Best gaming/overall build for $600 to $700 - Done, need feedback

[nsoldiac]

I've been researching my first build for a few months now and after several sample builds I think I'm close to my final version. I'd like some feedback on the following:

1. Parts selection -> Did I choose a decent combination of parts for my price range (600 to 700) or could I have done better?
2. Compatibility of all parts in build
3. Could I get somewhat similar performance in the $500-$600 range?
4. Bang for the buck -> Is my overall cost good for the expected quality/performance of the build?
*UPDATE* As of today (11/17/2010) the overall price of the build in my newegg.com shopping cart is $673.89 (that includes $97 instant savings + $74 in Combo discounts) and $30 in mail-in-rebates which I wont get back for at least 3 weeks I guess.

Approximate Purchase Date: Within 2 weeks
Budget Range: $600 to $700 after rebates
System Usage from Most to Least Important: General use, gaming, surfing the internet, amateur Java/PHP/SQL programming
Parts Not Required: RW-DVD drives, Keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS, external HD
Preferred Website(s) for Parts (from most to leat preferred): newegg.com, microcenter.com, ebay.com, overstock.com, amazon.com
Country of Origin: Maryland, US
Parts Preferences: Solid state drive, AMD CPU & ATI Radeon HD GPU (I've noticed AMD+ATI result in comparable performace for less cost...care to comment?), and a Mid-size ATX case
Overclocking: If someone makes a good case for it, yes. (eg. get a cheaper chipset, and with some simple OC will get better performance for less $$$ )
SLI or Crossfire: Not now, but I want the capability to Crossfire in the future (eg. dual card slots)
Monitor Resolution: Should run smoothly in a 24" monitor...not sure what's the propper resolution cuz I haven't bought it yet
Additional Comments: After performance the priorities are cool & QUIET (I wanna be able to set it in my bedroom and leaving it on all night if need-be without having it sound like there's a buffalo-in-heat hanging out in my room) ... and no blinking/glowing/shining parts or fans please.

I hope all my research helps others starting a build with a similar criteria. I dind't just put this toghether, I did a lot of research mostly on the pricing and quality and feedback. It's my first build so I can't say the same for the more technical compatibility matters I might be missing. Here's the fruit of my newegg.com hunting/research so far:

Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX
Mother Board: (combo deal with Memory) ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard
Graphics Card: (combo deal with power supply) XFX HD-583X-ZAFV Radeon HD 5830 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity
Memory: (combo deal with Mother Board) A-DATA Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333G (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model AX3U1333GB2G8-2G
Hard Drive: A-DATA S596 Turbo AS596TB-64GM-C 2.5" 64GB USB 2.0 & SATAII Internal / External Solid State Drive (SSD)
Case: Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Power Supply: (combo deal with Graphics Card) XFX P1-650X-CAH9 650W ATX12V v2.2 / ESP12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power

OVERALL PRICE OF BUILD: $673.89 - $30 Mail in Rebates + $4.84 Shipping = $648.73

 

[chumly]

Faster loading times is a plus for non-avid gamers. For someone who uses their PC for email/docs and general use in Windows, it's a big plus. I'm a multitasker opening and closing programs all the time so I'll se a benefit, AND my main argument is that I already have storage space and other HDDs so I don't need to get an extra 1TB, regardless of how cheap it is. So for me the priority is quality over quantity, but for someone aiming at getting their only HD that they'll be working with, I agree they're probably be interesed in some cheap GBs per $$$.

If that is the case, then get a SATA III board and a C300.

 

[vindictive]

^slow writes.

 

[blackhawk1928]

Vindictive

SSD just make things seem "snappier" they aren't essential. I'm doing a $1550 build at the end of December and I dropped a SSD to get the gtx 580. The main difference is:
Boot Time takes about 15-30 seconds with SSD.
and loadtimes on games are reduced to almost nothing.
Apps with open faster.

But you also have to take in account that SSD are very expensive per GB and with a 60GB or whatever you can put the OS, a few apps or game at most.

If you choose to get a SSD I don't know much about a-data, but I'd recommend the OCZ agilty 2 or OCZ vertex 2.

Although I may agree with you that SSD isn't an essential by any means. However, when you say it makes things feel snappier, well...thats because they really are snappier . Also bootimes 15-30seconds?...try 9 seconds (My Intel X25-M). Its a controversial topic and people say they don't want to waste thier money on one, but its like BMW, you can't believe people who say the car has amazing handling aka better then pretty much all other production cars until you've driven one. Same with an SSD, you might think it ain't worth but once you try one, I am willing to bet money that you'll never want to go back to an HDD.

Reaper2794

+1 on dropping the SSD, they'll be way cheaper and you'll cry at how you wasted money

Try finding a person who bought an SSD, a reasonable one that is from a brand, not some shitty one that costs 2 dollars, that isn't happy with their purchase.

 

[chumly]

I'm thinking of changing my CPU and MoBo for the following combo from newegg:
ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD MoBo + AMD Phenom II X4 925 Deneb 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W

It'll get me a $40 dolar combo discount plus rebates, saving me overall almost $100 compared to my previous setup! And from previous postings seems like if I get a decent cooler I could OC it to work stably like a 3.2+ Phenom x4. Right?
But I need feedback on the that new ASUS motherboard, would it be a good buy? It has decent reviews...

That's a 4 core processor already, you don't have to unlock any cores. You can easily to overclock that one to 3.2, but for more you need something better than the stock cooling on it.

That is a helluva deal though, I was looking at that as well. But also check out the deal on the msi 890 gxm (I picked up one for $~85) and I got a crazy deal with a 965 and 4 gigs of kingston ram, I literally picked up the ram for $20. The 890 board is SO much better than the 790. Sata 3, usb 3, and 8x/8x. I totally plan on getting another 6870 in the near future. Totally stoked.

 

[vindictive]

oops, i think it was edited but oh well.

 

[vindictive]

Vindictive

SSD just make things seem "snappier" they aren't essential. I'm doing a $1550 build at the end of December and I dropped a SSD to get the gtx 580. The main difference is:
Boot Time takes about 15-30 seconds with SSD.
and loadtimes on games are reduced to almost nothing.
Apps with open faster.

But you also have to take in account that SSD are very expensive per GB and with a 60GB or whatever you can put the OS, a few apps or game at most.

If you choose to get a SSD I don't know much about a-data, but I'd recommend the OCZ agilty 2 or OCZ vertex 2.

Although I may agree with you that SSD isn't an essential by any means. However, when you say it makes things feel snappier, well...thats because they really are snappier . Also bootimes 15-30seconds?...try 9 seconds (My Intel X25-M). Its a controversial topic and people say they don't want to waste thier money on one, but its like BMW, you can't believe people who say the car has amazing handling aka better then pretty much all other production cars until you've driven one. Same with an SSD, you might think it ain't worth but once you try one, I am willing to bet money that you'll never want to go back to an HDD.

Reaper2794

+1 on dropping the SSD, they'll be way cheaper and you'll cry at how you wasted money

Try finding a person who bought an SSD, a reasonable one that is from a brand, not some shitty one that costs 2 dollars, that isn't happy with their purchase.

Well for my build for example:
If i were to get a SSD I'd have to drop from 2 6870's down to 2 6850's to fit the SSD in the budget.

 

[blackhawk1928]

Well I guess if Gaming is your only concern then maybe an SSD isn't quite the most important, a graphics card will be better. Although if you play online, the faster speeds of an SSD can load into the map faster possibly allowing you to get to a good point of advantage to get kills, but I don't know how it is. However, I would be willing to sacrifice graphics performance for an SSD, it makes your system feel like its on steriods lol.

Also what resolution do you game at and what games do you play, because I spent like 180bucks for a GTX460 768mb which pretty much maxes out all the games I play at 1080p and really good FPS depending on which game, while you probably spent 500+ on those 2 6870's

 

[vindictive]

Haven't spent anything yet, planned build for Dec 23rd.

but yes its $520 for 2.

What size monitor so you play on? and I think I'm going to settle with the 6850's CF because it can handle what I play I believe. I'll be on a 23" 1920 x 1080. I play COD mostly.

 

[blackhawk1928]

LOL you are getting two 6850's for COD?...OH lord....COD's graphics are a disgrace to the PC....they are a joke. You can max out COD with a 7 series nvidia card...

 

[vindictive]

Oh no, not just for COD. thats just what I play most..
I've never had a comp able to play crysis or any gpu demanding game so I want to try those out.

 

[blackhawk1928]

^Crysis?...thats more like it, now we're talking

 

[vindictive]

^Crysis?...thats more like it, now we're talking

Should crysis be playable on enthusiast or 1 setting under wit 6850's? 1920 x 1080 23"?

 

[blackhawk1928]

If my GTX460 does good with crysis on pretty much max then a 6850 which is more powerful I think should be fine, even without SLI, if you want to SLI them then you should max it out on 1080p completely. Not sure though so don't take my word for it.

 

[vindictive]

If my GTX460 does good with crysis on pretty much max then a 6850 which is more powerful I think should be fine, even without SLI, if you want to SLI them then you should max it out on 1080p completely. Not sure though so don't take my word for it.

Alright thanks. I'll get the 6850's, but the savings is only about $100 so i could get like a 40 or 60GB SSD.

EDIT: Should be no prob 50fps is doable and thats slightly higher res than ill be using.

180 fps for COD 4 LOL

 

[blackhawk1928]

Yeah I remember playing call of duty 4 when I had a Pentium D 2.8Ghz with 2GB of ram and a 7600GS card with no problems lol. And also, in crysis, even 20fps will be smooth, so if you have over 20fps then you will be fine.

 

[vindictive]

I sent you a PM to stop posting all over this guys thread lol

 

[mattimeo005]

Wow you guys really hijacked this guy's thread.

Stay with the SSD, use the HDD as your storage drive, it's totally worth it. For games, you will have almost no load time between levels which is great for games.

If you can get a better deal on the 925 and are comfortable with OCing, then definitely do that to save money. The only problem is because of the binning process, buying the 965 means that you will likely get a more stable chip, which would allow you to push your speeds even higher when you try to OC. But 3.2ghz is certainly attainable with the 925. My other machine has a Phenom 2 x4 920, and I have it running at 3.33 with just a simple FSB increase. I don't think the 925 has an unlocked multiplier, but I could be wrong about that. If not, it'll make OCing a little more tricky, but not terribly so. Just means you have to play with the FSB and RAM multipliers if you want a stable OC, instead of simply upping the multiplier.

If you need help OCing, theres plenty of info around the web.

 

[nsoldiac]

Thanks guys for all the help. So far my build comes up to $628. I decided to throw in the CM Hyper 212+ and Artic Silver thermal compound for stable OC ($40 for both), I think that's a sound investment...so it's $668 plus shipping. And i'll get $60 back in mail-in rebates

I'll be ordering soon and putting it toghether next week. I'll re-post with some benchmarks before and after upping the FSB on the AMD chip. Who wants to guess what will be my 3DMark score?? Approx FPS in SC2? The winner gets bragging rights lol

Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 925 Deneb 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W (combo deal with MoBo) Will attempt to OC to 3.2 or until stable.
Mother Board: ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD (combo deal with CPU)
Graphics Card: XFX HD-583X-ZAFV Radeon HD 5830 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP (combo deal with power supply)
Memory: Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
Hard Drive: A-DATA S596 Turbo AS596TB-64GM-C 2.5" 64GB USB 2.0 & SATAII Solid State Drive up to 260MB/s Read & 130MB/s Write
Case: Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Power Supply: XFX P1-650X-CAH9 650W ATX12V v2.2 CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS (combo deal with Graphics Card)
Heatsink: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus 120mm and using Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound

Expect pics and screenshots....CAN'T WAIT!

P.S. Happy turkey day in advance

 

[nsoldiac]

Best answer selected by nsoldiac.

 

[Maziar]

This topic has been closed by Maziar