My Budget Gaming PC, Building soon

Technology and Gaming
#1

Well, title says all, building a new PC soon. Please leave your feedback on this build, Thanks! Also, if there is anything that can be replaced to lower the cost and have near the same performance that helps too!

P.S. I have a hard drive I can use, from my old PC, that is why I did not include one.

P.P.S Wanting to run modern games, at med to high-max settings, such as BF3, MW3, Crysis 2, Skyrim, Etc. Etc.

CPU= AMD FX-4100- https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103996 (109.99)

GPU= Radeon HD6870- https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161396 (169.99)

Case= Rosewill Challenger- https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153 (49.99)

Drive= Lite-On DVD Burner- https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289 (17.99)

Motherboard= ASUS M5A97 AM3+ https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131767 (94.99)

Memory/RAM= G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4 Gigabytes) https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231311 (42.99)

PSU= SeaSonic M12II https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151095 (89.99)

(with shipping)
Grand Total: $578.44 (with the processor and motherboard combo if it lasts for a month or two)
$584.44 without the combo

P.P.P.S Forgot to say budget is $600.00

#2

Looks good. People may cry, you should have got a i5 2500k, but they are very different price ranges. That will be able to play most things currently out maxed out, for example Skyrim.

You should be getting very good framerates in BF3 with everything at high too.

I currently have that GPU with a weaker processor, and don’t struggle to run anything. Occasionally I can’t run something maxed out. But I’ve never dropped a game below high settings as far as I can remember.

I would be thinking maybe you shouldn’t get a DVD drive. I still have one installed but haven’t used it in years now. Install Windows via USB. Games via the internet etc. Also, consider this case. Apparently has a 10 rebate, so only 5 dollars more than your current pick, https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811235027

#3

I dunno, I wouldn’t rule out a disc drive just yet. What about old games? I’d rather install it from a disc I have than rebuy a digital copy. Unless there’s compatibility issues that is. And personally I still use mine for ripping media too.

Also. I have that case. Mine is by a company called Casecom, but it looks damn near identical(mine has green internal clips, I wish they were blue/black though). Cheap, has lots of options, looks pretty smart; good choice. It even has watercooling holes in the back, although I doubt anyone who can afford the water route would put their tech in such a relatively cheap case :stuck_out_tongue:

One thing I would say is that first things first, MOVE THAT FRONT FAN TO THE BACK. the sideways hdd bays mean it’s essentially useless in the front, blowing air straight onto a flat metal surface. You can see in the first picture, the bays are right behind the fan. But it’s a big, lower rpm fan, so it’s far more effective in the back of the case. Not too hard to do, simply requires you to remove the front panel :slight_smile:

#4

Oh yes, that’s why I said think about it. I’ve finally got to the point where discs are now useless to me, and the disc drive I bought was just a waste of 20 quid.

#5

Cool, thanks for the help! @DrGonzo, going to have to turn down that case, I love the way the one i’m going for looks! @Siggs, thanks this is my first time building a PC! But I have been asking another friend of mine, he’s had some experience too! Trying to get as much information as I can. :smiley:

Also going to switch the motherboard I will have all of this stuff in about a month or two, gotta get the $$$

Motherboard= https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131767 Same price as ASRock

EDIT: Sexy PC by the way!

EDIT 2: Haven’t been to bed, too much Diablo III, this PC is ancient! LAG! @DrGonzo nah man, I NEED my cd/dvd drive, can’t live without one, but I can finally live without a floppy disk drive, this PC still has one :stuck_out_tongue: ! LOL!

#6

Your first build can be rather daunting, but if you’ve swapped parts around before, there shouldn’t be much to be nervous about. The main problem I ran into was using the correct amount of thermal paste on the processor.

I have an old video card (GTX470) and can play everything I’ve tried on it at max settings with great framerates. i5 2500k OC’d to 4 GB, and 8 gigs of RAM. I don’t know how it compares to the processor you’re getting, since I know nothing about AMD processor model numbers.

#7

Yep, not worried about putting it all together, I’ve swapped parts many times, also going to use the stock cooler for the Processor. I’ve read that the temps wont get too high, as I will not be OC’ing.

Well Ive read a lot of good things about the “Bulldozer” processor. I don’t need to worry about it, as I’m sure it’s better than phenom. The performance-price ratio is what I’m going for, not sure how it stacks up against the i5 2500k. Just going for the best bang for my buck!

EDIT: added quote tags

#8

Haha thanks :wink: If you need to get your friend to help you move that fan, I say do it. It’ll be worth the effort, your pc will run much cooler.

…and if you put it up against a wall, it’ll look cooler too… :wink:

^long exposure, very much exaggerated. It’s not normally that bright, it’s nice and subtle.

#9

It also keeps you awake if you leave it on at night.

#10

Haha, nah, I leave my monitor on at night running movies :stuck_out_tongue: , nothing keeps me awake!

Nah, thats ok, I think I’ll manage it on my own. I’ve had enough experience to move stuff around in a PC, and also I’m very confident. Won’t be building this until like a month or two, need to gather the cash to get the parts! Overall, I believe this will be a good pc last about 2-3 years, until technology advances. I just wanna play Diablo III on max with no lag, same for Crysis 2, maybe not Battlefield 3 I heard from my friends it isn’t as great as it seems, they referenced it as a “CoD Clone.”

EDIT: Ya, I will probably leave it in the back, the blue lighting looks cool!

#11

I mean it when I say it’s subtle. If anything the noise of the PC overnight is more of an issue.

#12

My only advice to you is DO NOT get an antec power supply. There is a reason they are so cheap. My friend had 2 blow up on him within 8 months under warranty. Just think how it goes to every piece of hardware in your pc and what kind of spikes it sends out when it blows up. Just a warning for you. I believe corsair is mostly made by seasonic which are the best power supplies in the business. They took an 850 watt and pushed it over 1k watts and it got more effecient haha. Highly recommend a seasonic if you can afford one.

#13

Thanks for the words of advice, I took this into account quite heavily, don’t want my PSU exploding when I’m sleeping.

#14

Actually I second that. I prefer Corsair when it comes to PSUs, I’m using a 550W atm

#15

Cool Siggs. Um, I don’t know a whole lot about wattage, and what all those parts require. How many watts would I be safe with? I’m not sure what PSU to pick…

#16

It depends. What do you plan on doing with the system? Do you plan on overckocking? Crossfire? How many hard drives? I run 2 GTX470’s an overclocked to hell 2600k core i7 and 5 mechanical drives and an SSD with an xfi fatality gamer. I’m running a seasonic 850watt 80 gold power supply.

Edit: also keep in mind that you can always go higher. This actually is sometimes better as the psu doesn’t have to work as hard and produces less heat. 750 should be good for the off chance you decide to get a 2nd 6870 and do crossfire. But 850+ if you can afford it will allow you to upgrade in the future without upgrading the psu.

Go as high as your budget will allow for a quality psu. Like I stayed before. The psu is one of the most important things. If it is supplying dirty power then it could kill other components in the system.

#17

750 is overkill, I think for a system like this 650 will suffice, with headroom for maybe a new gpu or slight overclocking on the cpu.

My system is oc’d and runs a lot of drives, and a similar gpu; I’m fine on 550

#18

The GPU is what uses the most power on any system. I think my GTX recommends a 650w for one if I’m but mistaken. For his system 650 is alright. But 750 I would say is ideal. And so what if its over kill. It will run cooler and won’t break a sweat with what its doing. And if it still works down the road use it with a new build. Future proof :slight_smile:

#19

Thanks for all the awesome feedback! I don’t plan on overclocking but, how much could i push the system, with stock cooler on the cpu. Also how much would i be able to push ram and gfx card. I have no idea how to even overclock, but if it isn’t that big of a performance increase, I may just go with a 650 watt.

FINALLY FOUND IT! this is the psu im going with! 620 watts of power baby! https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151095

620 WATTS OF POWA!, leaves plenty of room for upgrading, or a little overclocking with stock cooler, and 3 fans :smiley: .

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