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First PC build

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I think that the OP should focus on the two core parts of the build, namely the CPU and GPU. I think that shoehorning in an SSD at this low of a budget will hurt the build overall. I love my SSD as much as anyone and will never build another machine without one, but a $500 gaming machine (not counting Windows) is already being stretched pretty hard.
 
mfenn said:
I think that the OP should focus on the two core parts of the build, namely the CPU and GPU. I think that shoehorning in an SSD at this low of a budget will hurt the build overall. I love my SSD as much as anyone and will never build another machine without one, but a $500 gaming machine (not counting Windows) is already being stretched pretty hard.
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+1
 
mfenn said:
I think that the OP should focus on the two core parts of the build, namely the CPU and GPU. I think that shoehorning in an SSD at this low of a budget will hurt the build overall. I love my SSD as much as anyone and will never build another machine without one, but a $500 gaming machine (not counting Windows) is already being stretched pretty hard.
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Normally I'd agree on this point however the games the OP is currently playing are really not video intensive (not to mention I fit it all in under $600 AR 😛). I feel that a 6850/GTX 460/7770 are all overkill for the intended games, though if BF3 is really far apart from LoL and AoE, not sure how much the OP plans on playing it.
 
krnmastersgt said:
Normally I'd agree on this point however the games the OP is currently playing are really not video intensive (not to mention I fit it all in under $600 AR 😛). I feel that a 6850/GTX 460/7770 are all overkill for the intended games, though if BF3 is really far apart from LoL and AoE, not sure how much the OP plans on playing it.
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I agree that it is overkill for such low-intensity games, but I find that people don't usually stick to only a couple games once they get a powerful enough machine. Without the SSD, you could've squeezed in a 6870, which puts the system into a whole nother league in terms of gaming performance.
 
mfenn said:
I agree that it is overkill for such low-intensity games, but I find that people don't usually stick to only a couple games once they get a powerful enough machine. Without the SSD, you could've squeezed in a 6870, which puts the system into a whole nother league in terms of gaming performance.
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That it would, though it may be a moot point depending on the monitor's native res. If I were to throw in a recommendation that kicks out the SSD, I'd probably stick close to my original build and maybe downgrade the board to something cheaper (won't be much issue without an SSD to go with the system) and just grab a new LCD monitor capable of 1920x1080 which should make the games look a lot nicer and would help justify the stronger cards.

Paain said:
the i3 is ?
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Yes the i3 has HT, so it can in theory act as a quad core since it can have 4 threads. Not as powerful as a true quad but enough for most games that can scale off more than 2 threads.
 
lehtv said:
Here's my take on a $600 build incl windows:

Asrock B75M $65
i3-2100 $110
4GB DDR3 $20
Sapphire 6850 $135 ($120 AR)
Hitachi 7K1000.D 1TB $80 AP
Asus DVD-RW $17
Antec VP-450 $37 AP ($27 AR)
Rosewill Ranger $40 AP
Win 7 HP 64 OEM $100

= $604 after promos ($579 after rebate) + shipping
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+1🙂
I second this. what lehtv has suggest is hard to beat for the price, and I think the core i3 2100 is a must. The only thing I may suggest is change the video card to the sapphire radeon hd7770 ghz edition, it's pretty good, and a newer architecture which runs much cooler.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102993
 
I just realized the Asrock B75 board doesn't actually have USB 3.0 headers for the front panel. So in that regard it won't make a difference what case you get. Didn't check closely enough, somehow I assumes it was a default feature on all B75 boards. The Rosewill case for $40 after promo still has superior cooling to most (if not all) cases at $40 though
 
Antec one is another USB 3.0 capable budget case, but the Rosewill offers more. One more fan, SSD adapter, sideways HDD bay, small side window. Those are definitely worth the extra $10, and given the $20 off promo, Rosewill is an easy pick. Usually Rosewill's build quality is fine as well, but I can't say for sure how this particular case compares to Antec which is known for sturdy and functional cases, even the budget ones. Both cases are pretty small for ATX mid towers, the space for CPU cooling or graphics cards is limited.

Check out Anandtechs review: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5217/rosewill-ranger-all-about-compromising/5

The cooling performance is pretty nice, beating all of the more expensive cases.
 
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