 or i7 920 with a 5850? Do you think the new Nvidia GPUs will be out in the next couple months or is it all still just rumor. Thanks again.....
For a gaming system, I would recommend you stay with the UD3R/750 combo. My expertise is not with GPUs so I will leave those comments to others. Dick
Stick with the i5, it's actually better for games than the i7. The new nvidia cards will probably not be out until february/march time. They may well be very good, but they WILL be overpriced.
Thanks, I think I just about have an i5 build all figured out, about $150 more than my budget, but if I stick with it for a couple months hopefully it will be right at budget after rebates and such. I'll post it up once it's sorted. I mainly just want the new cards to come out before my build as the prices of others will prob go down a bit. Oh and I picked up two WDC 640G HDDs for $100 yesterday! And yes they were the caviar blacks BTW
I suggest checking back in a few months to see whats what then. We may be able to squeeze in a bit more performance for the budget. Also check out newegg right now if you have a good portion of the money as there running some great deals, notably on SSDs.
What will at least hopefully have happened by January is the 40nm GPU yields be rectified, so there will be good stock of the HD5800 series, thus lower prices.
Plus, the 5900 series will be readily available...so the 5800 series will no longer be the overpriced "high end".
Here's hoping... I think "Q1" is going to be my upgrade time, rather than straight after christmas. The Lucid Hydra pushback coupled with the claimed corrected yields of TSMC's 40nm production was almost enough to make me wait. Now hearing there's a new lower-TDP stepping of the i5 750, that seals the deal for me.
CPU: Chose this one for its price and ease of OCablity AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 80W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680 GO QUAD OR GO HOME!
