TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

I am looking to build a budget gaming PC capable of playing Starcraft 2 and WOW. (those were the games specified by my friend)

These are some supposed requirements for Starcraft 2 http://www.starcraftwire.net/forums/...read.php?t=497

What does Techspot think of this setup?

mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...SUS-_-13131281
$89

cpu
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...C-PRICEGRABBER
$61

ram
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...C-PRICEGRABBER
$38

case & 500 watt psu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129024
$99.95

hard drive
http://www.nowdirect.com/exec/partIn...=WDCWD3200AAKS
$56

optical drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...UNG-_-27151154
$29

Graphics card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814500037
$196

All constructive criticism welcome

Hard to fault your selections for the price. I think you have done a good job of getting together a set of components that will work together, and will last.
I wonder what you are getting as a CPU cooler?
Thermal Paste?
OS?
and Probably two or three case fans as that AMD gets hot.
Case... be sure there is plenty of room in the case for air to move around and help keep it cool.
Then your mother will want word processing, your sister will want music, and your little brother will....

I like the setup, able to handle any game to date on medium settings, and a few hand full of games full detail 1680/1050 or lower, good job.

I'd change some parts to these ones instead:

• GIGABYTE GA-G31M-S2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail - $59.99 + $8.97 shipping
• Intel Pentium E2180 Allendale 2.0GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail - $69.99 + free shipping
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $79.99 + free shipping
• SAPPHIRE 100242L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail - $154.99 after $20 rebate + free shipping

Should still stay within your budget, but get you more bang for your buck. The CPU is an excellent overclocker and can give you performance on part with some of the more expensive chips out there. The Seagate drive comes with a 5-year warranty over the WD drive's 3-year one, which is the only reason I suggested it over the latter. There is no noticeable performance difference between the two. As for the card, the HD 4850 is faster than the 9800GTX for a lower price. Everything else looks good.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

good call rage, although nvidea had recent price drops the 4850 outperforms the 98 gtx by at least 15% in some benchmarks.

I didnt know about the warranty on the Seagate drives though, definately something to think about in future purchases, thx again.

Thank you all for your responses! Rage, I definitely like your HDD and Graphics Card, but as for the processor I have no experience in overclocking and did not want my first time doing it to be when building for a friend.
raybay, I have not decided on a cpu cooler yet, did you have one in mind? For thermal paste I was thinking this should suffice http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100013 and as for an OS it depends on my friends preference. To be honest my friend still has not approved of my total costs (since I haven't selected everything yet) but if I can't get him on board I may have to try just dropping a descent card into a pre-built machine. I was also even considering going for a used machine and upgrading some components.

Starcraft 2 wont take much more than starcraft. And it's also going to suck >.<.


he said nothing about OC. and im doubtfull he will, considering he chose AMD xD. Besides, 99% of intel's are highly OCable.


Also you won't need a CPU cooler, the retail version will come with one itself.
I would suggest the E7300 $130 (I think its the best bang for buck dual core), or an E4xxx Or maybe you could go AMD with only $60 set for your CPU.

Yeah go with a 4850, and go with a saphire one too, However, you 500w power supply might not be enough.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102747




This isn't quite relivent and is directed at the pros here:
Is this really a toxic 4850?? It looks just like it has a zalaman fan glued on...It even says zalaman. It also says "Overclocked to 625 mhz" ???!?! thats stock speeds...?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102760

that saphire card is only gddr3, arent the current cards gddr5? Either way, I havnt seen that card before. I would imagine it would work well for what's needed in this post. Good pc hunting!

I recommended the Intel CPU + motherboard since it's cheaper and performs on par with the AMD equivalent. As for the PSU, it is very much sufficient, providing 34A on the +12V rails combined, more than enough for the HD 4850.

The HD 4870s are GDDR5. All the HD 4850s are GDDR3. As for the card itself, we'll have to wait for reviews to see if it truly is more than an HD 4850 with a VF90 on it.

I see no toxic "vapour chamber" cooling...And yeah its supposed to be GDDR3.

For those interested, I have now put together my friends new gaming rig, with very few problems which were quickly resolved. I installed Windows XP 64 bit, which I think is working very well thus far. He was quite pleased when i told him he has the option to upgrade to a quad core processor if needed and up to 8 gigs of RAM. Now I just have to wait and see how my friend thinks all his games play on it. Thanks again to everyone who commented!

have a look at this http://www.techspot.com/article/34-c...000/page2.html

legit deal !!!

Thanks tw0rld, if I had not already built the computer (as stated above) I may have given it a look!