PC Build: Gaming/HTPC

[Tdotshopper]

This will be my first build. Looking at using this as my primary system for CAD (solidworks/inventor)/Gaming (fallout3 type gaming)/HTPC (movies)/Internet surfing.

looking to spend approx. $600-700cdn with tax. (just the computer)
Looking at fast processor and ram (ie: minimum bottleneck)
64Bit
relatively silent system
long term use (5-6yrs) (ie: must be adaptable/upgradable within these yrs or more)

Casing: interested in a mid tower with media card readers incorporated.

Alternative: suggestions on a barebones system that has the casing i want, and motherboard.

For parts im looking at local pickup (primary) or online (secondary)

Appreciate everyones suggestions/recommendations.

[Silver Bullet]

Come back when you have more money. I don't think you'll be happy with an $650 (b4 tax) computer. You won't be able to play Fallout 3 on such a low end machine and you won't be able to get a very good CPU to go along with it.

If you want something that's going to be able to play games and run CAD programs with any sort longevity you're going to want around $1k - $1.2k before tax.

[Nethervue]

Just to give you a point of reference, I ordered this from NCIX a few weeks back for $597 (doing price matches, etc) and that included tax (13%), shipping to NB, and the $50 build\test fee.


Antec Three Hundred Mini Tower Gaming Case 300 ATX 3X5.25 6X3.5INT No PS Front USB & Audio

Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7200RPM 32MB Dual Proc 3.5IN SATA Hard Drive OEM 5YR Mfg Warranty

Gigabyte Radeon HD 4350 650MHZ 512MB 800MHZ GDDR2 PCI-E16 VGA HDMI DVI-I HDCP Low Profile Video Card

Samsung SH-S223Q/BEBS 22X DVD+-RW SATA DVD Writer Black Lightscribe OEM
AMD Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition Dual Core Processor Socket AM2+ 2.7GHZ 3MB 65NM 95W Retail Box

Coolermaster Extreme Power Plus 500W ATX 12V V2.3 Silent Power Supply 20/24PIN 120MM Fan

OCZ Gold XTC OCZ2G10664GK 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-1066 CL5-6-6-18 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit

Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-US2H AMD780G mATX AM2+/AM3 PCI-E DDR2 SATA2 Video Sound GBLAN HDMI Motherboard



Not a gaming PC, but if you got a better video card. Really happy with the setup. I also added 2 fans to the front and one on the side. Again, with price matching, they were only $5 a piece. Overclocks super easy, had mine at 3.2 GHZ...put it back to defaults after a day, no need for me to OC.

Anyway, thats just to give you an idea of what you can get at that price point. Remember, my bill was $597 and that was 13% tax, $40 to ship, and $50 to build & test. I think NCIX has (or had) free shipping if you buy the WD Black TB drive.

[attonbitusira]

Like Silverbullet said, you won't meet your goals with that budget.

Either redefine your goals (i.e. no longevity, no gaming), or increase your budget.

[Tdotshopper]

Alright, after viewing some prebuilt systems online i'll adjust my price to 1500.00 cdn taxes in. (but if you guys can reduce realistically reduce that amount, all the better!)

[evanx]

a $1000 budget will get you a really good setup for price/performance. you don't have to use all $1500.

[elton5354]

You can't go wrong with a $1500 computer setup with an Intel core i7 =)

[Tdotshopper]

bump

[elton5354]

bump?


aren't you going to do some research yourself before buying? or are you trying to ask others to do your hw for you? =S

ok this is what i can come up with on top of my head.

i7 920
asus p6t OR asus p6t se (crossxfire only)
6gb 1600 ram
hd 4890
Thermal right ultra extreme
coolermaster haf 932
700w psu
WD 1 tb hdd
dvd rw/cd rom

that will prob cost you less than 1500$

there you go!

[Silver Bullet]

I think this should be a good start ...

$58.25 - Antec Three Hundred
$134.99 - Corsair CMPSU-620HX
$309.79 - Inte i7 920
$70.62 - Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 1366-RT w/120mm Fan
$204.65 - Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R
$123.99 - CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
$285.71 - MSI N275GTX Twin Frozr (best of the current GTX275 generation - IMO)
$99.99 - WD 1TB Black
$25.00 - Samsung SH-S223F 22X DVD-Writer SATA (SH-S223F/BEBS)
--------
$1312.99 + 5% tax and 2% shipping (average cost) = $1400

Price are from pricecanada.com, so you can price match from NCIX (best solution personally) or look for a local place that can come close (good luck ;) )

[firetrainer]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366177

[TheFuteballer]

I think this should be a good start ...

$58.25 - Antec Three Hundred
$134.99 - Corsair CMPSU-620HX
$309.79 - Inte i7 920
$70.62 - Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 1366-RT w/120mm Fan
$204.65 - Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R
$123.99 - CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
$285.71 - MSI N275GTX Twin Frozr (best of the current GTX275 generation - IMO)
$99.99 - WD 1TB Black
$25.00 - Samsung SH-S223F 22X DVD-Writer SATA (SH-S223F/BEBS)
--------
$1312.99 + 5% tax and 2% shipping (average cost) = $1400

Price are from pricecanada.com, so you can price match from NCIX (best solution personally) or look for a local place that can come close (good luck ;) )

Why would you get a GTX 275 when you can get a 4890 which is better for a lesser price? There's a couple threads now about 4890 hot deals around $200!!

[attonbitusira]

Why would you get a GTX 275 when you can get a 4890 which is far superior for a lesser price? There's a couple threads now about 4890 hot deals around $200!!

Don't you think the 4890 vs. 275 battle is too close to call?

[TheFuteballer]

Don't you think the 4890 vs. 275 battle is too close to call?

Maybe.. I'd personally compare the 4890 with the GTX 280/285 but even still.. the 4890 is cheaper than most of the GTX 275's out there.. even if it does underperform in some cases, it's much more bang for the buck IMO. Especially since frame rates tend to fluctuate with NVIDIA cards.. ATI cards seem to keep some steady frame rates throughout even though they might not max out as high as other cards

I guess it depends on what games you're most likely to play.. reworded my previous too :)

[Silver Bullet]

Maybe.. I'd personally compare the 4890 with the GTX 280/285 but even still.. the 4890 is cheaper than most of the GTX 275's out there.. even if it does underperform in some cases, it's much more bang for the buck IMO. Especially since frame rates tend to fluctuate with NVIDIA cards.. ATI cards seem to keep some steady frame rates throughout even though they might not max out as high as other cards

I guess it depends on what games you're most likely to play.. reworded my previous too :)

It is really really close, I picked the GTX275 more specifically the MSI model becuase it has a great cooler that is super quiet. The 4890/GTX275 stock coolers are not that quiet and keep the gpu at rather high temps. So add in the cost of an after market cooler to your 4890 price and the GTX275 looks like a pretty good deal :)

[attonbitusira]

It is really really close, I picked the GTX275 more specifically the MSI model becuase it has a great cooler that is super quiet. The 4890/GTX275 stock coolers are not that quiet and keep the gpu at rather high temps. So add in the cost of an after market cooler to your 4890 price and the GTX275 looks like a pretty good deal :)

I'm sure the benchmarks for Cryostasis will agree with you.

[torseller07]

What resolution and details to run your games in? For instance, for Fallout 3, the terrains / polygon counts are pretty unevenly distributed. So you could score very high FPS in some areas but very low in some (and even worse when there are enemies / explosions around). This difference will become even more noticeable when you apply AA.

Since CAD has depreciated, I think in general hardware cost has increased. To give you a point of reference. Last year about this time, I upgraded my gaming PC (only) for about $500 (including taxes and net of income generated from liquidating my old hardware). My PC has an Intel E8400, an nVidia 750i based motherboard, 4GB of DDR2-800 (CAS4) and two Geforce 9600 GT in SLI. I manage to run Fallout 3 in 1080p with AA2x and every other details maxed @ 40-60FPS, with a few rare instances things would slow down very badly (dip into 20's FPS). If you plan to run games like Fallout 3 @ 1080p w/o sacrificing too much details, you probably need hardware that are even more powerful (and likely more expensive) than mine.

[Tdotshopper]

hey guys, thanks for all your suggestions. Definitely taking them into account.

As for resolution, im thinking normally running at 1680X1050. Would like to run things at max but anything that can run just under max is ok by me.

question on the i7, is there a large support for them program wise or should i install a lesser cpu and then upgrade to i7 2 yrs down the line?

[Tdotshopper]

Update (new build direction) and need some recommendations:

I've currently sourced and purchased the following items, and i need some advice on which other components will best suit my needs.

Cooler Master Elite 330 computer case - Purchased for $49 tax incl.
OCZ ModXstream 600W - Purchased for $90 tax incl.
Intel Q8200 Quad Core - Purchased for $214 tax incl.

I decided to go for a q8200 for slight future proofing and i plan on slight overclocking to 2.8-3.1.
*** With cost budget in mind, if i do a slight OC with this cpu and those speeds can i still use the OEM cooler that it came with?

My future plans with this setup is for moderate gaming (high fps,aiming for slightly below max to max resolution/game play), movies, multitasking.

Looking for Recommendations on (with best bang for the buck)

Motherboard: Which would give me the best bang for the buck, and overclocking for quad core. Asus P5Q Turbo, or Gigabyte P45-UD3R? Any other third party mobo that i should look into? (looking at similar price range)

Memory: For what i plan on doing, how much GB should i get and ram speed? Should i be looking at overclocking capabilities?

Video Card: not looking for CF or SLI, just one great video card that will suit the cpu, and motherboard. is HD4890 recommended?

Question: I see that alot of local stores in GTA have Bundle combo deals on core components (ie: memory+ psu, HDD+memory) Are these worth looking at in terms of cost savings and quality? (definitely a noob question)

Thanks in advance.

[Firestorm]

You should have clicked through to that topic on NeoGAF that was posted (I also reposted it here in Hot Deals). There are both $650 and $1000 builds that are pretty damn good and would have let you play Fallout 3 very well.

The Gigabyte board is great. I'm going to be pickinig one up in that series (UD3P for Firewire). Get 2x2GB DDR2 RAM. You won't be needing more than 4GB in the forseeable future. You can add more later.

Get a 4890 or GTX 275 for best bang for buck ($200 - $220).

[Brewmeanie]

Update (new build direction) and need some recommendations:

I've currently sourced and purchased the following items, and i need some advice on which other components will best suit my needs.

Cooler Master Elite 330 computer case - Purchased for $49 tax incl.
OCZ ModXstream 600W - Purchased for $90 tax incl.
Intel Q8200 Quad Core - Purchased for $214 tax incl.

I decided to go for a q8200 for slight future proofing and i plan on slight overclocking to 2.8-3.1.
*** With cost budget in mind, if i do a slight OC with this cpu and those speeds can i still use the OEM cooler that it came with?

My future plans with this setup is for moderate gaming (high fps,aiming for slightly below max to max resolution/game play), movies, multitasking.

Looking for Recommendations on (with best bang for the buck)

Motherboard: Which would give me the best bang for the buck, and overclocking for quad core. Asus P5Q Turbo, or Gigabyte P45-UD3R? Any other third party mobo that i should look into? (looking at similar price range)

Memory: For what i plan on doing, how much GB should i get and ram speed? Should i be looking at overclocking capabilities?

Video Card: not looking for CF or SLI, just one great video card that will suit the cpu, and motherboard. is HD4890 recommended?

Question: I see that alot of local stores in GTA have Bundle combo deals on core components (ie: memory+ psu, HDD+memory) Are these worth looking at in terms of cost savings and quality? (definitely a noob question)

Thanks in advance.

You ain't futureproofing much with the Q8200 Quad Core, cuz it look like intel is on its way to phasing out the 775 socket, and if I remember well, Q8200 dun support virtualization well.

Your power supply OCZ ModXstream is... argh, and i were you, I would had went with a Corsair 750W, Corsair psu are so much better then OCZ , and you're not looking to pay that much more for something of a lot better quality and power. check link below.
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26415&promoid=1190

the CM 330 is not a very big case, it's a pretty compact case, and you might have trouble fitting Video cards more powerful then ATI 4850 or GTS 250. I doubt the more high end video card will fit. the 4890 video card will definitely not fit in there.

oh for bundle deals, lately most of them are pretty crappy around the GTA. And never shop at tigerdirect for their bundle, the saving is base on their prices, which is a rip off at regular price, so that mean your bundle price = regular price of buying parts seperately at internet stores or other computer stores.


Anyway, moving on with what you already have now. I think you're limited to getting the 4870 video card, and if you get that, you're limited to 3 hdds in your case, and if you're going to add an extra video card to crossfire or SLI, you're limited to probably 1 or 2 hdds.

You want good performance, you're gonna be only as fast as your slowest part. I highly suggest getting a WD Black hdd, any size will do, unless you wanna go really fast and get raptors or Solid state drives.

As for ram, it all depends on what board you get, will revisit that after you get the mobo. Suggested brand are usually Mushkin's and G-Skill for really good quality, they rarely fail. I'm using 2 sticks of 2gb OCZ Platinum 8500 atm cuz I got them really cheap. OCZ aint' bad if you're extremely price conscious, they generally price their RAM really good and quality wise ain't bad. They have lifetime warranty anyway as well as having their depot in Markham, so RMAing their RAM is ez and fast.

Motherboard wise, Gigabyte EP45-UD3P is a very good board, highly suggest that board if you have plans to overclock.


EDIT: I dun mean to criticize you or crap on your thread, but I think you got ripped off on your purchase.

[mr_raider]

You ain't futureproofing much with the Q8200 Quad Core, cuz it look like intel is on its way to phasing out the 775 socket, and if I remember well, Q8200 dun support virtualization well.

Big deal. He'll be back on RFD in two years asking for CPU/mobo/RAm combo for 200$. And whatever we recommend, I can guarantee it will be faster than what he has now.

[Tdotshopper]

I dun mean to criticize you or crap on your thread, but I think you got ripped off on your purchase.
No offense taken, im open to all critizism since i want to keep the system for atleast 4-5 yrs. With that said, i re-investigated the casing and CPU, and you are correct, the 330 will not be able to fit a really good high end vid card, and or would block airflow. Anyways returned the 330 for a full refund, and picked up the Antec 900 v2 for around 146 tax in. I also purchased the Gigabyte EP45-UD3R for $162 tax in, and 15 rebate. As for the q8200 CPU, Im still on the fence with this one, its unopened and i still have until tommorrow to return it for full refund but i have the UD3R and it can be OC'd to 3.1 to 3.3ghz very easily (stated on other forums). I may just return it and wait until the Q9400 goes down in price in aug or sept. Anyways this what i have currently:

Antec 900 v2
EP45-UD3R
Q8200 (on the fence)
OCZ 600w

All are currently installed in the casing except for the cpu.

Now need recommendations on Memory, which one is the best for my motherboard and for quads (with moderate OC in future)

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=013938&cid=RAM.346.307

or

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=016525&cid=RAM.346.307

thanks.