Best Gaming PC Under $800

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Good_dog

Good_dog

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Oct 25, 2014
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Hi, I'm very new here and very inexperienced in Gaming computers, I want to buy a pre-built one under $800, but looking at it, it seems hard to find. My cousin's boyfriend has offered to help me build one due to his knowledge of building them, so building one really isn't that big of a hassle but it'd take time because I rarely get to speak to my cousin. I'm going to cut to the chase and say I play a lot of rpg, and fps games, including Skyrim, Diablo 3, far cry 3, call of duty, etc. My budget is $800 but I would enjoy, not saying I will, staying in the range of $600. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Side note: not sure how well this fits in but for graphics card options I would like to go with GTX 760 or GTX 770, but as I said I'm very inexperienced so please take the wheel and stear me to the right build.

Very appreciated,
Good_dog
 
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Pay $100 more and this is the best one:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320E 3.2GHz 8-Core Processor ($134.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme3 ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 270X 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 230T Windowed-BLUE ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $720.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-25 22:49 EDT-0400
 
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Well, it was less costly. Here's a legitimately better one:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320E 3.2GHz 8-Core Processor ($134.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme3 ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($77.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($254.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.98 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($81.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $772.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-25 23:00 EDT-0400
 
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Interesting build, but does go over budget ($800 includes Windows and it's his MAX budget). It also uses an AMD CPU which is going to bottleneck many games.

You should never get a single stick of DDR3 memory either.
 
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Try this. Just a tad over budget.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($64.78 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.95 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($254.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.98 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $806.65
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-25 23:24 EDT-0400
 
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about $800, includes WINDOWS 8.1:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kFYsvK

The build is fairly self explanatory. It's the best I can recommend at this price. If you asked me to do a $700 or $600 build then that would completely change the build requiring a different CPU and motherboard to start.

I would have preferred an even better Intel CPU like the i5-4690K but that would add another $60 which wouldn't leave much for the graphics card, plus I'd need a better motherboard so that's closer to $100 more. In fact, a lot of these builds are deciding on the OPTIMAL CPU + GRAPHICS combination.

That's also why I don't recommend an FX-8320 and R9-290 combo. You start getting CPU bottlenecking. Games vary a LOT in how much the CPU may or may not bottleneck but you typically look at what the AVERAGE scenario would be like. So again the optimal BALANCE is important.

Alternatives:
a) G3258 CPU instead (dual-core but overclockable with right motherboard)
*This is a very interesting choice as it can run as good as an i5 in some games, occasionally even better if overclocking and comparing to the i5-4440 which can't be overclocked. It's $70 or about $100 less than the i5-4440.

If interested carefully choose the correct motherboard. I believe I recommended the Asrock H97M Pro.

b) FX-6300 or similar.
Suitable if the budget is closer to $700. Maybe get an R7-260X depending on budget.
 
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Update:

Rebates:
There are some REBATES on my build which didn't factor in so if you redeem those it's slightly cheaper. The card is $185 in my build price but has a $30 MIR so it's really $155 if you redeem it.

So it might be closer to $750 but I'm not going to rebuild it with the MIR feature enabled to factor the rebates.

Games:
The card i linked has redeemable games (THREE). For example, you can get all of these:
1) Sniper Elite III,
2) Tomb Raider,
3) Star Citizen

Redeem ASAP (unsure of procedure) and factor in game desired, current price on Steam. Sniper Elite III just came out with a MANTLE patch so performance will improve slightly. Star Citizen also supports that when it's released.
 
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Okay then... Here:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320E 3.2GHz 8-Core Processor ($134.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme3 ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($77.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280X 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($194.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.98 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($81.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $802.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-25 23:33 EDT-0400

Ironically, the price says 80286, or Intel 286. ;-)
 
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SIMILAR TO MINE!
I see we agree on the CPU for this budget. I was trying to figure out how you squeeze in an R9-290 until I realized you didn't include a CPU cooler or DVD burner which will cost another $45 so in reality it's an $850 build. A few other part pricing differences, plus I forgot to have the REBATE feature checked so my build was lower than I thought.

Problem is his $800 build is a hard maximum price and he'd prefer it to be lower.

Other:
I didn't ask about wi-fi, but if that's a requirement you can find some good USB or PCIe parts. Not sure if adding to the price of the motherboard would justify one which comes with wi-fi but I have to go.

GOOD LUCK!
 
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Wow! This community is awesome, I'm still lost as what to choose, being that I'm not nearly as technical as everyone on here. I also want to say I would like the computer's base price to be less than $800 without any discounts, as I do not have all the money I need right now.


side not: I feel very idiotic for saying this..... but uh, what is the difference between memory and storage
 
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($64.78 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($254.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.98 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $777.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

This build can run most of the latest games on high settings. Also when buying a r9 290 you have to make sure you don't buy one with a reference cooler, they are noisy and terrible, the r9 290 I selected has a great cooler and will perform well, especially when overclocked.
 
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I love this build, I only have one question... the video card you suggested is it worth the $50 more for it, or is it better to go for a NVidia GTX 760?

 
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Great to know... thank you. I do have to ask, coolcole01 you seem very experienced and understanding of my situation what is your recommendation?

 
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Oh! I didn't even notice you posted that, Thank you. Would it be able to play Skyrim on max settings (including shader mods and such)? If so, that is the build I want. Also, what do the Mail-in-rebates mean? As I said I'm a noob and I'm just wondering do they stay there forever, or like promo codes do they expire after a time?

 
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