Help with budget gaming/general-use PC build

[schott1984]

EDIT: I am also willing to buy something bare-bones, complete and already assembled, or any other configuration. I'm open to whatever is best in the price range I have.

Per the sticky, here are my answers.

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
- 1. Gaming, 2. Internet (browsing, downloading, watching videos/movies/tv shows [including HD streaming]), 3. Editing GoPro camera videos

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
- $600 for the case and everything inside it

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
- Unites States

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.
- Whatever is best for my application.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
- Haven't built or had a home desktop in about five years, so no.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
- No

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
- Default, unless I can get more bang for my buck by overclocking. I imagine it's a wash because I can use a cheaper MoBo if not overclocking and get a faster CPU. Also, OCing would require more money into case and cooling. Correct me if I'm wrong here.

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.
- Not sure; Haven't gamed on PC in 5 years or so, can someone answer this for me?

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
- Next couple months

So far I'm considering getting some of the items from microcenter in ATL (100 miles from me), because I can get a free AMD mobo with CPU purchase and save money there which can be invested into the video card.

Is AMD a good way to go for my budget? I've been told that for the $120-150 CPU range, AMD is more Bang for Buck (BFB).

As far as video, I used to use Nvidia back in the day, and I seem to remember people complaining about Radeon drivers being a pain in the ass. I don't really care about the brand, whatever is best for what I need it for.

I also keep reading things regarding memory voltage requirements in relation to what CPU you use. Is there a cross-reference somewhere for this?

ALSO, I have no idea what's going on with FSB speeds on CPUs/MOBOs/Memory these days.

I want something that can do anything on the web with ease; I hate nothing more than bing, google maps, 1080p videos and other simple sites lagging down a computer like the crappy laptop I've been using.

I want to get back into gaming. I have no idea what resolution people run these days. I can tell they're a lot higher than they were when I used to play, so I need some guidance in this area.

I want to be able to run any game that is out/coming out, but obviously I don't expect to do so at the highest settings, given my budget.

Thanks for reading. I'm excited to see what you all have to say.

 

[Puppies04]

I'm not in the US so searching for the best deal in $ is a bit of a nuisance but i'm sure someone will be along (probably mfenn 😛) shortly to sort you out.

regarding your RAM voltage question if you go for a sandy bridge rig then stick to 1.5v or under, pretty much anything else it doesn't matter but keep in mind lower voltage = less cost to run the pc.

Regarding your resolution, most "standard" monitors will be around 1920 x 1080 pixels.

As a rough guide without actually pricing it for you I would suggewst something along the lines of....

H61 mobo ( try to find one that is listed as IB compatible for future upgrades)
I3 2100
4gb 1600mhz ram
GTX560TI
decent 450w PSU
Cheap case
dvd RW


This will leave you with a nice upgrade path to any SB or IB cpu down the line and a solid system for mid-high gaming depending on the game for the next couple of years at least.

 

[jpeyton]

Total is $635.25 shipped after rebates/gift cards. For that, you get a Sandy Bridge quad-core, Radeon 6870, and a fast SSD. For your large storage hard drive, I suggest you either wait for a good deal (Staples and other office stores occasionally have large 2TB HDD in the $90 range) or buy a used one; the flooding in Thailand has mechanical HDD prices through the roof.

Everything I picked has good customer reviews on Newegg (4 or 5 stars...I mean eggs).

And before someone here knocks the cheap ECS motherboard, I have been testing one here side-by-side with an Asus P8H67-M Pro, both running the same i7 quad-core, and the ECS is every bit as fast and stable.

 

[schott1984]

Total is $635.25 shipped after rebates/gift cards. For that, you get a Sandy Bridge quad-core, Radeon 6870, and a fast SSD. For your large storage hard drive, I suggest you either wait for a good deal (Staples and other office stores occasionally have large 2TB HDD in the $90 range) or buy a used one; the flooding in Thailand has mechanical HDD prices through the roof.

Everything I picked has good customer reviews on Newegg (4 or 5 stars...I mean eggs).

And before someone here knocks the cheap ECS motherboard, I have been testing one here side-by-side with an Asus P8H67-M Pro, both running the same i7 quad-core, and the ECS is every bit as fast and stable.

Wow, thanks.

Would it not be worth sacrificing the SSD and more expensive intel CPU/mobo combo to get a Radeon 6950?

 

[jpeyton]

Wow, thanks.

Would it not be worth sacrificing the SSD and more expensive intel CPU/mobo combo to get a Radeon 6950?

The SSD should not be sacrificed regardless of your budget; it's the best purchase you can make to boost system responsiveness.

A Radeon 6950 offers much less bang-for-the-buck than a 6870; a small increase in performance for $100 more: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/293?vs=290

As you can see, the 6870 already provides great framerates in modern games; I play MW3 and Skyrim with everything on high at 1920x1200 using mine.

On the other hand, a mid-level Sandy Bridge quad-core will dominate the fastest Phenom X6: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/363?vs=203

If you can't afford the i5-2300 right now, buy a cheap placeholder CPU until you can (even the cheapest Sandy Bridge dual-core is going to be very fast in everyday useage): http://www.macmall.com/p/Intel-Processors-and-Accelerators/product~dpno~8871733~pdp.gijidae

 

[mfenn]

Wow, thanks.

Would it not be worth sacrificing the SSD and more expensive intel CPU/mobo combo to get a Radeon 6950?

Depends on your goals. If you are concerned with gaming and gaming alone, I would say, sure drop the SSD. However, since you list system responsiveness during general usage as an important feature, I would say to leave the SSD in there.

:thumbsup: to jpeyton's build by the way. I don't think the MC savings are worth driving 200 miles round trip.

 

[schott1984]

Ok, so considering I'm coming from a crappy Centrino Latitude D810 laptop and the last desktop I built was a Athlon XP 1800+ with normal SATA I HDD; What kinda difference am I going to notice between a SATA II and SATA III setup?

 

[jpeyton]

Ok, so considering I'm coming from a crappy Centrino Latitude D810 laptop and the last desktop I built was a Athlon XP 1800+ with normal SATA I HDD; What kinda difference am I going to notice between a SATA II and SATA III setup?

You'll notice no difference if we're talking about mechanical hard drives. Mechanical hard drives aren't fast enough to saturate the theoretical bandwidth of SATA II or SATA III connections.

Some SSDs are fast enough to make use of a SATA III connection. For example, Intel's SSD 320 series are SATA II and have sequential read speeds in the 250MB/s range; Intel's SSD 510 are SATA III and have sequential reads in the 450MB/s range IF you are using a SATA III connection (they are limited to 250MB/s on a SATA II connection).

There are three things that you in particular have to consider:

1) You are on a limited budget, so a fast, reliable SATA III SSD is not your primary concern.
2) Coming from a crappy old Dell laptop with a crappy old mechanical hard drive, ANY SSD (SATA II or SATA III) is going to be light years beyond what you currently have.
3) When picking an SSD, your primary concern needs to be reliability, not speed. Unreliable SSDs are a dime a dozen; plenty have mediocre reviews on Newegg. Intel/Samsung/Crucial(Micron) are generally considered the most reliable brands, but the Sandisk unit I linked has plenty of 5-egg reviews behind it. A 64GB SSD is enough for Windows and apps, but space runs out quickly; I suggest at least a 120GB unit so you can load ALL your apps and some games as well.