Budget Rig, Need Opinions

[SolyBuds]

Hey their fellas, wow this is quite the "Throw Back" for me since i used to visit these boards roughly 6 years ago. Its nice to see the forum layout has not changed much. It feels good to be back again, life sometimes throws you off course, if you know what i mean. To get to the point i am just glad to be back.


Well i am looking to build a budget gaming rig and will only need to update certain parts to keep me on par with todays games.


Budget System *400.00 - $500.00* (Cheaper The Better)
Mobo: Asus P5Q-E P45 Socket 775 (MotherBoard + Ram Combo for $200.00)
Ram: Patriot Viper Series PC2-8500 4gb 2x2Gb kit DDR2
CPU: Intel E8400 $160.00
Vid Card: (Need some advice as i have not been in the gaming market lately)

This is just a quick mock up but the motherboard + ram combo are quite a steal in my opinion. Please feel free to share your build as i am open to all suggestions. Thanks in advance.


-Sol

 

[Craxbax]

What resolution is your monitor? A HD4850 Sapphire (Newegg:$144.95 w.MIR) would be an excellent choice for most games at 1680x1050 or less. Add a 2nd for Xfire if you neeed more in the future. Obviously, you can spend more on a HD4870 or GTX 260 as they are great for all but the highest resolutions.

Since it is a budget rig, I would also consider going with a cheaper cpu such as the e7200 or even e5200. Both over clock extrememly well. So well in fact, that other than benches, you probably won't be able to tell the difference gaming.

 

[SolyBuds]

I have heard many Great things about the e5200/e7200. Since i have been out of the gaming for such a long period of time i am not as well informed as i used to be. From what i have been hearing gaming now a days is strongly reliant on the GPU as apposed to CPU/GPU am i not correct? Which that said, If i could Get A cheaper CPU/Mobo and spend the extra on quality ram and GPU. Do you have any suggestions? Feel free to share your opinions. I would also like to note i am a very big Over clocking fan, i just love the idea of getting more performance out of my rig for next to nothing.

With that said Whats the cheapest E7200/Mobo combo with the best over all O'Cing ability? Maybe even run 2 Gigs of ram as apposed to 4? Etc.. etc..

 

[DragoXT]

If you are really looking for the lowest price, you should probably take a trip over to the light and see what AMD has. Right now AMD's fastest chip is just above $150, and you can snag a great mobo for under $150 as well. Sure the debate of Intel is still faster concept could come up, but when money is the limiting factor it is best to look at all your options. More and more games will be utilizing more cores and more apps will as well so if you are looking to have a bit of longevity with your cheap build, i would suggest a quad or triple core. As long as the computer can do what you want, there is nothing wrong with it, which is why i still am using the rig in my sig. Performance differences between Intel and AMD chips are then in benchmarks, and RL tests, but the question is, is that performance really worth the extra cost? The decision is yours and you can go what ever way you choose, but as i say for anyone doing a budget build, look at both sides of the fence and see the whole picture before you go diving in. If you go 775 your only upgrade path is a quad core cpu. Go amd and you will still be able to get new chips in your board that they will be producing in 09.

As for your vid card, the 4850 is a real good option, but will easily put you over your budget. Trust me do not get a 4850 with the stock reference cooler, get one that is better, or my fav the HIS Ice4 that exhausts the hot air out the back of the case. ATi recently came out with the 4830, which is just a cut down version of the 4850 and it isnt to bad and it is sub $129 and would fit your budget. Xbit labs has a nice take on the 4830 if you want to look more into it.

 

[Goshawk]

Budget System *400.00 - $500.00* (Cheaper The Better)
Mobo: Asus P5Q-E P45 Socket 775 (MotherBoard + Ram Combo for $200.00)
Ram: Patriot Viper Series PC2-8500 4gb 2x2Gb kit DDR2
CPU: Intel E8400 $160.00
Vid Card: (Need some advice as i have not been in the gaming market lately)


-Sol

WB Sol!

I think your on the right track with the mobo & CPU! Where did you find that combo?

Memory you could dial back a little do save a few bucks... CL4 DDR2-800 should be quite a bargain now if you need to save the cash

As for the Video card, i'd have to echo Craxbax about the HD4850... if you shop around, you should be able to get a screaming deal on one of those... It's probably going to be the best bang for the buck in the $150 - $200 price range.



~ Gos

 

[Craxbax]

You will have to shop around for e7200/7300 best prices. I lean towards ASUS OR GA MOBOs but there are other P35 or p45 MOBOs that do well. For a budget rig I wouldn't hesitate to get a GA P35 DS3L/R or ASUS P5K Pro both about ($80) if you plan on a single GPU setup. I recently built an e7200/P5k Pro system for a friend that did an easy 3.6ghz with slight incease in vcore. That would put you around $200. Even with a 8800GT it is a great little gamer. I wouldn't spend much extra on faster RAM than PC6400 but I would get 2x2gb sticks even for a 32 bit OS.

The Sapphire card I mentioned has a better cooler than reference. My GF has one in her rig and OC to 700/1100 in a poorly vented ACER box.

 

[SolyBuds]

WB Sol!

I think your on the right track with the mobo & CPU! Where did you find that combo?

Memory you could dial back a little do save a few bucks... CL4 DDR2-800 should be quite a bargain now if you need to save the cash

As for the Video card, i'd have to echo Craxbax about the HD4850... if you shop around, you should be able to get a screaming deal on one of those... It's probably going to be the best bang for the buck in the $150 - $200 price range.



~ Gos

Thanks for all the advice. The mobo/ram combo are from a local retailer.(Toronto) You guys have some very good input on upgrading. the 4850 seems to be my card of choice, Just last night i put together a really mean system for a good friend of mine. Q6600, 4 gb Mushking High performance, Asus 4850 (with beefed up heatsink) Asus P5Q Mobo, Installed Vista 64bit...Then proceeded to run Fallout 3...even with max graphics he just about destroys the game. This was a different story since my buddy is not into overclocking. I on the other hand am more keen on gaining performance from a budget build i.e (Best bang for the buck) I remember buying my AMD mobile barton 2500+ and got it running 2.6 Ghz Tested for 20+ hours and ran stable since.

My Current Rig:
Mobo: DFI Lanparty Ultra
CPU: AMD Athlon 3000+
Vid Card: Nvidia 6600
Ram: 1 Gig 3200 Patriot
PSU: 600W OCZ StealthXtream