What is the absolute lowest you can go to play these games?

[gus6464]

My friend wants a PC to play these 3 games only at 1080p. Graphic settings as long as they are on high or so are acceptable. He is looking at absolute cheapest he can go possible.

Diablo 3
Starcraft 2
WoW

Notice the trend

 

[sm625]

HP Pavilion BV530AA P6710 Desktop PC - AMD Athlon II X4 640 3.0 GHz Processor - 4 GB RAM - 1 TB Hard Drive - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition - Black - $287.49 w/ FS

A 7750 that does not require a 6-pin external power. One that gets good reviews and is quiet / has a big fan. There is a slight premium on these so its gonna be about $110.

Total $400. See slickdeals for the computer. It says the HP machine has a pciE slot but I would verify this before ordering.

 

[gus6464]

HP Pavilion BV530AA P6710 Desktop PC - AMD Athlon II X4 640 3.0 GHz Processor - 4 GB RAM - 1 TB Hard Drive - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition - Black - $287.49 w/ FS

A 7750 that does not require a 6-pin external power. One that gets good reviews and is quiet / has a big fan. There is a slight premium on these so its gonna be about $110.

Total $400. See slickdeals for the computer. It says the HP machine has a pciE slot but I would verify this before ordering.

Thanks I will recommend the HP and see what he says but I think he wants to go custom built instead of off the shelf. I was looking around newegg and other sites and this is what I came up with:

Antec One $50
Core i3 2120 $125
Asrock Z77 Pro4 $109
XFX 7770 DD $119
Antec Earthwatts Green 450 $49
Hyper 212 EVO $30 (OC the i3 to get a little bit more out of it)
Samsung 8GB kit $47 (want for very low profile and good oc capability)
Crucial M4 128GB $120 (I have some old sata2 hdds lying around I can give him for time being for storage)

Total: $649

 

[Ken g6]

OC the i3 to get a little bit more out of it

You can't overclock an i3, at least not significantly. With that in mind, if you're still looking for the absolute cheapest parts that won't sacrifice performance, I suggest:

Biostar H61 mobo, $55 with shipping
Stock cooler for the CPU, $0 extra
PNY RAM, $39

Also consider a one-6-pin 6850 GPU, $135 AR

 

[gus6464]

You can't overclock an i3, at least not significantly. With that in mind, if you're still looking for the absolute cheapest parts that won't sacrifice performance, I suggest:

Biostar H61 mobo, $55 with shipping
Stock cooler for the CPU, $0 extra
PNY RAM, $39

Also consider a one-6-pin 6850 GPU, $135 AR

6850 is faster than 7770 right?

 

[Ken g6]

6850 is faster than 7770 right?

Well, actually, it's a lot closer than I thought. It varies a lot by game. But it's clearly better in Starcraft.

 

[gus6464]

Well, actually, it's a lot closer than I thought. It varies a lot by game. But it's clearly better in Starcraft.

I know the new 7 series cards are very energy efficient so I wonder if with an OC it can match or surpass the 6850.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Why not consider an llano build?

Edit. Never mind. Since he's 1080p with high settings.

 

[mfenn]

You can't overclock an i3, at least not significantly. With that in mind, if you're still looking for the absolute cheapest parts that won't sacrifice performance, I suggest:

Biostar H61 mobo, $55 with shipping
Stock cooler for the CPU, $0 extra
PNY RAM, $39

Also consider a one-6-pin 6850 GPU, $135 AR

You could also drop to a G620 and not lose much at all on Blizzard's dual-threaded engine.