Gaming PC recomendations

[Insanitypays]

Hi, Im looking to buy a new gaming PC and right now im going to say Im afraid of building one. Too much work and too expensive if I screw up. I would rather buy one online pre built even though people advise against it, but im open to suggestions. (ive opened computers before for maintainece and upgrades but like I said earlier I dont want to make one wrong move and fry everything because im very accident prone)

My budget is -$1000.00 I can possibly go $300.00 over if it really gives me a great preformance boost. I dont need a moniter, mouse, or keyboard, no mic either or any other addon so all that 1000 is going in the tower
THANKS

[Pedz]

Might be best to move this to the hardware section.

But I must say this. Do not be afraid! I had no idea about building my own PC, I did a bit of research, and the hardest thing to pick out is a PSU and well im sure I will be able to assist you in the right Wattage PSU you require for your final rig.

Buidling your own PC can save you loads too. I made my own recently (1 week ago) cost me ?1700ish in parts. If i wanted it pre-built it would have cost me over ?1900 and that's without the custom CPU cooler and better PSU I bought. There is little to no worry of frying anything, they come with great instructions mostly and you may have to put it together a few times to get it perfect but its part of the learning. (I had to take the GPUS out about 10 times after remembering I needed to plug all the Motherboard plugs in first as the GPUs covered the slots >.>).

The hardest thing to 'build' is applying the CPU cooler to the CPU with thermal paste etc. However even this was a doddle. Just put it on, place the cooler on top, secure it. Then take it off, check the paste covers the chip, if not apply some more. Repeat till happy. (remember to use tiny amounts, the paste will come with instructions).

However if you are 100% decided against building your own, then I will try and supply the best value Performance PC (may take a day or two ) for your price, with extras for that extra dollar. However if you could supply me with preferred supplies (retailers, e-tailers etc...) This is because I don't live in the US so I have no idea what companies to look at and I know for sure Scan and Novatech don't supply to the US.

[Jigsaw]

Moved to the Hardware section of the forums.

[declan54321]

I don't know how much it cost, but you can find that out (not ridiculous prices).

My dad recently built a new computer consisting of:

Intel Core i5-2500k @4.5GHz
Nvidia GTX580 1.5GB
6GB Corsair Dominator GT RAM
Two OCZ Vertex 2 SSDs

It is just awesome. This pc will run anything you can throw at it, and run it at 60fps solid (v-sync turned on).

The CPU is ridiculously cheap, the bargain of the decade. GPU is out of this world; compared to my GTX280, it is mind-blowing. RAM again is the fastest possible. I highly recommend you buy an SSD for your games, as they improve performance (texture loading, quicker load times etc) no end.

I can't remember what motherboard he got, but it was a high end Asus one.

Hope this helps

Declan

[Insanitypays]

Would this be good?

GX2-W Silver - Velocity Micro Classic Aluminum Case - Full Sized chassis with side window
Power Supply 550 Watt Velocity Micro? Power Supply
Motherboard Asus? P8P67 LE Intel? P67 based chipset, ATX Motherboard
Processor Intel? Core™i5-2400 processor, quad 3.10GHz cores, 6MB Cache (+$10.00)
CPU Cooling Intel? Certified Heatsink/Fan, Thermal Controlled Variable Speed Fan
DDR3 Memory 4GB DDR3-1333 Dual Channel Memory (2 x 2048mb)
PCX Video 1GB NVIDIA? Geforce™GT 430, PCI-Express 2.0 (-$25.00)
Video Tuning None - Standard Video Performance
TV Tuner None
Monitor None
Audio On-Board Integrated ALC892 8-Channel Audio
Speakers None
Hard Drive 1 1TB 7200rpm 32MB Cache SATA 300 w/NCQ
Hard Drive 2 None
Optical Drive 1 20x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner with LightScribe Labeling Technology, Black
Optical Drive 2 None
Media Reader Integrated 8-in-1 Flash Memory Media Reader
Network Adapter Integrated 10/100/1000MBps Gigabit Ethernet Network Adapter
Network Adapter 2 or WiFi
Adapter
802.11n PCI WiFi Adapter (+$10.00)
WiFi Router None
FireWire 2 Integrated IEEE 1394 FireWire Ports, 1 front & 1 rear
Bluetooth None
Ports 2 Rear USB 3.0, 6 Rear USB 2.0, FireWire, Audio Out/Mic-in, 2 Rear eSATA
Operating System Genuine Microsoft? Windows? 7 Home Premium 64-bit w/ SP1

[LITOralis.nMd]

Your list above is a good PC, except this:
PCX Video 1GB NVIDIA? Geforce™GT 430, PCI-Express 2.0 (-$25.00)
THat will leave you frsutrated inside of a year as new games exceed the potential of that card.
Also, you wil want to buy an aftermarket CPU cooler assembly and fan, the stock fan is load as heck under full load while gaming.


if you tell us a bit about yourself we can give you better suggestions. Are you near a microcenter of frys retail store?
First off, go to microcenter.com and see if you have a retail store located near you.
Second off, go to Frys.com and see if you have a retail store near you.
Third, tell us if you are a student, teacher or faculty at a school.
Fourth, check out websites like slickdeals.net and fatwallet.com for daily specials on PC components. If you can wait a bit you can get great deals and buy it piecemeal, depends on how much your time is worth for searching out offers.

First, Microcenter has combo deals on i5-2500k and Asus mobos, check out page 28 in their flyer:
eB0511A

Second, Frys has similar deal going on, but I don't have a link, go to frys.com

Third, if you are a student, teacher of faculty at an accredited high school , college or university, you can get free legal copies of Microsoft Server 2008 R2 Standard x64, which is a beefed up version of Windows7 Pro. Check out dreamspark.com
https://www.dreamspark.com/Products/Pro ... oductId=17

[declan54321]

This is what I recommend considering money as well:

Intel i5-2500K
Nvidia GTX560
6GB Corsair Dominator Ram
30GB (or whatever you need) SSD

The processor is cheap, and is the fastest possible. The graphics card is only a little bit slower than a gtx580, but is a lot cheaper. Ram, good. SSD will make games much better.

[SnipeHunt]

Keep an eye out at Woot? : One Day, One Deal? they have nice HP systems for a really good price. They are not gaming ready, but if you can handle swapping out a PSU and installing a Graphics card you can get one heck of a deal. Here is a recent one that went up for sale. :
HP PC from Woot

[Doc.Pock]

agree with dec on this one its a great setup my cousin uses it and it eats everything you throw at it

[Pedz]

This is what I recommend considering money as well:

Intel i5-2500K
Nvidia GTX560
6GB Corsair Dominator Ram
30GB (or whatever you need) SSD

The processor is cheap, and is the fastest possible. The graphics card is only a little bit slower than a gtx580, but is a lot cheaper. Ram, good. SSD will make games much better.

Other than the dominator ram, your onto a winner. Dominator ram is now old.. Vengeance ram is their new top performer, and uses the low voltage of 1.5 (which is the safest limit for Sandy bridge, 1.65 is considered limit to unsafe vRAM levels).

Or even get some G.Skill Ripjaw-X's (got 8gb of them and theyre superb, better CAS times than corsair.

[declan54321]

Other than the dominator ram, your onto a winner. Dominator ram is now old.. Vengeance ram is their new top performer, and uses the low voltage of 1.5 (which is the safest limit for Sandy bridge, 1.65 is considered limit to unsafe vRAM levels).

Or even get some G.Skill Ripjaw-X's (got 8gb of them and theyre superb, better CAS times than corsair.

Yeah, sorry. I actually meant to say Dominator GT RAM (extra low latency), but that is more suited to fsx.

[Pedz]

Yeah, sorry. I actually meant to say Dominator GT RAM (extra low latency), but that is more suited to fsx.

Ah, and also the problem I had with corsair ram is that theyre quite tall.. Hence my decision for G.Skill, they fit perfectly under the Noctua heatsink sets (the best aircooling for CPUs, and they even trump the pre-built corsair watercoolers H70 and H50 )

But yes if the orignal poster can give me the preferred place to buy from, then I can list you up a spec list

[Insanitypays]

Your list above is a good PC, except this:
PCX Video 1GB NVIDIA? Geforce?GT 430, PCI-Express 2.0 (-$25.00)
THat will leave you frsutrated inside of a year as new games exceed the potential of that card.
Also, you wil want to buy an aftermarket CPU cooler assembly and fan, the stock fan is load as heck under full load while gaming.


if you tell us a bit about yourself we can give you better suggestions. Are you near a microcenter of frys retail store?
First off, go to microcenter.com and see if you have a retail store located near you.
Second off, go to Frys.com and see if you have a retail store near you.
Third, tell us if you are a student, teacher or faculty at a school.
Fourth, check out websites like slickdeals.net and fatwallet.com for daily specials on PC components. If you can wait a bit you can get great deals and buy it piecemeal, depends on how much your time is worth for searching out offers.

First, Microcenter has combo deals on i5-2500k and Asus mobos, check out page 28 in their flyer:
eB0511A

Second, Frys has similar deal going on, but I don't have a link, go to frys.com

Third, if you are a student, teacher of faculty at an accredited high school , college or university, you can get free legal copies of Microsoft Server 2008 R2 Standard x64, which is a beefed up version of Windows7 Pro. Check out dreamspark.com
https://www.dreamspark.com/Products/Pro ... oductId=17

Ok, im 15, freshman in HS, yes, I checked Frys and have3 retail stores close to where I live, and

[LITOralis.nMd]

If you have a current gaming PC, you can salvage some parts:
The computer case.
The DVD Drive.

DO NOT reuse power supplies, the components degrade over time, after 2 years they only run at 80% of power rating, at 5 years as low as 60%.

Reusing the DVD drive saves another $15 to $20 bucks.
Reusing the case can save you another $70 bucks.

I'm still using a nice PC case from 2005 for my gaming PC, I've rebuilt it twice, the old innards of those PCs are now in the cheapest PC cases I could find, one from a garbage pile which cost nothing, and one cost $18 on sale.

[LITOralis.nMd]

Hi Echo,

dreamspark.com could save you $90 at a minimum on the build, giving you enough extra dough to buy a decent video card. There is another option, I suggest you read this:

https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f358-s ... -win7.html

It can get you over 10 legal copies of Windows (from windows98 to WinServer2008r2Enteprisex64) for US$32, which will make your parents very happy, on top of that, you can join ACM academic and have access to a vast wealth of resources for learning stuff about IT, if that interests you. At least pretend it interests you and then your parents will shell out $32 instead of $110 for Windows plus they'll think you're wanting to use it for education, instead of gaming.


Read the slickdeals.net link in that post, it has all the info you need. You'll need to give ACM or IEEE or dreamspark.com your student ID, and maybe get a IT/computer teacher at your school to sign up as your advisor. It's worth the trouble... you get access to enough MIcrosoft and Sun training material to make yourself employable, or at least test out of college level IT courses for advanced placement.

So yeah, my cousins your age took their time and did a picemeal build for their gaming PCs.

Noctua NH-C12P SE14 140mm SSO CPU Cooler
Average Rating
(46 reviews)

In stock.
Now:
$74.99
Newegg.com - Noctua NH-C12P SE14 140mm SSO CPU Cooler

---------------------

[LITOralis.nMd]

So yeah, free or $32 for OS, free recycled DVD drive, and maybe recycled case... saves big money,
You can buy a better CPU and or motherboard than stated below... but this would work well for several years:

Below is a fry's build,
you still need to buy a Power supply and CPU cooler FAN, as suggested above, the Noctua cpu fans are the best available.


FRYS.com #
items: qty unit price ext price
6487492 DDR3 8GB 1600MHz DUAL CORSAIR VENGEAN CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9
remove item $99.99 $99.99
Shipping: Same Business Day

6388641 Asus GTX 480 1.5GB
remove item $399.99 $399.99
Shipping: Same Business Day

6487372 Intel Core i5 2400 Boxed Processor 2nd Generation Sandy Bridge CPU
remove item $189.99 $189.99
Shipping: Same Business Day

6559943 Asus P8H67-M LE B3 Intel H67 1155 Motherboard
remove item $104.99 $104.99
Shipping: Same Business Day


PSC for 6559943 INFO Store Pickup Only
6233400
Antec Sonata Proto Quiet Mid Tower ATX Computer Case
remove item $59.99 $59.99
Shipping: Same Business Day

subtotal: $854.95

[LITOralis.nMd]

IF you do not live in California or New Jersey, check out Newegg's combo deals on i5-2X00 CPUs

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!

[TheComedian]

Whats all this talk of 6GB RAM? No application ever uses more than 3GB unless you are into 3D modelling or intensive graphical applications. 32bit OS cannot use more than 3GB and 64bit has too much compatibility issues.

I would suggest getting following

any Intel i5 CPU
3-4 GB RAM
ATI HD5770 (or anything in its class like geforce 280)
creative X-fi sound (some motherboards have good integrated sound too)
latest motherboard (so you can upgrade it in the future)
1TB hard disk

This config will cost you ~$600

Runs all games on max/highest settings at 1920x1080 resolution

I'm no expert in this field but I can tell you this: Any rig you assemble yourself will last longer and less money. There are many videos on YouTube about how to assemble the parts. You will never learn unless you try it. Take it step by step and you won't regret it.

[BloodBane611]

That is a very solid build comedian, 4 GB of RAM is definitely a pretty solid place for most people. If this build is going to be used for ArmA II get an SSD as well, even then you can do an entire build under $1000

[declan54321]

That is a very solid build comedian, 4 GB of RAM is definitely a pretty solid place for most people. If this build is going to be used for ArmA II get an SSD as well, even then you can do an entire build under $1000

Everything apart from the 5770. That card is out of date now, and even when it was new it was slower than it's rivals. Try something like a GTX560, or even a GTS something.