Looking to Build First Rig

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
J

jcg512

Distinguished
Mar 19, 2012
54
0
18,630
Hey guys, I'm trying to build a decent gaming rig on a budget. I've been wanting to build a rig, but have always thought that I'd wait for Diablo III. With the recent rumored date of April 17 I started setting money aside and now that the official date has been announced I'm rushing to get a rig with the money I expect to have around May. I'm looking to spend about 600$. This is not including a monitor and OS, though I do need to pick those up as well, so I was hoping for a little guidance. The games I aim to play are Diablo III foremost, Tribes: Ascend, and DotA 2. I would also like to play other modern games such as BF3 though performance obviously doesn't have to be maxed.

If I get some extra money I do plan on picking up a Sapphire Radeon HD 6870.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 
Sort by date Sort by votes



well 600 isnt much for a gaming rig,depends on graphic settings you want to play these games one a 560 twin turbo video card by MSI from tiger direct is about 190-200 USD. that you will want will probley play most modern games medium to max settings.
dont need an i7 , an i5 2500k+ will work, make sure it's unlocked incase you want to over clock. that will be around 235 USD
Cooler master haf, 912 i think its a mid tower case, can have alot of fans, it has great, really great reviews from tigerdirect.
you want a bare amout of 8 gigs of DDR3 1600MHZ ram, i'd go with corsair or kingston brand. me i'd go for 16 gigs.
if you got extra money, get a 128gb SSD with 500+ read and write.
what ever size hard disk drive you want, make sure it has 7200+ RPM, 32mb cache+ , and sata 3+.
get a motherboard that has atleast 1 PCI-X x16 2.0, 2 if you want to SLI or crossfire X, make sure it has sata 3, as in 6gb a second. make sure it can hold 16 gigs of ram, and i'd go with Z68 chip set.
you'll want a few 120mm fans, so get a 30$ fan controller, and get decent thermal paste/grease.
get a 750+ power supply, try to get a 80+ silver or gold power saving, it'll cost more, but its not needed. get a DVD-RW only 20, and what ever else you want, MAKE SURE TO READ REVIEWS FROM MULTIPLE WEBSITES ON EVERY PRODUCT YOU ARE THINKING OF BUYING!!!.
IF YOU DONT know how to put together a computer, read FAQS, guides, forums. dont screw up or you may damage a PC part.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Take a look at this link
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/diy-gaming-pc,2970.html

Considering the games you want to play, I don't think you need a realy high end rig to play them, apart from BF3.
In that link, you may change that power supply to a better one.
The Antec 380W is a great PSU, but it you plan on upgrading later on, then you should get a CX600 V2.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028&Tpk=Corsair%20CX%20600
It costs almost $70.
Are you planning on buying the HD 6870 within that budget?
Oh, and the motherboard is an H61. Which means you can't upgrade to ivy bridge even though it's a LGA 1155 socket.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Thanks for the suggestions so far. BF3 is really just a side thought so if that is somehow impacting any suggestions ignore it. I own BF3 on 360 and just thought I might pick it up if there was ever a sale, but again as far as FPS goes, Tribes is what I'm interested in.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Just read through and that PC looks great and it would seem a few of the pieces have even dropped a little since it was posted. The price is cheap enough where I feel like I could upgrade if its struggling on some future titles. Just a few questions. Will 8gb of RAM make a significant improvement to the games I have suggested and to the computer in general? Also, the price of the 6850 has dropped, which could save me some money, and the 6870 is about the same now. Is the 6870 a significant improvement over the 6850?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

No, the Intel still stays on top.
The Phenom II is a quad core, and it could do well in games that utilize quad cores. But since we're moving into a generation of quad core PCs, it's better you go for it.
But if you plan on SLi or CF later on, a Phenom II would become a bottleneck.

Yes, the HD 6870 is better than a 6850. It should allow you or 1080p gaming, not at full details though.
But It'll definitely be enough.
RAM can increase the load times for games, apart from that, increase in FPS, no.
6 gigs are enough, but if you feel like it, going for 8 won't hurt.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Okay so I should be able to max out Diablo III right? I don't believe its that demanding. How should it hold up with tribes? Again thanks for your help its really appreciated.

Oh and just to make sure, your saying to go with the Intel because the AMD could bottleneck me in the future.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Hi, unfortunately for AMD, unless you get something like 980BE, PII will not outperform i3.

Take a look at this article: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120-4.html

while a P2+mobo might cost cheaper it doesn't offer best bang for the buck. On top of that i3 leaves you with a good socket where you could upgrade to an i7 or ivy bridge later if your heart desires.

i3 cpu with a good GPU is quite doable on $600 budget. While 6870 is not a big improvement over a 6850, if 6870 costs the same as 6850 back when the article was written, then there's no reason to substitute a better part for same price (unless of course you're hurting for money elsewhere)

I'll quote TH from another article:
Today, Intel's LGA 1155 platform remains the best bet for a gaming rig. And not only for its budget-oriented performance, which is great, but also for its potential. Start with a cheap Core i3 and an inexpensive discrete GPU. Then, upgrade later to an Ivy Bridge-based chip and a faster graphics card without imposing any sort of bottleneck.
Click to expand...
(ref
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

The Intel Core i3 2100 can't be OC'd though, which is the downside, and the Phenom II can be.
You can also later on upgrade to a good Core i5 or a Core i7 since the motherboard supports the LGA 1155. Oh, and I just recently found out that a H61 board, can go ivy!
Also, the Phenom II, if OC'd really well, can be taken in for CF or SLi. But the OC should be a a good one.

Yes, you should be able to max out Diablo 3.
Tribes uses UE3 right? That shouldn't be too demanding as well.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Okay so I'll defiantly go with the i3. I'll use the suggested build, but swap out the 6850 for a 6870 (Now going for about 160$-170$), and switch out the Power supply for the 600w. With the OS included that should leave me around 650$. My monitor is rather old and only gets a 1024 x 768 res. Newegg seems to deals often so I guess I'll keep my eye out for sales. Thanks for all the suggestions and any other contribution is welcome though this seems to work well.

One last thing. There are a few sapphire 6870s online, would this be the one to go with?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948

And yes, Tribes runs on Unreal 3
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

Yes, go for the 6870. Sapphire is a good brand, so I'd recommend you get it.

So if Tribes Ascend runs UE3, it wouldn't be much demanding.
Since almost all the games out there with Unreal Engine aren't demanding. :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom