BleepingComputer.com: An $800 Build PC for casual gaming, AutoCAD and Matlab

I'm looking to buy a new pc this week, but I'm still picking parts right now, trying to finalize everything... Price range is $800, which this build will be about $800.

I'll be using the PC for AutoCAD, Matlab, MathCAD, Abaqus, and some very light gaming. I already have an OS, monitor, keyboard, mouse and a speaker so I don't need those anymore.

I have a preliminary build, but I'm not sure if they match... If anyone care to look over it?
[*]Samsung DVD Burner
[*]Antec Three Hundred Black Steel
[*]Seagate Barracuda ST 31000528AS 1TB
[*]XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT)
[*]CORSAIR CMPSU-650 TX
[*]G.Skill Ripjaws Series 4GB
[*]GIGABYTE GA-H55M-USB3 LGA 1156
[*]i5-750

That specific case doesn't seem to support Micro ATX motherboards. Everything else seems to be okay, though.

From the Antec website, the 300 Hundred case supports Mini-ITX, microATX, Standard ATX motherboards. Link

Because I am an AMD fanboy, I would do the same build but change the motherboard and cpu to AMD style.

MSI 870A-G54 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813130275

This motherboard is a regular ATX motherboard and will for sure fit your case. It has 2 usb 3.0 just like your choice. It also has sata III which is 6 gigabit which your motherboard doesn't have. It also comes with another PCI express 2.0 x16 slot(It's not fast enough for a second graphics card, unfortunately).
Best Part: It's $20 cheaper.
You should go with this in my opinion, but you might be able to find a even better board for Intel, IDK.

With the above motherboard you need a AMD CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...3-808-_-Product
This is a quad core just like your i5. It's about $35 cheaper. I think it is overall a little worse than the i5 you chose or on par, but you get some other features in return.
-Upgradeability. You can easily upgrade to AMD's future CPUs as they tend to change sockets less often. If you feel the need you can upgrade to AMD's top CPU, the six core phenom II x6
-Unlocked multipliers. This makes overclocking somewhat easier, especially if you are new.

The only bad thing is it takes 30 watts more than your i5.

So, you save a total 55 dollars, which you spend on... a heatsink for overclocking!

Just telling you what I would do to provide some input. Good luck.

Just an opinion, but I would go for this as far as a mobo, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813128425

Not a fan of the micro ATX board unless I actually needed it to fit a small HTPC case.

Time to think about CPU cooling as that case doesn't have a "window" behind the CPU to get at the fasteners on most aftermarket coolers. If you aren't going for crazy overcocks/voltages, try out the stock cooler for awhile to see how it goes.

Nice build.

Oh, and this instead of the Seagate, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136284 I am not sure if Seagate has all of their gremlins fixed yet in their larger drive(s).

Luke L, on Jun 29 2010, 11:40 PM, said:

Hey that is the same combo I just put together last night (didn't get to a point where I could try turning it on yet though hopefully that will happen tonight and I will post about its success/failure after for a first time builder). Anyway, I was curious as to why you said "Its not fast enough for a second graphics card" Can you or anyone else ellaborate on what you see in the specs that point you to that conclusion?

Luke L, on Jun 30 2010, 12:40 PM, said:

A lot of people have suggested that to me too! I'm really impartial between the two at this point and the only reason I picked i5 750 was because I've only had intel PCs and since this is the first time I'm building a PC, I'd like to stick with what I'm familiar with. is there a significant difference in installation between AMD or Intel?

Especially now that you point out the issue about upgradeability, I'm thinking about using the X4 955 now...

Oh, and what do you guys think about the USB 3.0 option? Is it worth the trouble? From what I've read around, there are still a lot of issues and glitches to be worked out with the motherboard that has the USB 3.0 so I'm not sure about this either... I might just buy a card for the USB 3.0 later...

dpunisher, on Jun 30 2010, 06:03 PM, said:

Thanks for pointing that out, I didn't realize Seagate has issues with their larger hard drives. The only thing that I considered was that seagate has a longer warranty which meant to me that they have more confidence in their product. (Basically, I get more warranty than its WD counterpart) Also, it's cheaper (It has the promotion $15 off.

I saw this WD hard drive though:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136534

and I'm thinking of switching to that instead...

This post has been edited by KIDRoach: 30 June 2010 - 08:41 AM

Zebug, on Jun 30 2010, 06:41 AM, said:

I'm no expert but this is what I think I know:
This motherboard has two 2.0 PCI x16 slots. The first one runs at x16 speed, which is what most new motherboards have as their primary slot. The second slot, although the same slot in shape and physical dimensions, will only run at x4 speed. With this you still can run a second graphics card, it's just that high end ones will be hindered. Here is article of testing a graphics card at different speeds: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pci-ex...2.0,1915-4.html It's two years old but should still help.

Oh and I just quickly chose a motherboard that looked like the best bang for it's buck and then the cpu that I would get myself if on that budget. But for me I am willing to pay $20 more for the Phenom II 965 x4 which is 3.4 Ghz. It's not as good as a deal as the 955, but this way I can say I have the best AMD quad core processor! And it easily beats the Phenom II x6 which isn't good for gaming since games are just starting to utilize four cores.

This post has been edited by Luke L: 30 June 2010 - 11:06 AM

There is no significant difference between Intel and AMD CPU's, they both can run the same software and install on the motherboard very easily. The Phenom II X6 should be used if you are doing anything that is heavily multithreaded like some video encoding applications or scientific programs. Only very new games can take advantage of four cores, if they are coded to do so, and, in that sense, an X6 CPU should be considered if you do gaming along with heavily threaded programs. Otherwise, it may just be a money sink. Do remember, that the warranty on some CPU's states that using a cooler other than the one provided with the CPU may void it. As for USB 3.0, the hardware specs are already set, firmware or driver updates, or, in this case, BIOS updates, could reduce the number of glitches. Frankly, worrying about the occasional hiccup with USB 3.0 isn't too much to become concerned about. The MSI motherboard is good and uses the value-centric AMD 870 chipset. If you believe you may use a second graphics card, you may want to get one with a different chipset, such as the 890FX, which is an enthusiast motherboard designed for gamers. For an 890FX motherboard, I suggest the ASRock 890FX DELUXE3 AM3 AMD 890FX.

just replying as I said I would since I just got that combo that Luke recommended. It was my first time building and it was easier than I could have hoped for. Just ran a quick benchmark for it and it said I could easily run Battlefield Bad Company 2 on high settings (and anyone that knows much about that game knows that it needs some power to run that game). Best of luck to you and listen to these people...they know what they are doing:)