Sub $750 budget gaming rig build advice

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veereihen6

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Sep 12, 2011
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Approximate Purchase Date: (next 3 weeks)

Budget Range: (up to $750 after rebates)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: (gaming and surfing)

Parts Not Required: (keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS, optical drives)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: (newegg.com, tigerdirect)

Country of Origin: (USA)

Parts Preferences: no pref

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Monitor Resolution: (1680x1050)

Additional Comments: (looking for a reliable, fairly quiet. Needs no fancy bling or lighting)

OK, so I'm looking to put together a budget gaming rig. I have 2 Samsung 23" LCD monitors. Looking to put together something that would be able to run COD/Counterstrike/BF3 plus some driving sims. I also want it to be able to not bog down when transcoding movies.
 
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Proximon

Proximon

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Apr 10, 2006
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Hmmm.

■Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
■Galaxy 56NGH6HS4IXZ GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
■NVIDIA Gift - BATMAN Arkham City Game Coupon
■Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
■Rosewill Green Series RG530-S12 530W Continuous @40°C, 80 PLUS Certified, Single 12V Rail, Active PFC "Compatible with Core ...
■Rosewill Smart One ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, Black interior, comes with three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Rear ...
■ASRock Z68 PRO3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
■CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B
TOTAL: $758.56

Price is shipped to me, your mileage may vary.
 
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funguseater

funguseater

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Sep 20, 2009
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How about an AMD build... from the egg

Thermaltake V3 Black Edition VL80001W2Z Black SECC / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Item #: N82E16811133094

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822136533

ASRock 890GX PRO3 AM3+ AMD 890GX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813157244

MSI N560GTX-Ti Hawk GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Item #: N82E16814127578

Rosewill RV2-600 600 W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V SLI Ready Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817182039

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
Item #: N82E16820231314

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor HDT90ZFBGRBOX
Item #: N82E16819103849

Subtotal: $764.93
 
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Zero_

Zero_

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Jun 8, 2011
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Bad idea going for AMD with Bulldozer chips shipping in less than a month. i5 2500k + GTX560Ti is the way to go for that budget.

Check my sig. The $800 build includes OS before rebates. Should cost less than $700 and includes i5 2500k + GTX560 Ti.
 
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Proximon

Proximon

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Apr 10, 2006
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Please see my PSU guide. It's linked in my sig. You are going to have to get over your prejudices as the majority of Rosewill PSUs are now at least adequate. The RV "stallion" series is inferior.

There are also several other surprise companies that are selling good PSUs now. Kingwin, Thortech, Superflower.... read actual reviews instead of making blanket calls on brands.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/881
 
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madchemist83

madchemist83

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Jul 21, 2011
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I'm not making blanket calls. I didn't say anything about Kingwin, Thortech or Superflower beeing bad brands .. they are pretty good and just not popular here in US.
Rosewill on other hand is famous for it's cheap PSU .. and if u read review .. of actual customers, fry rate is pretty big. I have no doubt they stepped up their game and probably releasing decent PSUs. the problem with this one that it's efficiency is borderline 80+ and you can find something else priced in the same range with better efficiency and build quality




I am not talking about software issues, Biostar quality is lower then other major brands.
For instance they use regular MOSFET and those heat up alot comparing to low RDS MOSFET.
Also it has non standard ATX factor that may lead to installation difficulties.
Only 2 USB 2.0 and 2 USB 3.0 ports on the back.
For 20 bucks more u can get far more superior Asrock Gen 3 board with X8/X8 sli/cf, pcie 3.0 and lots of connectors. Also better phase design and overall build

 
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veereihen6

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Sep 12, 2011
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hey guys, thanks for all the great input so far!

Some of my questions might sound noobish because I've been out of the PC component scene forever (i mean 6 years or so).

Is Nvidia the consensus leader nowadays on GPU's? I've had decent success with ATI based cards like the old 9800 back in the day.

On the mobo, Is ASROCK the best bang for the buck? How is it compared to Gigabyte and Asus? Will it allow me to later add an SSD if I wanted to stow the OS on there?
 
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madchemist83

madchemist83

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Ati is pretty solid on GPUs now, I'd say in most price ranges it's actually better choice.

Asrock has alot of features for price lower then other major brands, there are some problems with BIOS that getting fixed though. Gigabyte and Asus are pretty solid too, it's mostly what u looking in mobo, what connections and features? And how it reflects in price.
Yes u can add SSD later on, the only thing that u'll have to reinstall everything
 
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elpcavy21

elpcavy21

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I built a computer for a friend using a 60GB SSD and he's got windows, and a couple games on it and still has about 25GB of space left. 60GB would be fine but if you can swing it, bigger is always better in my opinion when it comes to disk space. But keep in mind you can install programs and games onto the Seagate 1TB you already have and run them just fine even if it's not the Primary Hard drive.

One thing I know is that SSD's do NOT do well when they are at or near capacity. a SSD can't "reallocate data" or in simple terms change a "1" to a "0" like a HDD can.
 
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veereihen6

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Sep 12, 2011
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OK, so I'm kinda settled on the first combo (from proximom) with the exception of the PSU (I will get the Antec Earthwatts EA650 instead.)

Am i safe to say that the i5-2500k is a better performer than the AMD Phenom II 1090T?
 
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veereihen6

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Sep 12, 2011
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OK, lo and behold, my current desktop must have realized that I've been plotting against it, and decided to BSOD (never seen that yet on Win7).

Will get this thing ordered today. The MOBO+RAM combo deal in proximom's config is sold out. Anyone recommend another combo with the same mobo or similar?

They have the same combo with what looks like the previous version of Corsair Vengeance RAM.
 
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