Looking for advice on building a new gaming rig

[whitelion1284]

Hey all,

so I have a limited budget but would like to build a gaming rig. I have a pretty good idea of what I need, but am behind the times on what components are at the top of the bell curve in terms of price and value.

What I need is:

1x *the best gaming cpu I can afford* - and this is the biggie in terms of where I'm looking for input. I don't know if I should settle for an I5 and plan on upgrading in a year or two (an option I'm not opposed to) go for an I7 or just skip directly to the hexacores. As I said I'm looking for the best ratio between price and performance AND am on a limited budget. Ideally I'd like to purchase both a CPU and MB for less than $300. I just don't know if it's possible to do that and stay relatively current.
Cooling system for CPU/computer
1 x motherboard (crossfire compatible - have 2x HIS IceQ Radeon 7820s)
8gb or more of RAM
1 x copy of windows 7 64bit
1 x power supply (capable of running the CPU, MB, 2x video cards, 2x HD's, 2x DVD drives and all the associated cooling systems)
1 x 1+ TB hard drive
AND a 24" monitor (the partridge)

Thanks so much and happy holidays.

 

[AMD Radeon]

where do you live? how much is your budget?

 

[Swordkd]

If you are looking for an i5 and motherboard for under 300 dollars, that pretty much limits you to a non-"k" Cpu. I'd just suggest getting an i5 4670k Cpu, and a solid z87 motherboard however, which will run you about 350 dollars or so. You don't need an i7 for gaming, period. Only a few games take any advantage of the additional hyperthreading cores, and it's even of limited use then. The hexacores aren't worth the extra money you'll be spending, so don't even worry about those.

You didn't list a budget, so I'm going to go with a fairly good build without going overboard on prices.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($221.98 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($68.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.48 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 750W 80+ Silver Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: BenQ GW2450 24.0" Monitor ($124.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $803.38
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-18 20:27 EST-0500)

 

[whitelion1284]

Thanks guys,

I live north of Philly, USA.

I'm on a fixed income so my budget translates into time. The more expensive the parts the longer it will take me to buy them all.

Swordkd, how much of a difference will I see between the k and non k i5's?

 

[AMD Radeon]

it is i5 non-OC build with the best bang for the buck parts

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H87M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($72.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Beast 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($56.99 @ Mac Mall)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 750W 80+ Silver Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VS238H-P 23.0" Monitor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $668.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-19 02:37 EST-0500)

 

[whitelion1284]

Thanks everybody for your advice.