MY PC goes explodie...

[Kirin]

No pics, but im slightly angry this happened now. HD is only a few months old =/. So my monitors, wireless card, and CD Drive are the only things that made it out alive.

Here's what me and the friend who is building it for me have come up with. I'm trying to keep this as economical as possible but still putting something together that is going to be able to keep pace in terms of gaming and performance 2-3 years from now without any major upgrades.

Graphics Card: GeForce 9600 GT 2GB 256-bit GDDR2 (Pci express 2.0 x 16 (SLI Supported)
RAM: G. Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM (DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500))
HD: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 7200 RPM 32 MB Cache SATA
CPU: Intel Pentium 2.6 Ghz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W (dual core)
Power Supply: Antec 650W Continuous
Mobo: Asus 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX

I'm not really planning to do any seriously hardcore gaming (FFXI and I might try Aion out with some friends, FFXIV eventually), and I don't really worry about overclocking at all. Some reviews I've read have the mobo not being so hot for mid to high end gaming performance. This setup clocks me in at around 400, but I have about another 100 that im willing to work with if changing mobo's or bumping the processor up seems to be worth it.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Solefald]

Radeon 4770/4830/4850 are much, much better than the 9600GT and are only $10-25 more expensive. You can make up the difference by getting a smaller (yet better) power supply like this one.

[fishstix]

For the power supply, unless you found a deal somewhere, yours is going for $90~? There's this ModXStream Pro 700W for $60, newegg has it for $70. Your motherboard/cpu combo is going to run you $130ish? If you're willing to spend $100 more, I'd go for a quad-core setup. I'm not sure if you -really- need it, but planning for the future right? :3

Although Aion runs on the CryEngine, it's not as demanding as people expect. There's enough range on the graphics settings for whatever system you have. If it can play ffxi with a steady fps, you should be able to get by with medium-settings for decent graphics there. My friend played on the same laptop that he played ffxi with. It's a 1.8ghz C2D cpu, 1gb of DDR2 800 ram, and 128mb geforce 8400ms video card. Your video card choice should be able to crank up the settings to max.

[kyamei]

If the HD you were looking at is the $65 one at newegg, I would suggest picking up 6400aaks drive instead. It's faster and has more storage for only $5 more. I can't post urls...so just search for 6400aaks on newegg.

If the CPU you were looking at is the E5300, I'd say just save yourself the $10 and buy the E5200. 100mhz means nothing.

[Kirin]

Seems like the focus is more in the CPU than the mobo, so seems like my thoughts about reading the few negative reviews were unfounded and i'll stick with that one.

Power Supply i put down is going for 79.99 on newegg. Though if its one area im weak on it is power supply knowledge. What would dropping down to a 400w from a 650w do?

A list of vid cards I found had this listed as #1-4:

1. Radeon HD 4850 2965,50
2. GeForce 9600 GT 2451,80
3. Radeon HD 3870 2386,70
4. Radeon HD 4670 2102,70

Granted it did say this was an old listing, but I won't necessarily *need* the best if #2 is still a solid choice. If that makes sense.

I'll go back and see what I can do in terms of processors. The bump to a quad core seems to be worth the 40-50 extra bucks I would throw at it.

Thanks for the feedback, keep it coming please. This is helping lots!

[Blabj]

I wouldn't go that low, due to having some pretty hefty power requirements on your computer. You should go for atleast a 550w PSU.

I also second the idea of going for an ATI card than an nVidia, they're a lot stronger cards, and you get a lot more power for the little extra you might spend.

[Olo401]

Key parts you mentioned here..

...as economical as possible...

...going to be able to keep pace in terms of gaming and performance 2-3 years from now without any major upgrades...

...around 400, but I have about another 100 that im willing to work with...

2-3 years might be tough, especially with this budget. The parts you picked out are already somewhat dated tech especially the CPU, motherboard and video card.

Ahh found it! From this article on building a $500 gaming PC - I'd change or upgrade some things listed there, and some of the prices have come down as well. It's a good starting point.

[fishstix]

What you could consider doing is choosing quad-core and going for a cheaper card that'll still get the job done. You can then upgrade in a year or so as needed, this is what I'm doing. I only played ffxi at the time so I built a pretty good system except a cheapo geforce 8500gt.

Are those the prices of the cards at the end? A Radeon 4850 for $50 is pretty good if that's the price you found.

[Solefald]

The important aspect of a good power supply is NOT wattage - the emphasis on watts is a marketing ploy aimed at people who only think "higher number=better". Power supply manufacturers are able to get away with this because hardly anybody actually uses all 650W of a "650W" power supply. So they put out crappy power supplies with high wattage ratings because people don't know any better.

Read any video card review with power consumption figures. Here's an example. Under peak load, the single-GPU systems max out at 343W. This means that a 500W PSU, assuming 80% efficiency, would be sufficient for such a system. And keep in mind that this is a Core i7 machine which has higher peak power consumption than a mainstream Core 2 pc.

The real important aspect of a good PSU is voltage regulation (and to a lesser extent, efficiency). This is because electronic components are very sensitive to voltage fluctuations, if the voltage is too unstable the component may degrade or fail given time. In this regard, Corsair consistently makes high quality power supplies. Antec is mostly good except for their cheapest models. I am not sure about the one you linked. SeaSonic is good but a bit pricey. Other brands tend to be hit and miss. So you won't lose anything by going with a decent 400W power supply, especially with your limited budget.

[Akiyama]

Yeah. I'm gonna be getting Corsair's HX520 Modular PSU here in a bit, and it's a great PSU, but a little expensive ($109.99).

[Minions]

Yeah. I'm gonna be getting Corsair's HX520 Modular PSU here in a bit, and it's a great PSU, but a little expensive ($109.99).

Way worth it, corsair seems to actually monitor what they put out as far as PSU's. They all come from similar places, but you would be surprised how much the quality can change. Modular owns too. Less random cables u don't need clogging up the space.

[Minions]

Newegg.com - Motherboard 72-Hour 10% off Sale!

10% off all mobos up to a maximum of $15

[fishstix]

AMD Phenom II x4 920 is pretty cheap right now also, if you're going for high-end budget

[Kirin]

Ok, done some looking around and heres what i've come up with so far:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Link
Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W Link (I might jump to the one Solefald mentioned earlier in this thread if I need to grab 20-30 bucks from somewhere.)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB Link
RAM: Going with either GSkill or Corsair DDR2 4gigs. Same Price.

Torn Between 2 graphics cards:

1. SAPPHIRE 100245L Radeon HD 4850 Link
2. SAPPHIRE 100265HDMI Radeon HD 4830 Link

Now, sadly, i'm having issues finding a mobo that i like. If anyone here is willing to offer some suggestions, even if they need to tweak some of the above to reach compatibility I would be appreciative. Intel CPU so im assuming Intel based motherboards.

Without the motherboard im in at 389.95 with about 40 to get back in mail in rebates after all is said and done, so a total of 349.95. Free Shipping on all of it. Looking to keep the mobo around (preferably under) 100. Im ok with mail-in rebates.

Thanks for all the help so far, almost done!

[Olo401]

I'd say go with the MSI Neo3-F P43. One of the better budget ATX-form boards you can get. Make sure you get DDR2-1066 speed memory.

Given the choice of those two video cards, I'd get the 4850. The 4770 also falls in between those two as far as performance, but it's slightly more expensive (newer tech) and it's sold out.