Seeking Advice on ~$600 Gaming PC Build

[fahdzilla]

Hi, I'm new to PC building and newer still to this site. After a few weeks spent doing a little research and wasting a ton of time, I've decided to turn for help to my fellow, hopefully more experienced, geeks and nerds on tomshardware.com. To reiterate, I'm trying to build a gaming PC for about $600 after rebates. Any advice is most appreciated. Thanks in advance.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: over the course of June BUDGET RANGE: about $600 after rebates

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming and watching movies

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS, optical drive and card reader

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com, tigerdirect.com, etc COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: California, US

PARTS PREFERENCES: AMD CPU and a mid-sized tower

OVERCLOCKING: yes, eventually SLI OR CROSSFIRE: yes, eventually

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1680x1050, 1920x1080 or 1920x1200

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: The PC needs no windows or bling, and I would like it to be as unobtrusively quiet as possible for watching movies, though not at the expense of power for gaming--given my budget, of course.

 

[batuchka]

Well the PSU included here will be a mainstay for many an upgrade cycle me thinks thanks to the power of combos ^^ $567 AR including ship

 

[ultimabeam]

Hyper 212+ [$21]

total: $635, OC and XFire ready.

 

[batuchka]

Biostar TA785G3 is mATX and single PCIex16 2.0 slot

 

[ultimabeam]

good catch, thank you. your build is better anyway -- that is a sick GPU/PSU combo deal you found!

 

[batuchka]

You are welcomed and thank you for your kind words ^^

 

[fahdzilla]

Many thanks. I can't wait to check out your builds when I get home.

 

[batuchka]

You are welcomed and happy shopping/building ^^

 

[fahdzilla]

I devised a similar build to yours’ myself. I guess the selection is somewhat limited in this price range. I’m reading reviews of those parts you two suggested that I’m not already familiar with and comparing them to the ones I found.

Since my last post, I impulsively bought a PSU and a hard drive: a Corsair CMPSU-650TX 650W for $59.99 and a Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1 TB - OEM for $49.95 after all offers.

I’ve noticed the PSU & GPU combo you found batuchka, but I think 650W is more than enough for my needs and will be for some time; according to OuterVision’s eXtreme power supply calculator, such builds as these require well under 500W, or 600W if I Crossfire. Mostly though, I just couldn’t pass up such a good deal. ^^ I understand my recent purchases change things. With this in mind, if someone else has ideas--or if either of you have something to add--I’m all ears.

 

[batuchka]

Ya truth be told a quality 430-480W 80+ PSU would power an X3 + HD 5770 rig but ya just cos such a juicy combo was available hehe The 'sink and forget' PSU investment as such a price point (over several upgrade cycles) was also helluva attractive to me

 

[elee02]

I just wanted to say thank you to all that posted information for this specific request.
SUCH Great Advice and amazing finds (from both batuchka and ultimabeam)

Thank you for providing to the community.

 

[fahdzilla]

Best answer selected by fahdzilla.