300 for Core of Budget Gaming Build

[sirion25]

Hi.

I play quite a bit of starcraft 2 and am looking to upgrade my computer from college. its a 5 year old dell w/ a 1 gig pci graphics card (basically obsolete). it currently runs choppy on lowest settings. I want to play diablo 3 when it comes out and maybe guild wars 2.

I want to be able to run these games on med-high settings smoothly. I beleive i can salvage a few parts from my current rig and have enough experience that I can pull out/install anything in there.

Im willing to commit about 300 to this but can go higher if its a dramatic difference in performance.

Thanks for any advice you can provide.



Approximate Purchase Date: Next few weeks. Possibly black friday coming up.

Budget Range: 300 after rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, speakers, monitor, hard drive, wireless card, dvd drive. No OS needed.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg, tigerdirect, or amazon

Country of Origin: USA

Parts Preferences: I3 or I5 but im realistic. preferably intel but will go with AMD if performance/price is good

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: ?

Monitor Resolution: will be buying 23 inch LCD later so probably higher is better. currently using a 19 inch.

Additional Comments: i saw a case i like for about $50

http://www.amazon.com/Xion-Gaming-Steel-Tower-Computer/dp/B002139YSS/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1318736035&sr=1-3

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[buzznut]

The coolermaster elite on the same page would be better:
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Elite-Tower-RC-310-BWN1-GP/dp/B0028ACYMC/ref=pd_cp_e_3

I like the i3 idea, have you looked at the comobos at neweggg? Here's a page:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=30000007%204018&IsNodeId=1&name=%24200%20-%20%24300

You should focus most of your cash on a graphics card. At 1080p, the HD 5670 would be a good place to start, doesn't require extra power.

 

[Outlander_04]

1080p is a punishing resolution for a $300 computer

AMD Athlon II X3 445 Rana 3.1GHz $75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103872

GIGABYTE GA-78LMT-S2P AM3+ AMD 760G $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128504

G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) $26
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231396

SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1GB $135 [ after rebate]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908

CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 430W $25 [ after rebate ]

Totals $321

Using a less powerful graphics card like a Radeon 6770 would save you maybe 40-50 dollars , but mean playing at lower details

 

[jmsellars1]

A HD 6850 would cope well with 1080P but I think a HD 6770 would struggle a bit.

 

[sirion25]

1080p is a punishing resolution for a $300 computer

AMD Athlon II X3 445 Rana 3.1GHz $75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103872

GIGABYTE GA-78LMT-S2P AM3+ AMD 760G $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128504

G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) $26
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231396

SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1GB $135 [ after rebate]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908

CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 430W $25 [ after rebate ]

Totals $321

Using a less powerful graphics card like a Radeon 6770 would save you maybe 40-50 dollars , but mean playing at lower details

Thanks for the advice.



would the above build be able to run starcraft 2 on high settings smoothly?

Also, does this leave room for upgrading. Like say i want to put in a much better AMD processor in the future.

Also, would this be able to run guild wars 2 or BF3 with any detal?


Starcraft system requirments

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?articleId=26242&locale=en_US

Battlefield 3 requirments

http://www.enterbf3.com/information/538-minimum-requirements/


Thanks in advance.

 

[Outlander_04]

I think you are going to be able to play them , and I think its the best you are going to get in that price bracket

I expect Starcraft will play well . The parts above far exceed the minimum requirements

But the BF3 beta is not playing at high fps with $1200 computers .$500 graphics cards are struggling when all the eye candy is turned on .
You will be able to play it though since the system exceeds the minimum requirements there too .

 

[sirion25]

what kind of resolution can I run? Like will it look sharp on a 23 inch monitor? how about 27?


Also, how about this barebones kit? it has an i3 processor, and looks like will run similar to the AMD build as far as price goes once I get a hard drive and case. Is it significantly different performance wise?

MSI H61M-P23 B3 DiabloTek Barebones Kit - MSI H61M-P23 B3 Motherboard, Intel Core i3-2100 CPU, Patriot 4GB DDR3 RAM, Seagate 500GB HDD, Lite-On 24x DVDRW, DiabloTek Mid Tower Case, 450W Power Supply

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1101380&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=isIkAyUyNbM-je62Br2EkC8ZJFC_8PcHLg

Thanks

 

[sirion25]

bump

 

[Outlander_04]

Here are reviews of the case
http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7200803&CatId=1509

No fans are fitted , If you want to use this case and power supply you will need to buy 2 x 120 mm fans to move air in and out .
The power supply will be a very poor quality unit , with no chance it can deliver 450 watts without starting a fire

And then you would have $30 left to spend on a graphics card WHICH IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENT TO DETERMINE THE PERFORMANCE OF A GAMING BUILD

 

[sirion25]

Best answer selected by sirion25.