I am thinking about selling my laptop and building up a desktop rig. This is something I have never done before and would like some guidence. My budget will be between 600-800 bucks, for just the rig (I have many monitors, keyboards, mice/trackballs yadda yadda)
So for those of you who would build a gaming rig with that budget, pleast point me towards what you would buy.
Yeah yeah, ik the site, but that doesn’t help me with the products it has on it.
Ultra Dual Channel 1024MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz- $99
Ultra PC Vent II w/ 2 45mm Fans System Exhaust BK -$9.99
18" Translucent Blue 7 Pin Serial ATA Drive Cable -$4.99
Ultra 12" Round IDE 2 Device Cable Blue UV -$6.99
Kingwin Big Air BA-12 CPU Cooler for AMD K8 -$39.99
Hitachi 320GB Serial ATA HD 7200/16MB/SATA-3G -$89.99
Lite-On 20X DVDRW Super-Multi Lightscribe LH20A1H -$49.99
Mach Speed MSNV-939 Socket 939 Motherboard -$63.84
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Socket 939 CPU -$116.15
Pros:
Runs solid with no issues at all…yet.
Room for expansion when more money is available.
Cons:
No video card included. Figure in like another $100
No sound card, add like another $80-$90. Unless you use the on board sound.
In the end I spent about $600
I’d go a little different…
Asus P5 Motherboard
Intel Q6600 Quad Core
at least 2 Gigs Gskill high-speed ram
Whatever case/power supply you like
SATA HD (At least 150G)
and a 8800GT Video card
All from Newegg for 12mo same-as-cash.
I built a similar rig, but mine’s setup for design not gaming; and I spent a LOT more (like 4 times what you’re wanting to spend)
some form of asus board, the p5k seems nice, a core 2 duo, 2 gigs of ddr2, geforce 9600gt, 120gb+ sata drive, and w/e case/cd drives u can fit in ur budget still.
or you could go with an nforce 7 chipset w/ the geforce 7 onboard vga. throw in a nice dual core amd w/ 2 gig of ram and a hard drive or 2 and u’ll b set.
$600 will get you a very nice system. do you have a copy of an OS? if not that may run you a few bucks. i have always built AMD systems. they are just as good and about half the price. the Phenom processors have had very good reviews.
ddr2 memory is REALLY cheap. you can get 4GB for under $100. but make sure the voltages match the mobo.
i just did one last week and it came out well. newegg for everything. they are the best.
asus customer support sucks. Actually…its almost like they dont even have any. Get an evga mainboard. 650i or something. if it ever breaks theyll replace it no questions asked. ive done it before with them. Also, wait till at least march 25th (rumored release date of 9800gtx, and the 9800gx2 should be here any day now). Youll start to see the 8 series drop in price, in which case ws-6 is right on with the 8800gt card. Excellent budget card. q6600 is a good cpu but might bring you up to more than you want to spend. Im sure a $150 dual core would suffice. you can also get a 7200rpm 250gb 16mb cache hd for $75 or so from Western digital. DDR2 is a must as well. Id also highly reccommend a pc power & cooling psu. Slightly more than other psu’s but you get a much better psu from them.
no. At least not amd. ati actually has some decent vid cards out/coming though. but intel is way ahead of amd. sorry to say.
An $800 budget is very tight with a “gaming rig” for those people that say “Oh, thats easy…”
Guess nobody has built a rig lately for the new games… it is very hard to squeeze the prices down!
Subtotal: $795.91
Zip Code: 14221 Shipping: $32.34
NOTE: Used the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L ($90) which is a great board and a good choice… but, I would rather have put in a P5K-E but it is $140.
NOTE: Used a 250GB hard drive instead of a larger drive, to save money. It is a 32MB Cache version regardless, and storage can be purchased later. A 500GB is $40 more ($120), and then a 750GB is $60 more ($140)
NOTE: with only $800, had to buy a case with a basic power supply included. You didnt budget in $100 for a good power supply. If there is no overclocking, it will work just fine. The case I picked out is not flimsy, and is a great case.
NOTE: If you can wait, get the e8400 dual core processor when it comes in stock somewhere. It is brand new and extremely fast/awesome. I put a Q6600 for the system quote, as that would be my second choice.
NOTE: 9600GT video card costs $180. It will perform well, but not as well as a $300 card. Sorry, cant get top of the line for only $800. At least it isn’t a cheap $100 card 
it is in the middle… but, performs very well!
NOTE: You can save about $45 if you have a DVD burner, Floppy and card reader already. Just make sure they are black to fit the case. Or get the same case in white to match your existing items.
1 LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-05 - OEM
Item #: N82E16827106073
$29.99
1 IN WIN IW-C589T.J350BFU2AD Black Best Performed SECC Japanese Steel metal ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 350W Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16811108018
$59.99
1 NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16821152005
$6.99
1 Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3250310NS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822148309
$80.99
1 EVGA 512-P3-N862-AR GeForce 9600GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814130328
$179.99
1 SUPER TALENT INT-AIN1-C All-in-one USB 2.0 Card Reader - Retail
Item #: N82E16820609198
$7.99
1 G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail
Item #: N82E16820231122
$84.99
1 GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813128059
$89.99
1 Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115017
$254.99
Subtotal: $795.91
Zip Code: 14221 Shipping: $32.34
Clean - nice setup; and I agree with the P5K; I’m running the P5K Deluxe and it’s great. Got my comp at home stable at 3GHz with no issues; I’m sure I could go faster, but I have no need too.
Thanks
I built my boss a Q6600 system on a P5K-E (no need for the deluxe at the office) with two 8600GT video cards (4 LCD monitors in his office)
I overclocked it to 3 GHz with the power supply in the case I quoted. It was running stable for a week, and he asked me to turn it down because he was fearful of how long it would last. Silly bosses, always worried about stuff breaking…
I was impressed. The Gigabyte is a great board too, and uses the P35 northbridge and ICH9 Southbridge, and has a lot of goodies It even supports optical (fiber) speaker systems, and has eSATA out the back! For $80, you cant go wrong…
I used that Gigabyte board or one very similar I did for a budget system for my Father a few months ago; very nice board.
I forgot what PS i’ve got, but I’ve got a HUGE Turiq cooler on the CPU which keeps it nice and cold.
Thought about the 4 monitors, but I just did the dual 22" Wide-screen Samsungs instead; running on a POS 8600GT card for now, until my Quadro 4500 comes in in a few weeks.
I’ve got the same MOBO/CPU here at work, but not over-clocked and with only a Quadro 3450 and it works great; even with only a single 20.1" Samsung… Sucks having a better Design/Workstation at home than at work…
what kind of rig you trying to build im tryin to trade mine for a laptop
I think baldy nailed it, I am looking for a “gaming” rig but nothing top of the line. I would have to agree that intel would be my choice but I will have to discuss more with him about all that jazz. Thanks for all the help!
Hey man, just an FYI that’s around what I just spent building my PC a few months back. You should be able to do it cheaper now
DFI Blood iron (P35) 120.00 - outstanding overclocker
750 watt PSU 120.00 - very nice unit so far. Not modular, but NO complaints
4 GB G-Skill DDR2 800 89.00 - nice ram, cheap and very stable. comes with heat spreaders
Core 2 Quad (Q6600 -g0 stepping) 240.00 - again, overclocks great. Zero regrets going to a quad. It performs VERY well
8800 GT 512mb card 219.00 - Overclocks well, lightning fast. Very few games make it break a sweat.
total is just under 800.00 (if you already have a case, hard drives,yada yada )
well, yes intel is ahead of them. but if it is a question of price you cant go wrong with AMD. a top of the line intel is EXPENSIVE. and shelling out a couple hundred right off the get go will severely limit everything else.
how would you say they compare?
edit- I know the never ending feud, I meant from personal experience, not what benchmarks where
Stevil, you were actually who I thought of first, I remember you saying something about your rig and the price and I was impressed. Sadly I have no case or drives or any of the good stuff to allow my budget go straight into the guts of the machine