$700 Gaming build for Aion, Civ V, Black Ops & MW2

[Irishchai]

Hello all! Hope I got the format right. I'm a first-time poster, but frequent visitor. I've found a lot of great information and advice here, so hope I can get your feedback on this build.


APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: First week of February

BUDGET RANGE: Up to $700, but cheaper the better within my goals stated under Additional Comments, before rebates.

SYSTEM USAGE: Gaming

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, CD/DVDROM

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: I've always preferred AMD processors with geforce video cards, but I'm willing to try anything if it means better performance to price ratio within my budget. I mainly stick with that because I know more about their products then with Intel chips/mboards and ATI/AMD Radeon cards.

OVERCLOCKING: Only if I need it to reach 60+ fps

MONITOR RESOLUTION: It'll be 1280x1024 until I get a new widescreen monitor at 1440x900, probably in mid-2011.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: It'll be used primarily for Aion, Civ V, and the Call of Duty series. My priority is playing those at the highest quality possible (at least average-to-high settings and 60+ fps) within my budget. If something appears like overkill, please let me know. I'd love to get this build under $500-600 if my performance goals are met.

Edit: Thought I better clarify that better. If I can get 60+fps on medium settings in those games, then I'm good and rather trim off or adjust anything unnecessary.


I pieced together the following build just based on mixed information from forums, performance charts/reviews, and newegg feedback. I'm comfortable tweaking it to death to get the most out of it, but want to make sure I'm working with something as future-proof as possible because I'll upgrade parts here and there as often as I can afford it (i.e. getting a good cpu cooler, adding more memory, adding a 2nd vcard for crossfire or SLI/Xfire, etc.)


CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz, using stock heatsink & fan for now
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681910387
instead of:
[strike]AMD Phenom II x2 555 BE, using stock heatsink & fan for now[/strike]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103846

Motherboard: ASUS M4A88T-V EVO/USB3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131668

GPU: MSI R5770 Hawk Radeon HD 5770 1GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127490

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231310

Case: COOLER MASTER Elite RC-310-BWN1-GP
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119203

More Case Fans: COOLER MASTER R4-L2S-122B-GP 120mm 4 BLUE LED LED Case Fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103022

PSU: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181
instead of:
[strike]Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136795[/strike]

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754


These choices came out to $697.91 before shipping so right on target, but I'd like to know where I can improve on it. What do you guys think?


Thank you in advance for any help or advice you can offer!

 

[Irishchai]

And $2 shipping, no tax!

Life is good! lol

 

[cthunder067]

Ok, I fell back on to the 3.0 GB/s hard drive I had earlier. I also dropped the SATA cable because the case supposedly includes them. Not a big deal if that isn't correct. I'll just go out to a local computer shop and buy it.

Regarding the power supply, I found the Antec EA 650 in stock today on Newegg, but it's the same price as the corsair currently. Just in favor of the more positive reviews, I'll stick with the Corsair unless there's another reason to swap it besides cost. I'm also not sure about the other Antecs of lower wattage since adding the OC GTX 460 1GB.

I also went from 4GB DDR1333 Gskill memory to slightly cheaper A-data 1600 4GB "Gaming" memory.

It's $15 over budget, but after mail-in rebates it comes out to $695. Here's the latest build:


MSI N460GTX -M2D1GD5/OC GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127551

AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103871

A-DATA Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211409

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181

ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157198

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005


Any other suggestions? I might add more fans to the case, but I'll probably build it and test internal temps before I decide. Looks like a great case.

Nice Build, One thing though, ScrewySqrl brought up a good point. If you want to crossfire in the future. See if you could find a cheap 6850
Asus 1GB Directcu 6850 $179.99 w/rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121399
Asus 1GB DC/2DIS1GB 6850 $179.99 w/ rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121419
Sapphire 1GB 6850 $174.99 w/rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908
These 3 were the cheapest I could find via Newegg, Tigerdirect and Amazon.

If you don't plan on doing crossfire, then stick with the GTX 460.

Lastly, I don't see the ANtec EA 650 being available. It shows me it's sold out for 64.99.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015

 

[chnathan]

Ok, cool thanks. I'll go for the 1600 then. I noticed the same thing with mostly just guesses but thought I'd be erroring on the side of caution sticking with the 1333. But that's why I'm here for good advice hehe

Cool. Just make sure it's set to 1333 in the bios/uefi. It most likely will automatically since that's the closest speed the MB supports, but no harm in checking.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

the Sea Sonic 520W S12II easily has enough amperage to crossfire a pair of 6850s, and runs $59.99

your 1600 RAM can be set to run at 1600 rather than 1333, you just have to go into the Bios and MANUALLY set it.

 

[Irishchai]

If you don't plan on doing crossfire, then stick with the GTX 460.

Lastly, I don't see the ANtec EA 650 being available. It shows me it's sold out for 64.99.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015

Here's the power supply I found for Antec: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371044

I think I will plan on the crossfire route because I see a lot benchmarks showing it about equal to GTX 460 SLI. I won't have to worry about finding a cheap SLI ready board this way.

 

[cthunder067]

Good to know. What about for future upgrades like crossfiring the 6850 or upgrading to a Phenom II x4 or x6? I might still drop to the 500W though. Just curious how well it will support those upgrades eventually.

Should be no trouble with the upgrade of the phenom II X4 or X6.
Here is my build it's similar to yours. I just went with a older ASUS mthbd because I liked the features and I am not really concerned with USB 3.0. I will be upgrading to Bulldozer anyways. My main goal was to put together a system for the future. And the worse case scenario will be I need to replace my mthbd and cpu.

My Build
MTHBD: ASUS M4A79XTD EVO
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz
Cooler: COOLMASTER Hyper 212+
MEM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
VIDEO: ASUS EAH6850 DirectCU/2DIS/1GD5 Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
- It's temporarily out of stock. ETA 1/24/11
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"

OPTICAL:: Lite-On 24X DVD/Writer iHAS424-98 Lightscribe

POWER: ANTEC EA 650 Watt PS
CASE: ANTEC 300 Illusion

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/TemporaryWishList.aspx
I hope you can read it. Only thing missing from the list is the Antec EA650w it is sold out and won't up.

 

[Irishchai]

the Sea Sonic 520W S12II easily has enough amperage to crossfire a pair of 6850s, and runs $59.99

your 1600 RAM can be set to run at 1600 rather than 1333, you just have to go into the Bios and MANUALLY set it.

Looks like a great PSU for the price. I'll give it a shot, dropping the total to $690 before mail-in rebates 😀

 

[Irishchai]

I can't figure out any difference between http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121419 & http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121399 other then the latter being out-of-stock. Am I missing something?

I guess that it's shipped pre-OC'd?

 

[cthunder067]

I can't figure out any difference between http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121419 & http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121399 other then the latter being out-of-stock. Am I missing something?

I guess that it's shipped pre-OC'd?

Yes, that is the only difference. The out of stock on can clock higher.

 

[chnathan]

Looks like a great PSU for the price. I'll give it a shot, dropping the total to $690 before mail-in rebates 😀

Yep, although here's an even better PSU for the same price after rebate:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207002