Need help choosing components for new PC.

[Amine B]

I have $450 to spend on a gaming PC. Not much, right? Thankfully my best friend has offered me a bunch of stuff so I can focus on a few parts.

He has given me: Mid Sized Case, Speakers, Keyboard, Monitor, HD 4890 GPU, 1TB HDD.

What I originally planned on buying to finish up the build was: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 MOBO, Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 Ivy Bridge CPU,
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO, and 2 x 4 8gb Corsair Vengeance Low Profile ram.

The reason I chose the Xeon CPU is that I don't really plan on overclocking, and I've only heard good things about it.

What would you chance/recommend to me in terms of this build? Thanks in advance!

 

[Tom Tancredi]

FAIL! A Xeon isn't for gaming, and is totally the wrong direction. Secondly the 4890 is a FIVE YEAR OLD CARD, and will severely choke any system for 'gaming' unless you only plan on playing 2009 games and older, and around 1024x768 display (EWWWW).

Plainly put, a 'GAMING PC' STARTS at $700 with no 'OS' in hand, if you had a previous build you did you could then move your Windows possibly to the newer build (all depends) as long as it wasn't a Dell/gateway/etc. PC. Save your money a bit longer and then you will have plenty of options for modern gaming (i.e. 2013 and forward games).

 

[tiny voices]

FAIL! A Xeon isn't for gaming, and is totally the wrong direction. Secondly the 4890 is a FIVE YEAR OLD CARD, and will severely choke any system for 'gaming' unless you only plan on playing 2009 games and older, and around 1024x768 display (EWWWW).

Plainly put, a 'GAMING PC' STARTS at $700 with no 'OS' in hand, if you had a previous build you did you could then move your Windows possibly to the newer build (all depends) as long as it wasn't a Dell/gateway/etc. PC. Save your money a bit longer and then you will have plenty of options for modern gaming (i.e. 2013 and forward games).

Sorry you are wrong. First of all, That Xeon is basically an i5 and it will be perfectly fine.

Second of all, you can build a $600 computer WITH OS to easily play modern games atmedium/high settings at 1080p.

 

[Tom Tancredi]

FAIL! A Xeon isn't for gaming, and is totally the wrong direction. Secondly the 4890 is a FIVE YEAR OLD CARD, and will severely choke any system for 'gaming' unless you only plan on playing 2009 games and older, and around 1024x768 display (EWWWW).

Plainly put, a 'GAMING PC' STARTS at $700 with no 'OS' in hand, if you had a previous build you did you could then move your Windows possibly to the newer build (all depends) as long as it wasn't a Dell/gateway/etc. PC. Save your money a bit longer and then you will have plenty of options for modern gaming (i.e. 2013 and forward games).

Sorry you are wrong. First of all, That Xeon is basically an i5 and it will be perfectly fine.

Second of all, you can build a $600 computer WITH OS to easily play modern games atmedium/high settings at 1080p.

Actually no, it rates BELOW a i7-2600 http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+E3-1230+%40+3.20GHz . The Xeon is maximized and streamlined for SERVER performance needs, not 'gaming FPS' needs. Further why would you 'agree' with such a set up (below i7-2600 + five year old 4890 GPU) for 'modern gaming' it certainly can't play them at medium /high settings, and isn't much 'bang for the buck'.

Compare that to say this http://www.staples.com/Dell-Inspiron-660-Desktop-Computer/product_56855 with the $100 coupon http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/coupons/ for only $379 you have a base system to then add the PSU and GPU combo (600W PSU for $90, GPU $149-$499) THEN you will " easily play modern games atmedium/high settings at 1080p".

Want a serious game rig? $599 http://slickdeals.net/f/6657778-lenovo-h530-desktop-pc-core-i7-4770-3-4ghz-haswell-8gb-ddr3-1tb-hdd-wifi-n-dvdrw-usb-3-hdmi-win-8-599-90-free-shipping-staples, and for a measily $200 more investment you can get a freaking HASWELL i7 !!! Previously such 'new top of line' CPUs were an extra $400-700 on top of the $500 cost for a base 'off the shelf system'; now your getting the thing for only $599 total!

The point is OP, be it tiny voices or my answer, you can't buy a 'gaming rig' with so little cash, at least for 'modern' games. If your happy with up to 2009-2010 games or older at 1024x768, that is what you will be capable for.