Budget gaming build

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I certainly could, but would the Quad core be better for me down the road?? As far as the graphics cards go, I'm not partial to either brand, I just care about performance. I'd rather spend a little more money now for a card that's going to do all I want, than have to upgrade within a year or so.
 
Quad core is ok.. but by the time you really NEED to use a quad core for gaming and apps, there will be better ones out. But the 8400 is a great chip to OC and to game with.

As for GPU, I own the GTX260 now and have gamed on the 4750... IMO, the 260 is better for gaming. The Physx aspect alone is worth it to me... Than add a separate nvidia card to take the load of the physx? It makes Farcry 2 and Deadspace look VERY nice. But that's my opinion.
 
if you can get the q9400 now i see no reason why not. when it is overclocked it will perform like a e8400 in games. i love my q9300.


As for GPU, I own the GTX260 now and have gamed on the 4750... IMO, the 260 is better for gaming. The Physx aspect alone is worth it to me... Than add a separate nvidia card to take the load of the physx? It makes Farcry 2 and Deadspace look VERY nice. But that's my opinion.

i agree.

but if you want to save money you should spend slightly less if you are going to just play GTR2. my old 8500GT could easily max that game out with my pentium D
 
I won't be playing just GTR2. I was just using that as an example of what I used on my old system, and I could only use about medium settings with GTR2.

If I build a new one, I'll be looking at games like Empire Total War, Operation Flashpoint 2, etc, etc. The real graphics intensive stuff I couldn't run on my old computer. Like I said before, I'd like to be able to run games well at 1920x1080 if possible too. That would be a definite plus.

Graphics card is one thing I'd be willing to dish out a little more money on.
 
OK last thoughts on this before I order it? I want to order it in the next day or two so I can have it next week. I changed the processor to the 8400 and changed the graphics card to a GTX 260 "black edition." Thoughts on the graphics card, and will that power supply (the 550w) still be OK for this setup? Also, should I throw in a sound card or will the onboard be fine? Any extra cables I would need to order.

Processor
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Graphics card
Newegg.com - EVGA 896-P3-1262-AR GeForce GTX 260 Superclocked Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Case
Newegg.com - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

Motherboard
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

PSU
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies

RAM
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

HD
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

Cooler for processor
Newegg.com - XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks

Also added in the x-retention bracket for the cooler that someone mentioned, Vista for operating system, a DVD drive, and some Arctive Silver compound. Hopefully this is a good set-up for the money, it comes out to around $1100 with shipping I believe.
 
Philbar, what's the advantage with that card? The other one has higher clock speeds, or is it naive to think that makes it a better card out of the box? Also I notice it says in the specs for those:

"Power Requirements:
Non-SLI: 630W Minimum Power Supply
SLI: 680W Minimum Power Supply"

So obviously should I change the power supply? I just really want to make sure that it's going to be up to snuff. I'm hoping that when games like Operation Flashpoint 2 come out, I'll be able to run them at max settings or so.
 
No, the psu you have is fine. They over exagurate the power requirements a lot.

The card Phil listed is better overall. It has 216 processing cores compared to the Evga you picked which has 192. And it's a lot cheaper and XFX is a great brand, they have lifetime warranty that covers anything. You're just paying extra for the overclocked edition from Evga, which you can easily do yourself.
 
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