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11-23-2006, 08:32 PM
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#1 |
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Member (6 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Maine, USA
Posts: 50
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First Build (~$800 Low-End C2D Gamer?)
Hi, everyone. Well, I'm planning out my first build, which I will probably do in mid-December, once I'm back at home for Christmas break. I don't have a tremendous budget, around $800 shipped (for the PC itself, excluding peripherals). I've been following this forum for a little while now, and I've built up a Newegg wish list. I was hoping I could get some feedback. I will use the PC for some gaming. No first person shooters, but probably some other system-intensive games like Oblivion and Gothic 3 . . . I'm planning on using it with a 20" widescreen monitor with a native resolution of 1680x1050, if that's useful.
Before I start in on what I'm thinking, I have one big question: should I wait until after Christmas? Do prices fall suddenly after that? Or, on the other hand, should I definitely do it before Christmas, and take advantage of Christmas sales? I'm just hoping some of you have more experience with cycles in the component costs. Okay, on to the list: Case: CoolerMaster Centurion 5 - $44.99 PSU: XClio 450BL ATX 450W Power Supply - Retail - $39.99 Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail - $115.99 Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6300 - Retail - $180 GPU: eVGA 256-P2-N624-AR GeForce 7900GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 KO Video Card - Retail - $169.99 Ram: CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model VS1GB667D2 - Retail - $104.99 HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3250620AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $74.99 Optical Drive: LITE-ON 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black ATAPI/E-IDE Model SHW-160P6S-04 - Retail - $31.99 Total (before refunds and shipping, which may cancel each other out anyway): $762.93 Well, any advice you could offer about any of that would be really helpful. I'm a little worried about the PSU . . . it seems a little low in price, and I don't know if that means it's correspondingly low quality. I have a similar concern with the motherboard. Oh, and am I going to run into any problems using an OEM hard drive? I know I'll probably want more ram, but I can't afford another gig right now . . . my birthday's in February, and I'll most likely add one more gig of the same stuff at that point. Thanks in advance for your help! |
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11-23-2006, 08:57 PM
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#2 |
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Not so new
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Maryland, United States
Posts: 2,576
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I like all your selections, but get the Asus P5B motherboard and 2x512mb of the same memory for better performance. The Xclio 450bl should be plenty sufficient - to be on the safe side you could look into 500w units, but I seriously think your fine with the 450bl.
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“To me there are three things everyone should do every day. Number one is laugh. Number two is think -- spend some time in thought. Number three, you should have your emotions move you to tears. If you laugh, think and cry, that's a heck of a day.” - Jim Valvano |
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11-23-2006, 09:19 PM
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#3 |
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Member (6 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Maine, USA
Posts: 50
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Thanks for the advice, newbuilder14. I assume you mean this Asus P5B motherboard. Any particular reason why you would suggest this over the Gigabyte one? Just a better brand?
Could you explain why you would go with 2x512 rather than 1x1Gb for the RAM? I chose the single 1Gb stick because I intend to add another in a couple of months . . . does that present a major problem in the meantime? I'm quite new to this, and I didn't realize there would be any real disadvantage to using a single stick. |
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11-23-2006, 09:40 PM
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#4 |
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Kickin' it
Staff
Premium Member
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: USA
Posts: 7,723
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Asus is a higher quality manufacturer then Gigabyte.
The 2x512 lets you take advantage of Dual Channel ram, resulting in a slight performance boost. You need 2 matched sticks for this. And the P5B has 4 slots, so theres still room to grow.
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11-23-2006, 09:52 PM
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#5 |
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Member (6 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Maine, USA
Posts: 50
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Thanks, Alaron, for clearing that up. I think I will go ahead and take both suggestions, in that case. There's a slight increase in price, but it's still in-budget, so not a big deal. For now, I'm leaving the power supply at 450w unless anyone has any objections.
Oh, any comments on my Christmas price drops questions? Is that something I should wait for? Without further ado, the updated list: Case: CoolerMaster Centurion 5 - $44.99 PSU: XClio 450BL ATX 450W Power Supply - Retail - $39.99 Motherboard: ASUS P5B Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail - $134.99 Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6300 - Retail - $180 GPU: eVGA 256-P2-N624-AR GeForce 7900GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 KO Video Card - Retail - $169.99 Ram: CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model VS1GBKIT667D2 - Retail - $106.99 HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3250620AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $74.99 Optical Drive: LITE-ON 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black ATAPI/E-IDE Model SHW-160P6S-04 - Retail - $31.99 Total (before refunds and shipping): $783.93 |
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11-23-2006, 10:38 PM
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#6 |
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Member (11 bit)
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: eastern nc
Posts: 1,349
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Very good hard drive choice. Good luck with it all.
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11-24-2006, 12:56 PM
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#7 |
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Not so new
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Maryland, United States
Posts: 2,576
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Everything looks fine to me. Nice video card. I just got my system up and running. No problems at all - you should be fine with those parts.
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11-25-2006, 04:37 AM
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#8 |
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Member (6 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Maine, USA
Posts: 50
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If I wanted to add another 7900gs a year down the line when I have some more money, what sort of a motherboard would I need now?
Can someone offer me a suggestion for a motherboard of the same general quality that will support the e6300 processor and two 7900gs GPUs in SLI? This is just speculative, but I might want to keep my options for future upgrades. Thanks! EDIT: Oh, and by the way - congratulations on the new system, newbuilder14. I hope you enjoy it! Last edited by coreywhite; 11-25-2006 at 05:07 AM. |
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11-25-2006, 07:18 AM
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#9 |
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Not so new
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Maryland, United States
Posts: 2,576
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Going SLI with Intel is very expensive to get a stable chipset. I wouldn't recommend it to you. 1 video card is fine because DirectX 10 is already rolling out.
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11-25-2006, 07:29 AM
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#10 |
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Member (6 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Maine, USA
Posts: 50
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Can I assume from that reply that you're suggesting that in a year if I want more performance, I would be better off replacing my 7900gs with a new DirectX 10 GPU, rather than adding another 7900gs in SLI?
In that case, would a new card be likely to be compatible with the motherboard I currently have selected, or would I need to buy a new motherboard? I'm just trying to future-proof this build a bit, if possible. . . Last edited by coreywhite; 11-25-2006 at 07:38 AM. |
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11-25-2006, 07:57 AM
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#11 |
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Not so new
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Maryland, United States
Posts: 2,576
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"Can I assume from that reply that you're suggesting that in a year if I want more performance, I would be better off replacing my 7900gs with a new DirectX 10 GPU, rather than adding another 7900gs in SLI?"
Yes, I would think so. Plus, since your going with Intel, it would be very expensive to invest in SLI compatibility. Your motherboard will support DX10 cards.
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