Building an $800 gaming rig

[Rob]

I'm getting sick of my scaleo P Fujitsu siemens desktop not being able to handle all the games that are actually worth playing....... hence why I am looking into buying a gaming rig.
My budget is £400 (I can go over a bit but I'de rather not as I'm only 15).
I made a list of what I think should work but I need some help making sure it will.

Motherboard - http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(30957)Gigabyte-motherboard-GAMA770DS3-AMD-AM2-Phenom.aspx
Processor - http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(27138)AMD-CPU-AM2-Phenom-64-Quad-Core-9500-Retail.aspx
Ram - http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=GA-MA770-DS3%20%28rev.%201.0%29
NVidia PCI-e - http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(22637)XFX-GeForce-8600-GT-512MB-DDR2-PCIE-DVI-540Mhz.aspx
Hard drive - http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(12304)Samsung-160GB-HD160HJ-SATA-II-300-7200rpm.aspx
CD DVD drive - http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(16495)Pioneer-DVR112BK-Black-18X-DVD-RW-RAM-DL.aspx
Tower -
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(22905)Tsunami-case-LEO46-Midi-tower-600W-PSU-24.aspx


Also, please be as critical as you need to be and could you give me some suggestions whether I could make it cheaper or if I need something else etc..
thankyou

[squall_01]

You dont have a sound card on here.  How are you going to pay for it?

[midsail]

Hi Rob follow this link to PC Magzine

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2271782,00.asp

It's article about building a $800. gaming monster. Good luck

[Rob]

thanks for the link, yeah I forgot the sound card because when I was making the list I had an Asus striker extreme motherboard with an integrated one...or atleast one of them did. I have this posted on a couple of forums so I'l keep updating if needed.

[squall_01]

thanks for the link, yeah I forgot the sound card because when I was making the list I had an Asus striker extreme motherboard with an integrated one...or atleast one of them did. I have this posted on a couple of forums so I'l keep updating if needed.

I figured as much,  Usually on board sound isnt that great.  When I made my rig, I set it up so that I could have as many speakers as I wanted Dual or Surrond.  This is the advantage of the card.  So you know.

[Calum]

I can do better than your current list, I'm sure . . . give me a while and I'll post again with a build.
Oh, and onboard sound is usually fine, but for gaming or serious audio use, it's really not.

Edit: OK, here's the build.  bear in mind this is without a monitor, OS or mouse/keyboard . . . I would guess you have the first and last, not sure if you have a legal OS disk somewhere, otherwise add at least £50.

Case
PSU
Sound card
DVD burner
Graphics card
RAM
CPU
HDD
Motherboard

Compared to the rig you put together, this has a PSU and sound card, also a better graphics card.
The RAM is faster and from the UK rather than US too.
However, some may say the case is not as good (personally I love this case, it's deceptively cheap), and it does have a slower CPU.
Finally, it's also cheaper, at £343.98 excluding delivery.

Hope this helps somewhat.

[fpsmitch]

with the extra cash i would get a new cpu and mobo

[Calum]

with the extra cash i would get a new cpu and mobo

What extra cash?

[fpsmitch]

i though the euro was about 1.5x usd?

[Calum]

$1 (U.S. dollar) = ~£2 (Great Britain pounds)
Therefore $800 = ~£400, which would be why the title is $800 gaming rig, and in the original post it says £400.

[fpsmitch]

wihtout that cpu it is less than 300 euro.
that eaves around 100 euro(~200usd)

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4MMF&CategorySelectedId=11147&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11147,4294958803
that puts it extremely close to the original budget( )

[homer]

*ahem*

1£=$1.55729 as of 2008.03.16 19:31:30 UTC

found @ xe.com

[fpsmitch]

hah! i knew i saw it somewhere!
thanks homer
(that leaves even more money for processor and mobo upgrade!)

[Calum]

It's pounds, NOT Euros.
And that CPU is a bad choice, the E8200 is far superior.
Also, if the OP needs an OS, then that puts them over the budget.
If an OS is not necessary then the cash saved should be used for upgrades, however I think a better graphics card would probably be a better choice than blowing it all on a faster CPU.

And homer - at xe.com I'm seeing £1 GBP = $2.02679 USD.

[homer]

i thought UK used Euros...

but your right, £1 GBP = $2 USD.

this leads to the question, is the OP paying in pounds or euros?