Pretty Rigid Budget !

[David J]

Hello all .. My friend recommended me to post here to get help from experts on building PC , and since I am about building a gaming PC for my son , he this semester with pretty nice grades , so he is keeping annoying me about a new PC , to be honest , i got a long list of bills but i promised him to have his new pc .. so i hope u can help me ..

the budget is about 700$ , pretty rigid .. well , lets not be concerned about the monitor , mouse , keyboard or the case ... so the money should be allocated for components inside the pc case .. which Im a little confused with them .. I would like to build one so I wont hear him complaining about an old pc .. say at least 2 years ( yea i know , im cheap !) .. i will try to expand the budget too .. mean while help me please .. thank you all

[EzyStvy]

Welcome to the site...It'd probably help a bit if you mentioned the games he plays. Some require more video card horse power then others.

[David J]

oh yeah sure .. he plays Counter Strike Source and Call Of Duty 4 . wife bought a game called GRID but its not working on the pc but son showed me some videos on youtube for that game and I guess i like it ..
he plans to play some new games .. like grand theft auto .. heard that game is bad for kids .. my son is almost 15 .. anyway i hope he can plays any game for 2 years at least without complaining . thanks in advance ..

[tomtoon]

I recommend this:

ASUS P5Q $108.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131295

C2D E8400 $164.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115037

Geforce 9800GT $99.99 after $15 rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130435

WD BLACK 640GB 32MB CACHE $79.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136319

Corsair 4GB 800MHZ RAM $26.99 after $30 rebate http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145184

OCZ 700W GAMEXSTREAM $59.99 after $40 rebate http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341002

RAIDMAX SCORPIO $50.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811156139

VISTA HOME PREMIUM 64-BIT $99.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116488

LITEON DVD BURNER $20.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106228

That puts you at $685.92 after rebates.

Hope you like it

[David J]

nice .. it comes with a case too .. just few questions .. I heard that cpus comes with 4 cores can do better than the 2 cores .. will this make a difference ?
and , about the 4 GB ram .. can those works on the xp 32-bit ?
and , the ram is slow a bit ? heard that they can have speed up to 1000 mhz ? i read the specification it says 800mhz

one final question .. will i need more money for the build ? I thought it would be mission impossible for the proposed budget ? i mean the suggested system will do as my sons dreams about ? becasue i heard about building pc that cost about 2000$ and I thought those pcs will run a space shuttle or somthing ?

[tomtoon]

Dude acutally just noticed you can go to the 500GB 32MB cache for $5 less.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136320

4GB ram will work but the O.S wont recognize all of it.

But, make sure all your equipment/peripherals you have, have 64-bit drivers.
(e.g camera, wi-fi adapter if you have one)

You may need a bit more if he wants a better graphics card.
Does he know about computers? Ask if he will be ok with a 9800GT.
Otherwise all the other things he should be happy with.

Also to your CPU question, quad core is mainly for multi-tasking and video editing. Games dont take advantage of Quad core CPU's as of yet. They will in the future, but not at the present so the C2D I picked out for you, will be fine to play games.

The RAM, will also be fine. You will only need the 1066MHz if you're going to overclock.

[David J]

alright .. sounds great ... hmm , what is better than 9800 gt ? isnt it the newer one ?

[tomtoon]

There is better, like ATI 4870X2 which would put the total to almost or over $1000

You could get the 9800GTX, if you would allow another $50:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130339

It will play COD5 well if he plans to get it.

If he wants COD5, get this one for the same price:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127392

[amdalex]

I have a ATI 4870HD which is slightly better than a 9800GT, it plays Crysis and Call of Duty 4 with no problem.
clicky- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102810
You might like this case better
clicky- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...pk=antec%20300
Also I would stick with Vista 64 for DX10 and that it recognizes all of your memory.

[David J]

what is the most effective in games .. the core clock or the ram clock ?

[tomtoon]

I think its the core clock. Not too sure, but that 9800GTX will do your son just fine. Plus it comes with free COD 5

[David J]

hello guys ...
I bought a Gigabyte 9600GT 512 MB .. it comes with heatsink ,, some pipes and so .. no fan .. I was wondering .. its runs 35 C when no games ... when play games it becomes 50 C ~ 60C ... is that acceptable ? some people say its safe till 80 C ... so any recommendations ?

and thank u all for helping me ,,, the system running nice after painful 2 hours assembling it .. had great fun with my son .. and he is happy .. thanks

[shadowpr]

Those temps are good.

[David J]

alright .. thank u all very much .. all respect

[jdeb]

that was great you built that with your Son, I've done that and it's very rewarding.

[zscully]

That is a nice looking computer he found for you. I noticed there is no sound card with that. Is the onboard good enough that a card isn't needed?

[Alaron]

zscully, that is our typical recommendation right now. Onboard sound has improved a lot over the years and for most people's needs it works just fine. And anyone can add a card later if they want to.