sharingan5 Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 I want to play games like Assassins Creed:Brotherhood, Call of Duty:MW2 etc. etc. and I plan to buy a 20'' LED.... I'm going for a core i3 2100 and have an NVidia Geforce 9400 GT. The options for cabinet are.. 1.CM 690 II Advanced/Plus 2.CM Storm Enforcer 3.CM Storm Scout 4.NZXT Lexa S Power Supply...VIP 500 W Gold 4 GB Ram (Transcend) Also I'm gonna get an i5 in the future and I want a motherboard compatible with both i3 and i5 and overclocking once I buy the i5. Please suggest an motherboard (Intel,Gigabyte,ASUS)(LGA 1155) costing around 110$ with Crossfire capability/SLI capability Also feel free to comment and advise me as to how exactly I should go about building this system as this is my first build. This is my plan as of now but it can be changed depending on your advise... Please help me.......any and all help is greatly appreciated My budget as previously mentioned is 650$... Thanks in advance Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owenisbad Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Power Supply...VIP 500 W Gold I would definitely replace this straight away, cheap psus are not a good idea. I think from your list of cases the Cm 690 II is probably the best choice.A good motherboard is the asrock p67 extreme4, it supports crossfire and sli at x8/x8, any p67, h67 or Z68 motherboard will work with both your i3 and an i5 2xxx. 4 GB Ram What type and speed of ram? If it's ddr2 it won't work with new motherboards. Also I would seriously consider upgrading your graphics card before getting an i5, it would make a much more noticeable difference in games. Good luck with the build Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyDeath Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 Case, the CM 690 Advanced II is a great choice. I don't know how much that PSU is going to cost you, but you could probably go with a non-gold unit for less $$$. An OCZ ModXStream is a nice modular unit, also the Corsair Builder Series (GX). If you're looking for a P67 board with crossfire and SLI, then $110 probably won't be enough unless you get open-box or used. If you just want crossfire or SLI, then its a little cheaper. From Asus your only real chance is the P8P67 Pro (or the P8P67-M Pro if you want a micro-ATX board). Those will cost more than $110 though. For bottom dollar, you had better check out Asrock, Gigabyte, MSI, and Biostar. See what you can find in your price range, but I really doubt any of them will have dual 8x (what you want for a multi-GPU setup) and support crossfire+SLI for that kind of money. Where are you buying your parts at? How to build it? Start reading some guides around the internet is my best advice. Check out some Youtube videos. I don't really have the time to go into detail in this thread about the building process... start with your case, assemble your motherboard (CPU + RAM + Heatsink), mount your motherboard, then you can install your PSU and make sure it powers on. After that, its just a matter of installing your hard drives and GPU and plugging in all your cables (fans, front panel headers, etc). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaporX Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 I want to play games like Assassins Creed:Brotherhood, Call of Duty:MW2 etc. etc. and I plan to buy a 20'' LED.... I'm going for a core i3 2100 and have an NVidia Geforce 9400 GT. The options for cabinet are.. 1.CM 690 II Advanced/Plus 2.CM Storm Enforcer 3.CM Storm Scout 4.NZXT Lexa S Power Supply...VIP 500 W Gold 4 GB Ram (Transcend) Also I'm gonna get an i5 in the future and I want a motherboard compatible with both i3 and i5 and overclocking once I buy the i5. Please suggest an motherboard (Intel,Gigabyte,ASUS)(LGA 1155) costing around 110$ with Crossfire capability/SLI capability Also feel free to comment and advise me as to how exactly I should go about building this system as this is my first build. This is my plan as of now but it can be changed depending on your advise... Please help me.......any and all help is greatly appreciated My budget as previously mentioned is 650$... Thanks in advance Okay first, go with the Antec One Hundred, the BEST budget case out there. Next look around on the PSUs and only buy from QUALITY companies. For example the otherday at Microcenter I found factor refurbed OCZ EliteXStream 800 Watts for $40. Now for most people this would be a scarey buy, however the EliteXStream was one of the builds PC Power and Cooling did under the OCZ brand. This is a GREAT PSU and worth the cost. Wish I had bought a few to be honest. Look at Antec, OCZ and Corsair for some of the better PSU values. For RAM, personally I will use nothing but Corsair or Kingston for RAM, make sure it is XMP ready to ensure the best speeds. On Newegg Gigabyte and Biostar both have Z68 based motherboards for around $100. If you want Corssfire/SLI (2x8) then you will need to spend a little more but a Z68 is the chipset I would look for. Finally as for the video if yuou want to keep the cost down I would go for a 6750 or 6670 either of which is close in price point to the 9400 GT and will eat it for lunch. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharingan5 Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 Okay guys.... Because of your advice I've decided to change my specs... the Core i3 part and the Nvidia Geforce 9400 GT remains the same (as I already have it)(I am going to upgrade my card before I buy the i5 though) As per your suggestions I will buy the CM 690 II Advance / Plus (depending on availability)(if I had to choose between the CM Storm Scout or the CM Storm Enforcer or the NZXT Lexa S which should I choose???) 4 GB RAM (now Kingston) I'll see about the Power Supply as all of you guys warned me about buying a quality power supply As for motherboards I am thinking of the Asus P8P67 or the pro version(also I meant Either SLI or Crossfire...not both) Feel free to comment or advise me about the new specs Any and all help is welcome.... Also I wanna buy a 20'' LED monitor.... which company(and model) should I go for.... Thanks in advance......... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharingan5 Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 Also please give me the links for guides detailing everything regarding assembly...including the connecting of the wires to the motherboard, PSU, CPU fans, etc. etc.... Please help..!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaporX Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 Monitors it is easy, only Buy Samsung or LG and you will never go wrong... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
medbor Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 I would not reccommend spending so much on a case (get a used/friends instead until you have enough funds)... much more woth putting it into a better GPU that the 9400 (that gpu is BAD. even a gpu for 50$ will be better nowadays) buying an i3 to later upgrade seems weird to me, just wasted money, and you dont seem to have much of it. Prices from newegg: (without rebates) Mobo about 100-125$ is not impossible (either z68 or p67) Ram 30-35$ for 4GB i5 2500K 219$ Corsair TX650W 69$ AMD 6750/6850 100/159$ Total (depending on GPU and mobo): 520-610$ This is of course without case and screen, but not even compareable performance in my opinion. After a while you can buy a Hyper 212+ for the cpu cooling, a better screen (you can probably borrow a CRT and other perhepials as a start), sound system and case. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaporX Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 If you have a Microcenter close by you can do even better, an i5 2500K out the door for $179. While you can get some great deals on RAM be a bit picky. Since you are going Intel it makes no sense to get any RAM that is not XMP ready, plus make sure it is from a solid and stable RAM maker, hence my reccomendations of Kingston or Corsair. On the case again I will say Antec One Hundred is the BEST budget case you can buy and comes in around $30 less than the 690. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Smith Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 I know you said you wanted a Sandy Bridge, but I am just going to show you what you can get by saving on the CPU and motherboard by going AMD. HD6870, PII X4 955, 60GB SSD, Case included Then just take your old hard drive for storing data. The mobo I chose has 6Bb/s ports for later use, and an IDE port if it is what your old hard drive uses. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpj Posted July 14, 2011 Posted July 14, 2011 Just curious, where are you buying from? If you do a little searching you can make this work by buying from a few different places. Like ComputerEd already mentioned, the i5-2500k is a sweet deal @ microcenter for $179, but depending on location they also just started doing combo deals with that CPU that includes an additional $40 off an 1155 Intel motherboard of your choice! (mind you this is in store pricing only, you can't get this deal on their web site) Their selection is a bit more limited, but they still have some good stuff there. If possible though, newegg is probably going to have some of the best deals/prices on the rest of the hardware if you're trying to adhere to your $650 budget. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_TheAlexO Posted July 15, 2011 Posted July 15, 2011 (edited) I know you said you wanted a Sandy Bridge, but I am just going to show you what you can get by saving on the CPU and motherboard by going AMD. HD6870, PII X4 955, 60GB SSD, Case included Then just take your old hard drive for storing data. The mobo I chose has 6Bb/s ports for later use, and an IDE port if it is what your old hard drive uses. Listen to this man! ^^^^^ Don't even think about it, just order that. SO much better performance for your dollar. edit/more: I JUST build a buddy of mine a build just like this (AMD 955, HD6870) for $600 and he loves it. I even managed to fit a Cooler Master Storm Scout in the budget. Definitely look into getting the AMD build, you will be much happier in the end. The HD6870 will blow your mind if you have been using the 9400gt. Edited July 15, 2011 by ShallowBay Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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