Budget Gaming PC $600-700

[acano712]

FYI before anything: I do not know anything about PC parts, I can put them together just fine, but as for me choosing compatible parts and good deals, well its like getting a lime from a lemon tree.

Approximate Purchase Date: 2-4 weeks

Budget Range: $600-700 (dunno much about the rebate stuff)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: strictly gaming (i have a laptop for the other stuff)

Parts Not Required: monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg, tigerdirect

Country of Origin: USA

Parts Preferences: i don't know anything about the different brands

Overclocking: no

SLI or Crossfire: maybe

Monitor Resolution: 19inch samsung lcd 720p (did a google search but couldn't find what type of resolution is supports)

Additional Comments: this PC will be 98% WoW, 2% other games (steam, c&c). If I can get a decent WoW rig (30fps average) for cheaper, that would be nice. I need an OS, so i guess windows 7 it is. I know there a hundreds of posts like this, and I read many of them, but I just can't seem to take the information from those and form in into something my brain can understand. I need the whole parts list so that i can just buy and thats it -_-

Thanks!

 

[karma831]

Forgot the dvd burner but just pickup whichever one is the cheapest at the time of purchase.

 

[Proximon]

Let me see if I can improve on the great build karma gave you, or at least provide an alternate.

I want to shoot for a true quad core and more modern MB chipset.

Athlon II X4 and Wintec DDR3 1333 $164
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.556160

ASRock 890GM board with SATA3, USB3 $93
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157192

Rosewill case with two fans and Win 7 $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.546483.11-147-023

Rosewill Green Series RG530-S12 530W $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182199
This PSU is decent. Made by ATNG.

Gigabyte GTX 460 1GB $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125333&cm_re=GTX_460_1GB-_-14-125-333-_-Product

Samsung Spinpoint F4 320GB $43
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152244&cm_re=spinpoint_f4-_-22-152-244-_-Product
Very fast little drive, all you need.

HP DVD burner $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827140050

Smaller drive and mATX board, but more board features and slightly stronger processor.

 

[woltej1]

go with the evga gtx 460, it has a MIB that makes it the same price as the gigabyte, plus you register the card with evga within 30days and then you can OC and if the card burns up, they replace it.

 

[batuchka]

Monitor Resolution: 19inch samsung lcd 720p

With just a 720p/19 incher i would hit the lower end of that budget

$581AR

 

[acano712]

Thanks for the builds. All fit the budget perfectly, and after reading reviews, seems like you guys chose some great products. Now I just need to figure out which system to go with. The cheaper one is obviously more appealing than the first two, but what is the difference in performance? Will it be noticeable? (i.e. significant drop in frames, having to turn settings down...) I have made wish lists for all three builds, so I guess all that is left is picking and choosing.

@proximon: by true quad core you mean a system that supports four memory slots? would that be a significant performance increase over the other two builds? Is that even necessary for WoW? Besides WoW, I'll be playing some steam games (cs1.6, maybe some source, portal, half life). Do these types of games need a quad core to hit top performance?

@batuchka: with your build, if I decide to get a monitor (probably no bigger than 24"), what type of resolution can I expect to use without seeing a significant drop in frames? Also, since its at the bottom of my budget, does is seem worth it to get the 1TB hd from karma's build?

Thanks again for the builds!

 

[reaper2794]

That's a purty ugly case there but if you like it, then get it I guess

I'd probably want at least a 1080p monitor (1920 x 1080) and if it's a 24", I'd assume it's 1080p..

Anyway, monitors can be quite pricy, so here's a 23" LCD from Acer (1080p) for $160

Acer G235HAbd 23'' 1080p LCD - http://goo.gl/RwdJB

 

[Proximon]

@proximon: by true quad core you mean a system that supports four memory slots? would that be a significant performance increase over the other two builds? Is that even necessary for WoW? Besides WoW, I'll be playing some steam games (cs1.6, maybe some source, portal, half life). Do these types of games need a quad core to hit top performance?

Thanks again for the builds!

No I mean the actual number of CPU cores in the processor. Athlon II X3 = 3 cores. Athlon II X4 = 4 cores. For all practical purposes they are separate CPUs. As we move forward, more games use multiple cores... but this progress is slow. We were talking about it 2 years ago and we still are talking about it. While the increase in games that can use 4 cores has increased, it's not as big an increase as we thought it would be. How many more games will be able to use 4 cores and benefit next year? I can't say.

Will a quad core at stock clocks beat a triple core at stock clocks in WoW? Pretty sure the answer is NO. However, what if you add in 80 or so addons, Ventrilo, and a virus scan in the background? Yeah, probably. Would like to see that tested.

 

[batuchka]

@batuchka: with your build, if I decide to get a monitor (probably no bigger than 24"), what type of resolution can I expect to use without seeing a significant drop in frames? Also, since its at the bottom of my budget, does is seem worth it to get the 1TB hd from karma's build?

Thanks again for the builds!

Some say even a HD 5770 is doable to Full HD but i would think with zilch AA hehe A 768mb/192 bit GTX 460 > HD 5770 so... Storage as per needs/budget

 

[acano712]

Best answer selected by acano712.