Core 2 Duo Decent Gaming PC

[Ny88rican]

I recently made a post about going with the i7 system but due to recent setbacks and money being scarce I think I'm going to have to budget a little more than expected and go with a 700-900US dollar C2D computer instead.


APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 4-5 weeks

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: 3D Modeling (Maya), Gaming (Mostly Counter Strike Source and future D3), Photoshop, Video

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, OS

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg, micro, any of the major reliable ones that have a good price.

PARTS PREFERENCES: Intel

OVERCLOCKING: Yes
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe (future)

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Thinking 22" so, whatever that is.

Here is what I was thinking:

Case: Antec 900 -> $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

CPU: Intel q6600 -> $220

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

RAM: Corsair 4GB -> $47
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184

HDD: WD Black 32 MB Cache 640 GB -> $75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

GPU: Not sure here, Suggestions welcome -> 190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102801

MOBO: Gigabyte Intel P45 - > $105 after MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359

Heatsink: Dark knight -> $42
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029

PSU: ??


Total = 854

Is there anything I can improve on? I'm not too sure on the gpu and no idea what PSU I would need as of right now so any help there would be appreciated. Looking for best price for performance.

 

[The Lady Slayer]

For $239.98 you can get two 4850s with $40 rebate, making a total of $199.98. For an extra $10 you're getting a way more effective solution: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125238

This Coolermaster modular PSU has been certified to run the 4850 in crossfire, and costs $104.99: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171036

I have recently purchased that exact solution for my new system.

 

[The Lady Slayer]

The rest of your choices are fine, by the way.

Good luck with it.

 

[Why_Me]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115131 $219.99 Free Shipping*
Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022 $74.99 ($49.99 after $25.00 Mail-In Rebate)
OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154003 $4.99
Tuniq TX-2 Cooling Thermal Compound - Retail

 

[Ny88rican]

Thanks both of you this helps a great deal.

 

[kubes]

To add onto the lady slayer comments if you decide to go with two 4850's:
The board has only one slot for your graphics card so you'll need to switch motherboards if you wish to go crossfire.
Replacement ideas:
Asus P5q Pro $105 after MIR
or
Gigbyte GA-EP45-UD3P $115 after MIR

Something to note is that with the p45 chipset you'll only be able to do crossfire and not sli as a reminder if there are two graphic cards slots available.

I also am not sure if i'd go with the psu he's reccommended. I'd look more to vendors such as antec, PC Power & Cooling or Crosair. They are much more known for their craftsmenship and quality. DON'T SKIM ON YOUR PSU!

 

[Ny88rican]

yeah i've always been a fan of corsair and I really like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004&Tpk=corsair%20550w

I think it will do what I need especially in the future..

 

[IzzyCraft]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

Cheaper and better lol ionno how that happened less wattage, amp and cost more by same maker and is the "cheapest" of the psu series from corsair.

Corsair goes like this
VX - value series
TX - performance series <- the best tbh i don't care for split rails
HX - best enthusiast series

In terms of quality

Or for same price you can get a similar quality PC Power and Cooling 610w
https://shop.pcpower.com/power-supply/silencer-610-eps12v.html

Extra watts are fine even if it's not going to be used to the fullest it allows the pc to last longer because as you use the psu you age it and it looses capacity over the years more extra wattage longer it will be able to perform for you. PC's wont draw anymore power then it has to so it doesn't make your electric bill higher only thing to do that is to add more gpu hdd's etc.

 

[ajcroteau]

I think this is a great system for gaming. I think you'll get a lot of mileage out of it as far as gaming especially now that your on a tighter budget. The ATI 4870 is a great card as far as selecting a GPU. NVidia also has some great cards as well. I'm pro-choice not of those GPU evangelists so if you like ATI and you can afford it, buy ATI. If you like NVidia and you can afford it, buy NVidia.

Just a nit pic though... this looks more like a C2Q system and not a C2D system.

Good luck and have fun...

 

[The Lady Slayer]

To add onto the lady slayer comments if you decide to go with two 4850's:
The board has only one slot for your graphics card so you'll need to switch motherboards if you wish to go crossfire.
Replacement ideas:
Asus P5q Pro $105 after MIR
or
Gigbyte GA-EP45-UD3P $115 after MIR

Something to note is that with the p45 chipset you'll only be able to do crossfire and not sli as a reminder if there are two graphic cards slots available.

I also am not sure if i'd go with the psu he's reccommended. I'd look more to vendors such as antec, PC Power & Cooling or Crosair. They are much more known for their craftsmenship and quality. DON'T SKIM ON YOUR PSU!

Sorry. I feel like such a dud for not realising the mobo only had one pcie slot >_<

You know, I was originally going to go with a Corsair psu and was worried when the CM was offered to me in its place but from what I've read it (the Coolermaster Silent Pro M600W) has a pretty good rep. ATI have certified it for 2x 4850s and JohnnyGuru gave it 9.0/10 (the corsairs have been rated between 9.2 and 10 off the top of my head).

At the end of the day Ny88RiCaN has to deal with the end result, but I have had no problems (as yet; fingers crossed) with my CM M600W & 4850 Xfire solution.

 

[Helloworld_98]

@ IzzyCraft, actually the HX series is the modular series, if it was enthusiast series there wouldn't be the 520HX.

 

[IzzyCraft]

http://www.corsair.com/products/power_supplies.aspx
HX Series Power Supply Units
From “The Choice of Enthusiasts Worldwide” comes the Corsair HX Series Power Supply Family. With the same legendary focus on performance and reliability, Corsair has engineered the HX Series to deliver tremendous power – quiet and efficiently.

Straight from the horses mouth

TX Series Power Supply Units
Inspired by Corsair’s award-winning HX Series, Corsair has engineered the TX Series to be a family of high-wattage, high-performance power supplies that meet and exceed the most demanding specifications of enthusiasts and performance seekers.

VX Series Power Supply Units
Extending Corsair’s legendary reputation in performance and quality, the new Corsair VX family of power supplies features the industry’s most efficient power management and ultra-quiet design for mainstream users.

CX Series Power Supply Units
The Corsair Power series delivers worry-free compatibility for your home system build or desktop upgrade. This value power supply has features normally reserved only for premium power supplies

Also i believe they think of enthusiast that want perfect air flow so modular is for enthusiast and no one else would want it for that as a normal guy doesn't care too much for airflow etc.

Although personally i'd go with the tx series because i don't care for split 12v rails long time pc power and cooling psu user.

 

[Ny88rican]

I think this is a great system for gaming. I think you'll get a lot of mileage out of it as far as gaming especially now that your on a tighter budget. The ATI 4870 is a great card as far as selecting a GPU. NVidia also has some great cards as well. I'm pro-choice not of those GPU evangelists so if you like ATI and you can afford it, buy ATI. If you like NVidia and you can afford it, buy NVidia.

Just a nit pic though... this looks more like a C2Q system and not a C2D system.

Good luck and have fun...

Yeah i know i know



I was originally going to get the e8400 but switched it last minute and didn't switch title... I'm going to post my final setup in a bit.

Summer C2Q System

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active

LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS30 - OEM

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

GIGABYTE GV-R485ZL-512H Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80580Q9400

Crucial Ballistix Tracer 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM

Tuniq TX-2 Cooling Thermal Compound

XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler

Total: 874

 

[IzzyCraft]

TBH he should probably run something like a 4700 for gaming and a firepro 3d 3700 for his workstation if maya performance is really important to him.

although it probably be hard to find a good benchmark 4870 vs firepro 3700 im sure 3700 would beat it by a good margin.

 

[Ny88rican]

only have one comp that i am working on izzy

 

[Outlander_04]

For budget gaming you cant beat the value and performance of AMD

a Phenom X4 940 and mb combo for $260
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.190736

and game performance will be better than ci7 ,
and better than the intel C2Q
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/phenom2_955/8.htm

The money you save can be used to get a better gfx card

 

[smithereen]

+1 to the Ph2 940.

 

[Ny88rican]

Interesting, looks like this chip is much better than the intels at higher resolutions... I might end up going amd after all. With the money saved i could probably go with the 4870 instead...

 

[qirexr8]

I might get this deal as well. I originally posted looking for a 1k rig but 800 seems to be my max (don't need a monitor/speakers).
Can you do me a fav and post your final part list? I'll prob order the same.

 

[rewindlabs]

Interesting, looks like this chip is much better than the intels at higher resolutions... I might end up going amd after all. With the money saved i could probably go with the 4870 instead...

Yeah thats the money you could be saving by going with gei..i mean amd....

Go amd with your awesome prices and your sticking it to intel attitude...

 

[erdinger]

+1 for Amd, you also help the competition

 

[Ny88rican]

I might get this deal as well. I originally posted looking for a 1k rig but 800 seems to be my max (don't need a monitor/speakers).
Can you do me a fav and post your final part list? I'll prob order the same.

Sure no problem, i didn't even see this post before I would have posted earlier...

Mobo + CPU Combo -> 260

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.190736

Antec 900 -> 100

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

XFX HD-485X-ZDFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB -> 135

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150351

Corsair TX - > 76 after MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

Crucial Tracers (went for better performance here, can definitely go with less pricey) -> 59

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148214

WD Black 32 Cache -> 70

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

LG DVD Drive -> 24

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152

Thermal Compound -> 5

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154003

Dark Knight Cooler -> 42

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029


771 After all the rebates

 

[smithereen]

Go with this ram instead, it's $10 less after MIR, and will perform much better. It's DDR2-1066.

 

[kubes]

Ya, I think this is a pretty solid build after making the ram change smithereen has suggested.

Hopefuly you have a 64 bit OS?

 

[Ny88rican]

going with the win7 rc candidate