Budget gaming/htpc

[brockh]

Hi guys, I've been putting this together for about a day trying to find the best value for the money, but also I need to make sure it is something that is reliable and that I will not have to worry about replacing or it being faulty for any reason besides myself being at fault. I'd like it half way future-proofed because I will not have the money to spend later, and I really, really need to update my old Dell Pentium 4 system I am using now, as it's painful to use at times.

I'm trying to do MicroATX to the best of my ability to keep it small and relatively low profile. I don't have to use Newegg, but I would like to get all the parts from the same place so I don't have to worry about things mismatching and coming in at different times. I'm located in the United States.

I am trying to get the actual build about as low as I can get it so I can also get a new monitor, keyboard, and mouse -- though none of these need to be over the top. My monitor currently only does 1280x1024 resolution, and I'm not a big fan, as that also somewhat defeats the purpose of the graphics card to a certain extent. I have no brand preferences as long as they're reliable, I'm not really a big tweaker (e.g. only maybe overclocking, but probably not) and I may want to add another HD 4850 later if it is needed.

Anyways, here's what I have so far:


Thanks

 

[obsidian86]

get the samsung f3 500gb faster and cheaper

 

[brockh]

Alright I'll check that out. I'm not so sure about the motherboard and case choice specifically, do you have any suggestions for those that would be cheaper? I really don't care about the case as long as it's not gaudy and I don't have to hammer/cut/drill things, and I'm not sure if I couldn't spend less on the motherboard, though it supports the memory I chose.

 

[skora]

I'd avoid the ECS boards. Precieved quality control issues.
While antec has a good name, they dropped the ball with the BP (basiq power) PSUs. I'd choose and OCZ over that. For $65, should be able to get a corsair, seasonic, or and OCZ for sure.

+1 on the spinpoint F3

 

[brockh]

Alright, you guys are great. This is excellent info. I'll look at some other motherboards and a different PSU. Do you think the wattage is right? I know it's horrible to choose the PSU to skimp on (especially if it can't power anything!), but I'm trying to save money anywhere it's possible without being ridiculously stingy.

Also, does anyone have an idea of the best memory to use with that processor? I know Tom's tested it with the memory class that I chose, but I wasn't sure if they were just using generic stuff.

 

[obsidian86]

a good 500 watt will power any single graphics card system

 

[brockh]

Alright, here's what I have come up with, and I decided to drop the MicroATX:

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181

MSI 770-C45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130228

MSI R4850-2D512-OC Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127414

SeaSonic S12 II SS-500GB 500W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151034

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL8D-4GBHK - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231180

AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor Model ADX620WFGIBOX - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103706

Total: $543.90 (after rebates: $518.90)

 

[AMDThunder]

The 770 mobo on has one PCIe slot. Won't be able to Crossfire with that one.

ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131398

Good board with a nice layout. Same price as your original board.

Check out this combo with your case. A little more oomph on the PSU for a 2nd 4850 down the road. The combo makes the PSU the same price as the one you listed.

Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified ... - Retail
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.245593

 

[skora]

The 785g is a poor CF board. Second slot is only 4x speed.

I'd look at this route:
Gigabtye 790GX $100 amir
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128398&cm_re=790gx-_-13-128-398-_-Product

The extra $20 can come mostly from getting this PSU instead:
OCZ 600w modxstream
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017

The PSU will be enough for a second 4850 and the board will have 2 slots for the second later.


OOOOORRRRRR


Another option is go low on the GPU/mobo now and buy the monitor and appropriate GPU at the same time when you have the cash. This will be prefered if it may take upto a year to get the extra funds. For 1280x1024, this 9600GSO is a steal for $35 amir.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121320&cm_re=9600_gso-_-14-121-320-_-Product

GPU: $35 amir Asus 9600 GSO
CPU: $100 AMD 620x4
Mobo: $70 amir Gigabyte 770 Combos You can get the mobo by itself, or get it with the 700w OCZ for $5 more than buying the 600w seperately. The option of the 720x3 BE is also there at the same cost as the MSI/620x4. The x3 will OC more if your into that, and has more cache than the 620. If you're not encoding stuff, you won't miss the extra core. Just an option.
Ram: $80 That ram is fine
PSU: $55 amir if not combo'd with the mobo.
Case: Shipping on the A300 will be close to $20. If you don't mind multi site shopping, http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10007764
or just wait till newegg offers free shipping on it.
HDD: $50 great choice above
Optical: reusing an old one?
OS: what's the plan here?

Total amir: $453. That will get you a good board to replace the GPU when you have a monitor that will need it. You'll be limited to single GPU solution, but that's prefered most of the time anyway.

 

[brockh]

I have a good amount of savings it's just I'd prefer to not spend larger amounts of it. After I put this together I don't plan on touching it for a long while so I'd do it at least half-right the first time where I am not waiting to add something, and I'll probably stick to single GPU, after thinking about it I am not sure it's worth the extra investment. I'm trying to save on bits and peices so I just can't justify even spending the extra $20 or so.

As far as the optical drive goes I'm gonna take the DVD-RW out of the one I have now, and the operating system will be Windows 7.

Also, good call on that OCZ PSU. I don't see any differences besides the ATX12V being 2.2 instead of 2.3, not that I even know what any of that stuff means. I don't guess it makes a difference for the money saved.

Looks like I'm gonna change over to the Phenom X3 720 as it'll probably out-do the Athlon II X4 and I think it's even $10 cheaper with the combo and mail-in rebate.

 

[brockh]

Alright, this is what I've ended up with. As far as these items go it doesn't look like there's any more combos to squeeze out.

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181

MSI R4850-2D512-OC Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127414

OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC ... - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL8D-4GBHK - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231180

AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor Model HDZ720WFGIBOX - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.259850

GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.259850

Total: $543.90 (after mail-in rebates: $493.90)