Building a rig for $1200.00

[Greenberg]

Hey guys my friend is building a new rig for himself he had asked to advice him what to get, his budget is $1200 what would you guys get for that money

[xsbb]

Could you be more specific for the use of the rig? Does it need a monitor?

[Greenberg]

The Rig is gona get built for a teenager to play games he needs everything.

Monitor
Mouse
KeyBoard
Speakers

What to go Intel or AMD with such budget. Also graphic card ATI or nVidia.

[Kaze06]

What kinds of games? High-end DX10 games like Crysis and Alan Wake? Higher-end DX9 games like BF2142, CoD2, or Low-Medium End DX9 like CS:S, DoD:S?

[Greenberg]

High-end DX10 games like Crysis and Alan Wake & Higher-end DX9 games like BF2142, CoD2 etc

[squilliam]

These prices include shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106070
x20 DVD-RW Liteon Sata $38

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811128029
Black ARK steel mid ATX tower $65

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098
G.Skill DDR2 800 2GB (2x1GB) $83

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822144188
2 Maxtor 320GB $140(70 each) (1 for main, and one for storage)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188019
EVGA Nforce 680i $166

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115016
Intel C2D 6420 $188

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817162014
Okia 650w PSU $62

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133193
PNY 8800GTS 320MB $276

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16824254023
Hans-G 19" widescreen $172

$1,208

[Kaze06]

That power supply looks very weak, and whatever you do, NEVER BUY THE 320MB 8800GTS FOR DX10 GAMING.

-------

E6420 (188.00) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115016)

DFI Infinity P965-S Dark Infinity (139.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136034)

Corsair HX520 520W PSU (105.00) (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=373100)

EVGA 8800GTS 640MB (349.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130071)

Seagate Barracuda 250GB HDD (66.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148142)

CM Centurion Case (49.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068)

GeIL 2x1GB DDR2800 CL4 Memory (99.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144062)

AC Freezer 7 Pro HSF (34.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134)

Hanns-G 19" Widescreen 5ms LCD Monitor (169.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254005)

NEC Black 16X DVD+-R Burner (29.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827152058)

(1234.92 + your choice of speakers, mouse and keyboard, plus some Arctic Silver 5 or TIM of your choice)

$1184.92 after all the rebates

Advantages over previous system posted:

Cheaper, better video card, faster-latency RAM, better overclocking board, better CPU cooling, better PSU.

[perkam]

That power supply looks very weak, and whatever you do, NEVER BUY THE 320MB 8800GTS FOR DX10 GAMING.

-------

E6420 (188.00) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115016)

DFI Infinity P965-S Dark Infinity (139.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136034)

Corsair HX520 520W PSU (105.00) (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=373100)

EVGA 8800GTS 640MB (349.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130071)

Seagate Barracuda 250GB HDD (66.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148142)

CM Centurion Case (49.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068)

GeIL 2x1GB DDR2800 CL4 Memory (99.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144062)

AC Freezer 7 Pro HSF (34.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134)

Hanns-G 19" Widescreen 5ms LCD Monitor (169.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254005)

NEC Black 16X DVD+-R Burner (29.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827152058)

(1234.92 + your choice of speakers, mouse and keyboard, plus some Arctic Silver 5 or TIM of your choice)

$1184.92 after all the rebates

Advantages over previous system posted:

Cheaper, better video card, faster-latency RAM, better overclocking board, better CPU cooling, better PSU.I second those choices.

If you need to lower the price due to rebates, go for he E4300 for $115.

Perkam

[Okda]

:with:

have anyone tested those geil ram ???

[drtitanium0]

That power supply looks very weak, and whatever you do, NEVER BUY THE 320MB 8800GTS FOR DX10 GAMING.

-------

E6420 (188.00) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115016)

DFI Infinity P965-S Dark Infinity (139.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136034)

Corsair HX520 520W PSU (105.00) (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=373100)

EVGA 8800GTS 640MB (349.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130071)

Seagate Barracuda 250GB HDD (66.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148142)

CM Centurion Case (49.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068)

GeIL 2x1GB DDR2800 CL4 Memory (99.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144062)

AC Freezer 7 Pro HSF (34.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134)

Hanns-G 19" Widescreen 5ms LCD Monitor (169.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254005)

NEC Black 16X DVD+-R Burner (29.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827152058)

(1234.92 + your choice of speakers, mouse and keyboard, plus some Arctic Silver 5 or TIM of your choice)

$1184.92 after all the rebates

Advantages over previous system posted:

Cheaper, better video card, faster-latency RAM, better overclocking board, better CPU cooling, better PSU.

Just curious, what is wrong with the 320 MB? I was thinking about getting one.

[Okda]

not enough power for high resolution with AA and AF enabled and the price diff is not big at all now

[Kaze06]

^^^.

320MB is not NEARLY enough texture memory for maximized settings with max AA/AF (16x) for a lot of DX9 games (BF2142, CoD 2), let alone medium or med-high settings on DX10 games (Alan Wake, Crysis, etc.).

[drtitanium0]

Okay thank for the heads up.

[Coffee29]

The EVGA 8800GTS 320 is a good deal because they have the step up program. You can trade in your 320 for the 640 later when prices come down...

Do not get a PSU based upon watts!!! Watts are basically a sales technique. You have to look at the rails and the amps, particularly the 12 volt rails amperage. I run 1 8800gts 320 on a psu that has 3 rails 18 amps each. It is also important to know if the rails can combine. MAny multi rail psu's cannot, meaning that if a device on one rail uses 10 of say 15 amps those extra unused 5 amps are wasted. My PSU, the Antec trio 550, can combine all three rails into one for a total of 54 amps being available...more than enough to power my 8800gts. If you skimp on the PSU and don't do your research the cheap PSU you get (which may even be expensive in dollars but will still be cheaply made) may blow up your system at worst and likelyt wont power your 8800 so youll get poor frame rates at best. I payed about $85 for my psu to give you an idea...I feel I got lucky because most decent power sources are about $100. For SLI I recommend the antec trio 650 or better.

[squilliam]

I've been running the Okia 650 for about 9 months, and am able to run my new 8800 just fine! Name brands aren't always everything...


That power supply looks very weak, and whatever you do, NEVER BUY THE 320MB 8800GTS FOR DX10 GAMING.

-------

E6420 (188.00) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115016)

DFI Infinity P965-S Dark Infinity (139.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136034)

Corsair HX520 520W PSU (105.00) (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=373100)

EVGA 8800GTS 640MB (349.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130071)

Seagate Barracuda 250GB HDD (66.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148142)

CM Centurion Case (49.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068)

GeIL 2x1GB DDR2800 CL4 Memory (99.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144062)

AC Freezer 7 Pro HSF (34.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134)

Hanns-G 19" Widescreen 5ms LCD Monitor (169.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254005)

NEC Black 16X DVD+-R Burner (29.99) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827152058)

(1234.92 + your choice of speakers, mouse and keyboard, plus some Arctic Silver 5 or TIM of your choice)

$1184.92 after all the rebates

Advantages over previous system posted:

Cheaper, better video card, faster-latency RAM, better overclocking board, better CPU cooling, better PSU.

The only reason it is cheaper, is because you didn't include shipping...

[Kaze06]

Regardless, it's worth the extra $50 or so you'll pay over the rig you built.

[Kaze06]

The EVGA 8800GTS 320 is a good deal because they have the step up program. You can trade in your 320 for the 640 later when prices come down...

The Step-Up Plan is only good for 30 days, so not much use in it.

[drtitanium0]

The Step-Up Plan is only good for 30 days, so not much use in it. I thought the step up plan lasted for 90 days. Can anyone confirm this?

[Okda]

90 days it is and u can check it @ evga's website

[Kaze06]

Regardless, the Step-Up plan doesn't really matter. The 640 is the better deal if you plan on going DX10.

[Kobalt]

Looks good, but you may want to consider buying some parts used or even using stock cooling initially if that $1200 mark is critical (although I think picking such a rigid, arbitrary number for a budget is pointless).