What specs are needed for a decent gaming PC that won't break the bank?

[Ruth Miller]

Looking to upgrade from a Intel core 2 duo 3.0 ghz machine to something like a I-5 Intel with at least 8 gigs of memory, and good power supply and mobo, a 1TB HD, and decent video card. I've seen many at different retailers advertised with stats I mentioned above, but what qualifies as a gaming computer? I don't have a clue, thanks for any help.

 

[synphul]

That pretty well nails it. Sort of middle ground, not over the top with an i7 and not scraping by with a pentium dual core. The i3 is less expensive and does well in quite a few games but also falls a bit short and struggles in a few too. What sort of budget did you have in mind? Did you plan to buy a prebuilt pc or purchase components and put one together yourself?

A gaming pc is one with a decent cpu and a graphics card better than you'd need for basic email/youtube or movie viewing. Something like a locked i5 (non k) such as the 4th gen 4460, 4590 or skylake 6th gen 6500. For the graphics card, something around the $150-200 range like an r9 270x, r9 380, gtx 960 or better. Those should give decent fps at med/high or higher graphics settings at 1080p in most games.

Edit: I wanted to mention to be careful with prebuilt systems and their advertising. It's not uncommon to run across a 'bargain' pc that seems like a good price and the ad even calls it a 'gaming' system. Then you look at the specs and see that it uses a video card like an r7 260 or r7 250 and those are really weak for most games. Not what most gamers would consider a gaming card at all.

 

[Tzn]

Check my build, this is as low as you should ever get https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Tzuno/saved/ and if you have the money not a crazy amount of money i might add you should go for this https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Tzuno/saved/#view=pPtTwP