[Help Wanted: Building a Gaming PC]

[aed71689]

I'm new to the Tom's Hardware Forums, so I apologize if I broke any rules. Regardless, I'd like a PC, preferably a PC for gaming, but I don't know much about the "PC world", so help would be appreciated. With that being said, here is what I would like (I used the templet provided):

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: I don't know yet, since I'm currently jobless.

BUDGET RANGE: I don't want to spend over $2,000

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Internet, music, movies

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, mouse, monitor

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: www.newegg.com

PARTS PREFERENCES: I'm sorry if I'm being too vague, but whichever you believe is good, but something that's not too expensive.

OVERCLOCKING: Not sure what this means, but if it will be advantageous in the long run, then yes.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: No monitor, as stated above.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I want the gaming PC to be affordable, yet have good quality. Also, I want the case to have good ventilation, and removable dust filters. I'm going to be playing World of Warcraft, so I don't think that I'll need a high-end PC, though I still want it to have good quality. I want Windows Vista Home Premium, 64-bit as the operating system. Finally, I want it to be pre-built, since I don't know how to build a PC, and don't have patience to build one.

I hope that I was descriptive enough. I'm new, as I've said, so I hope I didn't break any rules. If there's anything that I've missed, or if you have any questions, don't hesitate to give feedback.

 

[Why_Me]

Come back when you have an idea of when you want build. A week before hand is usually the best bet.

 

[Gulli]

Yeah, the market keeps changing with new hardware coming out almost every month now, so come back when you have a better idea of the purchase date.

BTW: 2000 dollars is a huge budget, you can easily get a high-end system for that and I'll help you select the components when you have a better idea of the purchase date.

 

[aed71689]

Sorry for the late reply, guys. I'm feeling sick, so I probably won't be checking up on this as much as I would like. Regardless, ad this may be ironic, I finally have a job! With that being said, I should have a decent amount of money for a decent gaming rig i about 4-5 weeks. So that's my time frame.

 

[lebaneseguy]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883113101

 

[aed71689]

Thank you for the reply, but I was hoping to get a response from Why_Me.

 

[True Creation]

I7 920
Asus P6T Deluxe V2 or Gigabyte UD5
6GB DDR3
5870

 

[Gulli]

4-5 weeks?

Well then, let's get started:

CPU: core i5 750 (you can overclock it if you like, but it's already incredibly powerful at stock speeds.)
Graphics card: ATI HD 5870 will be out by next week (doesn't matter if it's one by Sapphire, XFX, EVGA, etc... all of them will kick ass)
Memory: 2x2GB DDR3 1333 memory by Corsair or OCZ (whichever is cheapest)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2
Case: Antec 900 or Coolermaster CM690 (whichever you like the most/is cheaper)
Hard drive: Seagate ST31000528AS 1Tb 32mb (I have it and it's quiet, fast and stays cool)
CPU cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2
Power supply: Corsair HX520W (yes, it will be more than enough, I can vouch for that, look at my sig)
And don't forget a DVD RW drive...

That should make for a very powerful gaming system (up to a resolution of 1920x1200) without being ridiculously expensive.

Yeah sure, other people will come here and tell you to get DDR3 2000 and 8GB of ram and crossfire this and SLI that and you'll need "at least" a 700W PSU or a motherboard that's twice as expensive as the one I listed, or that an i7 920 CPU is better (which it is, just not in games) but the truth is you won't even see 1 additional frame per second when you buy all that crap...

 

[aed71689]

Thank you for the help, Gulli, but I don't know how to build a PC, so I would prefer a pre-built PC. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

 

[Why_Me]

Thank you for the help, Gulli, but I don't know how to build a PC, so I would prefer a pre-built PC. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

If you don't want to build a pc, that gateway isn't such a bad deal if you get a monitor with 1650 x 1050 resolution. If you do decide you wouldn't mind putting together your own pc (which I would highly recommend), it isn't difficult at all. Most of your time is spend on downloading MS updates. I can post a very nice i5 single card set up on here with monitor and better vid card and case for what that gateway is going for.

 

[aed71689]

Sure, if you believe that it's better. I'll just try to find a how-to guide online.

 

[Why_Me]

That case has a front dust filter, the psu is sold out just about everywhere including newegg...but I found it at provantage. It's a modular red LED psu and it which matches the red LED's on the case. You can always change out the HD on this build for a larger one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.259669 Combo Discount: -$10.00 Combo Price: $109.98
COOLER MASTER Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Cooler Master Intel Core i5 compatible Hyper TX3 Socket 775/1156/AMD 130W 92mm "heatpipe direct contact" CPU Cooler RR-910-HTX3-GP - Retail

http://www.provantage.com/ocz-technology-ocz550fty~7OCZT0C2.htm $74.67
OCZ 550W FATAL1TY Series PSU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.246589 Combo Discount: -$15.00 Combo Price: $294.98 Free Shipping*
Intel Core i5 750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750 - Retail
GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2 LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277 $79.99 Free Shipping*
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL - Retail

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9348725&type=product&id=1218089167038 $159.99
BFG - NVIDIA GeForce 260 GTX OC MAXCORE 55 896MB GDDR3 PCI Express Graphics Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.259577.22-152-181 Combo Discount: -$10.00 Combo Price: $149.98 Free Shipping*
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Retail
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders w/ Tech Guarantee - OEM | Includes free Windows 7 upgrade coupon

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151187 $27.99
SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236050 $169.99 ($149.99 after $20.00 Mail-In Rebate Card)
ASUS VW224U Black 22" 2ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor w/ HDCP Support 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 5000:1) Built in Speakers - Retail

Total: $1,067.68 | $1,057.68 w/rebate

 

[aed71689]

I'm not trying to question you, but is that build good?

 

[Why_Me]

I'm not trying to question you, but is that build good?

All my builds are good.

 

[Gulli]

Sure, if you believe that it's better. I'll just try to find a how-to guide online.

Yeah, try to read the guide on Tom's hardware, it's really simple to build a PC once you already have a list of parts and it will save you hundreds of dollars/euro's if you build it yourself.

 

[Adroid]

All my builds are good.

It looks good but its worth mentioning thats a micro ATX board... I personally go regular ATX.

Not sure why people recommend a micro atx board all over the forums, how many of you guys actually run one? Lol

 

[Why_Me]

It looks good but its worth mentioning thats a micro ATX board... I personally go regular ATX.

Not sure why people recommend a micro atx board all over the forums, how many of you guys actually run one? Lol

The only tight squeeze on this board is the audio connector that's right next (under) the pci - e slot. Otherwise it's a decent board to work with. The UD3R would be a good choice for a full size board.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.246587 ombo Discount: -$15.00 Combo Price: $324.98 Free Shipping*
GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3R LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Intel Core i5 750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750 - Retail

 

[aed71689]

All my builds are good.

With that being said, which headset, mouse and keyboard would you recomend?

The only tight squeeze on this board is the audio connector that's right next (under) the pci - e slot. Otherwise it's a decent board to work with. The UD3R would be a good choice for a full size board.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.246587 ombo Discount: -$15.00 Combo Price: $324.98 Free Shipping*
GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3R LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Intel Core i5 750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750 - Retail

So I should use that motherboard, then?

 

[Gulli]

It looks good but its worth mentioning thats a micro ATX board... I personally go regular ATX.

Not sure why people recommend a micro atx board all over the forums, how many of you guys actually run one? Lol

I've had one with a Q6600 and HD 4890 and it performed admirably, really, you won't be able to tell the difference.

 

[Why_Me]

With that being said, which headset, mouse and keyboard would you recomend?

I'm not the person to ask. I use an el cheapo logitech keyboard, $20 headset w/mic, and a logitech trac ball for right handers to game with....old habits die hard.

 

[Gulli]

With that being said, which headset, mouse and keyboard would you recomend?

Just get whatever fits you and I mean that literally: get a mouse that feels good in your hand with a gelpad mousepad (to lay your wrist on), a keyboard that feels nice and a headset that doesn't hurt your ears and choose whether you want a cordless mouse or not, there really isn't much more to it than that.

 

[aed71689]

I'm not the person to ask. I use an el cheapo logitech keyboard, $20 headset w/mic, and a logitech trac ball for right handers to game with....old habits die hard.

Haha, that works for me. Also, you mentioned a motherboard in an earlier post. Should I use that one instead of the one that you told me about?

 

[Why_Me]

Haha, that works for me. Also, you mentioned a motherboard in an earlier post. Should I use that one instead of the one that you told me about?

It wouldn't be a bad switch. That gives you a bit more room between the audio plug in and the pci -e slot. Otherwise you kinda have to bend that plug in a bit on that matx board.

 

[aed71689]

I think that I'll go with the other motherboard. I'll assume that it's compatible with the build that you've selected for me.

 

[Why_Me]

I think that I'll go with the other motherboard. I'll assume that it's compatible with the build that you've selected for me.

Yep it will work just fine.