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I am going to buy a new "decent" gaming machine..
But I would like to know if anyone can tell me about better deals anywhere on these parts.. I am doing a split between TigerDirect and NewEgg...
From Tiger Direct I'll be only getting:
MBM-680ILT-E4500 :: XFX nForce 680i LT SLI Motherboard CPU Bundle - Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Processor 2.20GHz OEM (5.15 lbs) the price (219) is average in my budget (around 600)
From NewEgg I'll be buying:
Broadway Com Corp 808PA Beige Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450W Power Supply - Retail
Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC GeForce 8600GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail (plus another, when I get enough money)
LITE-ON Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DH-16D2P-04 - OEM
MASSCOOL 8W0141B1M3G 90mm Ball CPU Cooler - Retail
All this total will come about to around 560 with shipping.. Sound card I will be adding later as sound just isnt that important to me atm...
But what do you guys think? Could there be some changes made here that will improve this build yet stay UNDER 600?
Comments
Spend a little more and get an ATi 3850 graphics card unless your dead set on that motherboard and SLi. Usually a rule of thumb when building is that you shouldn't use a power supply that comes with the case as they are usually very poorly made (antec being an exception to this rule).
The 680i isn't compatible with intel's new 45nm processors either which is something to be considered.
Personally, I would get the gigabyte p35 ds3l and an e2160 if you are willing to overclock the e2160 will reach around 3 GHZ on stock settings. That saves up some money for a better graphics card and a better power supply.
So basically heres a sample build:
Antec Case + 500 watt power supply - $120
Gigabyte P35 DS3L - $105
Intel e2160 - $79
G. Skill DDR2 800 RAM 2x1GB - $47
LITE ON DVD Drive - $23
Western Digital 80 GB 7200 RPM - $48
And either go with the ATI 3850 for $160 (total cost $582) or save up a little more and go with a 3870 (total cost 637).
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Desktop - AMD 8450 Tri Core, 3 gigs of DDR2 800 RAM, ATI HD 3200 Graphics, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Laptop (Dell Latitude E6400) - Intel P8400, 2 GIGs of RAM, Intel X4500, Windows XP Professional
Yea don't bother to SLI the 8600gts. Get atleast the ATI 3850 or Nvidia 8800gt. Get a better power supply (500 watts or higher) and don't bother buying that cpu cooler.
Thanks! That was very informative guys.. I'll be looking over everything now, and keeping the ATI in mind.. Part of the issue is that I have really never gotten into ATI graphics because the model numbers are very confusing... And I never know which ones out perform the others.. But I'll be sure to look at that model and see where it gets me...
I was always skeptical about going SLI, I was thinking about trying to save a little more and going 8800 but the "here and now" got me locked in...
Get an nVidia 8800GT or GTS 512. They are the best 'bang for your buck' cards. The newest ATI is faster, but duel 8800GT 512's cost about the same price and perform about 15% faster. Frankly the 8600 256 cards suck, and suck hard for gaming. I'd recommend you save up a bit more and go for a $250 8800GT 512. You'll be very happy with one.
Oh and, I've been building computers for many years for a living and lemme tell ya, Tiger Direct is not my most recommended company to buy from. You don't know how many computers I've gotten that had parts from tiget direct. Video cards with their fan hanging off them, blown motherboards, shipping that is fairly fast but not handled like it should be. Busted crap here.. cheap busted crap there.
Your only buying your Mobo there, but still.
and I have heard these stories before to be honest which is why I am still not "set" on what I have listed so far...
As for the 8800.. Im still debating.. Because I dont want a half assed "top of the line machine" lol... If I was to pay that much for dual 8800's, i'd prolly have to upgrade everything else in the process, and being that Im not really a hardware "enthusiasts", I dont know if that would be the best route for me to take at this time..
Dont get me wrong, the 8800 does sound really tasty, but i am on a laptop and dying for some right now performance, but I'll have to see if i'll be able to hold out for another month and pump up some peices in this puzzle...
So far though after reading about that Radeon, it really does seem like a sweet deal.. Not sold on it yet, but I am leaning..
You don't need dual 8800s. 1 8800gt which can be bought for $250 on newegg is enough for most people. If want to get something really good wait for the Nvidia 9800 series coming out in a few months. The only part you should switch to match this graphics card is a slightly better CPU.
The ATI 3850 is still the best card under $200, well, unless you have the power supply to run a 2900 that you can catch a deal on. Problem with the 3850s is what resolution do you want to play at. If mid-resolutions, the 256mb memory should be fine. But I've seen the 512mb version go for $160 shipped after rebate, so there's little reason not to get a 512mb if the decent deals are still there. I have a hard time paying over $150 for a card and not paying the extra to get 512mb.
$50+ more gets an 8800GT 512mb, (I wouldn't bother with the 256mb version of that). It's certainly a better card, but 50+ bucks is 50+ bucks, so that can be a tough decision based on intended resolution and what games to play, etc. I mean, honestly, for MMOs, I could probably still be using my 7600GT and be content. The 7600GT didn't like Bioshock at 1920x1080 and high everything, though.
And, yeah, I'd have a hard time buying much of ANYTHING from Tiger Direct. In fact, I wouldn't. Plenty of other respected places online to order from. And anything with a rebate from Tiger Direct, forget it.
lol..and it seems that the more this conversation goes, the more we are losing sight of my budget.. Yeah waiting is all fine and dandy, but to be honest since technology moves so fast I will never be on top.. Meaning I can wait my whole life for the next best thing and never buy anything..
I pretty much sat down and said that although i can play the games I want to play now (most at low-mid settings) I would like to be able to play them at 1024-768 at high settings.. No AA.. No AF.. No anything special or extra.. Just a pretty good Max detail at 1024-768 is all im after.. And I figured 600 should be enough to build it from the ground up and have an enjoyable experience in the mid range...
I have other things I need to take care of and I really cant afford the "best in its class" type of computer, so while dual 8800 and 9800's all sound and look good, its really out of my price range right now.. I'm not looking for a ferrari or corvette, just a nice and decent honda civic... Something that will get me from point A to point B like my pinto does, except runs a little better...
The ATI suggestion is probably the closest thing to being what I am looking for price wise and performance wise.. From what i am reading there is just no beating that card.. However, I am also being told that it has heat issues?
The ATI 2900xt is the card that had heat issues. Actually, it had power requirement issues. Its heat really isn't much if any worse than the 8800s. The 8800s are a little quieter than the 2900xt, but they get hotter, maybe because the coolers are worse.
The 2900xt or pro (gt is bleh) are good cards... at the right price. You need to do your homework if getting one, though. They're not for everybody.
The 3850 and 3870 are the quietest and most efficient cards out right now. Although you can somewhat duplicate the efficiency at idle by turning the core speed down on other cards.
Hard to go wrong with a 3850 for around $160. If the 512mb is out of budget, then it's out of budget. The 256mb version is still very good stuff, just on games that are big on textures and/or at high resolutions, ALL 256mb cards falter. Even the 8800gts 320mb can falter a good bit. Game benchmarks average FPS may not show it, but the minimum FPS benchmarks tend to show it.
But, like I said, if I didn't want to crank things up right now on my big-screen, I'd probably be perfectly fine still using my 7600GT playing at 1024x768 or maybe x1024 and medium textures on things like Bioshock or Call of Duty4. In fact, I tried that with both of those games. Both were fine at x768, Bioshock a bit iffy at 1280x1024, BUT my hard drive was stuck in PIO mode at the time so everything was slow. It would take 40+ minutes to burn a DVD. I would always play DDO with that card at 1600x1200 and the highest textures. Heck, I did that with a 6600GT.
If you can get a 7600gt or 8600gt or the like for, say, $75, maybe it's something to consider. I know you can get 8600gt's for like $85 after rebate. All of this really does depend on budget and what resolution you want to play at and what games you intend to play. The 7600/8600 range cards are still very playable in pretty much every game if the resolutions are kept mild.
Oh yeah, and I don't see much point in spending $50-ish dollars on an 80gb drive when 320gb ones tend to be in the $60-70 range, at least when there's a good sale on.yeah..i may skip the hard drve online, because there is a computer shop up the road that sells em pretty cheap...
I was actually thinking about 8600 GT's.. i have heard so many good things about em.. They are the true mid range card and very good prices on them also.. I have heard soo many stories about tiger direct that it scares me really.. I'm not sure if I will take my chances or just do away with em completely, because part of me would think it to be unfair to listen to hearsay and blow them off completely and the other part says if they do end up screwing me, I was warned...
New egg is all good and stuff, but they dont sell the same mobo for the same price there, I may just go look strictly at new egg and price some different combinations as well.. A good gaming bare bone would be nice..
spend a little less on the mobo and a bit more on the power suply....power suplys that come with cases usually suck....
This mobo will work just as well if you don't plan on using SLI.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059
SLI is also kinda a waste of $$$. For the price of 2 cards you don't get twice the performance, it barely even gives near a 50% boost.
I agree with the SLI comment.. and I think im going to ditch it and just take a chance and invest in a 8800.... Would be the first time ever that I will be in the "high end" market... So now comes the question... what can i build around the 8800 that would not be that expensive but able to handle the power?