Decent Gaming Setup?
 

Hey all,

Building a gaming setup for a friend and would appreciate some input :)

So far, I'm considering the following:

Antec Sonata III or Antec 900
Asus P5Q-E mobo
Intel Q6600 or E8400
4GB ram
Samsung DVD Burner
9800GT or 4850
1TB HDD

Questions I have :)

- Would you go with a Sonata III or 900? Would the Sonata III provide enough ventillation, space? For those with a 900, how noisy do you find it?

- Can I "cheap out" on the mobo (i.e. get a cheaper Gigabyte EP45-DS3L) since he will not be oc'ing - any other decent mobos you'd recommend?

- which is better for gaming - the q6600 or e8400?

- would a 9800gt do for most games (medium setting) or is the 4850 a better option?


Any suggestions/advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance guys!

Everything is fine but I'd go with the CM 690 or Antec 1200.

Sonata 3 isn't great for getting rid of heat and the 900 is a awful case for cable management and usefullness.

That gigabyte board would be fine and could even be used to overclock if needed/wanted.

Appreciate the reply.

How about the cpu and video card (e8400 vs. q6600, 9800gt vs. 4850)?

Sonata 3 comes with a pretty good power supply. Very quiet but not great for temps.

If he's not overclocking I'd suggest the E8400, and the 4850 combo. I have no complaints about the GPU performance, though I have a Q6600 myself it's overclocked to be suitable for some games when I want, it's most likely not enjoyable stock speeds for gaming (I've never kept it stock, personally so I don't have experience with that aspect)

Hi matrx.. welcome to HWC. :biggrin: As Enaberif stated, the CoolerMaster 690 or Antec 900 are great. The 1200 is a little pricier than your "assumed" price-range. The Antec 300 is a great cheap case as well.... and with it's low price, you can still swing a decent PSU into the budget. The GA EP45-DS3L is a surprisingly good mobo, and will overclock nicely(should he decide to O/C). With no overclocking, i would pick the E8400 over the Q6600(the higher clock-speed and better IPC help offset 2-less cores). If he intends on overclocking.. the choice takes a little more thought. Although a touch more expensive, the 4850 would be the better choice... it's a "very strong" mainstream GPU. Samsung DVDs are very good, 4GB(2x2GB) of PC2-6400(C4) or PC2-8000/8500(C5) will make the system very responsive. If you're set on a 1TB drive, the WD 1TB Black is pretty-much unbeatable. What OS are you considering.... VISTA Home Premium 64 would be the most logical choice, at this point in time. GL :thumb:

Edit: Ahhh...Neo beat me to it. :doh:

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

Revised setup (considering your recommendations) as follows:

E8400
EP45-DS3L
4850
4gb
Samsung DVD burner
WD Black 1tb
Vista Home Premium

I'm still a bit unsure as to what case/psu (modular preferred) to get. Would a 500w psu be enough for the above system?

If you must have a modular PSU, the Corsair HX520 is about all I'd recommend.

Case wise, Antec 300, 900 or Coolermaster CM690. All decent mid-towers that are affordable.

And the HD4850 you get, make sure it's non-reference cooling so it'll be cooler and hopefully quieter. I quite like my HIS HD4850 ICEQ4 Turbo, nice dual-slot cooling which works well. OCs pretty well too :biggrin:

^^ Like the man said really.!! CM 590 or 690 for me though ++

Though I am not a big fan of the Antec cases, the Sonata III is a good case, and the EarthWatts PSU is also a pretty good PSU, but still if I were you, I would go for a CM590 with a Corsair Power supply, you won't regret spending a bit more.

E8400 is pentiful for gaming. 4850 for sure beats a 9800GT anyday and it is kind of future proof, incase your buddy decides to play good FPS or a game sort of Crysis, the 4850 would be a better ideal choice. The Gigabyte EP45-DS3L is more than enough if he's n ot Ocing and just gaming.

Agreed, even if he is OC'ing, the e8400 is a crazy chip, you don't need all 4 cores for gaming, even if your doing some slight multitasking on the side.

Looks great, 500Watts should be plenty, just make sure that its a quality make/brand PSU. Anything Corsair, Seasonic, SilverStone, most Antec's, some OCZ's, or PC P&C, should be good.