first gaming computer build

A

allen5o4

n00b
Joined
Aug 28, 2009
Messages
23
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
pure gaming/web browsing. i plan to run my games on (max - close to max) settings without being choppy or laggy.
need for speed:shift
crysis
fear 2
COD: MW2
WOW
resident evil 5



2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
about $450-550

3) Where do you live?
new orleans

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
RAM, MOBO, graphic card. heat sink, power supply, CPU, wireless card (my router will be about 15-20 feet from my computer. from the living room to my room. i cant have wires in the hall way and such.)
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific
about the power supply. List make and model.

HDD
cd/dvd drive
monitor
keyboard/mouse
case

6) Will you be overclocking?
no

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
22"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...4113005&cm_re=FPD2275W-_-24-113-005-_-Product

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
in about 1 month

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
none

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
yes.


here is what i got so far:

CPU:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103674 $119
mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131398 $99
GC: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150359 $199
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015 $84.99
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...231277&cm_re=PC3_12800-_-20-231-277-_-Product $79.99
wirelesscard: N/a
im planning to buy this in about a month, so GC prices should go down by then due to the new GC's thats coming out.

thank you.
 
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so far your choices are good.. with your resolution a gtx 260 or gtx 275 or HD4870 are your best choices.. all three of those cards will easily play those games you listed with the graphics maxed out except on crysis.. but who really even plays that game anymore..

ram you dont need to go balls out crazy on.. gskill ddr3 1600 or 1333 are good choices.. as for the heatsink.. go with something like the xig s1283.. or coolermaster V8.. ill leave the psu and wireless nics stuff to the people that pay more attention to that then me..
 
What case will you be reusing?
Are the HDD and ODD SATA or IDE?
 
I agree with sirmonkey, a 260 or 275 will work fine. I haven't used a HD4870 so I can't answer for that, but probably similar results. If you do decide to buy any 200 series nVidia card, be careful with the power supply you buy. I had a friend run into problems with the PSU not being powerful enough to run his 260. Here's a couple tips for buying a power supply w/ a 200 series, and most likely a 4870:

1. Make sure it is a minimum of a 500 Watt power supply (Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 36 Amps.)

2. While on the egg, look in the specs for your PSU and make sure it has at least 2 PCI-express connectors.

Hope this helps, and if your interested in a 260 look at this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434

Best rating for any 200 series on newegg, with an average 5-egg rating with 400+ reviews.

Let me know if this helps, i'm new to helping on forums, but trying to learn whatever I can.
 
Danny Bui said:
What case will you be reusing?
Are the HDD and ODD SATA or IDE?
Click to expand...

both are sata, for the case im gong to reuse is my sister's. not sure what brand she bought, but it has 2 medium sized fans on the side and 2 big sized fans in the back. its a mid tower.
sorry for the bad description, theres isnt a name brand on the case
 
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Akman said:
I agree with sirmonkey, a 260 or 275 will work fine. I haven't used a HD4870 so I can't answer for that, but probably similar results. If you do decide to buy any 200 series nVidia card, be careful with the power supply you buy. I had a friend run into problems with the PSU not being powerful enough to run his 260. Here's a couple tips for buying a power supply w/ a 200 series, and most likely a 4870:

1. Make sure it is a minimum of a 500 Watt power supply (Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 36 Amps.)

2. While on the egg, look in the specs for your PSU and make sure it has at least 2 PCI-express connectors.

Hope this helps, and if your interested in a 260 look at this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434

Best rating for any 200 series on newegg, with an average 5-egg rating with 400+ reviews.

Let me know if this helps, i'm new to helping on forums, but trying to learn whatever I can.
Click to expand...


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130433&cm_re=gtx_265-_-14-130-433-_-Product
im interested in this one. is this already OC'ed?
 
allen5o4 said:
both are sata, for the case im gong to reuse is my sister's. not sure what brand she bought, but it has 2 medium sized fans on the side and 2 big sized fans in the back. its a mid tower.
sorry for the bad description, theres isnt a name brand on the case
Click to expand...

Can you at least provide a pic of the case? I wanna make sure that whatever video card and CPU we recommend will fit inside the case AND will be well cooled.

allen5o4 said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130433&cm_re=gtx_265-_-14-130-433-_-Product
im interested in this one. is this already OC'ed?
Click to expand...

Piss poor price. For the same price, you can get the faster HD4890. Don't spend more than ~$160 for a GTX 260, regardless of whether or not it's OC'd.
 
taking pic right now, for the HD4890,i know that all HD4890 are the same, but just different brand names on it. which brand would u suggest?
 
Go for the cheapest XFX HD4890 as the more expensive one doesn't offer any performance increase or any other special feature over the cheap XFX HD4890 thats worth the extra $20.

Also it looks like there's no fan at all in the rear. In addition, is the rear fan area roughly the same as the small side fans?
 
Danny Bui said:
Go for the cheapest XFX HD4890 as the more expensive one doesn't offer any performance increase or any other special feature over the cheap XFX HD4890 thats worth the extra $20.

Also it looks like there's no fan at all in the rear. In addition, is the rear fan area roughly the same as the small side fans?
Click to expand...

no its a little bigger.theres 2 of them in the back
 
allen5o4 said:
no its about 2 times bigger.theres 2 of them in the back
Click to expand...

2 times? That doesn't make sense. Can you take a picture of the insides of the case without the case side on? I need a shot of the rear and a shot of the side fans themselves.
 
Hmmm, those rear fans look like 80mm fans to me. You have two of them so it should provide sufficient cooling albeit very loudly.

However it might be a little cramped inside the case for a new video card. It looks like there' about 10" to 10.5" clearance. Can you please measure the distance between the motherboard and the hard drive cage?
 
about 1 inch. the HDD is all the way at the bottom of the case so i think i can find the GC in but probably about an inch or two would be in the cage
 
Danny Bui said:
Hmmm, those rear fans look like 80mm fans to me. You have two of them so it should provide sufficient cooling albeit very loudly.

However it might be a little cramped inside the case for a new video card. It looks like there' about 10" to 10.5" clearance. Can you please measure the distance between the motherboard and the hard drive cage?
Click to expand...

By the looks of it it's an Atx-mid. Generally speaking, they can fit in those but VERY tight. I've had to move a lot of cables around because its clogs up so much cable space, but it should fit. Danny's right though, better safe than sorry....measure!
 
Hmm, assuming that the mobo is a standard 9.6" length wise, it means that you only have 10.6" clearance for a new video card. The GTX 260, HD4870, and HD4890 are 10.5" long but you also have to factor in another 1" for the power cables that those video cards need.

With that said, it looks like you can just route the video card power cables through the hard drive bay to fit in those cards. So you should be fine with that case. Not ideal but should be ok for now.

RAM wise, I recommend this set:
$80 - G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM

PSU wise, I recommend this PSU:
$80 - Antec Earthwatts 650W PSU

EDIT: Hmm, doing the math, it does not look like you will be out of your budget range. Since there's no firm figure whatsoever about what the HD4890 or GTX 260 or HD4870's prices will be after the introduction of the newer cards, can't really factor that in. I recommend dropping the CPU down to the Phenom X3 720 CPU if you need to save some cash. PSU wise, you might be able to get away with this PSU:
$67 - Seasonic SS-500ES 500W PSU

The above Seasonic is the cheapest PSU I'd recommend for any video card equivalent or higher than the HD4870.
 
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i was reading reviewws for the XFX Radeon HD 4890, it tends to get really hot, even on idle. would my fans keep it cool enough for it not to fry?
 
allen5o4 said:
i was reading reviewws for the XFX Radeon HD 4890, it tends to get really hot, even on idle. would my fans keep it cool enough for it not to fry?
Click to expand...

Barely IMO. However I do not have any hard data or experience with a case with a fan setup like yours. So you're gonna have to try it yourself and see what happens.
 
-x3 720 would be fine for games.
-I don't suggest it as G.Skill are great memory.
-Horrible, either the earthwatts 650watt or $80 or Corsair 400w for $50 but corsair isn't going to power a 4890.
 
allen5o4 said:
would it be a huge difference dropping form a quad core to a trip core?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...649&cm_re=phenom_ii_x3-_-19-103-649-_-Product

also how bout this RAM?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148262

hows this PSU?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016
Click to expand...

- Not a huge difference
- The G.Skill RAM recommended earlier is exactly the same price as that Crucial RAM once you factor in shipping. So considering that teh G.Skill RAM recommended earlier is faster, no real reason to go with the Crucial
- That PSU is crap. The Sesonic PSU recommended earlier is only $2 more but of FAR superior quality. It's like comparing a Pinto (the Antec Basiq) and a Mercedes (Seasonic)
 
None of your links work. Just list the actual names of those parts
 
mobo: ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
GC: XFX HD-489A-ZDFC Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
PSU: Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified
CPU:AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor Model HDZ720WFGIBOX
RAM:G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

now i need a wireless adapter.
 
Linksys, Netgear, and D-Link are three of the "major" brands when it comes to wireless cards, but they're often comparatively more expensive. Belkin is another "major" brand, but its wireless products are (IMO) often hit or miss.

If you don't have any extravagant demands, practically any card would work with any router.
 
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well, im going to be playing games online such as COD MW2, need for speed:shift, WOW, so im going to need a high end wireless card. for every wireless card's review, 1/2 of the people are saying the always disconnect and such. im very wary of buying one, but i need one since i cannot have wires running all over the house.
 
should i do this combo?
AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black $119
ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard $119.99
-$15
=$223.99

or

ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard $100
AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black $119
not a combo deal
 
Take NewEgg reviews with a grain of salt. Most of the reviews don't give you enough information to make a rational decision from them. And while the "major" manufacturers are often "better quality," they're prone to the same potential problems as the "generic" manufacturers. For the best "compatibility," it's best to pick up a wireless card from the same brand, if not the same "model" series, as your wireless router.

Whether or not you should go with the X3 720/AMD M4A79XTD EVO combo deal depends on whether or not the features on the board meet your needs.
 
tiraides said:
Whether or not you should go with the X3 720/AMD M4A79XTD EVO combo deal depends on whether or not the features on the board meet your needs.
Click to expand...

Precisely. Look back to your own answer to question 9. You didn't mention a single thing that you were looking for in a mobo. That means that even the barest mobo will be enough for you. So in that case, I recommend this combo:
$179 - AMD Phenom II X3 720 CPU + Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UDP3 AMD 770 ATX Motherboard Combo
 
Yes... what Danny and tiraides said.

Also, I'd stick to wired networking for gaming. ;)

EDIT: just re-read the thread... sorry, didnt catch the living room thing at first. :p
 
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enginurd said:
Also, I'd stick to wired networking for gaming. ;)
Click to expand...


Agreed.

Back to the OP I can guarantee with what you have so far you will not be disappointed.

Side note: I wish more people would realize buying $2000-3000 Alienware beasts are not the best computers for the money just because they look "cool".
 
Akman said:
... Side note: I wish more people would realize buying $2000-3000 Alienware beasts are not the best computers for the money just because they look "cool".
Click to expand...

Many people buy pre-built gaming systems because they don't have the time/knowledge/time-to-get-required-knowledge to build one themselves and they don't mind paying the price. Though, boutiques are a much better option in such a case.
 
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