$650-$800 Budget Gaming Build

blaylocke

Honorable
Sep 25, 2012
26
0
10,530
Approximate Purchase Date: Within the next month

Budget Range: $650-$850 total.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming

Are you buying a monitor: No. (Although I wouldn't mind basic guidelines for when I do upgrade.





Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon and Newegg. NCIX and Microcenter were a pain for me the last build I did, I can be talked out of this if necessary.

Location: Olympia, Washington

Parts Preferences: I just built a 600 dollar intel build. Not sure if "familiarity" plays any part after only one build.

Overclocking: Maybe. I've never done it before, don't know what it entails. I could leave it open for the possibility but I don't know if I'll do it.

SLI or Crossfire: Don't even know what it means :sarcastic:

Additional Comments: I play games like Minecraft, Arma II, Skyrim, Fallout etc. I'd like a rig that has a reasonable shot at not being outdated in two weeks. Also, the case I got my little brother when I built his was a Cooler Elite 430. While I loved the look of it, something a little nicer would please the snob in me.








So to elaborate more, I built my little brother a rig thought up on this site by someone very helpful. It was incredibly fun to build, and now I'm jealous that my gift to him blows my computer out of the water. I admittedly do not know the practical differences (in building the computer) between intel and AMD. And I don't know where the best bang for my buck is.

I'll also say this, I don't enjoy flying blind. The last build I really just took everyones word for everything. While that worked out great, I'd sure like to know the why's and why nots of the things that I'm doing. I'm a well read person, but starting in on system building is a bit overwhelming. If anyone has any useful reading material to throw in with the builds, I'd really appreciate it.
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($133.79 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory
Storage: Western Digital Scorpio Black 320GB 2.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($201.97 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Windowed ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W ATX12V Power Supply
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $740.69
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-05 12:35 EST-0500)

I just want to put this here while I look it over. Does anyone have any thoughts on this build, any issues I may or may not have?
 
actually that ain't bad for the price. well it's already 1:46am and got work later at 5am so need to sleep but it should be a nice system, now let's just wait for intel lovers to post a nice system on the intel side.
 
Here is what I built for my litte brother in early November:


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-2100 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H61M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Patriot Intel Extreme Master, Limited Ed 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($31.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7750 1GB Video Card ($104.97 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($37.77 @ Mac Connection)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $479.67
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-05 12:51 EST-0500)


Does anyone have a natural progression from this build? What's the natural step up from an I3 2100?
 
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/r3FQ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/r3FQ/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/r3FQ/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Intel Extreme Master, Limited Ed 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($31.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Galaxy GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Gamma Classic (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($65.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($22.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($91.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $787.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

With i5-3470 quadcore and a 660 gtx nvidia.