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~$1200 Gaming Build (Rate My PC)

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reepicheep424

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May 9, 2009
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This will be mainly used for gaming and surfing the web and stuff. Main games are Counter Strike Source, Team Fortress 2, Crysis, Half Life 2, Left 4 Dead, and maybe fallout 3. (Mainly FPS's)


Case: NZXT Tempest (I was looking at the Antec 900 but decided to go with this one)
Power Supply: Corsair HX620 (I was looking into 750w PSU's but decided on the Corsair)
Motherboard: Gigabyte EP45 UD3R (Wasn't complety sure on the MOBO but I heard good reviews on this one)
Processor: Intel E8400 Duo Core
Ram: G.Skill PI Black 2x2gb (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209)
Video Card: Nvidia Geforce GTX 260
Hard Drive: Western Digital 500gb 7200rpm (i don't think i need to go bigger)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-S223F
OS: Windows Vista (When is Windows 7 coming out? Should i wait?)

1.) I will also be getting the Sennheiser PC 350 Headphones and i was wondering if my Motherboard's onboard sound card will do the trick or if i have to buy a new sound card. I have heard good reviews about the built in sound card.

2.) Also I wasn't sure if those RAM stick will work on my MOBO. I think they are compatible though. If they dont work can anyone recommend some stick? (I definitely want 4gb at least)

3.) Will there be enough room in my case? (Sorry if that is a hard question, i guess ppl who have that case can really only answer that)

4.) Do I need a CPU Fan or does it come with one?

5.) Do i need anything else or did i pretty much cover it all?


 
1- The on board sound is very good, not need for a sound card.

2- The memory ram is good.

3- There will be enough room in your case.

4-The e8400 comes with stock heat sink, which is fine for a decent overclock.

5- I think you covered all your bases.

This is a good build and you should be very happy with it!
However I would change the e8400 out for the x3 720 or x4 940 and get a 790gx motherboard AM2+. The e8400 is getting a little old with only two cores and these two processors will be faster.

Good Luck
 
idk man i think for 1200 you could be a much stronger phenom II computer with a ATI 4870. But thats up to you. personally i would get the quad core over dual core. And im sorry if im repeating what you said Tech-boy also with the tech now in days get faster ram.
 
Reepicheep424 I think the best route for you would be to do what wildgene789 and me have suggested. I just picked the x4 940 up myself, you can not beat its price. And it will beat the e8400 badly most of the time.
 
yea man i have the Phenom II overclocked to 3.6 and with the GTX285 my computer takes games by the neck and just spits on em haha basically im trying to say i own every game. Also for your harddrive a big thing that will affect the speed is the cache because i have 2 500gb WD's in my computer BUT they have 32mb cache soo let us know that urs has
 
Wow you guys were right about the AMD Processor. I think i am going to get the AMD x4 940 Phenom instead of the E8400 but i dont know which motherboard to get? I am having trouble finding a 790gx that supports the x4 Phenom. I also dont know what brand to get. And i want to stick with the the GTX 260 instead of the HD 4870. Will the GTX 260 work with a 790gx motherboard?
 
I bought the Biostar TA790GX 128 Motherboard to go along with my x4 940. It is a solid motherboard for a good price, great overclocker plus has on board video if you gpu goes bad. The only negative of it is that it as only 4 usb 2.0 slots, no big deal for me as there are a bunch more on my case.
 
I bought the Asus m3n-ht Deluxe because well it supports the phenom II but might need the bios updated BUT not only that in the future i can SLI it because its hard to fine AMD motherboards that allow nvidia SLI so just remember that if its in ur game plan
 
What would i have to buy to get this thing working with an LCD monitor that has HDMI/DVI and VGA ports? Does that all plug into the graphics card or the Motherboard?
 
Ok so here is what i have changed so far:

Power Supply: Corsair TX 850 (used to be HX 620)
Motherboard: Asus M4a79 Deluxe (Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R)
Processor: AMD x4 940 (Intel E8400)
Ram: OCZ Reaper PC2-8500 2x2gb 1066mhz (G.Skill PI Black 2x2gb 800mhz)


1.) Will everything be compatible still?

2.) Will the non-modular supply be a problem or doesn't it matter?

3.)Recommend anything else?
 
1- Yes everything will be compatible and it should be a great computer!

2- I do not mind non modular power supplies, it just means you are going to need to spend a little bit more time hiding the cables. But even with a modular power supply you will be using most of the cables anyways.

3- Everything looks perfect (I would make sure to go the x4 940 route), only thing I would change would be the hard drive to a western digital black 640gb. I little faster and more space. But if you don't think you need it the 500gb will work fine.

Should be a real nice computer for you!
 
I have identical goals and budget; I may end up piggybacking off your build. Thanks for putting thought into this.
 
After pricing these components, it looks like you're coming in under budget. What would be the next logical step up if you wanted a bit more power? The graphics card?
 


I would upgrade to the 640gb Western Digital Black with 32mb cache. And if you have enough money a gtx 275 😀
 
Sorry, I was adding the price of the Sennheiser PC 350's so i think i am going to stick with this:

Case: NZXT Tempest
Video Card: Nvidia Geforce GTX 260
Hard Drive: Western Digital 500gb 7200rpm
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-S223F
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium
Power Supply: Corsair TX 850
Motherboard: Asus M4a79 Deluxe
Processor: AMD x4 940
Ram: OCZ Reaper PC2-8500 2x2gb 1066mhz

1.) What brand of GTX 260 should i get? I was looking at this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130398

2.) or should i get the ATI HD 4870? if so which brand? or link
 
You should consider a 1GB 4870 too...since you have an AMD build it might be good to keep all AMD CPU, MOBO and GPU. They are about the same price, but i think the 4870 is better in performance
 
why have you got a high end CF board but a nvidia GPU?

switch the 260 for a 4890 and the motherboard to a biostar TA790GX A2+, if it still won't fit in the budget switch the 850TX for a 650TX.
 
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