First time building budget gaming pc

Chelaldur

Honorable
Nov 4, 2012
10
0
10,510
Hello,

I am going to try and build a PC for the first time ever. I've been looking up a lot of guides, but since my knowledge is nonexistent - I have to look up things like "what is a SATA cable" - they are quite overwhelming.

My budget is around €850 (900$), but less is better :). My goal is playing all current pc games at best quality, up until 'good' quality for at least the next 2 years. I have never overclocked before and do not plan to now. Thus far I have come up with:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.88 @ OutletPC)
CPU cooler: Is this needed when I do not overclock?
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($66.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($329.99 @ Newegg) ->Not sure about this one. The benchmarks are amazing, but is it overkill?
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($56.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($105.19 @ Amazon) -> Is this good enough?
Motherboard: I am utterly clueless. Too many options and I don't understand them well enough yet.
OS: Not buying one.
Optical drive: Not buying one. Will try to install Windows 8.1 with a USB stick.
Total: $784.90

Thanks for taking your time to read this!
 
Solution


I'll second this.

If you are not an overclocker, you can get a decent midrange H series motherboard and a locked i5 (non-k) for your budget. An i5 will drive a 970 much better and support modern releases that want 4+ CPU cores.

TomSkini

Reputable
Jun 7, 2014
236
0
4,710
No you will not need a cpu cooler, the stock cooler should be fine if not overclocking. Also that CPU will bottlekneck the 970 as it's only dual core, I would upgrade it to an i5 quad core. The motherboard isn't overly important, just go with something that is relatively cheap but reliable and has good reviews.
 


I'll second this.

If you are not an overclocker, you can get a decent midrange H series motherboard and a locked i5 (non-k) for your budget. An i5 will drive a 970 much better and support modern releases that want 4+ CPU cores.
 
Solution