Please rate this build

Jimmy_Scythe

So a friend of mine wants me to build a gaming rig for him on a budget of $700 or less. He's already go an ATX case, monitor, keyboard, mouse and we're re-using the DVDRW. I think I have something that will last him for awhile but it came in at roughly $453 before shipping and what not. Here's what I put together:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33GHz

Foxconn 45GMX LGA 775 Intel 945G Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800

Samsung 500Gig SATA HD

GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB

450W power supply

I think I might have overdone it with the power supply, but he'll probably be upgrading the graphics card in a couple of years anyway so I'm guessing that it'll be needed. I could have also gone a little higher with the video card or added a water cooling system, but I didn't want to get to carried away.

So is this workable or do you guys have an inside on parts that are cheaper?

1-8-7

Get the core 2 quad extreme chip.

g.killram

why quad core? 90% of games dont use it. go with a dual core athlon and save money.

Jimmy_Scythe

Originally posted by 1-8-7


Get the core 2 quad extreme chip.

 

That's going waaaaaaaayyyyyyy over budget bud.

 Although I could probably put a Quad core AMD Phenom X4 in there for less money. 'Course, then I'd have to get a a differend motherboard and an ATI Radeon card to go with it and that could lead to an entirely different set of parts...

stayontarget

That PSU on your list only has 20a on the 12v rail and thats way too low. Best to spend a little bit more and get a better one. I go with the corsair psu brand myself.

Jimmy_Scythe

Originally posted by g.killram


why quad core? 90% of games dont use it. go with a dual core athlon and save money.

 

Cause he wants a machine that will last a few years. I figure that with a quad core the most he'll have to do over the next six years is add some memory and a new video card.

 

g.killram

Originally posted by Jimmy_Scythe

Originally posted by g.killram


why quad core? 90% of games dont use it. go with a dual core athlon and save money.

 

Cause he wants a machine that will last a few years. I figure that with a quad core the most he'll have to do over the next six years is add some memory and a new video card.

 

 

then what i would do is go with a am2+ board and a athlon 3.2 x2. then he can upgrade to a phenom 2 later.

stayontarget

Originally posted by g.killram

Originally posted by Jimmy_Scythe

Originally posted by g.killram


why quad core? 90% of games dont use it. go with a dual core athlon and save money.

 

Cause he wants a machine that will last a few years. I figure that with a quad core the most he'll have to do over the next six years is add some memory and a new video card.

 

 

then what i would do is go with a am2+ board and a athlon 3.2 x2. then he can upgrade to a phenom 2 later.

best bang for your buck.

g.killram

food for thought:

 

Jimmy_Scythe

Here's the retooling for an AMD build:

Socket AM2+ Motherboard

AMD Phenom 2.5GHz x4

4GB DDR2 1066

Radeon 4670 HD with 512MB

500Gig SATA Hard drive

Corsair 400W Power supply

The whole thing comes to around $466 and I get faster memory to boot. I'll be honest though, I know jack shit about ATI graphics cards or power consumption issues. I'm also wondering if I should have looked harder for an SLI ready motherboard.

Oh, and he'll still have the option to upgrade the CPU when the time comes.

g.killram

Originally posted by Jimmy_Scythe


Here's the retooling for an AMD build:
Socket AM2+ Motherboard
AMD Phenom 2.5GHz x4
4GB DDR2 1066
Radeon 4670 HD with 512MB
500Gig SATA Hard drive
Corsair 400W Power supply
The whole thing comes to around $466 and I get faster memory to boot. I'll be honest though, I know jack shit about ATI graphics cards or power consumption issues. I'm also wondering if I should have looked harder for an SLI ready motherboard.
Oh, and he'll still have the option to upgrade the CPU when the time comes.

dont worry about crossfire/sli. most test show only a marginal performance increase except in certain games. if he can swing it get the hd4830 instead. the 4670 only has a 128 bit interface and is really a htpc card. the 4830 has a 256. much faster card.

1-8-7

Oh I didn't know the extreme was that much more.  However I do think you should go with the core 2 quad, with or without the extreme.  Intels quad core is tops right now over amd, and even beats out their new x4.  The reason I said to get the extreme version of the chip was it ups the clockrate and I think it might have a bigger cache.  Games right now need the highest clockrate, not the multiple cores.  The multicores are awesome though for multi tasking.  So if you wanna do some intense gaming, get the extreme, and the 4 cores if u wanna be minimizing and stuff all over the place.  Games in the future will take advantage of the multi cores.

Even without the extreme version, it's still a very badass chip.

ladyattis

Get at least a 650 Watt PSU, you'll thank yourself later.

Swiftblade13

the 9600 GSO is gonna gimp you big time... if you are on a budget get the 9800GT for $91.00 after rebate on newegg.. its an amazing deal. 

 

your processor choice is fine... but you will want to overclock it.