First Gaming Build...no idea what I'm doing

purplecrayon · Jun 13, 2013

Trying to build a gaming PC capable of running Skyrim smootly. I have a budget of about $750. Right now, this is what I have:

Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R.2 AM3+AMD SATA 6 GB.

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 270 Regor 3.4 GHz

Graphics Card: Asus HD7750-1GD5-V2 Radeon VGA 1 GB

As you can see, I like Asus. I don't know if any of this stuff works together, or how it performs once its hooked up. I've watched a few videos from newegg on youtube but they don't talk about brands or system requirements or anything like that. Please help. Thanks

Norlag · Jun 13, 2013

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/ You have some wiggle room in your budget with this build. Use that to either get a more expensive case, or upgrade the cpu to an fx 8350 (might want to consider a 970fx chipset also).

g-unit1111 · Jun 13, 2013

$750 you can get a way better CPU than an extremely weak AMD dual core and Radeon 7750. You could definitely go with a Haswell CPU and maybe a 650TI or Radeon 7850.

Try this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus H87-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($117.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2GB Video Card ($173.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $750.46
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-13 14:25 EDT-0400)

Marcopolo123 · Jun 13, 2013

Build from gunit looks very good,

If you want to save some cash you could just replace the cpu and gpu.
Fx6300
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-cpu-fd6300wmhkbox
Asus hd 7870

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-hd7870dc22gd5v2

Which psu you have ?

nathanoakes · Jun 13, 2013

Well as I have only seen people's custom builds on PartPicker, I can't fully comment on it. It is my opinion that you should buy your kit separately from, say, eBay or Amazon, and build it yourself, just because you can save yourself a lot of money building your own system. The above is running under the assumption that PartPicker builds the thing for you, but yeah I could be wrong. Please correct me!

Anyways, as I'm gonna convert to my currency, you have a rounded up budget of around £500. I quite like the sound of G-unit's build, but if you want to upgrade every now and then, you should probably go with an AMD setup. In all fairness the top of the line AMD competes evenly with the i5 in Unit's build so it's up to you.
I do, however have some minor adjustments to his build.

Power supply - IMO it's better to get a bigger one just for the purpose of upgrading. Here's a cheaper 750w one than the 520 suggested above - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Solid-Gear-750W-ATX-PSU-w-120mm-Fan-SDGR-750E-NEW-/281075939535?pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item41716e78cf

HDD - Better off getting a 2TB for the fact that getting two 1TB is more expensive. Trust me, they fill up much more easily than you'd expect. 2TB HDDs don't cost that much more anyway (http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-2TB-2000GB-64MB-Cache-7200RPM-SATA2-3-5-Desktop-Hard-Drive-PC-Mac-/150837004503?pt=US_Internal_Hard_Disk_Drives&hash=item231e9608d7)

Case - It isn't entirely necessary to get a nicer, more expensive case. i'm not really one to talk, being an owner of an Aerocool Open Air case, but it's entirely up to you. Very cheap, not so rough looking cases all over eBay.
The money you save on the PSU and possibly the case can be used to improve on the HD with the 2TB or even a 3TB.

While i see the benefits of Newegg, they're more costly than eBay but then again I don't have access to Newegg here in England.
Hope I could help

g-unit1111 · Jun 13, 2013

Power supply - IMO it's better to get a bigger one just for the purpose of upgrading. Here's a cheaper 750w one than the 520 suggested above - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Solid-Gear-750W-ATX-PSU-w-120mm...

Absolutely not. Not just no, but hell no. I would not trust an extremely terrible, junk, no name PSU above a Seasonic. Bad idea. Better to get one with lower wattage but higher quality than a higher wattage but extremely poor quality. Better to pay more for a quality power supply or have that junk no name blow up or short out and take your system out with it.

HDD - Better off getting a 2TB for the fact that getting two 1TB is more expensive. Trust me, they fill up much more easily than you'd expect. 2TB HDDs don't cost that much more anyway (http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-2TB-2000GB-64MB-Cache-7200R...)

Storage needs vary from user to user. I generally go with 1TB to be on the safe side. And I would generally advise against linking to eBay as there's a lot of shady sellers on eBay. Especially for used and refurbished PC parts.

Case - It isn't entirely necessary to get a nicer, more expensive case. i'm not really one to talk, being an owner of an Aerocool Open Air case, but it's entirely up to you. Very cheap, not so rough looking cases all over eBay.

Why? What's the point of an open air case? The Corsair 200R is one of the best $50 or less cases you can get. Anything less than $50 and you get a lot of cheap crap.

nathanoakes · Jun 13, 2013

g-unit1111 :

Well one, i never had a problem with my £20 750w Ace PSU. Still running fine after just over two years.
Two, following your PSU logic of being on the safe side, a 2TB is a better option. Yeah he might not need it, but the point in a big HDD is it doesn't get filled as easily.
Three, I wasn't recommending the open air case, I was referring to mine. I like the practicality and yes, the looks. In answer to your cheap crap, not necessarily. I owned a cheap case at first and it served me fine. Yeah okay it might not have as much room for expansion but it will hold the parts of a $750 budget. I too was on a budget so i got some cheaper parts and I was absolutely fine. Bigger price tags don't always mean better and unless you've tried something yourself I wouldn't badmouth it. Let's remember that the OP is on a budget here...

g-unit1111 · Jun 13, 2013

nathanoakes :

Even if the OP is on a budget, there is zero reason to skimp on components. I don't skimp on components and I certainly don't recommend crap either. That's my philosophy on builds, and has been for years, and I would like to think I know what I am doing.

Even if a power supply advertises its' output a 750W, that doesn't mean that it actually meet the stated wattage output. Manufacturers lie all the time about this (*cough* Cooler Master) and it pisses us advanced end users off to no end. And the cheaper build quality the power supply is, the more likely the manufacturer is to lie on the label. To me a power supply isn't just about stated wattage. It's about build quality and the quality of components used underneath. You could have a PSU advertise 1200W but if it has poor build quality, it won't last. I don't skimp on PSUs and never will for this reason alone.

I will badmouth crap power supplies and cases every single time. I have seen what happens when you use cheap garbage. I have seen cheap, crappy cases fall apart really quickly. I have had power supplies blow up and short out. I'd like to think I know what I am talking about.

nathanoakes · Jun 14, 2013

Well maybe in your experience things have gone wrong, just like in my experience things haven't. and in all honesty, the more expensive stuff can break really easily as well. I bought a pretty high end motherboard and it broke within two weeks. I've built extremely low budget PCs on cheap cases and power supplies and they haven't had a single problem. I would also like to think I'm quite experienced as i have built quite a few systems here and there and the only problem I ever had was my faulty motherboard so yeah. Sometimes there's nothing wrong with getting cheaper stuff, especially if you're on a budget. Even if the OP wants better components eventually he can cheap out to start off with so he can get better components initially, rather than getting expensive stuff right away. That's what I did.

purplecrayon · Jun 14, 2013

Guys, first off I would like to thank you for your quick responses. Now, let me steer you all in a better direction. Cases are hardly my concern, if its got good airflow and doesn't fall over when someone walks past it, I could care less what brand makes it or how "cheap" it may be to another person. As far as storage goes, I don't download alot of movies or porn. I don't have an extensive archive of music I don't listen to. So needless to say, 1T would be plenty. As far as the PSU goes, I found a Rosewill 80+ Platinum that handles 450v and its got great reviews. What are your opinions on that? My end goal is to be able to play games like Skyrim, Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, Bioshock 3 etc. with absolutely no hang up or overheating. I need a motherboard, cpu, and video card now. I prefer Asus, as I have had an Asus gaming laptop for the past 5 years and I can STILL play modern games, but it unfortunately overheats. So get me to an asus setup that will meet my needs. My budget for all three of those is now 461 after I picked out the rest. Keep that in mind.

g-unit1111 · Jun 14, 2013

Now, let me steer you all in a better direction. Cases are hardly my concern, if its got good airflow and doesn't fall over when someone walks past it, I could care less what brand makes it or how "cheap" it may be to another person. As far as storage goes, I don't download alot of movies or porn. I don't have an extensive archive of music I don't listen to.

Yeah that's exactly why I said storage needs vary from one person to the next. What works for one person may not work for the next.

So needless to say, 1T would be plenty. As far as the PSU goes, I found a Rosewill 80+ Platinum that handles 450v and its got great reviews. What are your opinions on that?

Where are the reviews coming from - the store or actual review websites like Hardware Secrets and Jonnyguru? I would heavily suggest that, no matter what power supply you plan to buy, that you read the reviews posted on the latter websites. Store reviews are full of so much bias and BS that I can't really take them seriously. If Hardware Secrets or Jonnyguru say a power supply is good, then it's good. If they say it's crap, then it's crap.

Marcopolo123 · Jun 14, 2013

Well your current motherboard is fine.

purplecrayon · Jun 14, 2013

I checked jonny guru on that Rosewill PSU. Couldn't find the 450 or the 550 fortress, but they tested the 750 Fortress and they gave it a 9.1.

purplecrayon · Jun 14, 2013

Marcopolo123 :

which one?

Marcopolo123 · Jun 14, 2013

purplecrayon :

Asus M5A97 R.2 AM3+AMD SATA 6 GB.

Just buy a fx 6300
A new gpu and psu

purplecrayon · Jun 14, 2013

which of the last 3 parts should I shell out more money for? or should i spend an even amount on all three? this budget thing sucks

Marcopolo123 · Jun 14, 2013

Well with a ~160$ gpu you can pretty much run all games smothly (mid->max. Settings,1080p)
Fx 6300 cost about 120$
50$-60$ for psu

purplecrayon · Jun 14, 2013

How's this? Haven't picked the memory yet...

CPU
AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor
$193.99

Motherboard
Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard
$94.99

Memory

Storage
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
$59.99

Video Card
Asus Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card
$192.29

Case
Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case
$49.99

Power Supply
Rosewill Fortress 650W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
$89.99

Optical Drive
Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer
$18.99

Operating System
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)
$89.98

Total:
$790.21

Marcopolo123 · Jun 14, 2013

Oh i missunderstood, i thought you already own the asus board, hd 7750 ect.

I would go with the build from g-unit

First Gaming Build...no idea what I'm doing

Honorable

Honorable

Titan

Honorable

Honorable

Titan

Honorable

Titan

Honorable

Honorable

Titan

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Honorable

Share this page