$1100.oo build

[Tigger29]

See?  Now that was a much more educational post.  Sounds a lot like Autozone auto parts!  LOL

[Reschke]

Don't like to buy the store brands of any electronic items.

[L0nGb0w]

I also would stick with the e8400. Im using one also, and slightly overclocked.
THe mobo should be upward compatibale for the I series also.

I know my mobo is expandable. But I should see several years with the setup I did.

+1, the wolfdale cpus are great.  Built my machine a year ago with the e8600 and have had no problems with it

[TilDeath]

I also would stick with the e8400. Im using one also, and slightly overclocked.
THe mobo should be upward compatibale for the I series also.

I know my mobo is expandable. But I should see several years with the setup I did.

You can NOT use a E8400 on any other MB then a socket 775.  So your statement of upward compatible to an "i" series is NOT correct.

TD

[Ghosth]

Just an FYI, 3 years ago right after thanksgiving I was building a pair of new systems.

Most here on the boards were all gloom and doom because I went with a 50$ Mwave case w/500 watt power supply.
Tried to tell me that it wasn't enough PSU, and that it wouldn't likely last a year, etc, etc.

Now my buddy who built a pair of systems some 4 months after me with a tiger direct case's has lost both of those power supplys.

My systems are almost 3 years old and are still performing flawlessly. Still gets more than 60 fps in most situations.
And the power supply that everyone gloomed and doomed about, its still doing just fine. Yes, BOTH of them.

Besides, if a year or 2 down the road, a psu goes, 40 - 70$ gets you a new one, 1 hour swap out, and your back in business.  Its one of the easier pieces to swap out in my opinion.

So save your $$$ and give the rosewill PSU a shot if you like.
Just accept that at some point you may have to replace it.

[TilDeath]

My systems are almost 3 years old and are still performing flawlessly. Still gets more than 60 fps in most situations.

Is this obtained with the HiRes pack running and everything turned on and all the way up?  Reason I ask is because I get calls about systems for players here and the first thing they say is "I want full FR with everything turned on and all the way up"

I have not seen a budget build obtain 60fps unless your looking up at the clear blue sky.  Please elaborate on your settings and the 60fps.

TD 

[Ghosth]

No TD, its not, and I understand exactly where you are coming from. I was not putting down your systems at all.
They are top of the line systems designed to run AH at max. Mine was never designed to do that, nor does it need to.

Personally I'm happy not running the high res pack, and I'm the oddball that doesn't prefer to have his screen res cranked to max. At the time I couldn't afford even the 600$ for the system that I built.

Also I understand that as a "builder" who cranks out many systems a year you can not afford even a 10% failure rate of PSU's. So your hardware has to be rock solid. But then your not selling 600$ systems either. You get what you pay for.

[Masherbrum]

I spoke with Skuzzy prior to building my E8400 system in July of 2008.  In March of that year he told me to "get the 750W PC Power & Cooling PSU" and I immediately ordered it. 

Like Skuzzy, BE & TD, I consider the PSU to be the backbone/core of ANY PC.

I will continue to only get proven PSU's in the future.

[Chalenge]

Ghosth I dont mean to scare you but... your PSU is right at the point where thermal history and time are working against its useable lifespan. If it is not built like one of the better PSUs it is not going to handle the end days very gracefully and that will end up costing you more than a new PSU. It just doesnt make sense to put a $40 PSU in a system of any value at all. Most likely it will ONLY take out the motherboard and memory WHEN it expires but there could be other problems in other peripherals and that could be hidden for sometime after you build a new system and have moved those peripherals over. I have lived that nightmare which is why I make the recommendations I do.

[TilDeath]

No TD, its not, and I understand exactly where you are coming from. I was not putting down your systems at all.
They are top of the line systems designed to run AH at max. Mine was never designed to do that, nor does it need to.

Personally I'm happy not running the high res pack, and I'm the oddball that doesn't prefer to have his screen res cranked to max. At the time I couldn't afford even the 600$ for the system that I built.

Also I understand that as a "builder" who cranks out many systems a year you can not afford even a 10% failure rate of PSU's. So your hardware has to be rock solid. But then your not selling 600$ systems either. You get what you pay for.

The only reason I mentioned it Ghosth is because some players are under the misunderstanding that a 600, 700, or 800 dollar system will run the game at max FR with everything turned all the way up.  I wanted to make sure this was not the case again and misunderstood.

 

TD

[AAJagerX]

I went with a Corsair GS700 when I switched my old 9400Gt card to an ATI 5770.  Great PSU, but it was $120 or so.  Now I want to swap my old E2180 processor for something with a bit more speed.  I was thinking about going with the 8400 (good price), but am still on the fence.  Any advice would be appreciated.

[Masherbrum]

Jag's, the upgrade to the E8400-8600 would be noticeable and well worth it IMO.

[skribetm]

if you get around to getting tired of paying for the intel tax,
i suggest you try this ~$700.00 build. fully upgradeable to six-cores later on.
(if you really have to.)

max settings, balls to the walls hi-res 1080P gaming.

[Masherbrum]

The 5850 would be a better card than the 6870, they are the same price and the 5850 would probably score better for the same price.

[Chalenge]

if you get around to getting tired of paying for the intel tax,
i suggest you try this ~$700.00 build. fully upgradeable to six-cores later on.
(if you really have to.)

max settings, balls to the walls hi-res 1080P gaming.

Sorry but AMD doesnt have anything that can hit the same level of performance as the top tier of Intels line. That could change someday... maybe.