tight budget need help

haha no worries, we will get you fixed up with a system that will make compaq cry

My budget was tight also. This is the build I bought and very happy with it.


Specifications:
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master CM Storm Scout
Exterior Finish: - Not Available
Trim Accents: - Not Available
Processor: Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: EVGA P55M SLI (Intel P55 Chipset)
System Memory: 4GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Digital Storm Certified (Dual SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Recommended)
Expansion Bay: - Not Available
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD\261R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 22x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 1x ATI Radeon HD 5850 1GB
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: High Performance Cooler (Compatible With ONLY i5/AMD Processors)
H20 Tube Color:- Not Available
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Enhancements: - Not Available
Chassis Mods: - Not Available
Noise Reduction: - Not Available
Boost Processor: FREE: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz (Cooling Upgrade Recommended)
Boost Video Card: - Not Available
Boost Memory: - Not Available
Boost OS: FREE: Yes, Disable and tweak all of the non-crucial services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Virus Protection: - Not Available
Office: - Not Available
Benchmarking: - Not Available
Install/Test Game: no
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks

I put most of my budget into the video card as you can see. With this motherboard and cpu I had to give up chance to upgrade to 6 core cpu when they come out and hyperthreading. My game don't use hyperthreading and I don't have the money to upgrade anyway so thats no loss to me. The case has dust filters and looks sweet with the red fan lights in the front and rear. The side window shows off the digital storm craftsmanship on the inside.
The i5 overclocked to 3.5. The temperatures under game load for hours are quiet low. (49 to 54). Video card temp max has been 74 and that was only once.

For a tight budget you can drop down to a 5770 card and save $140. You can save $40 on the powersupply also, I went to 750 watt because that will allow me to add a second 5850 video card when my game expands to dx 11. (I am enjoying the eye candy and lack of lag now).
I got the 2 year parts and 4 year labor warranty during the recent sale. That extra year is a nice piece of mind. Its only $99 if you can swing it.

List your monitor resolution and computer uses and the guys will give you other good configurations.

monitor res is 1920x1080 manily play cod4,5,and wow

ok guys here is what i come up with

      thanks Cretae am trying to get the best bang 4 under 1500 but don't have much exp with building my own thats why i'm here

be aware that all nvidia 4 series cards are power hogs, which is why I go with ATI's equally matched alternative, the 58 series. Radeon 5850 = GTX 470, Radeon 5870 = GTX 480.

considering what you configured, i think you might have a bit of wiggle room for a better cooler. obviously, DS doesn't specify a better cooler, but do a bit of research, include it in the notes, and they'll be happy to include whatever you want.

dunno what you want to do it or not, but personally, I'd prefer keeping the OS and data on two separate drives. the thing is, with one single drive handling both, anything you do that's intensive with data can affect performance of the OS, since they're both depending on the bandwidth of one drive.


Edited by ablahblah - 16 Jun 2010 at 6:14pm

popping in my config suggestion.

>>>>Config. No. 415226<<<<

Cost - $1474
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - HAF 922
Exterior Finish: - Not Available
Trim Accents: - Not Available
Processor: Intel Core i5 655K 3.2GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Dual Core)
Motherboard: EVGA P55M SLI (Intel P55 Chipset)
System Memory: 4GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Digital Storm Certified (Dual SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Recommended)
Expansion Bay: - Not Available
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (74GB Western Digital VelociRaptor (10K RPM) (8MB Cache) (SATA) (Extreme Speed)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (2TB Hitachi/Seagate (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache) (SATA) (Extreme Speed)
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD�R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 1x ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: High Performance Cooler (Compatible With ONLY i5/AMD Processors)
H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Blue)
Enhancements: - Not Available
Chassis Mods: - Not Available
Noise Reduction: - Not Available
Boost Processor: FREE: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz (Cooling Upgrade Recommended)
Boost Video Card: - Not Available
Boost Memory: - Not Available
Boost OS: FREE: Yes, Disable and tweak all of the non-crucial services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Virus Protection: - Not Available
Office: - Not Available
Benchmarking: - Not Available
Install/Test Game: - Not Available
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: 3 Year Limited Warranty with Life-Time Customer Support (3 Year Labor & 1 Year Parts)

The Corsair TX, eh, i really dunno whether that's a good or bad thing lol.

Anyways, ATI 5770 in here to conserve cost, and you got a nice 10,000 RPM drive for booting. Somewhat of a cost-beneficial tradeoff as opposed to having a boot SSD. Second drive is a niiice roomy 2TB to house all data separately from the OS and programs.Also popped in some case lighting, cus hey, who doesn't like aesthetics? And it's only $10 anyways.

Oh, and moving on to coolers. I had a nice experience with ThermalRight's Venomous X cooler, the RT version right now costs around $75. Replace the cooler you have now with it, and it'll set you $20 over budget, but it'll probably overclock a helluva better ;D


Edited by ablahblah - 16 Jun 2010 at 6:25pm

I have a 1920x1080, 1080p monitor running prettty decently on two 9600GTs 

anyways, I can't seem to figure out any sort of way to nab a 5850 AND an i7, which is the problem lol. adding in an i7 will boost it $96, adding a 5850 with boost it $140, S.R., whad'ya wanna get?


Edited by ablahblah - 16 Jun 2010 at 7:02pm

....ok, opting for the CM Scout 310, was about to do that.

bah, LGA1156 i7's, i never really understood them. honestly, IMO, if someone's gonna go i7, just go for the whole hog and get a LGA1136 i7. they're the ones that really give you respect anyways xD

if you want, considering what you have now, you can opt for a 10k rpm boot over the i7. its a matter of whether you want more cores, or you want faster loading speeds. then again, right now, barely any programs take control of the first four anyways. the i5 still emulates 4 cores via HyperThreading too, lol, so you'll still be good for the future.


Edited by ablahblah - 16 Jun 2010 at 10:56pm

The 750 is a great processor and as this will be used for gaming there's no point in wasting the extra money on the 860. Hyperthreading is not needed for gaming. For his res you need a 5870 - 480. You will see a much bigger improvement in gaming by upping the gpu rather than the cpu.

No offense to anyone else here, but if you can't squeeze anymore money out of your budget, you're better off going with my build for that res, as you'll get the best gaming performance out of it.

Edited by Invader Mig - 17 Jun 2010 at 5:23pm

That's much better, thanks for taking my thoughts into consideration. But my concern is you've still got him blowing $121 on storage he won't need for months, if then. An HDD is the 2nd easiest thing to add later, when needed, right behind a sound card. It would be better if he just saved the dough 'til he needed it, or put it into a 5870 now. I have to admit I know very little about the processors we're talking about here, but I think we should defer to Shar and Invader Mig on that, and quit shooting from the hip. Their advice has been solid IMO.

ok here is what i came up with using ahblablah's base config and making some changes  all for  $1,474.00
 

Why are you recomending a dual core CPU????   lot less performance..

but the quad is cheaper

the 655k isn't quad--

oo......wtf...? it doesn't support hyper threading...?

Screw the 655K, stick with the i5 750 lol.


Edited by ablahblah - 17 Jun 2010 at 9:35pm

Your gaming performance will definitely be superior with the ATI 5870. The CPU is not as much of a factor in gaming as video. Your last build is fine if you could just eke out that last bit for the 5870.

I think you're gonna love your system S. R. I think we got everything right, and I think your wife is gonna be impressed!   Sorry about that shipping.