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if i had 500$ to spend what should i build?
if i had 500$ to spend, what should i build?
i have built gaming rigs in the past, just haven't kept up with the info like i used to do.
this is purely a gaming rig for 3d mmos which i will be running Win7 on. a case is not a necessity, i can just pop the mobo i currently have out and replace it.
i am currently running an Intel Core 2 6700; 4GB of DDR3; 1TB hard drive; AMD Radeon 7700.
thanks in advance for any input.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
Comments
What case and power supply do you have? Is your processor a Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad?
How many memory modules do you have to get to 4 GB total? And are you sure it's DDR3, not DDR2? The LGA 775 platform didn't get access to DDR3 until it was basically obsolete, and long after both the Core 2 Duo E6700 and Core 2 Quad Q6700 were discontinued.
There is no such thing as a Radeon 7700. It could be a Radeon HD 7750 or 7770; is it one of those? Speaking of which, neither of those launched until earlier this year, long after the others were obsolete.
my apologies, you're right, too much time spent staring at newegg et.al. and i typed DDR3 instead of DDR2.
the card is an upgrade from my previous one. it is the 7750.
as for the power supply i believe it is a 450W.
the cpu is the Duo.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
What power supply is it? The nominal wattage is a marketing number, not an engineering measurement, so I want the exact brand name and model. If you don't know, then open up the case and read the label to find out. Or we could just assume it's a random piece of junk that needs to be replaced.
And what case is it? Here, I'm mainly interested in size and airflow, and don't really need the exact brand name and model. Though that's still the easiest way to give all of the information on the case if you happen to know what it is.
Powersupply:
Coolmax Model JD-550-M-500
trying to find a measuring tape for the case. it has a back and top fan for airflow. (in completely unscientific terms it is the size of your typical large desktop case.)
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
Going to need a new powersupply to support the 6 pin CPU plugin and possibly the 24pin ATX connnector
If your on a budget you can go AMD way but Intel blows AMD away
Core i5 2500k is the best bang for the buck for gaming 8 GB of ddr3 is good enough and its cheap
Asus p8z77-V motherboards are great i have p8z77-v
Asrock Extreme gen 3 motherboard is also great
i just upgraded my Dads computer from a core 2 quad q9660 i believe? to a Core i7 3770 on sale for $259 CDN and i told him to get 8 GB but he wantted 16GB and a Asrock Extreme Gen 3 motherboard on sale for $50 with mail - in rebate CDN
But yeah if you still have a core 2 quo you'll need a system over haul aside from your PC case / HDD /DVD burners
You'll need a budget of about $800
If your using this for general use / gaming i'd get a Core i5 2500k 2nd gen or newer 2rd gen 3570k (the K's mean unlocked so you can over clock which cost a little bit more money)
I'd recommend Asus p8z77-v or the Asrock Extreme gen 3 motherboard
DDR3 G.Skill snipers 8GB kit
a SSD 60GB to instll your OS onto or get a 128GB so you can have your OS and a game or two on it
If its some cheap Chinese one good look
You can run an i5 with a fairly high end new card like say a 7870 or a gtx670 on a QUALITY 450w power supply.
AMD 6300 cpu. AMD 7850 gpu.
But I would save more cash and go.
i5 3750k cpu, AMD
Spend a bit less swap the 7950 for a 7870 or nvidia 670gtx and drop the ssd
Want faster get an i7 and a 680gtx
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
If you want to stay cheap the new new AMD cpu ain't bad, they compete with high end i5 on most games and the motherboards are cheaper too.
E.g. http://m.novatech.co.uk/products/motherboardbundles/mbb-63004g.html
Which I reckon in the usa you could get for under $300 easy.
To save money on a SSD you can get a Corsair Accelerator Series SSD Cache drive for a cheap alternative it really speeds up the load times of your programs when you log into your windows. I had one on a Core 2 Quad Q9550 DDr2 4GB
but a true SSD is damn worth the $$
But I would take the new 6 core over some simmilar priced i3 or low end i5 setup.
Gpus AMD or nvidia both have their strengths, both suffer from the occasionally badly coded game that is optimised for the other.
Your power supply is a piece of junk and needs to be replaced. Your case is probably fine, though you really should make sure before buying parts. If you have two working 120 mm case fans and the case is about 8" wide, you're golden. If your case is about 5" wide, it will be a lot more problematic.
If you want a high end power supply that you can keep basically forever and not have to worry about it, it's a lot cheaper than it used to be:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151119
If you'd like to get something cheaper that is still decent, then here you go:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026
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My recommendation would be to keep your video card a while longer. It won't necessarily let you max settings in some games, but it will run just about anything smoothly at moderate to high settings. You've got more pressing issues to deal with, and can come back to upgrade the video card next time you do some upgrades.
Likewise, keep your hard drive, and probably your case. But do measure the case to be sure, and also measure the fans. Two 80 mm fans would only be roughly equivalent to one 120 mm fan, though with only a Radeon HD 7750, that should be adequate.
Replacing the motherboard typically means you need a new OS license, as that's a new computer. If so, then that's another $100 of your budget right there.
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A new processor means you need a new processor socket, and that means a new motherboard. The new motherboard will require DDR3 memory, which means you'll need new memory, too. You could probably squeeze a Core i5-3570K into your budget if you really wanted to. But I'm going to recommend saving some money by going with an FX-6300 and spending it elsewhere instead. Here's a processor/motherboard combo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1094289&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=4176333&SID=fk2relv606th
And here's your new memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428
Finally, I'd get an SSD, since you don't already have one. Those make a huge difference in how responsive your computer is, and prices have come way down recently. Here's one with plenty of capacity for you:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167127
Put the OS and your main programs on the SSD, and any bulk data that you have (pictures, music, videos, etc.) on the hard drive that you already have.
I think you missed where he said $500.
Also, you keep saying 3750. The processor you have in mind is a Core i5-3570K.
A cache SSD is a bad idea for most people. You spend all of the money for an SSD, in exchange for only some of the benefits. They do make sense for people who aren't sophisticated enough to understand the idea of installing some things on an SSD and other things on a hard drive. And there some peculiar enterprise workloads where they make sense, but that's not consumer use.
Is the FX 6300 a better gaming choice than the FX 4170?
I had no idea, if thats the case, I assume it is, it makes me re think a few things.
See the world and all within it.
Live a lifetime in every minute.
At stock speeds, they're comparable if you can only push one or two cores. Three or more and the FX-6300 wins. And obviously, if you can put six cores to good use, the FX-6300 wins by a lot. And it will do it on less power, too.
If you're inclined to overclock, then the FX-4170 will have very little headroom, as it's basically a factory overclocked FX-4100 with a stock speed set to use up most of the overclocking headroom that an FX-4100 would have had. The FX-6300 won't be a huge overclocker for you, either, at least if you're comparing to the 4.1 GHz turbo clock, but it should easily beat an FX-4170 under any load if they're both overclocked.
On a $1000 budget, you'd be looking at replacement rather than upgrade. For example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1033223
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151119
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151256
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416550
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131466
And then if ~240 GB of storage capacity is enough for you, then you grab an SSD and no hard drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227808
That would come to $1031 before $85 in rebates.
If you need more storage than that, then you'll need a hard drive, so the larger SSD doesn't fit. Instead, you get a smaller SSD and also a hard drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227807
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840
That way comes to $1041 before $60 in rebates.
For the sake of keeping things strictly inside of a $1000 budget before rebates, you could drop down to a cheaper video card that is still more than double the performance of what you have now:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125451
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So how does that compare to the $500 upgrade option? For starters, it leaves the old computer functional, so that you could use it as a backup or sell it or whatever. This gets you a better processor and a big video card upgrade. It's likely that your old hard drive is old enough that it out to be replaced anyway just on general principle, so this would do that for you.
If you put no value on keeping the old computer functional whatsoever, then you might be able to salvage the case from it, and could probably salvage the optical drive. You could keep the hard drive for backup or some such, but would still want a new SSD. The old video card is definitely still worth something, considering that it's not actually very old, but on a $1000 budget, you'd want a faster video card.
The old power supply is junk, and the old processor, motherboard, and memory really only have much value if you're keeping the old computer intact. The old OS license is tied to the old motherboard.
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Normally, I hate it when people ignore the stated budget like this. But the original poster wanted to see it.
thanks again to everyone who offered their insight and ideas. it is greatly appreciated and i am looking forward to a new(er) comp with a bit less hesitancy than i originally felt about this project.
and thanks Quizzical for posting that last list as a comparison for me. i appreciate you taking the time to do so.
you all are the best.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse