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So I am building a budget Gaming rig...

J

JEFFSGTP

New member
My POS Compaq is showing its age and desperately needed upgrading, BUT as usual its an absolute POS to try and work with for upgrading...so I decided to spend some tax return money and build a budget gaming rig.

Here is what I have:
CASE
ThermalTake V9 Black Edition Gaming Case:
20081062011594565.jpg

Welcome to Thermaltake

POWER SUPPLY
tp3_650.jpg

Antec - TruePower Trio 650

MOTHERBOARD
EVGA 680i LT SLI
10440.jpg

EVGA 680i LT SLI Motherboard Review :: NVIDIA 680i LT SLI Features :: Motherboards.org

PROCESSOR
Intel Q6600 (Core2Quad)
51CJ6OTtJtL._SS500_.jpg

Amazon.com: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad-Core Processor, 2.40 GHz, 8M L2 Cache, LGA 775: Electronics

CPU COOLER/FAN
ThermalTake Big Typhoon VX
B_03_angleview_450.gif.jpg

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?S=1135&ID=1552#Tab0

RAM
4GB of DDR2 Fatal1Ty 1 RAM
ddr2_fatality_dual.jpg

OCZ Technology | Products | Memory | OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 Fatal1ty Edition Dual Channel

GRAPHICS CARD
BFG Tech 9600 GT OC
MHandler.ashx

BFG Tech - BFG NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT OC 512MB PCIe 2.0 (B)

KEYBOARD
Razer Lycosa
ly-mainheader.jpg

http://www.razerzone.com/p-87-razer-lycosa-gaming-keyboard.aspx

CD/DVD DRIVE
Pioneer DVR 2910A
519TTgABX8L._SS500_.jpg

http://www.amazon.com/Internal-DVD-...cs&qid=1233924849&sr=1-2#moreAboutThisProduct

OTHER ITEMS:
SATA 250GB Hard Drive
Microsoft 3000 series mouse
...all in all I think its going to be a wicked setup for around a grand or less.

I will post more info and pics once I get all the parts in (still waiting on USPS's Failure to deliver my processor:th_angry2:)
 
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right now I mainly play BF2 Project Reality, Americas Army, and Rainbow Six Vegas...all of which were trying to KILL my COMPAQ even with the addition of a BFG Tech 8500 GT to take some work away from the CPU...obviously this rig will handle those in stride

Might grab Crysis just for fun if I get the incling.


still debating what I want for an OS...I have full copy of XP Pro or Vista Business that I can put on it....decisions, decisions
 
Hmm well vista or XP.... A toughy lol, I always use my xp or on my laptop I am testing out Windows 7 which is going pretty good. Crysis is over-rated IMO I have a few friends who play and I tried it's not that good for me. Comcrap usually doesn't last to long for gaming :P

On a side not why would you use vista business?
 
Honestly Jeff, I would say up the Video Card to a 9800 series card. They are not going to be much than what you are gonna pay for that 9600GT, and you be thanking me later :P

Trust me!!
 


Long story me and ComCrap have never gotten along every comcrap I have owned crapped out on me, thus the name :P Lol, it can't be to hard to find a licensed copy of xp for free
 
I would love too, but A. they don't have it local here, B. I already bought the 9600 GT OC, and C. Wife about killed me spending as much as I have on it....but hey we paid a CC off and bought some stuff for the house as well (that she wanted) after I bought the above stuff so she is a bit happier now but still not enthused about me spending what I did...her comment was...the one we have is fine...Ugh...how come women cant understand it may work for what you do with it but it fails miserably at what I want to do with it...oh well, I got it anyway.
 
1998xGTP said:
Long story me and ComCrap have never gotten along every comcrap I have owned crapped out on me, thus the name :P Lol, it can't be to hard to find a licensed copy of xp for free
Click to expand...


Its Not, I have a copy of XP Pro and an enterprise key I can use as well...just with XP slowly dying and Win 7 coming out...I am debating using Vista Business as a stepping stone as I have it and it can actually see all 4 GB of ram I have.
 
:confused: Hmm *checks* yep my XP is recognizing all 4 gigs, vista may take all 4 gigs but it won't utilize them all, is it a 64 or 32? I skipped vista after having it for 3 months and put all PC's back to XP and plan to upgrade to windows 7 as I did with my laptop it is pretty nice. :th_biggrin2:
 
well...XP can see 4gb I know this, but the board is capable of 8GB...that win XP WON'T SEE!

Oh and Business 32 Bit edition
 


Yeah I am pretty sure the 32 bit OS can only recognize up to 4 gigs, and the 4 for vista is really only 2.9 being used because the other 1 is for the "running backup programs" etc
 
yeah, I checked on it, and your right the 32bit vista can only handle 4gb...64bit can handle 128GB (you would think they would have given the 32bit vista the ability to handle more than it does, but oh well...I think with that find I will just be loading XP on it and calling it a day until Windows 7 Comes out :-)
 
You will want a 64-bit OS to utilize what you have there...I would go with Vista.

I just built a similar rig, it ran me about $600-$650 without keyboard, mouse, and monitor.

Q9300
Asus P5Q-Pro motherboard
4Gb ram
640Gb WD Black
Antec Sonata III case
500W Earthwatts power supply, 80+ certified
MSI 4850
Sata DVD R/W
Freeze 7 CPU cooler

I would do most things a little different then you are. The ATI cards are a better "value" by far. The CPU cooler could be better, for less, by going with something like the Freeze 7. I would step up to a bigger hard drive, unless you already have one. For only a few buck more you can go with the hard drive I picked up, and it is wicked-fast compared to a lot of others out there that are not a Raptor drive, for $70.
 


yeah, I didn't discover the Freeze 7 until after I had already purchased the one I have, but it will be fine for now...(The Freeze 7 is however a VERY NICE UNIT)...I have no intentions of OC'ing it until i find it necessary even though I know its quite OC'able. the Sata HDD I already had, as is the case for the Monitor, Keyboard and power supply....I also have an externa 250GB HDD that I use for routine backups of my OS. My plan is to eventually move to a RAID array, but that will be down the road a bit.
 
JEFFSGTP said:
yeah, I didn't discover the Freeze 7 until after I had already purchased the one I have, but it will be fine for now...(The Freeze 7 is however a VERY NICE UNIT)...I have no intentions of OC'ing it until i find it necessary even though I know its quite OC'able. the Sata HDD I already had, as is the case for the Monitor, Keyboard and power supply....I also have an externa 250GB HDD that I use for routine backups of my OS. My plan is to eventually move to a RAID array, but that will be down the road a bit.
Click to expand...

RAID is a dangerous game for most folks to play. Just make sure you do a ton of homework to determine if it is really the route you want to take. I would take a look at the ATI 4850 cards and this motherboard over what you have listed now:
Newegg.com - ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

You will probably save a few bucks and get more out of it.
 
How about a decent sized case, too?
Micro Center - Nine Hundred ATX Gaming Case

If you are not planning on overclocking (and even if you are), then this Q9300 is a great deal:
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0299998

Stock, it is a smidge stronger then the Q6600, while consuming less power, thus creating less heat. I have mine easily overclocked to 3.2GHz right now without doing anything other then bumping up the clock in the BIOS and leaving everything else on "Auto" on my motherboard.
 
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I was planning on a RAID 0 or Raid 0+1 setup down the road. as far as the motherboard I already have all of the items above bought and either installed or waiting for the processor so they can be installed....I got the MB for $100 NIB...just couldn't pass that price up for what I was getting.

Oh and the Q9300 is a Yorkfield core which is NOT SUPPORTED by my motherboard..otherwise you are right and I actually would have went that route....no telling if EVGA is coming out with a BIOS update for it but at the moment its not supported.
 
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