Starter Build Project

[Warivera03]

hi community so I'm kinda new to this and I have done upgrades to prebuilts before but, never built my own rig, I have pondered the thought for some time. This Christmas my wife asked me what I wanted and I told her maybe a bare Bones kit. Now my question is to you guys is..should i go barebones? if so whats the best deal out there right now? I currently live in Orlando FL so there is a Comp Usa around the corner but they don't sell barebones just parts. I'm ultimately going to make it a gaming rig, but the wife gave me a budget of just $200!!..Now i know that's no where enough to build a decent rig but I just wanted to know what I could get for that price that I could keep upgrading through the year barbones or prebuilt. thx!! p.s. i got software and mouse, keyboard and such already

 

[ajchavez91]

WOW, that's a very tight budget... in my opinion, you'll end up replacing all the parts of the barebones kit with newer and better ones while upgrading. If you want a good gaming rig, i'd say you wait, save the money till you have enought to buy better pieces. With those $200 you could buy a core i5 3570k if you add $20 on amazon. That's a beast processor (i have the 3570, non "K" version, and it's awesome, i love it!) and start from there.

Buying a barebones sounds like a waste of money to me if you don't need the PC for like RIGHT NOW to work or something.

Good luck.

 

[Warivera03]

THX!! for the reply chavez hahahah!!! ya didnt know that asking but from researching more closely since my post seems the price range starts from $500 and up, I appreciate the advice ya sadly I been looking closer at those barebones kits and they look kinda sketchy and like u said I'm not rlly in a huge rush my laptop handles well, just sounded like a fun hobby to get into and everything was bundled ...I'm gonna run with that CPU idea and maybe a nice case! >;D

 

[ajchavez91]

No problem, and yeah, price ranged for decent gaming rigs start at $500 minimum without the graphics card. With a good graphics card involved (maybe not extreme graphics card, but very good) it might jump to $650-$700 or less if you find good deals on nice graphic cards.

You should definitely go with that idea, i'd advice you to get an i7 but it'd be kind of a waste of money if you're not aiming for a hardcore gaming pc with extreme graphics; so core i5 3570 (either the K or non K version are ok) is perfect.

Talking about nice cases, look for a full tower one, those have some space behind the motherboard to put the PSU cables and some holes near the components you'll need to connect; that's a big plus because of better airflow (slitghtly lower temps) and it looks a lot better than having a mess with the cables lol.

Also, when you buy a motherboard, look for ATX ones, not mini-ATX. ATX mobos are bigger, meaning you'll have at least 2 pci express 2.0 or 3.0 slots for SLIor Crossfire.

Any more questions you might have, just ask. :3

Good luck!

 

[Warivera03]

Best answer selected by warivera03.