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Hi all! Was lurking for a while but finally decided to make my first post! I'm planning on building a gaming computer this coming month or so, hope I can get some advice from all you experts. Here we go:1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing. Mostly light gaming with the usual word processing, internet surfing, instant messaging and HD movies. I do plan on plugging this into a 32 - 40" LCD TV. Gaming mostly just consists of Spore and Warcraft 3 so far.2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread I'm looking at spending no more than $800 tax in. That being said, I do plan on waiting out and hoping for prices to drop. I do know about the new Intel processors coming out around Jan 18, so was wondering how that's going to affect prices. My budget is +/- $50 at most, tuition sucks...3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from. 4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture. I don't have any big preferences, but I have had ASUS mobo's that have worked great for me in the past. I'd just like whatever is good, best bang/buck and good customer service.5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are. I have already grabbed a pair of Corsair ram thus far.6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads. Yes I have done my research but I am still a novice to current technology.7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds. No OCing is currently planned.8. WHEN do you plan to build it? Timeline as mentioned above is sometime end of December to early 2009. I'm just waitng for prices to drop back down... Our dollar is taking quite the beating.So as to the parts I'm currently looking at: MOBO: ASUS P5Q ATX LGA775 P45 ($146) NCIX.com - Buy ASUS P5Q ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 Sound GBLAN 1394 Motherboard - P5Q In Canada. CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 ($146) NCIX.com - Buy Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 Dual Core Processor LGA775 2.66GHZ 1066FSB 3MB Retail Box - BX80571E7300 In Canada. RAM: Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X4096-6400C5 4GB ($65 - $30 MIR) http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?affiliateid=4352418&sku=25228&promoid=10 29 VID: HIS Radeon 4670 ICEQ3 750MHZ 512MB GDDR3 ($110 - $10 MIR) NCIX.com - Buy HIS Radeon 4670 ICEQ3 750MHZ 512MB GDDR3 2XDVI HDTV Out Video Card - H467QS512P In Canada. HD: Seagate or WD 1TB... Which one is better? ($130ish) CASE: Thermaltake ARMOR+ MX Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($129) NCIX.com - Buy Thermaltake ARMOR+ MX Black ATX Mid Tower Case 5X5.25 1X3.5 4X3.5INT No PS W/ Front USB eSATA Audio - VH8000BWS In Canada. PSU: Mushkin HP-550 550W ATX 12V 24PIN ($95 - $15 MIR) NCIX.com - Buy Mushkin HP-550 550W ATX 12V 24PIN SLI Ready ATX Power Supply 120MM Fan - 550200 In Canada. DVD-R/W: Something $30ish that's decent? ($30ish) SUB: $851 MIR: $55 TOTAL: $796~ As you can see I'm at $800 before tax. Hopefully going to see prices drop for me to grab parts $800 after tax. Prices were taken from PriceCanada and I'll pricematch accordingly as deals come along. The Video card, I'm just looking for best bang for my money and it has to be quiet to an extent. As I'm lazy I prob will stick to stock cooling. So, what do you guys think? Thanks in advance for all your help. :help: |
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Take a look at the Coolermaster 690 case too - very nice case that'll save you $50 or so that can go towards a nicer gfx card
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I'm not sure if those prices are Price Matched or just sale prices. But be sure to check out Shopbot.ca and/or PriceCanada.ca and price match at NCIX so you can save a few bucks. I'd also recommend getting a cheaper case and putting the savings to the GPU. Nearly everything I've heard about Thermaltake is bad, so I'd avoid them. If you have no plans on overclocking, you could probably go a bit cheaper on the motherboard as well, but I'd strongly recommend keeping that one and getting a decent heatsink and overclocking it as it will give you a very substantial, and free, boost in performance.
__________________ Project: Black and White i7 920 D0 | 3 x 2GB DDR3 | EVGA X58 SLI LE XFX 4890 | Corsair HX750 | Corsair Obsidian |
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| Samsung Black DVD+RW SATA Muskin Redline PC2-8500 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-1066 CL5-5-5-15 HIS Radeon HD 4670 625MHZ 512MB 2.000GHZ GDDR3 Antec Three Hundred Mini Tower Gaming Case Corsair TX750W 750W Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Dual Core 2.53GHZ 1066FSB 3MB Samsung SpinPoint F1 640GB 7200RPM 16MB ASUS P5Q Pro ATX LGA775 P45 Total : $757.49 Shipping: $0.00 (Free Shipping due to the P5Q Pro) Shipping Insurance: $22.74 Subtotal: $780.63 No PST - Outside BC residents: $0.00 GST(5%): $39.03 YOUR TOTAL: $819.66 Mail In Rebates - $55 Total AFTER MIR's - $764.66 I suggest spending the extra money on the GPU thou and get a 4830 instead of a 4670, if you were to get this one; NCIX.com - Buy Powercolor Radeon HD 4830 575MHZ 512MB 1.8GHZ GDDR3 HDMI DVI TV-OUT PCI-E Video Card - AX4830 512MD3-H In Canada. Total : $802.89 Shipping: $0.00 (Free Shipping due to the P5Q Pro) Shipping Insurance: $24.09 Subtotal: $826.98 No PST - Outside BC residents: $0.00 GST(5%): $41.35 YOUR TOTAL: $868.33 Mail In Rebates - $55 Total AFTER MIR's - $813.33 Last edited by Chilly; November 21, 2008 at 05:14 PM. |
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nice one chilly. 750W is overkill, but it is cheap. 300 is a nice little case. The e7200 with not much tweaking and another heatsink, you could get it quite easily to E8400 level. For the GPU, I never played Warcraft 3 so I dont know what you need.
__________________ Dv7-3080 Lappy AMD - ECS 8200 - WHS I7 920 - UD5 - OCZ HTC - EVGA 9800 GX2 Last edited by matsta31; November 21, 2008 at 07:22 PM. |
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Warcraft 3 is a joke. I mean, its a great game. I totally like DOTA. But you don't need much to play it. I was using a p4 3.0 ghz 1g ram 7600gs video card and it was running as smooth as it can. So don't worry. With this build, im sure you will be able run warcraft 3 at least 8 times.. filling a game with 1 computer is nice.. xD |
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Thanks everyone for their help so far! Really appreciate it. |
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Regarding the Gigabyte EP43-DS3L and EP45-DS3L, the only difference is memory speed. The P45-DS3L supports up to 1333 and the P43-DS3L supports up to 1200
__________________ "Though I walk through the shadow of the Valley of Death I shall fear no evil as my C8 Carbine is locked and loaded." Next Build: E5200 @ 3.6GHz (333x11) | Xigmatek HDT-RS1283 HSF | Biostar TP43D2-A7 | Mushkin Redlines DDR2-1000 @ DDR2-999 5-5-5-12 EVGA 9600 GT 512MB - 650MHz - 1800MHz - 1626MHz | Seagate 'Cuda 250GB 7200rpm SATA2 | Corsair VX550 | CM690 - Custom Atomic Orange Pearl [Heatware] [eBay] [Rosetta] BALISTX.com |
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And no crossfire on the 43
__________________ Q6600 3.0GHZ (9x333) stockV | ATI 4850 512MB Crossfire w/ AC Accelero | OCZ Platinum 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 5.4.4.15 1.9V | Silverstone Raven RV01 | Gigabyte EP45-DS3R Corsair Professional HX750W | Windows 7 | Crossbow mounted Xigmatek HDT-S1283 | LG W2242TQ-BF 22" | Samsung 2253BW 22" |
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Nether does the EP45-DS3L. I think you are thinking of the EP45-DS3R
__________________ "Though I walk through the shadow of the Valley of Death I shall fear no evil as my C8 Carbine is locked and loaded." Next Build: E5200 @ 3.6GHz (333x11) | Xigmatek HDT-RS1283 HSF | Biostar TP43D2-A7 | Mushkin Redlines DDR2-1000 @ DDR2-999 5-5-5-12 EVGA 9600 GT 512MB - 650MHz - 1800MHz - 1626MHz | Seagate 'Cuda 250GB 7200rpm SATA2 | Corsair VX550 | CM690 - Custom Atomic Orange Pearl [Heatware] [eBay] [Rosetta] BALISTX.com |
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). So whats the difference between P45 and P43 you ask? Well the P45 supports DDR3 and the splinting of the PCI-e x16 lane into 2 x8 lanes, and its slightly higher binned(OC's better), otherwise there the same. Franky the EP45 doesn't implement/utilize the improvements anyways. The only benefit in other words would be if you were to overclock. The EP45 will be easier to overclock, as well as achive higher clocks then the EP43 would. ![]() Quote:
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The issue of massive failures only affected the 1TB edition. Powercolor on the other hand has been an ATi vendor for as long as I can remember, never had an issue with them personally. As for how loud the card is, from what I'm reading online at various sites, its not a loud fan, but its not the quietest. Quote:
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). That being said if you *TRULY* feel as if you will never play beyond WC 3, then even the 4670 is overkill, so get that. I highly recommend the 4830, I think you'll enjoy it more in the long run. Anytime Last edited by Chilly; November 21, 2008 at 10:45 PM. |
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:O got my acronyms mixed up
__________________ Q6600 3.0GHZ (9x333) stockV | ATI 4850 512MB Crossfire w/ AC Accelero | OCZ Platinum 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 5.4.4.15 1.9V | Silverstone Raven RV01 | Gigabyte EP45-DS3R Corsair Professional HX750W | Windows 7 | Crossbow mounted Xigmatek HDT-S1283 | LG W2242TQ-BF 22" | Samsung 2253BW 22" |
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Wow... Thanks for all the information! =) Looks like I'll be making some changes! =D CASE: Antec 300 -- thought it over and decided just to save some $$ and use it on GPU MOBO: EP43 or 45 -DS3L ...still undecided if I want to OC, may just get the 45 so in the case I do, I'll be prepared... VID: Moving on up to 4830, going to research up on Powercolor ![]() PSU: Is there anything bad about the mushkin? I just thought it was decent for its pricepoint... |
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