111 replies to this topic

[The Colonel]

This is a list composed by Weiman and myself of possible builds in varying price ranges. Note that no keyboard, mouse, monitors, or OS are included. But these should give you a rough estimate on what to build. Prices exclude taxes and shipping. They're merely and indication and will of course apply differently if you're not buying in the US.

Latest update: 3rd of June 2010;
Updated no longer available parts.
Turned "IDK lol" build to a Quad-core unlock build
Made the hobo tier suck even more and cost even less.



Builds


Hobo Tier

Case: APEX PC-389-C
Power Supply: FSP ATX300-PA 300W
Motherboard: Foxconn G41S-K
Processor: Intel Celeron E3300
Video Card: HD 4670 512MB
Memory: OCZ 2GB DDR2 667
Hard Drive: Seagate 7200.12 160GB
Optical Drive: LG DVD Burner

($300 US)

Low Tier

Case: Antec 300
Power Supply: Corsair 400W
Motherboard: GA-G31M-ES2L
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E5200
Video Card: HD 4770 512MB
Memory: Corsair 4GB DDR2 800Mhz
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB
Optical Drive: LG DVD Burner

($500 US)


Quad-core unlock tier.

Case:vAntec 300 Illusion
Power Supply: OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W
Motherboard: GigaByte GA-MA78LM-S2H
Processor:vAMD Phenom II X2 550 BE
Video Card: Gigabyte HD5770 1GB
Memory: G.Skill 4GB RAM
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB
Optical Drive: LG DVD Burner
Heatsink + Fan: CM Hyper TX3

($700 US)

Mid Tier

Case: CoolerMaster RC690
Power Supply: OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W
Motherboard: GigaByte GA-H55M-S2H
Processor: Intel Core i3 530
Video Card: Sapphire HD5770 1GB
Memory: OCZ 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz Low Voltage
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Optical Drive: Samsung CD/DVD rewriter
Heatsink + Fan: CM Hyper TX3

($800 US)


High Tier - Crossfire

Case: CoolerMaster CM 690 Advanced II
Power Supply: OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W
Motherboard: MSI P55-GD65 USB3
Processor: Intel Core i5 750
Video Card: 2x Sapphire HD5770 1GB
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DX -optional-
Memory: OCZ 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz Low Voltage
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Optical Drive: Samsung CD/DVD rewriter
Heatsink + Fan: CM Hyper TX3

($1000 US)

High Tier - Cypress

Case: Antec 902
Power Supply: OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3R
Processor: Intel Core i5 750
Heatsink + Fan: CM Hyper TX3
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DX -optional-
Video Card: HD5850 512MB
Memory: OCZ 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz Low Voltage
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Optical Drive: Samsung CD/DVD rewriter

($1200 US)

Ultra Tier - Crossfire

Case: Silverstone Raven
Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R
Processor: Intel Core 2 i7 920
Heatsink/Fan: Scythe Mugen 2
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DX
Memory: G.SKILL 6GB DDR3 1600
OS and Programs disk: Intel 80GB SSD
2nd Hard Drive: Seagate 7200.11 1.5TB
Optical Drive: Samsung CD/DVD rewriter
Graphics cards:
2x Sapphire HD5870 1GB

($2000+ US)

Any of these rigs should offer solid performance for the money. Keep in mind that you might need periphals as well, in which case you should check out this thread. It's not all-fullfilling, so if you are looking for advice on audio or a monitor mention it in your thread along with a budget.
In any case, basing your purchase off of these lists is a good idea. You can of course swap around a bit, you don't have to buy every exact same piece of hardware. Especially when it comes to video cards, optical drives and RAM there isn't a whole lot difference between different brands in general.

This thread is intended for reference only. Make your own thread if you're looking for advice. Feel free to post suggestions and feedback though.

Online Shops

USA: Newegg ||| Amazon ||| ZipZoomFly

UK: Scan Computers ||| Overclockers UK ||| ebuyerK

Australia: Staticice ||| Umart ||| Shopbot

Canada: NewEgg ||| NCIX ||| DirectCanada

EU: Alternate ||| Komplett

[Starblaiz]

nice compilation tbh. I'm debating wether this should be in the tutorial section... what do you recon?

[The Colonel]

Since noone checks that section really, I'd say leave it here for now. Weiman is going to edit it later.

[Henry_]

If this thread were to be updated on a regular basis (mabey once a month) then you should

Sticky, or

Put in it Tut section.

Either either, very good thread which will definitely help those who need a starting point.

Grats!

[Weiman]

Edited and stickied. Contemplating on an audio or monitor thread now..

[7h3 n00b m4573r]

hmm
high-tier i'd definitely go with a P45, even if just for the principal of a more up to date build. Infact i like the look of the asus P5Q for value, very good features set at a very reasonable price (atleast at umart).
can't find anything glaringly wrong with any of those builds, though how you can do a build thread without mention of the HD4850 is interesting.

[Plasmic Fury]

This thread will need to be updated constantly. Hope your up to the task.

gj though.

[Tree_]

Edited and stickied. Contemplating on an audio or monitor thread now..

I was going to do audio in tool's, but it's up to you. I seem to be getting lazy with it and i'm sure you could already put something together through your own reviews.

I personally would like to also note that Umart is a bit iffy, one could use shopbot to find prices that are alot cheaper then that of what Umart will do.

[Henry_]

for australia, you really should add

Shopbot
Staticice

^^ both of these are searches for competitive prices in Australia.


MSY is also a great franchise store dotted across Australia, with good prices. Click on the "parts price list" then use the PDF format, HTML is too clumsy.

[The Colonel]

though how you can do a build thread without mention of the HD4850 is interesting.

Well the 9600GT is a damn cheap card, and certainly cheaper than the HD4850. We did the lower end because we wanted to keep it very cheap for the Low Tier, for the budget build people. When we got to the mid-tier, the budget allowed for the HD4870 so we put that in instead.

[Weiman]

I was going to do audio in tool's, but it's up to you.

I can do it partially, that's for sure. Maybe Doug can help me out a bit

[Lucas_13]

nice one on this, I can use this list to build myself an actually decent PC =), so thanx guys.

Have to buy lots of stuff though.

[Love Duckie]

Good work, the builds seem to have been looked over alot.

[Henry_]

we need to advertise this thread more. I'm not sure many people are aware of it.

[Terrodar]

Think i'll add a bump for good measure. Excellent compilation there. Getting ready to buy my new rig under Ultimate Crossfire hah.

[DHC]

Think i'll add a bump for good measure

its a sticky bro

[Weiman]

Think i'll add a bump for good measure.

its a sticky bro

Can't find an appropriate picture for this... 'lol' will have to do

[Gold Leader]

for the SLI rig I'd go for Dual 9800 GX2's they are A about the same price as a GTX260 and in most cases they beat a GTX 280 in single as SLI setups.
as for teh API support they have the same techs, it's only the name and the amount of transistors each GPU has as the ram interface, 9800 GX2 is still NV's est since SLI does have it's upper hand as which it's support has grown in almost any game out there

Good example is here in race driver GRID, a single 9800 GX2 has amuch higher minimal FPS than a Dual GTX 280 setup


As in sinle card the 9800 GX2 has avery nice lead among all other GeForce's GTX 200 series as below them It seems that SLI is getting utilized more often in games these days a 9800 GX2 is infact a 2 in 1 setup of Dual 8800 GTX 512's. 2x G92-450 GPU's with each 512MN 256Bit GDDR3 which giives the card when SLI is supported as in most cases it has a 512Bit GDDR3 bus [2x 256Bit]

as for the Ultra high end ATi rig I'd say go for a HD 4870 X2 or a CF setup of Dual HD 4870 X2's as you can see one really does some pain accross it's competitors There are rumors that NV will come with a new GX2 design based on Dual GT200b's I will keep you all updated on this one, RV770's refresh will be the RV780. R780 will be the R700 replacement, these are the rumors IO have been hearing around , so please see these as a rumor or say one big bag of salt

[The Colonel]

2 GTX260s beat 2 9800GX2s in many games, especially at resolutions of 1680x1050 and under, and I have heard that the 2 9800GX2s have problems in SLI.

Don't use a single benchmark either, I have seen numerous benchmarks of the GTX260 SLI beating 9800GX2 SLI.

[Weiman]

9800GX2 SLI doesn't scale worth shit.