Help on PC Gaming?

[EthanOwens]

I need help on how to start up on PC gaming.
I need to know what a good computer is and what specs i need to play multiplayer games on steam without lagging with bad fps.





Moved from PC Gaming

Anandtech Administrator
KeithTalent

 

[paperfist]

Budget?

 

[EthanOwens]

about 400 to 600 dollars.

 

[nsafreak]

$600 is a bit on the slim side of things but it can be done. So we don't have a ton of back & forth before we even start putting together a system for you could you please respond to the questions in this post.

 

[TheTick077]

You didn't give us much, but here is a build to start from (I didn't include a case since that can be a much more personal decision as to what you want it to look like):


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($166.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($85.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($46.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($60.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280 3GB Dual-X Video Card ($182.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX Core Edition 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $593.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-09 21:49 EDT-0400

Or on the PSU if you act fast you could get this one for $50AR (It's Gold vs the Bronze up above).

Also didn't know if you needed a monitor or not, so if you do, you would have to scale some of this back, or increase the budget.

 

[TheTick077]

Or you can check out this thread:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2389797

 

[mfenn]

You didn't give us much, but here is a build to start from (I didn't include a case since that can be a much more personal decision as to what you want it to look like):


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($166.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($85.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($46.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($60.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280 3GB Dual-X Video Card ($182.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX Core Edition 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $593.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-09 21:49 EDT-0400

Or on the PSU if you act fast you could get this one for $50AR (It's Gold vs the Bronze up above).

Also didn't know if you needed a monitor or not, so if you do, you would have to scale some of this back, or increase the budget.

Its important to understand whether the OP has a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and operating system license. Someone who is just starting out with PC gaming may not have any of those.

As you've shown, $600 w/o monitor, mouse, keyboard, or OS is definitely doable. If you need to include all those things, it's much harder to come up with a machine that's good for gaming.

 

[TheTick077]

Its important to understand whether the OP has a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and operating system license. Someone who is just starting out with PC gaming may not have any of those.

As you've shown, $600 w/o monitor, mouse, keyboard, or OS is definitely doable. If you need to include all those things, it's much harder to come up with a machine that's good for gaming.

Oh I agree, but since the OP wasn't posting anything, and I was waiting for a program to compile I thought I would have some fun and build something assuming he had those things. It is also why I linked to the low-end system builder thread. One of those builds could give the OP enough room to purchase those missing pieces.