Need help on specs for building a PC

The Game Room
1

Many, many years ago, I used to build all my PCs and those for friends and family. I knew all the pros and cons of the components and what offered the best bang-for-the-buck in terms of performance.

As I got older (…I turned 40 today…), there was less and less of needing to do that, so I fell out of the loop in terms of what was impressive versus flashy but not effective.

Since our family’s first IBM PC back in the early 80s, I’d used computers for gaming (as well as productive purposes…), so whenever I built a PC, it always had gaming in mind. However, when kids came around, the family PC became more for email/simple web browsing than anything else.

For gaming, I moved to the PS3. I am well aware that some people here (SenorBeef, Kinthalis) look upon me as some unevolved lifeform who is partially responsible for destroying all that is good in the world. I make no apologies - I had (and am still having) fun on the platform.

However, the old trusty family PC died yesterday. It is mourned most of all by the kids, who can no longer check their Webkinz/Moshi Monster/World of Cars/etc. accounts.

I played, and enjoyed to the best I could, Oblivion on my PS3. I knew mods existed (played Morrowind on the PC to much delight), but wasn’t an option for me. I miss playing certain games on the PC (SenorBeef ran an excellent CS:Source sever back in the day, which taxed our PC to the max), so I figure, what better opportunity to get Skyrim and some select FPS back by building a new PC now.

The problem is, I am so far out of the loop that it would take me too long to get back up to speed on what is good and what is not - the kids will not tolerate any delays. My preliminary research has left me confused and overwhelmed (happens in old age like mine).

So I throw it to the PC gamers out there. Help me build a new PC based on a budget of $700 (4 kids are expensive). I want the best price for performance PC I can get in that range that also has a somewhat future-possible upgrade path (e.g. as an old school example, don’t recommend an ISA bus MB with PCI being out there). I do not need a monitor, nor do I care for a flashy case. I could reuse keyboard and mouse, but those should not be dealbreakers in the grand scheme of the price anyways. Assume nothing else is reusable at this point.

Help me come back to the platform where I started (although I still love my PS3).

2

Happy birthday!

I built one in the $600-700 range not too long ago. Some components were reused. You will have to play with some things to get under budget. I use newegg.com and often search for bundle deals to save money. IIRC I saved $80 on the same components just buying the best combination of bundles. Some things to consider:

Processor: AMD, Intel, or other? I don’t recommend other. Someone correct me, but I think Intel is considered the best choice these days. In that case you probably want an i5 or maybe low i7.

Motherboard: Constrained by the socket of above. For gaming, you probably don’t need an onboard video. Up to you on onboard audio.

RAM: How much? 4, 8, 16 GB. Obviously get paired of the same brand for best results. I prefer the name brands but not the priciest. I think I have OCX or Corsair in now.

HD, OS: You likely want a new one, and maybe Win7 to install on it unless you have disks.

Video card: Tom’s Hardware: Best video cards February, and Hierarchy list to show how they compare to others, as the numbers used don’t make much sense. I think ATI vs Nvidia is pretty much a wash these days. Crossfire/SLI is probably not necessary.

Case/PSU: Get a decent wattage. 400W is too low 1000W will be too much but as high as you can afford. Cases are pretty interchangable, main thing to look for is form factor and number of bays. Also see what its cooling system is like and whether you need to buy more fans. I usually replace the stock CPU fan but these days I’m not sure that’s necessary.

3

I tried to throw together a system although I’d let others pick it apart before running off and buying it.

Intel Core i5-2500K ($225) - Everywhere I go, this processor gets lauded as the peak intersection between performance and price. You can go higher with an i7 but you won’t need to for gaming.

GeForce GTX 460 1GB ($150) - Not the top of the line but more than adequate for gaming at med/high settings. For comparisons sake, the previously linked video card heirarchy recommends going up 3 tiers to see a difference. That’d put you at a $300 GTX 570Ti. I have a 9800 GTX+ (2 tiers lower than you) and still play most games on default high settings – with it, I still hit “recommended” specs for Mass Effect 3, for instance.

Gigabyte 1155 motherboard ($114) - Name brand board, holds up to 32GB memory. You’re not going to play with SLI dual-GPUs anyway.

Ripjaws 2x4GB DDR3 1600 memory combo with Thermaltake 630W PSU ($106) - 8GB of memory should be more than enough to start off with. The PSU will be more than sufficient for your needs and probably to upgrade with.

Lite-On 24x DVD burner OEM ($18) - It’s cheap and it’s a DVD-ROM.

NZXT Tempest 210 case ($55) - It’s a midrange case with good reviews. I have no personal experience with it.

That puts you at $670 (not counting any tax or shipping).

Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM ($99) - Now we’re over budget but you need an OS.

To go back to your limit, you can swap out the CPU with an i3 2100T for $135, knocking $90 off. I used an i3-570 for a couple years and was perfectly happy with it. Upgraded to an i7 just because I found one for cheap and my socket type (1156) was going obsolete so my opportunities were fading. Point being, I was happy enough with my i3 and you should be as well if going over budget is a deal breaker. I went Intel/nVidia on stuff because that’s what I hear the best things about these days especially for CPUs. Someone might be able to make a better/cheaper argument for an alternate GPU though.

Hope this helps give you some ideas and maybe people can refine my suggestions since I’m not an expert.

4

Crap, I just realized I forgot a HD for you. Did… uhhh… you think you’d want a hard drive? :stuck_out_tongue:

Western Digital 1TB 7200RPM HD ($129) - You’re probably at the i3 CPU at this point. Oops.

5

Hitting $700 is a little tough for a decent gamer-capable setup, but here goes:

[ul]
[li]GIGABYTE GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX ($110) Several versions of this motherboard have done well - includes a couple of USB 3 ports, too. Upgradeable to 32GB.[/li]
[li]Intel Core i5-2400 ($190) Yes, the unlocked 2500K is faster. No, you won’t notice a difference (raw performance is about 10-15% difference). And, at a $700 budget, the $35 difference in price is important.[/li]
[li]ASUS EAH6770/DI/1GD5 Radeon HD 6770 1GB ($110, or $90 with rebate) One of Tom’s favorites are this price point.[/li]
[li]G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ($40) Cheap and fast.[/li]
[li]HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000.D 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s ($85) Drives are still pricey due to the SE Asia floods last fall. Smallish, but a decent drive with a 3 year warranty.[/li]
[li]SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner 22X ($20) Samsung’s have been reliable for me.[/li]
[li]Thermaltake V3 Black Edition VL80001W2Z Black SECC / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ($48, or $38 with rebate) I’ve used a couple of these - while the fit and finish doesn’t challenge the $100+ options, I’ve been pleasantly surprised given the price.[/li]
[li]PC Power and Cooling Silencer MK III 400W Modular 80PLUS Bronze Power Supply ($70, or $50 with rebate) While its “only” a 400w PS, it has a 30A 12VDC rail… not a problem. Excellent build quality. Modular cabling.[/li]
[li]Win 7 Home Premium ($100) Microsoft tax.[/li][/ul]

Total: $723 from NewEgg with rebates.

If $700 is a hard ceiling, switch the motherboard for the MSI H67MS-E43 (B3) at $70 after rebate ($90 before) - that gets down the $683 without too much loss.

6

I posed your question elsewhere and got suggestions for a slightly trimmed down build mainly revolving around a smaller hard drive and less beefy PSU.

NZXT Tempest 210 Mid Tower Computer Case - $55

Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - $85

Radeon HD 6850 1GB Video Card - $140

XFX ProSeries P1-450S-X2B9 450W PSU - $58

G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 RAM - $55

GIGABYTE GA-Z68AP-D3(R2.0) LGA 1155 Motherboard - $109

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM - $99

Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz LGA 1155 CPU combo with LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black - $129

That’s $730 not counting any shipping or discounting the $45 worth of mail-in rebates. The video card is slightly worse than the GTX 460 I listed earlier and only $10 less so it’s up to you to decide how you’d like to go there.

7

Here’s Tech Report’s March 2012 “Econobox” build which comes in at $627. You’ll need to add that $100 Win7 though but you can read and see what they were thinking.

8

Ok, one last post.

Tiger Direct has a barebones system for $429 you might find interesting. i5-2500K, 8GB memory, 500GB Hard drive. You’ll need to add your $100 Windows and you’d have $150 left over in the budget for the GeForce 460.

Board is definitely nothing special. No USB 3.0 and “only” supports 16GB RAM. Micro form as well so it’s cramped. Looking at some sites, it seems to be of questionable build quality. Still, quite a few others say it works for them and the whole kit (+OS & GPU) would fall just under budget.

9

I won#t chime in because the builds mentioned so far are excellent. Defintely try to aqueeye that i5 2500k on there. Those suckers easly overlcock into the 4.5 Ghz territory.

Also keep in mind that PC gamers have very different expectations of a gaming rig, from what cosole gamers except out fo a console.

The rigs mentioned above are for playing games at over 720p resolution, high graphics settings, tiny load times, 40+ FPS, etc, etc.

PC gaming is much cheaper now a days because it doesnt take much to easily beat the gaming performance of a modern console. Thing is, PC gaming is like star wars.

Faster frame rates leads to great graphics, lead to tighter controls, lead to better gaming experience, lead to great disatisfaction with consoles, and therein lies the dark side my friend.

IT#s cool though, I hear we have cookies.

10

I know what I was missing and know what I am coming back to. That is why I want to make sure the new PC will be as good as possible for those purposes.

Thanks for all the suggestions. If I were to steal a little fro their college funds - say $50/each to bring the total up to $900, where would be my best bang for buck, realizing now that I will want at least a 1TB HDD…?

11

I’d go with something closer to my original build (which was $800) and knock the video card up a grade. The issue with that was over-budget, not that it was really lacking. You really don’t need to go better than the i5-2700k and the rest of the build doesn’t have any real issues.

Here is Tech Report’s “Sweet Spot” which is a $950 build. I’d personally dump the audio card and put the money towards the 1TB drive if you really want it over the 750GB.

12

Jophiel that first build of yours looks nice but I’ll be damned if I can find a power supply in there.

But yes, that build with a PSU and maybe a step up on the video card would be sweet. Or a few extra bucks on a case.

The other question is - what size monitor and resolution are you (ie mske) going to be running this beast on?

All of the video cards in the mid-range will be able to crank out great results at, say, 1680x1050. When you step up to a bigger monitor you need to step up the video cards.

13

630W thermaltake combo with the memory :slight_smile:

14

:smack:Yeah, that’s what I get for only looking at the links when someone goes to the trouble of actually linking stuff!

I built a gaming rig for about $900 just over two years ago, but since then I’ve added another hard drive and upgraded the video card. Oh, and an aftermarket CPU cooler. Damn, I thought this thing was going to be a temporary solution but it has turned into my main rig.

But I look forward to the OP’s build. I always enjoy starting from scratch and ending up with a spanking new, clean system that can crush any game thrown at it. One of these days I am just going to shoot for the moon when I build the thing and never upgrade until it’s time to build a new one!