Lower Budget Build

[kodilax]

Lower Budget Build...PLEASE HELP!

I'm building similarly to the $700 budget, and i found all of the replies very helpful but I had a few tweaks and possibly additions to the build. My budget is between $700-$800 and I'm willing to try anything. I'm not a novice when it comes to computers but i'm looking for some good ideas because i've been out of the computer game and haven't been following the new technology for about a year or so now.

I was looking at a refurbished dell system, 530 inspiron desktop - Q6600 Quad Core processor, 3gbs ram, onboard video, vista 64 bit, and the rest typical factory stuff for $449

Now what i'm looking to do is some gaming along with music production. I really would like a quad core processor but is it really necessary (Intel really sold me on the idea of 4 cores but am i going to see a difference in gaming/music production versus a C2D?) And if not, what are some recommendations for a better "OC-able" processor etc.

I'm also looking for a monitor as well, refurbished or not. I'm not partial to brand new or refurbished products, just something to start off with and i'm not looking to overclock right away but as i save more money, i have some water-cooling in mind and maybe SLI, not too sure.

Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

Jeff

PS: Would also like to add that $700-$800 isn't the max, it's just what i'm looking to spend right now to get going, now if i wait another month or so it would probably be an additional $400 making it approximately $1200 for a budget

 

[Skywalker12345]

well if you going for gaming/overclocking i would go with a phenom quad core (AMD) and 790GX mobo and a AMD4850. If you wanna go with Intel (more expensive) a q6600 is good overclocker, a p45 mobo or p35, and if you want nvidia possible a 9600GT is good for you

 

[stinger608]

well if you going for gaming/overclocking i would go with a phenom quad core (AMD) and 790GX mobo and a AMD4850. If you wanna go with Intel (more expensive) a q6600 is good overclocker, a p45 mobo or p35, and if you want nvidia possible a 9600GT is good for you

Actually I have to disagree respectively on the Phenom being a good overclocker. Most of the Phenoms will only OC about 400 or so Mhz. Cheaper than Intel, yes, very much so! Better gaming machine, not sure on that one, there have been so many different reviews and what not on that subject

My personal gaming machine is a Asus motherboard running a Phenom 9850, with 4gb PC800 Corsair ram, and a 8800GTS, and I can pretty much max out any game that I have tossed its way. It even runs Crysis almost maxed out. So to say that a second generation Phenom is a good gaming computer would be very correct, but to say that it is a good overclocking system, I would have to disagree on that one

 

[Binge]

I'd go with a Q6600 (which can be found on the egg OEM). It's got an awesome priceerformance ratio and can OC well. With that you could go with a high end DDR2 motherboard which are inexpensive as is DDR2.

 

[kodilax]

Thanks guys that's much appreciated, yea i was just curious about the C2D vs. the Quad because i've heard raving reviews about the Wolfdale C2D cores but i believe i'm just gonna future proof and go with the Q6600

 

[stinger608]

Thanks guys that's much appreciated, yea i was just curious about the C2D vs. the Quad because i've heard raving reviews about the Wolfdale C2D cores but i believe i'm just gonna future proof and go with the Q6600

In reality, for a gaming machine now, you really don't need a quad core. Really none of todays games take advantage of the quads. But, who knows about the games within the next year or so.

 

[kysg]

this is true technically you don't need a quad.

but your riding a 700 dollar budget so its not easy.

I think phenom x4 9850 = q6600 roughly in performance
Phenom x3 8450 or 8750 = e8400 3.0ghz, c2d

That should give you slight idea on where the procs stand. even though I might be slightly off off with the x3. but even then if had that budget a c2d would honestly be fine. or just a regular athlon x2,

 

[kodilax]

the other reason that was contemplating going with a quad was because i'm also into music production and while one single program might not be able to take full advantage of all four cores, when i'm running multiple software synths, sequencers, and such all at the same time i figured that that is the spot where i'd see the most increase in my performance.

I ended up purchasing a Q6600, a 780i nvidia mobo, 4gbs corsair ram, 500gb seagate barracuda, antec 300 case, along with a 600 watt corsair psu, and a 8800gt gpu...grand total was 854, not too bad

 

[stinger608]

Oh that sounds like it will be a great system

And your right, running several of the music production programs at the same time can be very taxing on a system, and you should see a substantial increase in performance with the Quad core system!

 

[kodilax]

well i sure hope so, but i have faith! and i'm very excited about the cost as well! i think i did done did good haha

 

[savor_of_filth]

You did good,best bang for the buck,except for that 780i mobo.
I prefer P45 or X48 thou.
Put an x-fi on your system,auzantech or creative x-fi extreme gamer should do the trick.
Btw,how much 8800GT cost?it was discontinued here,replaced with 9800GT.8800GT (2nd hand) cost us$150 here,while 9800GT US$189.99.
But its a same card rite?

 

[kodilax]

the 8800 was only 129! what a steal huH!...yea i read alotta reviews and wasnt sure about the mobo so i literally flipped a coin, haha...we'll see, hopefully it works well