Budget Gaming PC with Future Upgrades

[Jimbdown]

My current gaming laptop is dying. Nvidiasettlement.com. After I return it and get it back if the replacement isn't an upgrade or it's still acting funky I'm going to be replacing it.

I have never built a NEW computer but I have experience taking them apart and putting them back together.



Approximate Purchase Date: April 2011

Budget Range: Less then $1000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming! STARCRAFT 2! Maybe some video editing, Web surfing,

Parts Not Required: keyboard/mouse/speakers/

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg

Country of Origin: USA

Parts Preferences: I would prefer NVidia and Intel and Gskill Ram. Its because they support Esports

Overclocking: Maybe, but would be a first time.

SLI or Crossfire: I would like to SLI in the future.

Monitor Resolution: No preference, Don't know what monitor I will get but I would like high resolution.

Additional Comments: Any help you guys have would be appreciated.


I'm waiting for motherboard reviews on the LGA1155 chipset to come out. If any of you have experience with these boards info would be nice .

 

[geekapproved]

Your waiting for 1155 motherboard reviews to come out??

They have been out since January. There are thousands of people on this forum alone with experience with these boards, just read around.

 

[ubercake]

If I had around $1000 to drop on a solid gaming system, this is what I'd build (newegg pricing used):

Corsair 950TX $149
Intel i5 2500k $220 (if you live near a microcenter, these are $179)
Asus P8P67 Pro $150
Coolermaster HAF 932 Case $120
8 GB Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB RAM $100
500 GB WD Black Edition $60
Any DVD burner $30
Factory OC'd Gigabyte GTX 560 $249

TOTAL $1078

Ideally, you'd get an SSD for your boot OS drive, but this is the only thing you'd have to forgo to get the price around $1000. The power supply will take anything you throw at it and run nicely for years as the supply and components become less efficient due to aging.

Adding another GTX 560 in the future would make this thing fairly high end.

Do you need a monitor?

 

[Why_Me]

With your budget SLI in the future isn't practical.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.590986 Combo Discount: -$5.00 Combo Price: $149.94 $10.00 Mail-In Rebate Price After Mail-In Rebate(s): $139.94 FREE SHIPPING
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.616859 Combo Discount: -$13.00 Combo Price: $116.98 $15.00 Mail-In Rebate Card Price After Mail-In Rebate(s): $101.98
CORSAIR Builder Series CMPSU-600CX 600W ATX12V v2.3 Active PFC Power Supply
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.619747 Combo Discount: -$14.99 Combo Price: $294.99
Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500
ASRock H67M-ITX LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.604437 Combo Discount: -$15.00 Combo Price: $419.98
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL
EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204 $17.99 Free shipping w/ promo code EMCKGJE65, ends 3/21
ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009261 $139.99 FREE SHIPPING $10 off w/ promo code EMCKGJC46, ends 3/23
Acer S211HLbd 21.5'' 5ms LED-Backlight LCD Monitor Slim Design 250 cd/m2 12,000,000:1 (ACM)

Total: $989.93 *not including shipping, rebates, promo codes, etc..

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=H67M-ITX <----- ASRock H67M-ITX

 

[Why_Me]

If I had around $1000 to drop on a solid gaming system, this is what I'd build (newegg pricing used):

Corsair 950TX $149
Intel i5 2500k $220 (if you live near a microcenter, these are $179)
Asus P8P67 Pro $150
Coolermaster HAF 932 Case $120
8 GB Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB RAM $100
500 GB WD Black Edition $60
Any DVD burner $30
Factory OC'd Gigabyte GTX 560 $249

TOTAL $1078

Ideally, you'd get an SSD for your boot OS drive, but this is the only thing you'd have to forgo to get the price around $1000. The power supply will take anything you throw at it and run nicely for years as the supply and components become less efficient due to aging.

Adding another GTX 560 in the future would make this thing fairly high end.

Do you need a monitor?

You left out the o/s and monitor...

 

[Jimbdown]

Why is SLI not practical? You're saying it would probably better to just upgrade the card instead of SLI in the future?

I've also heard how Microcenter has cheap processers. I will definitely get one from there.

Also why the H chipset on the motherboard and not the P?

Ya'lls inputs are highly appreciated.

 

[Jimbdown]

Also, Anyone here play video games on a regular basis? I don't like having to move my head when looking around the monitor. I'm used to playing on a 17 inch. Any opinions on a good monitor size / brand?

 

[geekapproved]

With your budget SLI in the future isn't practical.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.590986 Combo Discount: -$5.00 Combo Price: $149.94 $10.00 Mail-In Rebate Price After Mail-In Rebate(s): $139.94 FREE SHIPPING
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.616859 Combo Discount: -$13.00 Combo Price: $116.98 $15.00 Mail-In Rebate Card Price After Mail-In Rebate(s): $101.98
CORSAIR Builder Series CMPSU-600CX 600W ATX12V v2.3 Active PFC Power Supply
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.619747 Combo Discount: -$14.99 Combo Price: $294.99
Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500
ASRock H67M-ITX LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.604437 Combo Discount: -$15.00 Combo Price: $419.98
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL
EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204 $17.99 Free shipping w/ promo code EMCKGJE65, ends 3/21
ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009261 $139.99 FREE SHIPPING $10 off w/ promo code EMCKGJC46, ends 3/23
Acer S211HLbd 21.5'' 5ms LED-Backlight LCD Monitor Slim Design 250 cd/m2 12,000,000:1 (ACM)

Total: $989.93 *not including shipping, rebates, promo codes, etc..

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=H67M-ITX <----- ASRock H67M-ITX

H67? He can't overclock with that.

 

[geekapproved]

Also, Anyone here play video games on a regular basis? I don't like having to move my head when looking around the monitor. I'm used to playing on a 17 inch. Any opinions on a good monitor size / brand?

22" is the minimum I would recommend, 24" is better.

 

[Why_Me]

H67? He can't overclock with that.

The OP never mentioned micro center until later on in the thread...like after I posted that build, and in his initial post he wanted a high resolution monitor. So unless there's a site with half price off of pc components...

With an Asus M pro (micro atx) that builds possible seeing how he now mentions microcenter.

 

[Why_Me]

Why is SLI not practical? You're saying it would probably better to just upgrade the card instead of SLI in the future?

I've also heard how Microcenter has cheap processers. I will definitely get one from there.

Also why the H chipset on the motherboard and not the P?

Ya'lls inputs are highly appreciated.

You wanted a high resolution monitor...I posted one on this thread that's also LED back lit. You have champagne taste on a beer budget. That's a start down below, but if anyone can make this build with your budget...good luck is all I can say. I could do it, but you would end up with some crap happy 460 for a vid card.

That build I posted up above is solid, and with turning on all the optimizations in the bios there's a good chance you could get near or at 3.8ghz with that H67 mobo and then there is "turbo boost" on top of that.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.612973 Combo Discount: -$20.00 Combo Price: $159.98
Antec TruePower New TP-750 750W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE ...
NZXT TEMPEST EVO Crafted Series TEVO-001BK Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130572 $149.99
MSI P67A-GD53 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354589 $179.99
Core i5 2500K LGA 1155 Boxed Processor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226092 $41.99 FREE SHIPPING
Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model 996768

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.591429 Combo Discount: -$5.00 Combo Price: $159.98
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

 

[ubercake]

You left out the o/s and monitor...

If the case is an OS and monitor are needed, I would just wait until I had about $250 more for a $99 OEM version of Win 7 home premium and a small 1080p monitor (OP seems to prefer). If you have an old monitor to use, just use that. It's better to start with a solid foundation.

If you pick up the parts in my original post. You'll have a good solid upgrade-able machine to work with.

 

[geekapproved]

The OP never mentioned micro center until later on in the thread...like after I posted that build, and in his initial post he wanted a high resolution monitor. So unless there's a site with half price off of pc components...

With an Asus M pro (micro atx) that builds possible seeing how he now mentions microcenter.

I never mentioned microcenter either, nNot sure what your talking about but regardless what his budget is or where he buys, he still CANT overclock with a H67, which is what he said he would like to do.