Tips for building a gaming rig?

miamor

Honorable
May 26, 2013
6
0
10,510
I've never built a computer before, and my friend helped me come up with this (http://pcpartpicker.com/p/10aiA) rig, and I'm just wondering if this is the most bang for my buck, and also, if there's any tips you guys can give me going into building it. My understanding is that building a computer isn't really that hard, you just follow instructions, but I may be totally wrong.

My budget for this build is about $600-700. I have a little bit of wiggle room, but I'm only 16, and I'm gonna be working a summer job to pay for it.

Oh, also, I'm going to be playing games at 1600x1200, and I'm content with playing most modern games on medium settings. My current PC is barely capable of running Civ 5 at 1280x1024.
 

X79

Honorable
It is fairly easy, once you find out how to make things fit together.

This:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3330 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G41 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.24 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($248.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($70.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $902.13
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-26 14:23 EDT-0400)

You can take away the screen though. But it's a good screen.

 

muujig612

Honorable
Jun 29, 2012
62
0
10,630
The below setup will run most modern games on highest available settings in 1600x1200 resolution. If you act now you might get a few rebate cards. You can also change the Graphic Card to AMD HD7770, but I wouldn't recommend it. The board supports up to 32GB Dual-Channel RAM and Cross-Fire, so does the PSU, leaving you room for cheap upgrade for later on. And if you can get a little extra cash you would wanna go for Samsung 840 120GB SSD.

The setup totals at $619

AMD Phenom II x4 965 for $95 on newegg.com
Cooler Master Hyper TX3 for $20 on newegg.com
ASRock 970 Extreme3 AM3+ for $88 on newegg.com
2x4GB 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport 1600Mhz for $52 on newegg.com
HIS Radeon HD 7850 1GB GDDR5 for $174 on newegg.com
Western Digital 1TB 7200RPM SATAIII HDD for $65 on newegg.com
NZXT Tempest 410 Mid ATX case for $55 on newegg.com
Cooler Master i700 700W PSU for $70 on newegg.com
Optional but recommended upgrade: Samsung 840 Series 120GB SATAIII SSD(530MB/s read) for $102 on newegg.com