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Help me build a pc for around a grand gogogogogoog

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Help me build a pc for around a grand gogogogogoog

Postby DoctorHandles » Sun Dec 09, 2007 2:10 pm

The better player should win the race. Always.
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Postby EscapePlan9 » Sun Dec 09, 2007 6:41 pm

I have heavily researched the best gaming solutions you can get for various budgets. However, I have only done this with desktop PCs. Do you want desktop or laptop?
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Postby EscapePlan9 » Sun Dec 09, 2007 6:59 pm

I have all these saved to text files for easy access... some links may have been changed by the site, but you can still search the product there.

DON'T FORGET, THESE ARE ALL DESKTOP RECOMMENDATIONS!!!

-----------------------------
LOW BUDGET BUILD
-----------------------------
* CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103774
AMD Athlon 64 x2 4000+ ($67)

* MOBO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131172
ASUS M2A-VM ($65)

* GFX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130287
GeForce 8500GT ($78)

* RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231087
G-Skill 2x1GB DDR2-800 ($60)

* PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817104032
FSP 400w ($42)

TOTAL COST: $322

----------------------------------
MIDDLE BUDGET BUILD
----------------------------------
* CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103774
AMD Athlon 64 x2 4000+ ($67)

* MOBO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 813136017R
DFI CFX3200 M2/G ($100)

* GFX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150228
GeForce 8600GT ($170)

* RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231065
G-Skill 2x1GB DDR2-800 2GBhz ($130)

* PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817341010
OCZ StealthXStream 600w ($85)

TOTAL COST: $552

****************************************************************************
****************************************************************************
****************************************************************************

THE REST

The above are only the barebones. Processor, motherboard, ram, power supply and video card. For the rest...

SPEAKERS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6836121119
Logitech X-230 2.1 ($40) 2-speaker 1-sub

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6836121126
Logitech X-530 5.1 ($60) 5-speaker 1-sub


CASES
There are other options here... but honestly the case isn't that important and this is the best quality one for cheap.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811147068
Rosewill ATX ($18)


DVD/CD-RW
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827152075
Sony DVD/CD-RW ($32)


MOUSE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6826104178
Logitech MX518 ($40)


MOUSEPAD
http://www.provantage.com/belkin-f8e089 ... ELA01C.htm
Belkin Black Cloth ($5)


MONITORS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6824009100
Acer AL1917abmd 19'' ($170)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6824009094
Acer AL2216Wbd 22'' ($220)

SOUND CARD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6829102006
Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Xtremegamer ($80 or $50 after m/i rebate)

HARD DRIVES
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136062
Western Digital 160gb 7200rpm 16mb-cache ($60)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136055
Western Digital 250gb 7200rpm 16mb-cache ($75)

**********************************************************************
**********************************************************************
If you buy the cheapest of all the misc. items suggestions, one of each, they add up to a total of $415. So recalculating low/mid budget builds...

LOW BUDGET COST: $322 + $415 = $737
MID BUDGET COST: $552 + $415 = $967

These are without a doubt the best gaming PCs you can get for those budgets.
Last edited by EscapePlan9 on Sun Dec 09, 2007 7:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby EscapePlan9 » Sun Dec 09, 2007 7:09 pm

The downfall with everything I mentioned above is you have to be willing to put stuff together. It's not tough, but it will take some time especially if you're new to it. Read the directions and follow some common sense A snaps into B and you'll be fine.

If you really want high-quality gaming PCs put together, the two best options:
http://ibuypower.com/mall/lobby.htm
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/Default.asp

They have similar selection to Newegg products but with some extra "convenience fees", labor costs, and such, so it will be a couple hundred more expensive.

------------------
BTW, for the details on the reasoning behind picking these products, look nowhere else but techbums:

http://techbums.net/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=12&start=0

These guys are hardcore gamers and know their stuff.
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Postby DoctorHandles » Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:26 pm

The better player should win the race. Always.
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Postby EscapePlan9 » Sun Dec 09, 2007 10:36 pm

BTW, the most important upgrades you can make for better gaming performance is the barebones I mentioned at the start. In order of importance:

1) RAM: at least 1gb of DDR ram is great.
2) Processor: AMD Athlon 64 rawks the world.
3) Video card: GeForce 8500+GTs are amazing.

But in order to get all those working, you must make sure your motherboard and power supply can handle them. Hence, the barebones listing those 5 parts.
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Postby DoctorHandles » Sun Dec 09, 2007 10:54 pm

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Postby EscapePlan9 » Sun Dec 09, 2007 10:58 pm

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Postby Beavis68 » Mon Dec 10, 2007 12:04 am

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Postby EscapePlan9 » Mon Dec 10, 2007 12:58 am

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Postby EscapePlan9 » Mon Dec 10, 2007 1:20 am

For some Intel love... and a higher budget...

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115030
Intel Core2Duo E6550 2.3ghz ($170)

or get crazy

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115017
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4ghz ($280)

MOBO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131046
ASUS P5L-VM ($80)

PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817341010
600w OCZ StealthxStream ($90 or $75 after m/i rb)

GFX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814143081
GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit ($400)

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231065
GSKILL 2gb DDR2 800 PC2-6400 ($130)

===============
TOTAL COST: $870 or $980 with better CPU
(compared to the bare bones costs of $550 and $320 I mentioned previously)
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Postby DoctorHandles » Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:02 am

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Postby Rhound50 » Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:05 am

"Its a pink handbag not backpack damn it." Godlikeroy

"From playing full tilt I wanna smash every garden gnome I see. That travelocity commercial puts me on instant tilt."
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Postby EscapePlan9 » Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:33 am

Actually, I just ran through the Mid Budget Build (full set - HD, DVD/CD, Mouse, Case, Barebones, etc) through iBuyPower and it's not much of a difference at all! In fact, due to some deals there, you can even get it for slightly less! Damn... didn't know they could match up in price so well. With two monitors, it'd only be $150 more.

Go with iBuyPower. Select AMD Athlon 64 X2 DDR-800 and then I put in all this:

Case ( Eagletech Sidewinder Gaming Tower Case w/420W Power Supply Silver/Black 2-Tone )
Power Supply ( Standard Case Power Supply )
Processor ( AMD Athlon™64 X2 4000+ Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology )
Processor Cooling ( Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink )
Motherboard ( Asus M2A-VM AMD 690G Chipset w/6-channels, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Single PCI-E MB )
Memory ( 2048MB [1024MB X2] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module Corsair-Value or Major Brand )
Video Card ( NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT 512MB w/DVI + TV Out Video )
Video Card Brand ( === High Performance === eVGA Brand Video Card Powered by NVIDIA )
Hard Drive ( [Special !!!] 200 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 8M Cache] )
CD/DVD Drive ( 16x DVD-ROM + 52x32x52 CD-RW Combo Drive Black )
Sound Card ( Creative Lab Sound Blaster X-Fi ExtremeGamer )
Speaker System ( Logitech X-230 2.1 Configuration Speakers System )
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )
Monitor ( LCD Monitor [--- Special ---] 20.1" LCD 16:10 Wide WSXGA HD(HDCP) Monitor Support DVI Video up to 1080P(HDMI) )
Mouse ( Logitech G5 Gaming Laser Mouse )

(a lot of them are defaults or none)
Total of only $850, or $1049 with a 2nd monitor.
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Postby DoctorHandles » Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:57 am

Actually I'll probably buy it over Christmas break.

That doesn't include windows, right?

Also is 16M cache worth it? It's only like $20 more and I thought cache was important for poker tracker or something, but yeah I'm a retard with computers.
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