Need Help on Building an Average Everyday USe and Gaming PC

[longtooth41x]

My current Dell Dimension is almost 5 years old, and its need to be changed. It works fine, but is quite slow, and its not worth upgrading.

What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
- I will be using this for light gaming( warcraft, starcraft, mmorpg, assassin's creed, etc.), surfring websites, doing homework, watching videos, listening music.

2. What YOUR budget is.
- I don't have a lot, around $450~$500

3. What country
-United Arab Emirates

4. IF YOU have a brand preference.
- I prefer Intel, Asus, Gigabyte, Kingston, Nvidia/ATi

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts.
- I plan on using my 21" LCD, 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black HDD, Speakers, Keyboard, Mouse.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
- I have searched for models that can fit my budget, but there are many to choose from.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
- I don't have any current plans on overclocking, but I'm open for it, in the future.

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.
- 1680x1050 or less

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
- I plan on building it by the end of the year

P.S. I plan on buying these from shops, because amazon, newegg, etc. don't ship such products to the UAE.

I would be happy to get multiple options/choices, as the specific models might not be available in the shops I go to.

 

[lehtv]

Do you need to buy Windows?

 

[longtooth41x]

Nope, I have the cd. Besides, it's already installed on the Western Digital HDD

 

[lehtv]

OK.

Assuming we go by US pricing, $500 will get you a pretty good all-round PC especially as you don't need a hard drive. Roughly so:

Mobo H61 or H67 motherboard $50-80 (H67 offers Sata 6, USB3 and RAID which you may or may not need)
CPU i3-2100 $120 or i5-2400 $180
RAM 2x2GB DDR3 1333 1.5V $25 or 2x4GB $40
GPU AMD 6770 $130 or AMD 6850 $160
ODD DVD-RW $20
PSU 400-430W $40-50 (Corsair CX430, Antec EA430D, Neo Eco 400C/450C; you can of course get a 500W equivalent if the price is not much more)
Case ATX or microATX $30-50 (Antec 300, NZXT Source, Cooler Master Elite series, Fractal Design Core 1000)

Total = $415 to $580. To keep it at $500 or under you'll obviously have to make tradeoffs. For light gaming on 1680x1050, I wouldn't recommend anything faster than 6850, while a 5770/6770 may be enough for your image quality and fps requirements.

 

[longtooth41x]

If I decide to overclock my GPU, do I need a better cooler or the built in cooler is good enough?

Thanks a lot for the information

 

[longtooth41x]

What's the best motherboard I can get for under $90? Is it worth getting a better board and a cheaper GPU or better GPU and cheaper board?

 

[lehtv]

If I decide to overclock my GPU, do I need a better cooler or the built in cooler is good enough?

An aftermarket GPU cooler is out of the question, you can OC on the stock GPU cooler just fine. Aftermarket GPU coolers aren't all that common and the price of one would mean that you'd be much better off paying for a better GPU in the first place

What's the best motherboard I can get for under $90? Is it worth getting a better board and a cheaper GPU or better GPU and cheaper board?

I think this depends wholly on your needs for connectivity (and whether you need standard PCI slots). Go with a motherboard that has what you need. I'd avoid Asrock's H61 offerings, only 1 year warranty. Asrock H67 boards have 2 years which is fine. Would avoid Foxconn, ECS and Jetway. Asus, Biostar, Gigabyte, Asrock are good, probably MSI as well. Biostar especially has a wide range of H61 motherboards to choose from. Some examples for you to compare

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157233
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138332
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138340
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138311
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131724

 

[biostud]

Nope, I have the cd. Besides, it's already installed on the Western Digital HDD

new motherboard = re-install windows

 

[mfenn]

What's the best motherboard I can get for under $90? Is it worth getting a better board and a cheaper GPU or better GPU and cheaper board?

The performance difference between a $60 H61 and a $300 Z68 will be about 3-5% at the absolute most. The difference between a $60 6570 and a $300 6970 is about 500%. So yeah, you will want to spend money on the GPU first.

As for what the "best" board you can get for under $90, that really depends on what's available to you at what prices. Can you post some sample mobos and pricing?

 

[longtooth41x]

Ima have to go over to the shops to check what's available. I'll reply as soon as I get an idea of what the shops have

 

[longtooth41x]

For my case, is there any advantage of using a P67 over an H67 or an H67 over an H61?

 

[longtooth41x]

Regarding my previous post. An example would be like an Asus or Gigabyte H61 vs an MSi or Biostar H67

 

[lehtv]

Do you plan to buy a sata 6gb/s SSD at some point? If so, H67 over H61. In addition, H67 boards usually have USB3 while H61 usually don't. Some H67 boards have 4 memory slots, most have two, all H61 have only two. I'd consider P67 and Z68 beyond your budget and the uses of your PC.

Which specific model you end up choosing depends on whether it has the features you need and how it's priced versus other models with similar features.