Last Build before order. Please help with any thoughts.

[doje1999]

Hello, thanks for the tremendous help on my previous posts. Such a great forum! Here is a new build, please let me know what you guys think. Mainly going to be used as a graphic workstation and gaming. My budget is around $500 with tax + shippipng. This build is right around $530.

case + cpu (combo): ANTEC 300 + AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz = $99.94
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.185027

mobo: GIGABYTE GA-MA770-UD3 = $74.99 (there's
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128376

memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 = $54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166

hdd: Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB = $74.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

video: SAPPHIRE 100265HDMI Radeon HD 4830 512MB = $86.99 ($10 MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102822

psu: CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W = $49.99 ($10 MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008

cd/dvd: LG 22X DVD±R = $24.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152

Could this build be tweaked out to be even cheaper? Also, am I making the most of my budget? I'm not too sure if I'm spending my $ in the wrong places like the psu, hdd and mobo, I saw ones that were a lot cheaper. I plan on making this order tonight so any useful information would be awesome. I wouldn't mind going with Intel either. I also don't plan on doing any type of overclocking so I'm assuming I won't need an aftermarket cooler. One day I may try it when I know how Basically, I just want the most of my $500 that I spend like everyone else. Thanks again for the help!

 

[xthekidx]

Mainly going to be used as a graphic workstation and gaming. My budget is around $500 with tax + shippipng.

You just listed about the two most strenuous tasks that you could load a PC with. On your budget, you should be purchasing the cheapest CPU you can afford and overclocking it as much as you can. A light OC is easy to achieve and can be done safely on stock cooling, it is worth taking a little bit of time to research how it is done and doing it.

With that said, the E5200 is probably your best bet for a processor as it overclocks like a champ, and I would put it on a GA-EP43-UD3L MB, or a GA-G31M-ESL2 if you can't afford the P43 board.

 

[boonality]

That is a good build really, the motherboard is worth the extra dime, and so is the power supply. Your hard drive is all about the space, you could go for something half that size like a 320 but it's only going to be $20 less.... but that is up to you. Whatever you do though, don't get the "cheaper" motherboard or power supply, the one's you have chosen are worth the money.

The only place you might be able to go cheaper is with the video card, you could probably find a 46XX ATI for around $65 and it would be ok. However, that's only $20 and the performance difference is worth the price difference in most cases but not all. It depends, what games will you be playing?

 

[xthekidx]

I think you will be disapionted in gaming performance if you go with a lesser GPU, the 4830 is kinda the budget-end gamer's GPU.

 

[whitefang]

Yeah don't get anything lower then the 4830, I have had the 4830 and it's a great video card, to be honest I never ran into anything I couldn't play on max settings except for crysis, I recently upgraded to two 4830's in xfire (as xthekidx would know, he helped tremendously)

I would recommend over clocking the 4830 if you ever come to a game you can't play on the settings you want, it's very easy to overclock it, and the performance boost is great.

By the way, the Sapphire 4830 is almost 10C hotter in my case then the power color 4830, and the power color 4830 overclocked higher too.

 

[doje1999]

I think you will be disapionted in gaming performance if you go with a lesser GPU, the 4830 is kinda the budget-end gamer's GPU.

Thanks for the reply. What would you say is the cost for the next significance upgrade of the gpu from the 4830

 

[xthekidx]

The next upgrade would be a GTS 250 or 4850, which will run you about $30 more.