Yet Another Budget Gaming Box

[Sevillian273]

So I'm looking to build a new budget gaming box... This same time last year I had a whole build planned but it didnt pan out($500 Budget Entry Level Gaming Build) and I ended up getting a deal on some P4 stuff and decided to upgrade upon that(see sig). My current box has served me quite well over the last year but I'm still pushing the limits of the AGP bus, have no more IDE drive space for new games, and cannot justify putting any more money into this box. I was pretty surprised with what I could squeeze out of this P4 rig with the GPU and RAM upgrades so I'm sure that even a budget gaming box will exceed my expectations. Any opinions, reecommendations, comments, or concerns on the new build are appreciated!

I'm hoping to keep this one around the $500 mark and leaving room to upgrade in the future. I plan ro re-use the following:

PSU: CoolerMaster 650watt SLI/CF ready http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817171014
Lite-On DVD Drive (IDE)
Floppy Drive (Just in case?)
Full ATX Case w/ fans
21" CRT monitor (I may go LCD in the future)

Main goal here obviously is to improve gaming and graphical performance as my current box is adequate for everything else so emphasis will be on the GPU...

I will be purchasing an OEM copy of Windows 7 Home (64 or 32 bit? Pros/cons?) 99.99

MOBO: ASUS M4A77TD AM3 AMD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131603 74.99

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103688 56.99

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231277 109.99

GPU: SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102858 169.99

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136320 69.99

TOTAL : 581.94

[flanzig1]

The one thing to check is that the PSU has the correct type connectors for the video card(6 pin) and the motherboard(24 pin and 4 pin). The PSU link you gave doesn't work, suspect it's due to a product not carried anymore. The 12v rail should at least be in the 40amp range.

[glc]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817171014

His link is broken due to an improper copy/paste. It's strong enough. No floppy controller on that motherboard, if you need a floppy you will have to go external USB.

[Sevillian273]

Sorry about the link... I cant think of a reason to have a floppy drive anymore other than make an F6 disk for XP. I'm still not sure whether I really NEED w7. I'm pretty happy with XP 32as it is but its hard to justify buying another copy when windows 7 32 and 64bit are the same price.

Good to hear that the PSU will be adequate as it would have been a large chunk of the build cost.

I noticed that WD makes a 64mb cache hdd but it is a 'green' series. I assume they are still slower than the 32mb black drives? I've been out of the loop for nearly a year - it's amazing how much things have advanced in such a short time. DDR 3 was 'sketchy' just a year ago and now it seems that it is the standard. I priced a similar build with DDR2 and found that it still costs just as much!

[glc]

If you plan on using XP, stay away from those 64mb cache drives - they are advanced format drives. XP does not play nice with them at all.

[Sevillian273]

Thanks for the input! I've decided to go with windows 7 32bit - avoiding any hassle from 64bit and a little 'future proofing' with w7. I realized that I need to stay under $500 on this one so I've changed the build. If anyone sees any issues with the following choices please let me know! I'm about ready to order. I havent yet been able to find any better performance for under 500 minus PSU and case.

O/S: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit 1-Pack
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116752

MOBO: ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157176

CPU: AMD Athlon II X3 440 Rana 3.0GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103843

RAM: Kingston ValueRAM 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820134812

GPU: HIS H485Q1GH Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161289

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136320

OTHER: StarTech EPS48ADAP 6in 4 Pin to 8 Pin EPS Power Adapter
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812200459

TOTAL: $486.78 (w/shipping)

[glc]

I'd highly advise you not use an Asrock motherboard.

[Sevillian273]

I always thought ASRock was one of the decent ones under ASUS and Gigabyte, like MSI and Biostar. It does seem to offer alot for $60. Almost too good to be true... Being one of the core components, I suppose I could spend the extra 20 - 30 dollars on a similar ASUS.

I've got my eye on this one: ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131398

It's $10 off right now (89.99) and doesn't require the 8-pin adapter bringing the total build cost to 518.65 shipped.

[glc]

Asrock is a subsidiary of Asus, but the boards are made by ECS. If you must use a cheap board, you are better off with a Biostar.