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Console Gamer Looking to Switch... In Need of Help

S

Sp3Nc3R 87

Junior Member
Hey everyone, sorry I am sure there is a lot of this on here but I am looking for some advice and help. I currently play on a 360 and PS3 but am increasingly interested by PC gaming and its perks. As a result I need some help concerning how to enter the PC gaming world and what kind of setup will be best. I am an FPS fan and mostly play games like COD and BF while also playing sports games like NHL and Madden.

So what I am looking for is either a setup I could assemble on my own or a comparable, but affordable pre built if such a thing exists. I want to be able to play games at a high quality, or at least better than my current consoles as I plan to ditch them upon switching. My budget would ideally max out at $800, but I would consider spending a $1000 if that extra money makes a difference.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for any help.
 
1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Games like Bad Company, Gears of War and Call of Duty, as well as sports games like Madden and NHL

2. What your budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

$800 ideally

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

Live in Canada, assuming the parts will come from USA

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

No brand preference

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

Unfortunately don't have any as I am switching from consoles, all I own is a Macbook

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

Yes

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

If necessary

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.

I am not sure what is the best or recommended

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?

Sometime this summer, or early September
 
I do not currently have one but I was planning on buying a monitor outside of the budget I stated above, planning on running 1900x1200 as that seems to be pretty common amongst other builds I have seen
 
Now remember, PC gaming is not a one time expense, you need to keep feeding the puppy few hundred dollars every year and then a big 6 to 8 hundred dollar every 2-3 years. If you can commit to that then go for it! its so much fun!! build yourself, no fun buying a prebuilt.

Here is a rough estimate of what you are looking at if you want to get real advantages of PC gaming...
CPU - 220
Mobo - 130
GPU - 200
RAM - 70
HDD - 75
Case - 60
PSU - 60
Total - 815

If you need OS and Keyboard mouse then...
OS - 100
KbM - 40
New Total - 955

If you need monitor too that's another $200 - Total $1155

Like what you see till now? if so we can give you some recommendations of parts makes and models...
 
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That does look pretty good to me, ideally if I could keep the whole package under the $1000 that would be great. Although I have a feeling I may be a bit naive about what is required for a quality gaming system. I am unfortunately aware of the upgrade costs, I also understand the reason for them, do you find that normally you upgrade one or two things a year? or is more things but every 3-4 years? Sorry I am new to this as I have been a console gamer for a long time. Thanks again for your help and I would definitely be interested in some actual makes and models.
 
Sp3Nc3R 87 said:
That does look pretty good to me, ideally if I could keep the whole package under the $1000 that would be great. Although I have a feeling I may be a bit naive about what is required for a quality gaming system. I am unfortunately aware of the upgrade costs, I also understand the reason for them, do you find that normally you upgrade one or two things a year? or is more things but every 3-4 years? Sorry I am new to this as I have been a console gamer for a long time. Thanks again for your help and I would definitely be interested in some actual makes and models.
Click to expand...

I find myself upgrading every few months 😱 But that may just be because i never can stop myself. :whiste:

For a system like yours i would buy a computer for around 800, in 6 months or so pick up an SSD in another 6 or 12 months a new GPU and then 6-12 months after that a new motherboard/CPU combo (assuming a new socket). With possibly RAM (DDR4? :awe🙂
 
Sp3Nc3R 87 said:
That does look pretty good to me, ideally if I could keep the whole package under the $1000 that would be great. Although I have a feeling I may be a bit naive about what is required for a quality gaming system. I am unfortunately aware of the upgrade costs, I also understand the reason for them, do you find that normally you upgrade one or two things a year? or is more things but every 3-4 years? Sorry I am new to this as I have been a console gamer for a long time. Thanks again for your help and I would definitely be interested in some actual makes and models.
Click to expand...

well... its both, for example a few months down the line you want better GPU, can trade it the current one or go for SLI/CFX. that's like a $150 - $200 expense, or maybe a SSD or another HDD, or a BD or something else... those are the kind of upgrades you will keep making from time to time. 2 to 3 years down the road the whole technology will change, at that point you will need a bulk investment on everything, you case will be old, you will demand more juice from PSU, CPU mobo RAM everything will need change. That's will be a big expense.

So its basically both, little bit for small expense every now and then and a BIG expense every 3 4 years.

As for parts, just read around, a $800ish budget is the most common one, there are a lot of threads with that price range...
 
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Here's a build that I just did for someone else in the same price range:

i5 2500K $220
GA-Z68X-UD3 + G.Skill DDR3 1600 8GB combo $189
6950 2GB $250 AR
Samsung F3 1TB $65
Lite-ON DVD Burner $19
XFX Core 550W $50 AR
Antec Three Hundred $45 AR
Total: $838

You could bump the GPU down to a 6950 1GB to get it under $800. That's without OS, keyboard, and mouse though, you will have to make deeper cuts to fit all that into $800. Let me know.

Gaming machines run into diminishing returns in both directions (high and low), and I consider $800-1.2K to be the sweet spot for the computer itself.
 
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Thank you Mfenn I appreciate you posting that and within my budget. Below is a build I attempted on my own based off some websites and other builds.

It is my first attempt so I won't be surprised if things are wrong, any help/advice/tweaks would be appreciated, thanks.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE 3.2 GHz AM3 125W Quad-Core $114
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-880GMA-USB3 AM3+ USB 3.0 SATA6Gb/s M-ATX $105
RAM: Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600MHz
$55
Video: MSI Radeon HD 6950 2GB $280
Storage: Samsung F3 1TB SATA II 3.0Gb/s $55
Optical: Sony Black 12X Blu-ray Burner $110
Power: Seasonic S12II 620W 80PLUS Bronze $85
Case: Rosewill Blackbone 3 x 120mm fans $45
Cooling:Corsair A70 $45

Total:$894 excluding Monitor, Mouse, Keyboard, and OS
 
I'm no expert, but I think I would try to stick with the intel 2500k for the CPU. It seems to be on the of the hottest CPU's now. Its definitely more expensive though. Places you could make up the difference.
1) the CPU cooler. You may not need one. Your CPU will come with one, and unless you plan on overclocking your CPU - the stock one will be just fine
2) Your PSU - I think there is a deal on that Seagate right now. Look on the hot deals forum - its like $65 after rebate.

Those two would save you $65 toward a better CPU.

3) For the GPU, You could also consider the nVidia 560-ti - which many say is pretty darn close to a 6950 - and can be had now for $200 after rebate - so that would save you another $80.

I believe that a intel 2500k with a nVidia 560-ti will play most if not all games at 1920x1080p

Again I'm no expert, but that's what I would lean towards.

MFENN's build is pretty much what I would do
 
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mfenn said:
Here's a build that I just did for someone else in the same price range:

i5 2500K $220
GA-Z68X-UD3 + G.Skill DDR3 1600 combo $189
6950 2GB $250 AR
Samsung F3 1TB $65
Lite-ON DVD Burner $19
XFX Core 550W $50 AR
Antec Three Hundred $45 AR
Total: $838

You could bump the GPU down to a 6950 1GB to get it under $800. That's without OS, keyboard, and mouse though, you will have to make deeper cuts to fit all that into $800. Let me know.

Gaming machines run into diminishing returns in both directions (high and low), and I consider $800-1.2K to be the sweet spot for the computer itself.
Click to expand...

This would be a great build.

I see one of the big $$$ items in yours is that Blu-Ray burner. I would personally just stick with a DVD burner unless you _really_ need to be able to burn BD's, BD-R's and the burners are quite expensive still (and may stay that way, BD's haven't really obsoleted DVDs given how long it's been out).

2500k is an excellent CPU that wins over AMD's offerings if you can afford it, and there should be an upgrade path to future Ivy Bridge CPUs.
 
Thank you for all the advice, I was not to sure about AMD or Intel I personally do not have a preference. Also I do agree that I could cut the BluRay as this is not a must have by any means. So I am assuming I could save some money there, I am also assuming it would be possible to swap out the case that MFenn suggested and use my own?
 
Sp3Nc3R 87 said:
Thank you for all the advice, I was not to sure about AMD or Intel I personally do not have a preference. Also I do agree that I could cut the BluRay as this is not a must have by any means. So I am assuming I could save some money there, I am also assuming it would be possible to swap out the case that MFenn suggested and use my own?
Click to expand...

Yes, you can swap it out for the Blackbone if you want, it's fine too.

Otherwise, I'd say my build is a lot better than yours. Given your budget, there is really no reason to cheat yourself out of Sandy Bridge. It's about twice as fast as the Phenom II.
 
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