Holiday Budget Gaming Build

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ampd

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Approximate Purchase Date: December 2011

Budget Range: $500-700 before rebate (don't really like rebates)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming / Music : Battlefield 3 and WoW for the most part

Parts Not Required: Monitor, Speakers, Keyboard, Mouse, Hard Drive

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg and Amazon

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: Want well known brands for all the parts: MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, etc

Overclocking: A little bit

SLI or Crossfire: Would like it for the future or now if it is cheap

Monitor Resolution: HD resolution

Additional Comments: Just looking for something that will run the latest games for the next 1-2 years pretty well with not much upgrading needed in the future. The best prices I can get would be good. Prefer to spend around $600.

Looking for a decent CPU that is close to the 2400-2500k and a video card like a GTX 560.

Also would it be worth it to get a gaming laptop for school and gaming or just a gaming pc
 
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rmiiirusty



Those are some really good deals, almost all of those Items normally cost more. I would grab them before the deal ends or sells out. I know you will be extremely pleased with the Items you've picked.

Some others may argue the psu because it is not one of the golden 3 but the truth...
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socalwrx

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not sure where you are in the US but microcenter has the phenom II x4 840 for 59 bucks! picked up an amd am3+ mobo there for 95.. you can save big there and put some more money toward the gpu
 
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ampd

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The two CPUs I am looking at are the 2500k and AMD 955. I had the 2500k before and it was a great CPU, but it is very expensive. Will I notice a huge difference in gaming between the two? Would an overclocked 4.0ghz 955 be better than a standard 2500k?
 
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ampd

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I know the 2500k completely destroys the 955 in numbers, but I just want to know if it would make a noticeable difference in games and future games. Paying an extra $100 now might be better than buying a new CPU/MB down the road. But, is the 955 going to last a while? The only real intensive game that has come out recently is BF3 and it looks like the 955 can handle that well.

I am really leaning towards the 955 and a GTX 560, but I don't want to be regretting not getting the 2500k down the road.

 
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ampd

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Update: Build I am working on

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808
MB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128510
Video: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150561
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314
PSU: ? ($50)
Case: ? ($50)
Total: $479 + $100ish = $579 before rebate

Now is this the best performance for the price or are there better deals out there like the newegg DYI combos? People are saying the 955 is the best budget AMD processor for gaming at the moment, so I went with that. Also is it better to get a GTX 560 or ATI 6870? Looking to spend $180 at the most for a graphics card.
 
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rmiiirusty

rmiiirusty

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I would stick w 2500k with your budget you should not worry about o.c.ing as there will be no need (yet). But by getting the k series you reserve the ability to o.c. if needed down the road. You will need a p67 or z68 mobo if you ever do want to o.c. and which one is a matter of choice.
I like the Asus products with 3 yr. warrantee but some folks like asrock, gigabyte etc. No need for aftermarket cooling right away if you wait to overclock and you might have to go with smaller hdd and or ssd to fit your budget.
TheAsus Rog board below has great features for the price and is much much better than any of the lesser priced boards if you want to ever o.c. It has on board soundblaster and many of the same features as the higher priced full atx boards.
http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Maximus-IV-Gene-Z-Motherboards/dp/B005584ZHQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323231120&sr=8-1
There are less boards you could go with but if you catch some of the deals going on for ram and psu and case right now and look on ebay for good gpu deals you might be able to swing it.
 
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Emelth

Emelth

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"Also would it be worth it to get a gaming laptop for school and gaming or just a gaming pc"

This was said in OPs first post so it sounds like he was deciding on wether to get a gaming PC or a gaming laptop that he could also use for school.

If the OP would please verify if this is correct or not
 
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rmiiirusty

rmiiirusty

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http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Elite-Window-RC-430-KWN1/dp/B003O8J11E/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1323232783&sr=1-5

http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Intel-Chipset-DDR3-1066/dp/B005SEZWBK/ref=sr_1_37?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1323232919&sr=1-37

http://www.ebay.com/itm/INTEL-i5-2500K-CORE-i5-PROCESSOR-3-3GHZ-LGA1155-UADCORE-4-THREADS-6MB-CACHE-/130612155857?pt=CPUs&hash=item1e691755d1

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Ballistix-Channel-240-Pin-BL2CP51264BA160A/dp/B004UQ1KK4/ref=pd_cp_e_1

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Certified-Compatible-Platforms-CMPSU-600CXV2/dp/B004W2T2UQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1323233583&sr=1-3

http://www.ebay.com/itm/220908687376?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Hyper-Sleeve-RR-B10-212P-G1/dp/B002G1YPH0/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1323233814&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Liteon-iHAS324-DVD-RW-Optical-Drive/dp/B002QGDWLK/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1323234238&sr=1-4

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST500DM002/dp/B005CT56R6/ref=sr_1_2?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1323234134&sr=1-2

total 670 and you get to keep the i5 2500k you also have room to play with either case mobo or hdd choice , and still stay in $700 range I myself would upgrade to

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Maximus-IV-Gene-Z-Motherboards/dp/B005584ZHQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1323234462&sr=1-1

and the gpu I listed will play bf3 and skyrim etc. but not on max settings unless you sli, If you decided to sli these cards are easy to come by.
 
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ampd

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I think I am just going to go with the 955 unless I can find a good combo deal for the 2500k and motherboard for $280-300ish. I don't trust ebay, especially when the prices are much less.
 
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rmiiirusty

rmiiirusty

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Its your build and your choices to make.

You wont find that kind of deal for i5 2500k and mobo, at least not any mobo I would deem worthy of the processor.

Ebay can be a pain but if you watch user ratings just make sure they have 100% feedback and you should fair well. But just in case, paypal won't pay them until you have had your product for a week and you can always return the product that week, no matter what they say, and get your money back from paypal.

I have some good Items like this vid. card on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/220908687376?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

It is cheap because I need only what price I have listed to finish paying the bill for a build I did for a guy in which he gave me the NEW card as partial payment after having decided to go with a larger card. I accepted knowing I could sell at discount on ebay and still make what I needed.

For a processor and board,as long as you have 2.5g cpu at least dual core and descent board the rest is mostly gpu and of course at least 4 g ram. But why buy only 4g when you can have 8 for ten more bucks If you are willing to downgrade to that adm processor you should consider this instead

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Micro-Motherboard-P5G41T-M-LX/dp/B003YA2OWA/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1323291300&sr=8-9

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Dual-Core-3-0GHz-1333MHz-Processor/dp/B000R99ESI/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1323291365&sr=8-10

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Ballistix-Channel-240-Pin-BL2CP51264BA1339/dp/B004TKY59O/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1323291596&sr=8-2

with a proper video card you should be able to game nicely.

There are many boards of this type to choose from but the idea to me is intel,intel,intel lol

 
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ampd

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rmiiirusty

rmiiirusty

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Those are some really good deals, almost all of those Items normally cost more. I would grab them before the deal ends or sells out. I know you will be extremely pleased with the Items you've picked.

Some others may argue the psu because it is not one of the golden 3 but the truth is I have never used the over priced golden 3 brands and have never had a problem in over 15 + builds. The plus being when adding larger psu's to accomodate gpu's
As long as it is 80+ you are sweet as far as Im concerned, and 750w gives you room to sli later if desired.
 
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