$400 gaming build

[sam jay]

http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/ShoppingCart.aspx?Submit=view

before rebates- $449.60 (including shipping)

after rebates- $409.60 (including shipping)


anything I should do to make this build better?

 

[008Rohit]

Still the i3 2100 performs a lot better in gaming. Overclocking a 955BE can fill that gap partially, though.

 

[sam jay]

Okay. Anything I can do to make my build cheaper?

 

[008Rohit]

My first i3 build was $399 after rebates.

 

[Outlander_04]

Still the i3 2100 performs a lot better in gaming. Overclocking a 955BE can fill that gap partially, though.

Read the last two system builder marathons for the $500 computer .

Even a lower spec Phenom 920 , with less cache ,beat the intel everywhere and was competitive with the i3 2100 in gaming once it had been OC'ed.
A phenom 955 is already clocked higher , and can easily be clocked higher still .

Buying the intel with a really limited H61 board means you might get a few fps more out of the box now , but it will never be worth upgrading

 

[ScrewySqrl]

I still dont see an H61 motherboard as being as horribly limited as you say.

a $500 price point is inexpensive enough that you're really goibng to just replace the whole system in 2-3 years anyway.

Still I see plenty of upgrade options for a H61 board.

You can upgrade to 2x8GB RAM (16 GB)..yeah you don't keep your existing 2x2GB, but so what?

You can add an SSD, you even have 2 SATA 3 ports to plug one in...you can't do a RAID, but that's not a huge loss.
you can add up to 2 more hard drives in the SATA 2 slots, assuming 1 for your starting HDD, and 1 for the DVD burner
The 2100 can be replaced with a 2300, 2400, 2500, and 2600. Possibly it will handle the new i7-3000 series of 6-core processors and Ivy Bridge.

The single video card slot will take a 7000 series card just fine, though admittedly the case (Rosewill R102) is limited to cards of 9.25" or less. in the current generation, this means you have to max out with a GTX560ti. *Horrors!*

what is missing in the way of upgrades?

 

[aznshinobi]

Asrock A770E3 + AMD Athlon II X3 450 $117
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.699791
Crucial Ballistix 4GB DDR3 1600 $25
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148419
Seagate 500GB $40 (Don't worry SATA III is backwards compatible with SATA II)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148701
Antec 620w $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371031
NZXT Beta $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146055
Sapphire 6790 $135 ($20 MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102930
Total: $407 without MIR

 

[008Rohit]

@ ScrewySql

+1