First Build (Verify my build and help me make it cheaper/better/faster)

[crazyeyesreaper]

the point is that $180 i5 2400 will beat the $999 cpu where as the $130 dual core wont.

fact in todays games coming out the i3 gets trounced by the i5 good examples would be Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Dragon Age origins with Origins showing a full 20-30fps advantage to the i5

fact 9800gt is fine and dandy but get to 1920x1200 or 1920x1080 and it shows its age is a rehashed gpu from 4 to nearly 5 years ago,

the price difference between a 9800gt and a 5850 is tiny compared to the performance and features,

9800gt has lesser quality in HD video vs 5850
9800gt uses more power at idle same power at load as the 5850
for someone building there first PC i would never recommend used parts because if they DO run into trouble there fucked.

the antec is 80+ certified 550w continuous rated with 6+2 and 6pin PCIE power plugs so it will essentially support any single gpu he can get. its also fairly efficient and cheap from the looks so going to a 450w that is only 70% efficient to save $15 dosent make alot of sense in this case.

also he said programming compiling in Visual studio 8 a quadcore i5 2000 will cut compiling time in half compared to the i3 so i3 2100 vs i5 2400 is when compiling is around 45-65% faster on the i5 2400

in terms of gaming the i3 gets left behind in many titles compared to a i5 2400 were talking fps spreads of 30 vs 50 60 vs 90 120 vs 160 these are not small differences, getting a damn quad just makes more sense then a damn dual core for what hes going to pay since he cant overclock the 2100 or the 2400 he can switch to a different mobo and save some money there which makes up the difference. And im not talking buy the cheapest board either theres alot of good H series boards that will do the job nicely and are of good quality

 

[whitrzac]

is there any room in your budget to get a small(30-60gb) SSD?

 

[Nikon]

That video card is pretty pricey and do they even ship to the US (For cheap). Could I just keep my motherboard so I can upgrade later.

 

[gpost3]

What motherboard do you have? What games do you plan to play and what is the size of your display monitor? Post your current rig so we can give you a better answer.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

if your in the USA then yes newegg will ship there a US company... if not in the usa then where do you usually order parts

and a gpu you get what you pay for, today most HD video is decoded on the GPU, web browsers are increasingly using the GPU for rendering webpages, the gpu is more important now then it was less then 2 years ago when it comes to general computing.

 

[Nikon]

if your in the USA then yes newegg will ship there a US company... if not in the usa then where do you usually order parts

and a gpu you get what you pay for, today most HD video is decoded on the GPU, web browsers are increasingly using the GPU for rendering webpages, the gpu is more important now then it was less then 2 years ago when it comes to general computing.

I mean the site he posted it was a canadian site. Could you link me a good affordable GPU please? Also, from what you said im sticking with the i5.

Also, I think the RAM I posted isn't compatible with the i5 or i3 processor.

Compatible RAM (I think?)

 

[BinaryMage]

is there any room in your budget to get a small(30-60gb) SSD?

No, for the components you'd sacrifice for the SSD, the speed increase isn't worth it, especially as most of what he's doing isn't super heavy on the hard drive.

That video card is pretty pricey and do they even ship to the US (For cheap). Could I just keep my motherboard so I can upgrade later.

Newegg is awesome and will probably ship to Mars. (Just kidding, but I'm sure shipping to the US is fairly cheap) As for the videocard, the HD 5850 is definitely a good choice. Mindweaver's loadout looks good to me except a 430W PSU is just too small. It's iffy for your rig as it is, and if you ever want to upgrade, it'll be too small. Putting the extra $20 or $30 into a better PSU makes more sense. Crazyeyesreaper is right, the i5 is a better processor, but that would put you quite a bit over your budget, and unless you're doing serious compiling, the i3 would probably be sufficient, albeit slower. It really depends whether you want a better processor or a better videocard more.

EDIT: Oops, guess you weren't talking about Newegg. Did you mean NCIX? I don't know if they ship to the US. If you do buy there, though, also realize that the dollar is currently weaker than the Canadian currency, you'll probably be paying slightly more in USD than CAD.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

I5 2400 $180 quadcore good enough is withing 1-2% of the 2500k but dosent overclock
5850 $150 as posted by me
PSU $55 the 550w Antec in the OP is fine
Ram $45 Gskill same as the OP
HDD $65 get a 750gig drive minimum 1tb max for that price range
Case $55 Haf 912 is fine
ODD $20 w.e dosent matter just get a dual layer dvd burner
Mobo MSI P67 $85 in OP

$655 total

i would say that is completely acceptable toss in some rebates, and maybe make 1 more pay check before buying parts not a big deal

 

[gpost3]

I mean the site he posted it was a canadian site. Could you link me a good affordable GPU please? Also, from what you said im sticking with the i5.

I feel now you are stepping out of your budget.

the i3 would probably be sufficient, albeit slower.

+1

Do you plan to compile tens of thousands of lines of code on a daily basis? If yes, then get i5.

 

[BinaryMage]

I5 2400 $180
5850 $150
PSU $55
Ram $45
HDD $65
Case $55
ODD $20
Mobo P67 $85

$655 total

Nikon's prices aren't all updated. The motherboard I recommended was $120, MW's recommendation was $130. (Unless you want to stick with the H61 board) I agree that Nikon should get the i5 and the 5850 if he can afford them, but he did say a pretty strict $600...

Also, I think the RAM I posted isn't compatible with the i5 or i3 processor.

Compatible RAM (I think?)

That RAM is fine. It isn't as fast as DDR3 1333 or DDR3 1600, but it is compatible.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

well then wait the extra week and make the build worthwhile small price difference extremely LARGE performance difference this is one of those situations where waiting an extra week could be a good thing but just for shits and giggles ill do a build on newegg.

 

[gpost3]

I mean the site he posted it was a canadian site. Could you link me a good affordable GPU please?

Yes Ncix will ship to states - probably cost you $15 for shipping. Get the Geforce GTX 460 as you get physX with it. Dirt 2 uses physX and so will Dirt 3.

 

[Nikon]

Okay, I think I might go with Mindweavers with an upgraded 550w power supply unless someone has a better (affordable) build.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

NZXT GAMMA Classic Series GAMA-001BK Black Steel A...
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cac...
SAPPHIRE 100282XTREME Radeon HD 5850 Xtreme 1GB 25...
SAPPHIRE 100282XTREME Radeon HD 5850 Xtreme 1GB 25...
Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2...
CORSAIR XMS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 ...
Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, L...
SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X...

Total Cost: $654 + 19 shipping = $674

best price performance your going to find anything cheaper loses a large chunk of performance.

dropping the HDD size down a notch to 750gigs can net about $5-7 and going with 1333mhz ram can probably squeeze out another $5 dropping the total price $664 if you find items with free shipping you might be able to save another $5 dropping it to $659

The CPU + Mobo combo below can shave off some more dropping the price from $674 down to $648 shipped, again changing ram and hdd should drop it to $638 shipped
Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, L...

Ill let others finish the debate on where to go from here.

 

[xenocide]

I approve Crazyeye's recent builds. You're going to want that 5850 and the Quad-Core in the long run. The i3-2100 is impressive in it's own regard, but the Sandy-Bridge i5's are top notch, and as stated, can offer performance on par for previously $700-999 CPU's. It would be insane and irresponsible not to shell out some extra cash for such a staggering performance gain. If price is quite litterally immovable, I would even consider trimming down to an AMD 955BE-centered build since you won't really be able to fully utilize Intel's current offerings below $600*.

* - Unless you were going into it with a pre-existing PSU\Case\OD\etc...

 

[Mindweaver]

I wouldn't get the FPS powersupply... It has 2 +12V Rails.. The corsair power supply i have in my list above has 1x +12V Rail and it's a fat one at that and cheaper (If you don't know.. 1 +12V Rail is better than 2x +12V Rails).. I've got 4 of those powersuppys and they are rock solid. The i3 2100 cpu has "Hyper-Threading" so it will perform better than a standard duo core processor. Don't get me wrong the i5 2400 is a nice chip but it's not 40 dollars nicer.. they don't make an unlock 2400 with the "K" yet.. So overclocking will be limited.. I would get the better p67 motherboard that gives you the ability to overclock a K series processor later down the road when you have the money. So I vote for the i3 2100 @ 3.1Ghz stock. Of course you could go AMD and save some money... other wise i would use the last list i gave you.. with crazy's 5850.

EDIT: The RE4 is a nice drive but it's overpriced and a SATA-2 drive.. The one in my list is a SATA-3 drive with double the space. The RE4 would be kickass if you bought 2 and put it in a RAID0. You will eat up that 500gb drive in no time if you put a lot of games on it.. hehehe Don't get me wrong Crazy.. hehehe i like the RE4's but not against a faster sata3 drive with double the space and it cheaper too. And that antec has 3 +12v rails..

 

[brandonwh64]

IMO i would find a used 5770 than use the 5670. just a thought

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

I wouldn't get the FPS powersupply... It has 2 +12V Rails.. The corsair power supply i have in my list above has 1x +12V Rail and it's a fat one at that and cheaper (If you don't know.. 1 +12V Rail is better than 2x +12V Rails).. I've got 4 of those powersuppys and they are rock solid. The i3 2100 cpu has "Hyper-Threading" so it will perform better than a standard duo core processor. Don't get me wrong the i5 2400 is a nice chip but it's not 40 dollars nicer.. they don't make an unlock 2400 with the "K" yet.. So overclocking will be limited.. I would get the better p67 motherboard that gives you the ability to overclock a K series processor later down the road when you have the money. So I vote for the i3 2100 @ 3.1Ghz stock. Of course you could go AMD and save some money... other wise i would use the last list i gave you.. with crazy's 5850.

EDIT: The RE4 is a nice drive but it's overpriced and a SATA-2 drive.. The one in my list is a SATA-3 drive with double the space. The RE4 would be kickass if you bought 2 and put it in a RAID0. You will eat up that 500gb drive in no time if you put a lot of games on it.. hehehe Don't get me wrong Crazy.. hehehe i like the RE4's but not against a faster sata3 drive with double the space and it cheaper too. And that antec has 3 +12v rails..

problem is that i3 2100 wont overclock either and again 20-30fps spread in favor of the i5 2400 and going from say 45 seconds on a compile run to 25 is a large drop as well, just makes sense besides i was able to fit it all within the same budget as everyone else and get far better performance again dropping to a 750gb HDD and the Gskill ram thats $5 cheaper look for free shipping items and could easily get down to $625 or so, i want to see someone squeeze that much performance from an i3 system at the same price point,
Cheaper 1333mhz ram drops price by $10
Patriot 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333...
with the price drop on the Samsung HDD means total Cost SHIPPED for the rig i post below is $628

So yea total below is $628 shipped with this price a bump of around $60 would take it to 700 true but would allow for a P67 + 2500k system but as of a barebones rig i dont think it gets any better then what i just threw together. If the OP really needs more ram he can get a 2x4gig kit for 8 gigs ram and it comes in at $668 shipped
G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SD...

 

[Crap Daddy]

Okay, been following this thread and this last config from crazyeyes is the best you can get for the around 600$ mark. It is indeed a big difference, especially in games, between an i3 and a quad i5. Even with a weaker GPU, a quad will give you the boost you need since the multicore games trend is growing fast.