Im in desperate need of help with a $1300-$1600 budget!

[csquared587]

Whats up guys? I have been wanting to build a PC for the last 3 months, but I didnt want to blindly start purchasing parts. Someone on another forum recommended tomshardware, and its a great site.


I want a gaming rig with an 8800, at least 2gb of ram, and a good cpu go along with it all.

If you guys could recommend me some parts, with the name brands it would be greatly appreciated.

I dont need a dvd drive, so dont worry about that.


Thanks a lot.

 

[aadamszc]

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Dual Core Processor LGA775 Conroe 3.0GHZ 1333FSB 4MB Retail - 289.44
or
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Quad Core Processor LGA775 Conroe 2.4GHZl - 289.44

Yeah, I didn't look up the exact price, but they are virtually the same price. I actually saw a quad core sell for less than a Dual.

Logitech Deluxe 250 Desktop Black Keyboard & Optical Mouse PS/2 OEM -- 13.69

You could go for a more expensive model.

EVGA E-GEFORCE 8800GTS 500MHZ 320MB 1.6GHZ GDDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV HDCP DIRECTX10 Video Card -- 283.99

Or the 640 mb version, or the GTX, or the ultra. The prices for these will be from ~380-550.

Corsair VX550W 550W ATX 12V 41A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 120MM Fan -- 79.98

You could and may need a better PSU. These links will help:
Tiered Power Listing
Wattage Calc

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition 64BIT DVD OEM -- 117.99

Some people like Vista, but others hate it. You could try xp if you want.


Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L ATX LGA775 P35 1333FSB 1PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 Sound GBLAN Motherboard -- 90.36

This mobo is probably not very good at OCing and will not do SLI, but it is nice and cheap and is a solid mobo.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2 3GB/S 7200RPM 16MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive -- 90.07

Cheap, efficient. It may not be the fastest, but it gets the job done.

2x OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL5-5-5-12 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit - 52.33 x 2 = 104.66

Yeah, probably not very good at OCing, but if you don't need that..it's solid.

Coolermaster Elite RC-330 ATX Blk Case 4X5.25 2X3.5 5X3.5INT No PS 1X120MM Rear Fan Front I/O Panel -- 30.69

Ok, ermm...Cheap ass case. A case is really personal choice. Just make sure it has good airflow.

This is the system that I am planning on builing. I'm sorry I didn't really tailor a system to your need specifically, but I am quite tired and just though I'd give you a starting point to work off of before I leave.

If you need any advice, and the others will probably give better advice, just give me a holler.
-Adam

Edit: Just thought that I should mention that these prices are in USD($). They are not for newegg either, so they may not be the cheapest. This should probably run somewhere within your price range.

 

[paq7512]

I would wait until the 8800GT comes out in less then a month.

 

[tlmck]

P35 MB from ASUS or Gigabyte. Price depends on feature level you want. Quality is the same.

Core2Duo or quad, the most you can afford.

EVGA or XFX 8800 GTS. The 320 does fine on 19-20" monitors, the 640 for 22-24", and a GTX or SLi for larger sizes. Waiting for the 8800gt is another good option.

2gb DDR2 800 RAM, Crucial Ballistix or Corsair XMS2 for the ASUS board, Corsair XMS2 or OCZ Platinum rev. 2 for the Gigabyte board.

Seagate 7200.10 HD. As big as the budget allows.

Corsair 550vx PSU - best bang for the buck, although a 450vx will do as well.

 

[WR2]

Check out this suggested build: Intel Midrange Gaming That guide explains why the various parts were chosen.