Your thoughts on my rig

mmk92

Well im building a computer rig that can support CAD, photoshop, illustrator and alittle gaming(in my free time).....so to cut down on costs im using hardware from an old pc a relative of mine was throwing out

Foxconn TSAA426 ATX Case 550W($49)
2.93 GHz - i3-530 4M/LGA1156($123)
4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 Ram(from older pc)
Gigabyte GA-EG41-MS2H (DDR2) (LGA1156)($118)
250GB HDD(older pc)
Inno3D GTS 250 1GB DDR3($137)
22x DVD Drive(older pc)
20"1080p LCD screen ($30 used)

total cost = $457

is this a good rig for its cost? should i get DDR3 rams instead of the ddr2s(will cost me $120 extra, is it worth it)? will it handle photoshop and gaming(ie far cry 3)?

rolf

nice, I like

mmk92

im gonna order the parts from pcandparts.com and assemble them myself, are they reliable and do they have a good warranty?

Kassem

mmk92 wroteim gonna order the parts from pcandparts.com and assemble them myself, are they reliable and do they have a good warranty?

Yes they are reliable and they do provide good warranty. Search the forums, the same questions have been asked before. Several times.

mmk92

before ordering the parts thank god i gave myself a couple of minutes looking up every part on their official websites, and found out that the motherboard that is supposetly 1156 socket is 775 and they misspelled the part nbr "GA-EG41M-S2H" instead of "GA-EG41-MS2H" w it was the only mobo listen on pcandparts.com that apparently supported 1156 and ddr2 which is important for me because i already have 4gb worth of ddr2 ram that im not willing to throw out.....any of u guys knw an alternative mobo that goes with my needs?

edgelord101

You could ask them. They will tell you if they have a mobo that's compatible with your RAM. Although your gaming won't be that bad, you won't be getting a lot out of that graphics card. For just 30 or 40 dollars more, you could get a 9800GT which is much better. The GTS250 is known for low on power consumption, not for strong performance. And the dual core is acceptable, I guess. I don't know what work you'll be doing with Photoshop and Illustrator, but you might find a quad core more useful. It's your call.

mmk92

Tako_400 wroteYou could ask them. They will tell you if they have a mobo that's compatible with your RAM. Although your gaming won't be that bad, you won't be getting a lot out of that graphics card. For just 30 or 40 dollars more, you could get a 9800GT which is much better. The GTS250 is known for low on power consumption, not for strong performance. And the dual core is acceptable, I guess. I don't know what work you'll be doing with Photoshop and Illustrator, but you might find a quad core more useful. It's your call.

isnt the GTS 250 a rebanded 9800 GTX+ which would outperform the 9800GT in a heart beat? and will a core 2 duo bottleneck it if i was forced to get a core2duo processor to keep my budget low?

edgelord101

mmk92 wroteisnt the GTS 250 a rebanded 9800 GTX+ which would outperform the 9800GT in a heart beat? and will a core 2 duo bottleneck it if i was forced to get a core2duo processor to keep my budget low?

I guess you were right. Here are your benchmarks. The GTS 250 seems to outperform the 9800GT by around 10%.

And for your question on the CPU, if you get a dual core that's at least 3.5Ghz, you won't bottleneck your card on normal gaming. But if you're a hardcore gamer and you want everything on max settings, always go with a quad core. Any dual core less than 3.5Ghz is a waste of money and you'll be getting frustrated in a matter of months after you buy it.

MrClass

wo wo wo dude. Please, dont judge on i3 like its a piece of crap. i3 would outperform a regular quad core easily. just get a compatible mobo and dump the ddr2. go straight for ddr3 1333mhz and you'll be happy. for gaming, you need faster cores rather than many cores. and photoshop and illustrator still dont use multi core technology. i have never seen my 4 cores work when photoshop is opened. btw, are you going to install x64 operating system or x86?