Assistance: Building a budget, gaming PC.

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snore

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Hey there guys. :)

I am looking to build a new PC. It has been awhile since I bought or read up new hardware developments. So I was hoping that someone could perhaps assist me in building a PC.

I mainly looking for a PC that will be able to play current new releases, Dota 2, World of Warcraft MOP Expansion (64 bit client) etc.

Budget wise, it is a bit on low end, ranging from R6000-R6800. The build does not have to include a monitor. I have one. The graphics card also does not have to be of the highest quality, I can always replace it at a later stage. The hard-drive also doesn't have to be that big, I have a few externals that I can use. 250-500 gigs will suffice, as long as the HDD is a good make and delivers decent performance. So I would say the main component would be the CPU, motherboard, and RAM. I could be wrong though lol.

So yeah, thanks in advance.
 
Dude, go to evetech.co.za
You will find something great there for that price :)
 
go for cheapest i5 ivy or sandybridge, motherboard you can also go for cheap one. Go for cheap 8GB ram even standard 8GB 1333Mhz will do. Then put the rest in graphics card
 
wootware.co.za are awesome

i5 2500k + asrock extreme 4 mobo = about 3.5k
SSD 60GB= about 750
8GB ram = about R500
buy 2nd hand GPU for R2k
 
snore said:
Hey there guys. :)

I am looking to build a new PC. It has been awhile since I bought or read up new hardware developments. So I was hoping that someone could perhaps assist me in building a PC.

I mainly looking for a PC that will be able to play current new releases, Dota 2, World of Warcraft MOP Expansion (64 bit client) etc.

Budget wise, it is a bit on low end, ranging from R6000-R6800. The build does not have to include a monitor. I have one. The graphics card also does not have to be of the highest quality, I can always replace it at a later stage. The hard-drive also doesn't have to be that big, I have a few externals that I can use. 250-500 gigs will suffice, as long as the HDD is a good make and delivers decent performance. So I would say the main component would be the CPU, motherboard, and RAM. I could be wrong though lol.

So yeah, thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Hey snore

Take a look at "The PC Build Thread" in my sig, for information on how to put together a PC and general pricing.

Here's my quote:

CPU : i7 3770 @R2860
Motherboard : ASRock Z77 Extreme4 @R1745
GPU : MSI GT 520 @R520
HDD : Seagate Barracuda 320GB @R480
Power Supply : Corsair VS450 @R450
RAM : Kingston Hyper X 8GB - 1600MHz @R455
Case : Cooler Master Elite 240 @R255
Optical Drive : Asus DVD-RW 24X @R150

Total = R6915

_________________________________________________________________
Take note you could always drop your CPU to an i5 and get a better GPU if you wanted, but the above it built to your priorities, which you mentioned a good CPU, motherboard and RAM. Hope this helps, if you have any questions just ask ;)
 
Duff-Man:
Your balance is whack for a gaming PC!

Rather get an i5 CPU and a R1200 or cheaper motherboard and spend the money that you saved there on upgrading your graphics card to like an HD6870 or better.

Lastly, skimping on a case & PSU isn't a good idea either, especially not with high end graphics cards.

What nelis & droplet mentioned are more or less what you should be looking for.

hayted also mentioned evetech, which could provide you with a very good starting point, but you can pretty much always do better if you build the PC yourself. Just be careful with evetech, because some of their PC's aren't balanced right either!
 
Pada said:
Duff-Man:
Your balance is whack for a gaming PC!

Rather get an i5 CPU and a R1200 or cheaper motherboard and spend the money that you saved there on upgrading your graphics card to like an HD6870 or better.

Lastly, skimping on a case & PSU isn't a good idea either, especially not with high end graphics cards.

What nelis & droplet mentioned are more or less what you should be looking for.

hayted also mentioned evetech, which could provide you with a very good starting point, but you can pretty much always do better if you build the PC yourself. Just be careful with evetech, because some of their PC's aren't balanced right either!
Click to expand...

I was giving a quote for snore's specs, sure one could put together a much more balanced gaming PC (which is why I pointed out under the quote that snore could always drop his CPU to an i5 and get a better PSU and GPU e.g a Corsair TX650/Antec HCG620 and a HD7850 for a more balanced build), but snore mentioned that CPU, Motherboard and RAM were of a higher priority in this case than both the GPU and HDD. Also the case has sufficient space for most current-gen graphics cards.

Just to clarify this is what I would put together for around R7000

CPU : i5 3540 @R1825
Motherboard : Gigabyte B75M-D3H @R922
GPU : Gigabyte HD7850 @R2625
HDD : Seagate Barracuda 1TB @R630
PSU: Corsair CX500 @R641
Case: Cooler Master Elite 240 @R254
Optical Drive : Asus DVD-RW 24X @R150

Total : R7047
 
i made the assumption that since he has a monitor, he probably has a case, psu and optical he can scavenge as well...
 
If it were me:

Intel Core i3-2120 @ R1209
MSI H61M-E23 (B3) @ R533
TEAM Xtreem Dark 8GB DDR3-1600 @ R479
KFA[SUP]2[/SUP] Geforce GTX560 1GB DDR5 @ R1767
OCZ Agility 3 120GB @ R1132
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB @ R718
LG GH24NS90 @ R162
Cooler Master GX 400w @ R500
Cooler Master Elite 311 @ R321

Total: R6821

Its just about the best value for money you can get so far. You'll play all of your games at Max settings, you'll have speed thanks to the SSD and there's still room for a little more storage for the slower games or ones you don't play frequently on the 500GB, or for your media.

If you're keen, you can move Steam games to and from the SSD using the Steam SSD optimiser. Setting up the SSD is made for better performance is easier thanks to Sean's SSD Optimisation guide, which you can use here and there when you're setting up Windows.
 
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@ Duff: You did not add in RAM for that last build, also that Corasir 500w PSU only has 400W on the 12v rail. Combine that with the 7850 and you are going to be close to maximum ceiling.

@ Nag-Wesley: That GX 400 with a non Ti gtx560 will leave little headroom in my opinion, with only 360w on the 12v rail even though the cpu and the rest of the parts have low psu requirements.
 
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NAG - Wesley gave a very good starting point, but I'd much rather recommend Duff-Man's last suggestion. Getting a SSD in an entry level gaming PC does not make sense, unless the PC is intended for work and some gaming.
 
Mystic Twilight said:
@ Nag-Wesley: That GX 400 with a non Ti gtx560 will leave little headroom, with only 360w on the 12v rail.
Click to expand...

True, but I'd expect the entire system to duck under the 260w mark even at full load, that's how efficient dual-core Ivy Bridge is. The GPU would consume around 170w with the CPU working under its TDP of 65w. Considering that the GX400w is rated for around 83% efficiency at 75% load, he's saving a bunch of money on electricity. I also don't see him overclocking much, there's enough power on tap already. That leaves him with headroom for a moderate overclock on the GPU as well as adding in two extra hard drives and extra fans.

Pada said:
NAG - Wesley gave a very good starting point, but I'd much rather recommend Duff-Man's last suggestion. Getting a SSD in an entry level gaming PC does not make sense, unless the PC is intended for work and some gaming.
Click to expand...

Why doesn't it make sense?
 
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Someone mind explaining to me what SSD is?

Thanks for all the help! No idea what build to take now. :/

They all seem very different.

Help!
 
snore said:
Someone mind explaining to me what SSD is?
Click to expand...

Solid State Drive

Instead of a magnetic disk spinning and heads moving across the disk to store/retrieve data you instead have memory chips (zero mechanical components) which makes things MUCH faster. The only real downsides are that they cost more money and have less capacity than traditional hard drives..

This is the simplest explanation I can come up with.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive
 
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snore said:
Someone mind explaining to me what SSD is?

Thanks for all the help! No idea what build to take now. :/

They all seem very different.

Help!
Click to expand...

Check for SSD's under the Guide to PC Building in "The PC Build Thread" (found in my sig) for an in-depth look at SSD's and what they do.

Basically SSD is a abbreviation for 'Solid State Drive': a 'drive' with no mechanical parts, but with a conventional disk-interface (usually SATA). A SSD contains memory chips (flash memory) to store the data. The biggest advantage is data is almost immediately available, without the need of moving a mechanical head to the area on the hard drive where the desired data is stored. If it's faster load times that you want the answer is to get a SSD. Take note though that an SSD will not increase your frames per second (fps) in games.


I personally would only include an SSD in my build if my budget allowed for it, I wouldn't skimp on my core components (CPU/GPU/Motherboard) just to make way for a SSD, I don't regard SSD's as a neccesity, some may tell you otherwise, but that's just my opinion.
 
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NAG - Wesley said:
Why doesn't it make sense?
Click to expand...
With a budget gaming PC, you'd want to get the maximum framerate and maximum level of graphics detail possible, given your budget.

I'm with Duff-Man on this one:
Duff-Man said:
I personally would only include an SSD in my build if my budget allowed for it, I wouldn't skimp on my core components (CPU/GPU/Motherboard) just to make way for a SSD, I don't regard SSD's as a neccesity, some may tell you otherwise, but that's just my opinion.
Click to expand...

Make no mistake, I'm all for SSD's if you can afford it.
I currently own 3 SSD's myself (1 in my gaming PC and 2 in my office PC), but my budget for both PC's are like 4x that of the original poster's budget.

I'll recommend SSD's for budget gaming PC's if the SSD's are roughly priced the same in R/GB as harddrives OR when it would be of an tactical advantage in the game when your game could load the map faster.

For office PC's its something completely different. When you regularly open and close applications or work with large files, I'll highly recommend SSD's.
 
Ah okay, well thanks guys. Think I will go for Duff-man's suggested build.
 
snore said:
I also just wanted to ask about the GPU.

Would the Gigabyte GV-N550WF2-1GI GTX550Ti be okay for a few months? Just till December 2012.

Or perhaps even the KFA² 56NGH6HX4TXZ, GTX560, 1GB 256BIT GDDR5? Was linked earlier.

I know Duff-man suggested the Gigabyte HD7850.
Click to expand...

Can't you live with the onboard for now? Seems like a waste to buy a gpu now and then replace it a few months down the line. Unless you sli that 550ti or use it as a physx gpu or even sell it but it would be a loss.
 
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