Is $1000 enough for a long-lasting gaming PC?

[Aesshen]

Hi all,

I'm building a PC for the first time. I have an agreement with my dad where he'll pay for it if I build it, but I still obviously want to minimize the cost for him. Can I build a computer that will last me through four years or so of playing new games for $1000? Or is this a case of having to put some money in early on so that I don't have to later?

I have a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and probably speakers (might have to replace those) so those don't factor into the total here. I'd like this system to be pretty quiet and low-maintenance - overclocking is a little scary for me.

Anyway, if anyone could help me out at all, I'd be extremely grateful. Thank you.

 

[jmsellars1]

You can get something really nice for that amount of cash, you would be looking at ultra high settings for at least 1-2 years I would imagine. After that you can just tone down the settings a little bit and you should be good for 4-5 years I think.

 

[Outlander_04]

Use the format suggested in the thread about how to ask for advice at the top of the forum .

Yes you can have a very decent gaming PC for that price

 

[jmsellars1]

Something like this would be good, should last you a long while:

Intel Core i5-2400
8GB Mushkin Silverline
ASRock H61M/U3S3
Sapphire HD 7950 3GB
Seagate Barracuda 500GB
Coolermaster HAF 912
SeaSonic S12II 520 Bronze 520W
SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner

Total is almost exactly $1000 on Newegg and should give you fantastic gaming performance.

 

[QuietPC]

Hi all,

I'm building a PC for the first time. I have an agreement with my dad where he'll pay for it if I build it, but I still obviously want to minimize the cost for him. Can I build a computer that will last me through four years or so of playing new games for $1000? Or is this a case of having to put some money in early on so that I don't have to later?

I have a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and probably speakers (might have to replace those) so those don't factor into the total here. I'd like this system to be pretty quiet and low-maintenance - overclocking is a little scary for me.

Anyway, if anyone could help me out at all, I'd be extremely grateful. Thank you.

If you took the following build as a start and upgraded either the cpu or gpu or both you would have a nice system within your budget:

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ASRock Z68M/USB3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

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SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

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Intel Core i3-2105 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I32105

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Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

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$99.99 $99.99
Subtotal: $715.91

 

[rage33]

For $1000 you'll be fine for easily 4years, and even after that I'd imagine that the only upgrade you'd really need would be a new graphic card.

 

[internetswag]

Depends, I've heard processing power increases by roughly 40% each year, so in 5 years we could see some intensive programs. But console ports will still suck.

 

[capt_taco]

I spent about $900 on my machine back in 2008 and it's still enough to kill 90% of most people's computers. If I put in a new GPU one day, it'll last 10 years.

$1,000 is a good budget, even given the inflated hard drive prices these days.

One word: i5-2500k.

 

[QuietPC]

A good system should last at least 3 years. From there the technology can change so much that if you are a gamer or do specialty work you may feel you need to upgrade. So I tell people to shoot for 3-5 years and then expect to do it all over again. Right now the 2011 pin is coming out. 1156 and 1366 are dead. the 7000 series of graphic cards from AMD is out and Keppler is due shortly. The move to faster cpus/gpus is probably the most volatile and of those it appears that the gpu will become increasingly dominant with cpus able of handling work loads for longer periods of time.

 

[blackhawk1928]

Surely your build will last this long likely. However it really depends on what games you play and what expectations of performance you have for it. The higher they are the less it will last (not physically but usefully).

 

[Aesshen]

Thank you all. This is great.