Hey guys, I'm selling my old computer on ebay so I'm not sure how much i'll be getting for it therefore I don't know what my budget for this computer is. So far I have a: Coolmasters 650W PSU Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L Motherboard 20x DVD-RW Drive Heat Sink/Fan What I need: (CHeAPER IS BETTER) Case (I don't want something dinky, I need something that doesn't scratch easily, nothing too huge though, and hopefully under $120) RAM (I need DDR2,and I want something FAST but affordable, 4-6GB, and under $100 if possible) Hard Drive (Just Something FAST, affordable, 1TB of space, SATA, and hopefully $100-120) Video Card (I've pretty much decided on the HD4870) Thanks for your help
Case - Antec 900 or NZXT Tempest to actually fit the 4870 Ram - Any of the first 3 from thispage. The first ram OCs pretty well and I think youll be pretty hard pressed to find 4GBs of 1066 for < $100 save ebay. HDD - WD 640GB
I'll recommend the CM690 for the case. It's more low profile, and it doesn't scratch that easy. And it's cheaper than the 900 or the Tempest.
I'd go with the 900 or Tempest like Skye - much better cooled at stock, and with a card like the 4870 you need that.
Thanks for your responses guys, this is what I've decided on so far. Case - Antec 900: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021&Tpk=antec 900 HDD - WD 640: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218 RAM - G.Skill 4GB (2x2) 1000: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231174 Video Card - HD4870: Don't have a link I want to find it the cheapest it is, any help would be saweet. If you guys have any changes or suggestions feel free to say it. Thanks again.
Absolute cheapest would probably be ebay, otherwise, newegg has them for like 250 or 260 after rebate.
I think I'm also gonna get the arctic cooling freezer 7: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134 and the arctic silver 5: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007 so I can OC my core 2
I was also wonder what would be better for gaming? The E8500 core 2 duo or the core 2 quad Q6600, I know when it comes to gaming the clock speed is really all that matters. With the E8500 I can OC that thing really high, but would it be better to have a quad core and OC that aswell? Would the extra cores just stay idle?
Until more games with multi-core support come out, the best processors are Dual core as they can achieve greater clocks.
Got it to 3.24Ghz so far, highest I can get on auto settings, and since I still can't get manual settings to work on my board, 3.24 it is. Made 18,054 in 3dmark06. Two 'real world' tests of note: Crysis, all high 2560x1600: dual core 21-23fps, quad core 25-28fps, 4xAA quad core 19-22fps 1920x1200: dual core 23-25fps, quad core 44-50fps, 4xAA quad core 28-36fps Age of Conan, max settings, 4xAA, 2560x1600: dual core 19-21fps, quad core 30-41fps.
I finally bought all my parts, and this is what I went with. I thought I got some pretty good deals, I didn't pay 1 cent for shipping on any product. Most of these are at some really good prices. PSU: Cooler Master eXtreme 650W - $85 (I bought this around last year) Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L - $70 (I bought the open box one and it came with everything and works great CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 - $190 Wireless Card: TrendNet TEW-623PI - Only $34! CPU Fan: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - $25 Ram: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000)- $80 Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar 640GB - $85 Case: Antec Nine Hundred - $98 Video Card: Sapphire ATI HD4870 512MB - $247 Total = $914 I sold my old computer for $475, I sort of exaggerated on how good it was, but it's opinionated right? Here's the link
Everything apart from the PSU in that build is great. The PSU isn't terrible, but coolermaster units in my experience have been of mediocre build quality and very noisy.
