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Can I get a good gaming desktop for $700?

K

KingEmperior

Junior Member
I really need a desktop for upcoming games such as Battlefield 3 and Skyrim and I want to be able to play them all on at least medium, hopefully higher. Can I get/order/build a desktop around $700 that can do this? If not, what should I do? If so, can you suggest a build?



Moved from PC Gaming

Anandtech Moderator
KeithTalent
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yes, especially if you already have a Windows license.

Quick build at newegg :

$70 H67 mobo
$190 i5-2400 CPU
$55 8GB DDR3
$70AR Pc Power and Cooling 650W PSU
$30 Generic ATX mid tower
$20 DVDRW
$45 1TB Sata HDD (WD)
$220 for your choice of GPU
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152185

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150523

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139027

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231310

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130579

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115072

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103065

$680 AR with cpu aftermarlet cooler but without case, because I'm shit at picking cases, and no optical unit because it's a trivial decision to make. Final build should come at over $700, but I think it's worth getting a 2500k and an aftermarket cooler.
 
If your spending $220 on graphics you can get a 6950, after rebate.

If you are near a Microcenter, you can get some unbeatable CPU/motherboard deals.
 
shortylickens said:
Yes.
Buy a cheap pre-built from HP or Dell.
Install a good video card.
Click to expand...

That's the route I went.
I was able to snag a "scratch and dent" Dell XPS 8300 with i7-2600 for $475 after shipping and tax (and I combined it with buy a $500 dell gift card get a $75 one free, so I have about $100 in gift cards available, so it sorta cost only $400)

Put in a decent power supply (had it lying around, but it only cost like $40), 8GB of DDR3 RAM (which is pretty much free now how cheap it is) and a Radeon 6850 that I got $140 (the same one was just $100 AR from Amazon.com briefly today).

Throw in a 64GB SSD for ~$80 and you have yourself a really nice machine. Mine boots Windows 7 to the log in screen in just about 20 seconds, another 5 seconds or whatever to desktop.


I got really lucky with the dell outlet though, most ones were $100-$200 more. And of course who knows exactly the quality of the parts. The major things that I didn't replace were the CPU and motherboard. CPU is of course fine, so lets hope Dell put a decent motherboard in their XPS line.
 
unledmah.jpg
 
Arkaign said:
Yes, especially if you already have a Windows license.

Quick build at newegg :

$70 H67 mobo
$190 i5-2400 CPU
$55 8GB DDR3
$70AR Pc Power and Cooling 650W PSU
$30 Generic ATX mid tower
$20 DVDRW
$45 1TB Sata HDD (WD)
$220 for your choice of GPU
Click to expand...

Seems good overall.

If you're only spending $220 on a GPU, you don't need to spend $70 on a PSU. Wait for a deal on the Corsair 430W and save 30-50 bucks, and use them to buy a keyboard and mouse. Or Win7 license and a slightly cheaper GPU.

I'd also argue you don't need 8GB for this kind of build, but the cost savings going down to 4 doesn't really make much difference.
 
KCfromNC said:
Seems good overall.

If you're only spending $220 on a GPU, you don't need to spend $70 on a PSU. Wait for a deal on the Corsair 430W and save 30-50 bucks, and use them to buy a keyboard and mouse. Or Win7 license and a slightly cheaper GPU.

I'd also argue you don't need 8GB for this kind of build, but the cost savings going down to 4 doesn't really make much difference.
Click to expand...

I think 8gigs is good at this point. Always better to have too much than have just slightly too little when it comes to ram.
 
I'd strongly recommend getting a 2500k over the 2400. Overclocking is really easy on that platform and you get a lot more value that way.

Also if you have a microcenter in your area then there is potential to save a lot of money. They have had some fantastic 2500k+mobo deals.
 
-Slacker- said:
^It's not just the psu that would be cheap, but yeah, that would be the most glaring problem with a prebuilt pc.
Click to expand...

Friend of mine wanted to upgrade the video card in a Dell desktop he had lying around, and the layout of the motherboard made it impossible to use a dual-slot graphics card. Also, the included PSU had no spare connections so it had to be power-friendly enough to not need any extra connections.

If you plan to replace the PSU as well and you're getting a larger one, maybe it's okay, but make sure you pay attention to that stuff. And building your own is not that hard. Main advantage to prebuilt is you get Windows included.
 
vrait said:
Thats retarded. Why pay more for a POS pre-built, thats not upgradeable?


Just go with AMD OP. Can build a sick AMD system for $700. And the new cpus come out next month.
Click to expand...

Save ~$100 over a $700 build for a much slower, hotter, less overclockable AMD CPU? Sorry, that is stupid.

So what if BD is next month? What if it's delayed again? Are you going to simply build a system without anything in the AM3+ socket and call it a day?
 
Last edited:
get the best video card u can afford if your getting that intel package.

Gaming is 85% gpu.... 15% cpu unless its a RTS which needs to calculate every last sprite's movement and is multi threaded.

JTsyo said:
Head over to For Sale and buy someone's older rig for $500.
Click to expand...

That intel package is Sandy... and would most definitely last him a very long time.
If he even upgrades the cpu to a 2500K and learns to overclock, it could be the last cpu he will need for a while.
 
aigomorla said:
Gaming is 85% gpu.... 15% cpu unless its a RTS which needs to calculate every last sprite's movement and is multi threaded.
Click to expand...

I think this depends heavily on the game. Quite a few games recently have been CPU limited well before being limited by the GPU. GTA4 and BFBC2 would be 2 fairly recent examples that I've come across. Both games show almost zero performance change when I switch from 9800GT to GTX 285 because they are both limited by the CPU.

The higher the resolution you are playing at, the more likely you are to be CPU limited. The higher the AA/AF, the more likely you are to be GPU limited.
 
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