$400-500 First Time Build (Help is appreciated)

schut39 · Jun 2, 2013

Hey guys, new guy here. Looking to build my first pc on a $400-500 budget as you read in the title. I currently have a setup ready to order for around $480 on newegg, but I want to make sure they are good parts and are also compatible with each other. I also want to make sure the parts are solid products for playing games such as BF3 or Skyrim on at least medium settings. Here is what I have gathered so far:

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

CPU Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835200014

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138373

Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231474

Storage: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136771

Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202011

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154110

Power Supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152019

CD Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106276

So there are the parts I have all lined up now. They come out to around a total of $480. I'd just like to know if this is will let me play games such as BF 3 on good settings, if it's a good build for the buck, and I'd also like to hear any other recommendations for a possibly cheaper/better part that you'd recommend! Thanks for any help guys and gals. I appreciate it! :ange:

Jake Anderson · Jun 2, 2013

if you could spend an extra 100 to 120 and had a microcenter near by you could gt a i5 3570k system for around 580 to 600 or so.

ingtar33 · Jun 2, 2013

schut39 :

mmmm... bf3 on good settings? you know an a10 can play it on good settings at low resolutions. so i'm curious what you mean by good settings, and what resolutions.

Overall; my thoughts on the build.

1) terrible motherboard. You won't overclock with it, that's for sure.
2) terrible waste of money cpu cooler. might as well save the $12 and stick with the stock cooler.
3) terrible psu~ this one is the real deal breaker though. Because a bad psu can blow up a bad motherboard, your gpu and nuke your cpu in one go. You need to get somethign reliable as this is the one part that can destroy the rest of your build if you spend the money badly on it.
4) waste of money on the hard drive. $60 for a 250gb hard drive? you can get terabyte sized hard drives (just as fast) for the same cash.

~ those are the glaring problems right off the bat that jump out at me. You really can spend your cash better. I mean this will roll out as a disaster.

schut39 · Jun 2, 2013

ingtar33 :

schut39 :

mmmm... bf3 on good settings? you know an a10 can play it on good settings at low resolutions. so i'm curious what you mean by good settings, and what resolutions.

Overall; my thoughts on the build.

1) terrible motherboard. You won't overclock with it, that's for sure.
2) terrible waste of money cpu cooler. might as well save the $12 and stick with the stock cooler.
3) terrible psu~ this one is the real deal breaker though. Because a bad psu can blow up a bad motherboard, your gpu and nuke your cpu in one go. You need to get somethign reliable as this is the one part that can destroy the rest of your build if you spend the money badly on it.
4) waste of money on the hard drive. $60 for a 250gb hard drive? you can get terabyte sized hard drives (just as fast) for the same cash.

~ those are the glaring problems right off the bat that jump out at me. You really can spend your cash better. I mean this will roll out as a disaster.

Thanks for the input! By that I mean I'd like to play at higher resolutions with the video settings (texture quality and what not) on high but not necessarily on ultra. I'll look into each of those things, but are there any parts in particular you would recommend I get instead? Thanks.

ingtar33 · Jun 2, 2013

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($84.98 @ Outlet PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($22.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($95.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 1GB Video Card ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($32.50 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $500.41
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-02 02:35 EDT-0400)

a generally superior build in every respect for just $20 more

~if you have to have a dvd rom pull it out of your last pc. I can't remember the last time i used one. So spending cash on one seems sorta pointless. I actually have 1 usb & 1 firewire external DVDRW drives; once in a blue moon i might attach one to use, but otherwise they gather dust.

personally if my budget was $500 limited i wouldn't spend a dime on one and squeeze every last penny into my computer to make sure it's gonna be solid.

schut39 · Jun 2, 2013

ingtar33 :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($84.98 @ Outlet PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($22.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($95.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 1GB Video Card ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($32.50 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $500.41
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-02 02:35 EDT-0400)

a generally superior build in every respect for just $20 more

~if you have to have a dvd rom pull it out of your last pc. I can't remember the last time i used one. So spending cash on one seems sorta pointless. I actually have 1 usb & 1 firewire external DVDRW drives; once in a blue moon i might attach one to use, but otherwise they gather dust.

personally if my budget was $500 limited i wouldn't spend a dime on one and squeeze every last penny into my computer to make sure it's gonna be solid.

Thanks a bunch! The thing is is that I've never personally owned a desktop, just laptops. We have a family desktop, but I doubt my mom would want me pulling the disc drive out of that. So a cpu cooler wouldn't be necessary either then?

ingtar33 · Jun 2, 2013

schut39 :

well if you have a family laptop... do you have a 4gig flash drive?

cause one of those can hold a copy of windows 7, you can install your OS off that.

I included a cpu cooler... just in case you want to overclock. actually that build would overclock fairly well, the mb is a solid overclocker, as is the chip, and cpu cooler... throw in a psu strong enough to handle an alright overclock and you've got a solid combo.

schut39 · Jun 2, 2013

ingtar33 :

Yeah I have a 16 gig flash drive. I'll most likely just install the OS that way. I'll find a way to get it because I don't feel like dropping an extra $100 on that too. To be honest, I'm not even sure what overclocking means. I've seen people talking about it, but i've never had it explained to me.

ingtar33 · Jun 2, 2013

schut39 :

Overclocking is taking a chip that runs at 3.4ghz (like the phenom II x4 965 BE) and increasing it's clock speed up to... oh... lets say 4.0ghz. Not saying you'll get it up to 4.0ghz... every chip is different, some might top out at 3.7ghz, others 4.5ghz; in the end it's all luck of the draw.

basically it's taking what you've got and making it a bit faster.

schut39 · Jun 2, 2013

ingtar33 :

schut39 :

Overclocking is taking a chip that runs at 3.4ghz (like the phenom II x4 965 BE) and increasing it's clock speed up to... oh... lets say 4.0ghz. Not saying you'll get it up to 4.0ghz... every chip is different, some might top out at 3.7ghz, others 4.5ghz; in the end it's all luck of the draw.

basically it's taking what you've got and making it a bit faster.

Thanks for all the help man, it's much appreciated!

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