$450 or under gaming PC

C

CaliGirl

Gawd
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Messages
803
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
This is for my 14 year old brother, used for school work, internet browsing, streaming music/movies, gaming [CoD WaW, MW2, Grid, etc].
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$450 including shipping and tax [prefer around $400]
3) Where do you live?
Southern California
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU, Mobo, RAM, PSU
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Case-Antec P182, HDD-WD Black 640GB, LG optical drive, BFG 8800GT OC 512MB [will be updated around Xmas time to a GTX 260 or similar], G5 mouse, Logitech Wave keyboard
6) Will you be overclocking?
Maybe.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
37" Westinghouse 1920x1080
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
within the next 2 weeks
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
None specifically
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes, either Vista 64, XP 32, or Win 7 [next month]


These are the parts I have priced out:

  • PSU-$51.15 [$41.15 AR] Corsair Power CMPSU-400CX 400w CX Series 12V ATX 80 Plus Certified Power Supply
  • CPU-$167.99 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 GHZ 6M L2 Cache 1333MHz FSB LGA775
  • MOBO-$132.69 Gigabyte GA-E945-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX
  • RAM-$53.79 OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 1066 MHz Platinum 4GB [2x2GB]
Total [free shipping, no tax]: $405.62 [$395.62 AR]

Any recommendations on any of these parts?
Thanks...
 
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Efficient != supplying more watts. Efficient=efficient at converting the power coming from the wall into a usable DC current (Example: PSU A draws 100watts from the wall for every 80 watts it supplies).
Yes you can go with a cheaper PSU. A beefier PSU just allows more head room with upgrades.
 
corsair 400w is great powersupply but it doesn't leave much room to grow in the future.
 
Jospeh said:
Efficient != supplying more watts. Efficient=efficient at converting the power coming from the wall into a usable DC current (Example: PSU A draws 100watts from the wall for every 80 watts it supplies).
Yes you can go with a cheaper PSU. A beefier PSU just allows more head room with upgrades.
Click to expand...

lt_shiro said:
corsair 400w is great powersupply but it doesn't leave much room to grow in the future.
Click to expand...


That makes sense. I'm saving money on everything else, so I'll get the larger PSU for him. Though he won't be doing much upgrading until he gets a job and is paying for it himself! :p

Now that I think about it, I have a 3 month old PCP&C 750W Silencer that I was going to sell. Should I just keep it and use it for this build?
 
Just curious if there are any other opinions on the Phenom II x2 545 and ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO 785G combo as I will be buying these two parts today.
 
Would the Phenom II x3 720 Black Edition paired with the Asus M4A785TD-V EVO 785G be a better choice for $27 more?

I have read that it may be possible to unlock a fourth core by running the 2009-01-13 bios. Is this something that is easy to do? Or even worth it in terms of performance?
 
Wow... you sold your i7 to build a gaming rig for your bro? ... and he's got a 37" 1080p westy?!?! lucky kid! :p I wish I had that nice of a monitor when I was 14. :(

shiro has you covered. ;)

Yes, use the 750 QUAD instead of selling it. Yes, its major overkill, but you already have it, and its potential replacement isn't much cheaper than what you could sell it for.
 
Jospeh said:
Efficient != supplying more watts. Efficient=efficient at converting the power coming from the wall into a usable DC current (Example: PSU A draws 100watts from the wall for every 80 watts it supplies).
Yes you can go with a cheaper PSU. A beefier PSU just allows more head room with upgrades.
Click to expand...

yeah, but PSUs have a efficiency curve for power output... i think you should aim for 50% of the PSU usage when in use, for more efficiency... higher output just in case.... definitely get one with a brand name/review for good and not crapping out
 
enginurd said:
Wow... you sold your i7 to build a gaming rig for your bro? ... and he's got a 37" 1080p westy?!?! lucky kid! :p I wish I had that nice of a monitor when I was 14. :(

shiro has you covered. ;)

Yes, use the 750 QUAD instead of selling it. Yes, its major overkill, but you already have it, and its potential replacement isn't much cheaper than what you could sell it for.
Click to expand...

I sold my i7 setup to buy another member's i7 rig plus some extra goodies. It was a great deal I could not pass up.

But yes, my bro is lucky. He's a good kid though, so he deserves it. The emachine PC I gave him 3 years ago crapped out [I think it's the PSU], and he's been bugging me to get him something decent to game on. He's need a reliable desktop for school now anyway, so I thought it was time for an upgrade.

paperwastage said:
yeah, but PSUs have a efficiency curve for power output... i think you should aim for 50% of the PSU usage when in use, for more efficiency... higher output just in case.... definitely get one with a brand name/review for good and not crapping out
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm keeping the PCP&C 750W PSU I have for this build...Thanks.

lt_shiro said:
x2 545 can be unclock to x4.
Click to expand...

So no real performance gains between the x2 545 and the x3 720 in your opinion?
 
I guess I wouldn't get too excited about unlocking cores. Is seems to be hit or miss doing that.
 
rex67 said:
I guess I wouldn't get too excited about unlocking cores. Is seems to be hit or miss doing that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, so I hear...I can hope for the best :)

hossdaddy said:
since you are re-using the psu, heres some things to consider,

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 $59.99 + fs
GIGABYTE GA-MA785G-UD3H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G + AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz Socket AM3 80W $177.98
XFX HD-489A-ZDFC Radeon HD 4890 1GB $199.99
Total: $437.96
Click to expand...

Thanks for the opinion. While it is under my budget, that is too much GPU for him right now. I have an 8800GT that will serve him well until the next gen cards come out and drive the prices down of the current cards.
 
Okay, small update. I just picked up a Phenom x2 550 BE for less than the x2 545 I had in my shopping cart.

So, all that I have left to get is the ram and the motherboard.

Any opinions between the ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO AM3 AMD 785G and the ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ?? They are $99 and $119 respectively, shipped with no tax from Amazon. So does the $20 price difference bring any gains?

The RAM suggested earlier by It_Shiro is not in stock. Any other recommendations? If possible, something in a shade of blue [it may go in a windowed case :p ].

One more question: what's a good aftermarket HSF? I'd like to overclock this to around 3.6GHz and keep everything cool.
 
wow... a month since last update eh? :p

HSF:
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-GP 120mm Long life sleeve CPU Cooler


Since you want blue, and g linked some red, here's the ripjaws in blue with tighter timings, higher voltage, and a $10 bump in price:
$90 - G.Skill Ripjaws Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1600 F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM
 
enginurd said:
wow... a month since last update eh? :p

HSF:
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-GP 120mm Long life sleeve CPU Cooler


Since you want blue, and g linked some red, here's the ripjaws in blue with tighter timings, higher voltage, and a $10 bump in price:
$90 - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1600 F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM
Click to expand...


I know I lagged, but I was experiencing drama with my pc and I always come first when it's my money that's involved. ;)

Anyway, thanks for the links for the hsf and ram. I'll check those out...
 
enginurd said:
How is your pc btw? did you ever get it up and running?
Click to expand...


Yeah it's running right now. It was such drama. Definitely not something I'd do again. First the motherboard crapped out, rma'd that and when I put the new one in the gtx 285 crapped out...so had to rma that and just got the replacement in yesterday. I need to put it still and make sure it's all kosher. Also still waiting on missing screws and what not from Lian-Li.
 
nice. nice case, btw. oh, and i think your black 1tb drives are faster than your raptor. :p
 
Thanks for all of the help..I got the the motherboard yesterday and now I'm just waiting on the RAM. Will post some photos next week when it's all put together :)
 
TheBuzzer said:
So what was the final parts you chose?
Click to expand...

For sure parts I bought:
AMD Phenom x2 550BE [$85]
ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO [$99.99]
G. Skill DDR3-1600 2GBx2 [$98.76]
Sunbeam CCF HSF [$25]
Logitech G5 [$30]
Ratpadz XT [$19.99]
Total: $358.74

For sure parts I had:
LG Optical Drive with Lightscribe
WD 640GB Black
Creative Blaster X-Fi Titanium

Parts I am still debating whether to use that I have:
Antec P182
Corsair 650HX Modular PSU
PCP&C Silencer 750w PSU
Logitech Wave Keyboard
BFG 8800 GT OC 512

Parts I am still debating whether to use that I may need to buy:
Keyboard: Sidewinder, G15, Razer Lycosa
Case: Coolermaster Storm Scout or Storm Sniper
GPU: A nice GTX 260 or GTX 275 if I find a good used deal
 
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