Build

[Guest]

Hey im new to computer building but ive done my research and was wondering if my build was any good. i want to make it as cheap as possible but get the most for my money. my build is:
hard drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640
grphics card: GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit
power supply: Antec EA650 650W
RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz
mobo: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P

any comments, is there anything else i could do to make this build better or cheaper but still keeping the quality? i mainly want to use the comp for gaming and want to play the best games as possible. thanks

 

[justinblue]

This topic has been moved from the section Tom's Hardware Forum related to section Homebuilt Systems by Justinblue

 

[Why_Me]

Hey im new to computer building but ive done my research and was wondering if my build was any good. i want to make it as cheap as possible but get the most for my money. my build is:
hard drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640
grphics card: GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit
power supply: Antec EA650 650W
RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz
mobo: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P

any comments, is there anything else i could do to make this build better or cheaper but still keeping the quality? i mainly want to use the comp for gaming and want to play the best games as possible. thanks

Nice build but a few obvious changes to be made. First off you have a board meant for Crossfire yet you have an Nvidea card. Change up to this board down below. It's identical to the board in your build ...only difference being is that it has one PCI-E slot and not two.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359 $114.99 ($99.99 after $15.00 Mail-In Rebate) Free Shipping*
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
2 oz copper PCB + Easy Tune 6 for OC

Now the psu...it's over kill for that gtx 260. Switch up to this own down below. It's more than enough to push that card, not to mention it's modular.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022 $69.99 ($44.99 after $25.00 Mail-In Rebate)
OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

 

[xthekidx]

If you are looking to overclock you can save some money going with an E8400, as it will reach the same OC as the E8500.

The WD6401AALS is about 5% faster, so you might consider that HDD instead.

 

[Helloworld_98]

or he could future proof with an amd 720 BE and 790 chipset.

 

[Why_Me]

If you are looking to overclock you can save some money going with an E8400, as it will reach the same OC as the E8500.

The WD6401AALS is about 5% faster, so you might consider that HDD instead.

+1 for those changes.

 

[xthekidx]

True the 720 does very well, quite comparable to the E8400 in gaming performance and exceeds its performance in multithreaded tasks like video editing and such. It also has an upgrade path to better PII processors over the next couple years, LGA 775 is phasing out. If you do decide to go the AMD route, then an AM3 chipset with DDR3 memory is the best option.

 

[Helloworld_98]

yes but not much is known about future chipsets and cpu requirements, so a current am3 board with 790 chipset may bottleneck the next gen cpu's.