Budget Gaming Build R4600

[xDODGERx]

Hey all

I am new to these forums so I apologise for myself being a bit of a noob. I need some opinions on my desktop that I am planning on building. My budget is R4700 max but I already have a case and a screen.

The parts I am looking to get are:

MB - Asus P8H67-M LE All-in-one - [R1090.00]

CPU - Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 2100 LGA1155 - [R1075.00]

GPU - Sapphire HD5770 1Gb GDDR5 - [R1190.00]

Ram - KVR1333D3N9K24G Kingston Value Ram 2x 2gb ddr3 1333 - [R302.00]

HDD - Seagate Barracuda 500gb, 7200rpm, 16mb - [R389.00]

DVD - Samsung 22x DVD-W SATA Black Retail Pack - [R205.00]

PSU - Coolermaster RS-460-PCAR eXtreme 460w - [R417.00]

Total = R4668.00

Im not sure if I should rather go with a cheaper motherboard like the MSI H67MA-E35 (B3), and rather put that extra bit of money to improve something else on my build (I have read that many h67 based motherboards are very similar). If this is the case then I would prefer to settle for a total of R4600 max. I will probably upgrade to an i5 2500 at a later stage (not i5 2500k) on this motherboard because I am not looking to overclock.

Thanks for any help

xDODGERx

[Slimshaedy]

That looks good bro. But if you're planning to upgrade later then you might as well save a lil bit longer and buy the i5 now. Because An i3 isn't gonA sell for much

[Jonboy]

The question is what you intend on doing with your rig? The best gaming budget build will be built on an i3 2100 - I got one in December and even though it's a dual core chip, it's multi-threaded and more than enough grunt for most games that won't even use the additional cores anyway. Add to that for a gaming rig you won't need the onboard graphics capabilities of the i5 and i7 and if you don't plan on overclocking, it will do just fine. Price the rig in my sig and you should come out around your price range, my budget was also R5k and I came right and haven't looked back, not one game that I can't play on my 22" screen at native res.

[StarBound]

You might want get a gigabyte odin 585w psu or a coolermaster 600w just to make sure you can pop in a better graphics card later on. Other than that the rig looks solid.

[xDODGERx]

I am going to use this desktop for games like Fallout NV, Borderlands, Crysis 2. My friend has a intel quad 2.6ghz with a sapphire hd5670 and 2gb ddr2 and he can run crysis 2 on hardcore with a minor spike in the fps every now and then. I reckon an hd5770 should last long enough for me to upgrade then.

Slimshady, I think Ill stay onto the i3-2100 as long as I can and maybe eventually upgrade to the i5 equiv, if the sandy bridges stay on the 1155 socket.

Should I maybe downgrade the motherboard on my list to the MSI H67MA-E35 (B3) [R808.00] and instead get a larger PSU then, like what StarBound recommended?

Ill try to put together a list of your build (Jonboy) with prices but just looking at it, it seems like it will work out quite a bit more expensive, looking at your MB and graphics card.

Thanks for your help already guys. It is much appreciated.

xDODGERx

[Jonboy]

This is how my build went:
[Intel Core i3 2100 {Sandybridge}] - R1100;
[Asus P8P67 Pro LE Socket 155 Mobo] - R1500;
[HIS AMD Radeon 6850 1GB Gfx] - R2000;
[4Gb Mushkin Silverline DDR3 1333 RAM] - R400;
[500Gb Seagate SATAII 6G HDD] - R400;
[Coolermaster Elite 430 Chasis] - R400;

That's R5800, so with your graphics it should more or less hit your budget. Bought everything from Prophecy except the graphics card which I got on special from Wootware. I love my mobo, if you go for the LE ("Light Edition") you'll still have everything you need.

[StarBound]

I'd recommend you do a bit of research on the model of board you go for. Go to the MSI website (http://www.msi.com/product/mb/P55-GD85.html and I know its my board, just browse for yours) and have a look at the physical layout. I know the H61 has issues where the ram slots block the graphics card. So make sure there is enough space between those. But if Jonboy got away with a lower psu then you should be fine as is.

The alternative is drop your mobo to msi and see if you can get a cheap 6850. Maybe even see if you cant find a 460gtx but those cards draw a good amount of power.

[Hman]

I've got a 5750 overclocked to give more or less the same performance as the 5770.

Running the game with the 1.9 update, hi-res pack and Tesselation on. The game runs ok (more than 30fps) with all settings at the highest but there are places where the places where the fps drops to 20, which is not cool IMO. Turning tesselation of sees the game running smoothly.

So if you intend to run with tesselation get something better.

[xDODGERx]

I put together the list of those parts with the better MB (p8p67 le) and it worked out at about R5k which is a bit out of my budget, because at the moment even R4700 is pushing it. I haven't been able to find anything about the RAM slots being blocked on the h67 chipset, so hopefully it wont be a problem.

This is about the best I think I can push then:

MB - Asus P8H67-M LE All-in-one - [R1090.00]

CPU - Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 2100 LGA1155 - [R1075.00]

GPU - MSI R5770 HAWK - [R1115.00]

Ram - KVR1333D3N9K24G Kingston Value Ram 2x 2gb ddr3 1333 - [R302.00]

HDD - Seagate Barracuda 500gb, 7200rpm, 16mb 3.5" - [R389.00]

DVD - Samsung 22x DVD-W SATA Black Retail Pack - [R205.00]

PSU - MUKii asroc asc-500C 500w - [R480.00]

Total = R4656.00

I know that 500w PSU should be able to handle this fine but if I were to maybe overclock the r5770 HAWK a bit, would it still be enough? I read that the recommended PSU for the HAWK specs is 450w. So is this better than the previous build? Also, I dont really mind upgrading the psu at a later stage so I don't think its too much of an issue for me at the moment.

Thanks again guys

xDODGERx

[D3PART3D]

This is the cheapest of the cheap, but it's Asus:

http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/produc ... s_id=61030

Someone who knows what they are talking about will tell us if this isn't suited to your needs. You could use the cash you save on a better GPU. The ram is cheaper at Sybaritic too.

[Jonboy]

Ah, whoops, see I forgot my PSU off the list, cost me R600 but got a 750W Vantec (I think)

[StarBound]

I don't know that brand your looking at for the PSU. Might be fine but I would rather take that coolermaster than. There is no way you can afford a 500 or 550w coolermaster? The gigabyte odin 585w psu is R525 from take2. Of your entire system I would recommend getting that psu even under budget. That is the last corner you want to cut. Because lets face it, a system that doesn't start is useless and if its one that blows your system its even worse.

[KALSTER]

Where are you getting your prices from?

Pricing a system on Rebeltech I got:

ECS P67H2-A3 motherboard - R754
Intel i5 2400 Sandy Bridge - R1644
Kingston Value RAM 1x 4GB stick - R202
Seagate 7200RPM 500GB HDD - R365
Club3D 6790 1GB 256bit - R1300
Gigabyte 585W PSU - R478

Total: R4743

So you get a motherboard with 2x PCI-E x16 ports, USB3 and SATA 6Gbps etc, an i5 2400 CPU and the 5770 defeating 6790 GPU. The ECS brand is not as dodgy as it used to be. You get a 2 year warranty. Lots of bang for your buck.

Edit: aaaaaaah, missed the DVD/RW. At PC International you can get a Huntkey 550W for R376 and at Rebeltech, the i5 2300 for R1581. Then with an LG 22x DVD/RW at R155 at Rebeltech, the total is: R4733.

[StarBound]

Are you buying online? Remember to add the R300 or so shipping charge. Kalsters suggestion isnt bad either. The card and cpu will give you somewhat better gaming experience.

[xDODGERx]

Yes I will be buying online. Previously I was interested in getting the parts from ComX, and I emailed them about the courier costs. They said it would only cost me R150 extra. Now after discovering Rebeltech, I think I am going to go with them rather, because their prices are better. The courier costs should be about the same because they are also based in Gauteng province, like ComX (Im in the Western Cape). I could go with an i5, but I am not sure about that ECS MB. From reading about it, it seems quite a few people had issues with it. I question whether it is actually lower quality, and not a great value for money board. Its specs are tempting though, so I really want to go for it but I am worried it will give me issues. Have a look at feedback: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813135279

Also, Is Club3D a good brand? I can not tell because not many people write about them on the web. It seems from the very little that I could figure out, that they have good service.

So should I really risk it with that MB?

Thanks
xDODGERx

[StarBound]

I'm an MSI fanboi If its MSI I instantly recommend it because my experience with them was better than Gigabyte but even they are good.

I cant speak for club3b but I dont think that brand is too bad. Seen alot of them with the radeon cards but if you have the money (and sadly you dont) then its worth spending a bit more to make you feel better. On a tight budget I wont recommend over clocking but I dont think C3D will be too bad. Maybe redo the list with the items you want from rebeltech. And btw I am in western cape to and have ordered from them before. They are legit.

[xDODGERx]

MB - Asus P8H67-M LE All-in-one [R994.00]

CPU - Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 2100 LGA1155 3.1ghz - [R1012.00]

GPU - Club3D 6790 1GB DDR5 256bit - [R1300.00]

Ram - KVR1333D3N9K24G Kingston Value Ram 2x 2gb ddr3 1333 - [R248.00]

HDD - Seagate Barracuda 500gb, 7200rpm, 16mb 3.5" - [R365.00]

DVD - Samsung 22x SH-S223C DVD-W SATA Black Retail Pack - [R169.00]

PSU - Gigabyte Odin 585w - [R478.00]

Total = R4566

This is what I have got at the moment from Rebeltech's site. Prices are quite a bit better, so I am able to go for a low costing 6790 instead of a 5770 and a better PSU. I think an i5 is a bit out of my reach, unless I go with that ECS MB, which I actually don't completely trust.

xDODGERx

[StarBound]

sign it and stamp it. Unless they suddenly drop the price of the i5 I think this is the best your going to get.

[xDODGERx]

Yes I feel good about this build. Thanks for the help guys. Should hopefully be getting this in 2 weeks or so

xDODGERx