Trying my hand at building my first gaming pc

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wolfbm09

wolfbm09

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Mar 16, 2013
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Hey all, ive been getting frustrated with my current pc running minecraft only on low settings and I have been wanting to play Starcraft 2 on decent settings with no lag. I saw alienware X-51 was like $600 and thought it would probably be cheaper to build my own. I won't overclock and won't be running multiple monitors (but I do use a 32" tv as my dedicated monitor). I'm not trying to play Crysis 3 on ultra, i'm just wanting to be able to play minecraft, SC2, and Slender on higher settings with no stuttering. Here is what I came up with.

CPU: Intel Pentium G860 Sandy Bridge 3.0GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80623G860

Mobo: ECS H61H2-MV LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Heat sink: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible with Intel 1366/1155/775 and AMD FM1/FM2/AM3+

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

VGA: HIS iCooler H775FS2G Radeon HD 7750 2GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

Case: XION Onyx XON-301 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Stylish LED Power switch and unique 140mm Green LED Fan

HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST320DM000 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

cd/dvd: LG 24X DVD Burner

power: JUST PC JPC-P4DFNK550 550W ATX Power Supply

Not sure if i need a sound card since I have a pair of turtle beach x-12 that I currently use on my computer (no speakers are hooked up) Wanting to stay under $550 since if it gets to over $600 I might as well get an alienware (even though I hear it has heating issues).
 
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realchaos

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($94.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock 970DE3/U3S3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($52.50 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Zalman Z5 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $548.40
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-16 22:57 EDT-0400)
Here's a nice amd build with a 7850.
 
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wolfbm09

wolfbm09

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Iappreciate your response realchaos but from what I have read a quad core would be a bit of over kill for my play style and im not really needing a terabyte of storage although I have been looking into SSD.
 
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CarolKarine

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Aug 29, 2012
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another good point is to always get the best you can while budget building. cause if you want to play something more demanding later, the build you originally posted will fall over and die, while realchaos's build will likely just cough a bit (sorry, that's the nature of budget builds :( )
 
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grich96

grich96

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Jan 13, 2013
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http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KcvN

This build gives you an SSD (one of the most noticeable upgrades for a PC)
The onboard graphics (HD 4000) should play Starcraft 2 on medium to high

http://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=366&game=StarCraft+II%3A+Wings+of+Liberty&p_make=Intel&p_deriv=Core+i3-3225+3.3GHz&gc_make=Intel&gc_deriv=Intel+HD+Graphics+4000+Desktop&ram=4&checkSubmit=#systemRequirements

This build is only $416 and features DDR3-1866 RAM (which is fast)
As far as cases go, the one I suggested is a good one, but there is a lot of personal preference involved.
If you can, spend $100 more and get an HD 7770 GHz Edition GPU.
 
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CarolKarine

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or ignore both of those? sorry to say, unless he wants to shrink his budget by 200 USD, he shouldn't even look at APUs, and the HD 4000 graphics on intel IS ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE. a previous generation entry level card (6750) would tear it apart.

and for gaming, SSDs are the most pointless upgrade ever - because you will see no difference in gameplay, just in loading times. money essentially wasted when on a budget. don't look at SSDs until you have a budget of at least 800 USD. the APU build is actually better than the HD 4000 one for gaming, although I would never suggest either.

go with realchaos's build. best one on this page. only thing I would change would be to get a 500gb HDD to free up enough cash to get a 7850 2gb so you can avoid frame buffer bottlenecks.
 
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realchaos

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Here's the revised build with a 2gb vram and 500gb.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($94.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock 970DE3/U3S3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($52.50 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Zalman Z5 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $553.41
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-16 23:53 EDT-0400)
 
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grich96

grich96

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Jan 13, 2013
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The SSD will be very useful for boot times and load times so while it may not help during the gameplay, it is still useful. The orginal poster also said they were "looking into SSDs." While HD 4000 is obviously not as powerful as a discrete graphics card, the OP asked to play games such as Starcraft 2 on higher settings and the HD 4000 can play it on medium to higher settings. Obviously I agree that the HD 7850 is great, but for what the OP wants a build for the HD 7850 is not needed, but would be a great addition. That being said, the build suggested by realchaos is still a good build.
 
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realchaos

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Why would you even dare get a SSD in a $550 budget build? Even though the integrated graphics might run sc2 on medium, I think it's better investing into at least a hd 7770, or possible a 7790 if it comes out before you buy the build, just in case he finds a more demanding game to play. Don't forget, the 7850 comes with free games if you're into tomb raider or bioshock infinite.
 
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