[Dutch-PC-Geek]

Hi guys,

I always wanted a good budget gaming rig so i decided im going to build one for the first time.

I did months of research and i'd like some advice from people that know more about building computers. I have chosen the following parts:

•Amd phenom ii x4 965 (€135,-)

•Asus M4A89GTD pro/usb3.0 (€132)

•Corsair 750tx (€98,-)

•Corsair 600t (€135,-)

•Corsair Dominator 2x4 8gb ddr3 1600 (€119,-)

•Corsair H70 (€90,-)

•Msi N460GTX cyclone 1GD5 OC (€183,-)

•Western Digital 1tb 6 gb/s 64mb cache (€77,50)

Total: €969,50 (note: i live in holland so i pay in euros)

I will probably overclock the cpu to 3.8Ghz-4.0Ghz

Thanks for the help!

 

[gcavan]

First of all, you should be good to go with the chosen components. However, if you truely are on a budget and would like to cut costs, I see several places where you can save without affecting end performance.

CPU - The phenom II 955 should be 20 or so bucks cheaper but will oc nearly as high as the 965.
RAM - There are few applications and no games which require 8GB. Pick a performance 2 x 2GB set
Case - This is personal preference, but the 900T is expensive for a case.
CPU cooler - Budget and liquid cooling should not be mentioned in the same sentence. IMO the H70 is mediocre at best; a high end air cooler should meet or beat it for less cost.

 

[Dutch-PC-Geek]

Thanks for the quick reply,

I forgot to say the computer needs to be very stable (thats why i have chosen the liquid cooling and expensive case) and i like video editing so chose the 8gb over the 4gb.

But i you think 4gb will do the job as well i will go for that.
And about the cpu cooler, what air cooler do you advise?

 

[hhnq04]

If you're doing heavy video editing, then more RAM could benefit you. That is one area that does use up RAM. There are a number of good air coolers, the Hyper 212 is a popular choice, Zalman have some pretty good options, the Megahalems is a very good cooler as well.

 

[Dutch-PC-Geek]

Ok so now i have exactly what i told except for the h70 (now a Coolermaster Hyper 212), the processor became an Amd Phenom II x6 1090t BE for a little boost on daily use en editing. And i chose the same ram but now with 8-8-8-24 timings instead of 9-9-9-24.

But i still have two questions left. 1 what will happen the FIRST time you boot? Does it like boot the mobo and then go bluescreen, or will it automatically go into bios? 2 if i have to update the bios ("flashing" i heard), do i need an IT guy or someone like that to do it for me? Becouse heard if you dont update the bios correctly, you have a dead mobo. Is this true?

Thanks

 

[greenbrucelee]

you will see the POST screen or motherboard logo screen then nothing as there is nothing to do.

What you have to do is go into the bios, set the boot priority to cd, put in the windows cd then exit the bios and boot from the cd, install windows then install the motherboard cd then eveyrthing else.

 

[Tyree]

gcavan has advised you well.

 

[Dutch-PC-Geek]

Ok so i choose some new parts but i dont know if they are really better.

I replaced the corsair memory by Mushkin redline 8gb 2x4 1600 CL7.

I replaced the msi n460gtx cyclone video card by the sapphire 6870 1gb because i thought it would fit my games a little better.

I replaced the motherboard by an INTEL motherboard, the Asrock p67 extreme4 lga 1155.

I replaced the amd pii x6 gt replaced by an intel i5 2500k quad.

And the cpu cooler became a coolermaster Hyper 212+.

I also added an Crucial c300 Realssd 64gb.

And becouse i think im going to double up the ram, video cards and ssd's in the future, i choose a Corsair 850tx over the 650tx.

Is this a good setup? (the rest is still the same)

Thank you

 

[greenbrucelee]

for the motherboard you want to go for Asus or gigabyte

The psu will be fine

There is no need to go crossfire or sli all it will give you is at most a 20% increase in performance if your lucky plus it will cause more heat and use more power.

 

[Dutch-PC-Geek]

But the asrock motherboard was really recommended and has alot of features and i heard asus and gigabyte had bios glitches 0.0

And about the crossfire thing, if i want better graphics in the future i wouldt be better off with spending the extra 200 bucks than 500 dollar for a new single card... Right??

 

[Tyree]

ASRock is a lower tier Mobo. Asus & Gigabyte are the best choices.
Multiple GPU's is basically a waste of money. Twice the cost, more energy consumption. more heat in the case and you get a maybe 20& performance increase.
SSD's offer little more than faster boot times.

 

[Dutch-PC-Geek]

First of all i want to say thank you for all the work.

So i took away the ssd and put the money in to a 6950 and then change the shaders and clocks to the ones of a 6970.
Maybe i can drop the 850 watt psu to a 750 watt psu because i wont go with crossfire anymore.

For the motherboard i just cant figure it out. The asrock mobo got highly rated and the gigabyte and asus mobo's are like 80 bucks expensiver and they dont even have an ide connector or clear cmos button.

If you guys say i should go with those brands then im fine but i just find it very confusing :S

Ow and is the i5 2500k a good cpu?

 

[greenbrucelee]

Asus and gigabyte will kick any other motherboard manufacturers *** all day long esepcially if your into gaming or overclocking.

yes the 2500k is a good cpu why not just buy a 6970 and drop the psu to a 750TX

 

[Tyree]

A 750W SeaSonic-XFX-Corsair would be fine for that GPU.

Upper tier Mobo's cost more because they user higher quality components and that helps to insure stability and longevity.
Do you need IDE connections or a button to clear the CMOS?