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Gaming Build Under $300

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I came on here a few months back and asked the community to help build my fiance's computer which turned out great! She uses it for wow and more often just surfing the internet and multitasking. It plays wow at 50+ FPS on ultra and I built it for under $275. I am now looking to scrap my old 2.6 ghz single core, 256mb sapphire 9600, 1 gig of ram comp for something new.

Some things to note: I'm looking to build the system for under $300 including rebates. I am going to be playing World of Warcraft, and possibly some shooters as well and I'd like to play them on mostly high settings with high fps. I already have my hard drive and my DVD-RW. Everything else I'm going to need to buy and here's what I have so far.

PSU: OCZ StealthXstream II OCZ500SXS2 500W ATX12V v2.2/ EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply. $19.99 after rebate (Bought while it was a shell shocker deal...most complaints were about an 8pin connector not being included, other than that it got solid reviews)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Graphics Card: XFX HD-485X-ZNFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card. $49.99 after rebate (this is the card I used in my fiance's build)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Processor: AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana 3.2GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor ADX450WFGMBOX. $79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Ram: Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model KHX1600C9D3B1K2/4GX. $35.00 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Motherboard: ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard. $59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Case: COOLER MASTER Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1 Black Steel / Plastic Computer Case. $39.99 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

After adding this all up, it came to about $299 shipped. How does this build look? I'm definitely a beginner builder, only built one before, so my experience level is pretty low. I'm up for any suggestions.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

More about : gaming build 300

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^ nope, not for that price. That 4850 is the best you can do without paying more. Good build for the price. I say you might want to consider an aftermarket cooler to overclock the CPU though ^_^

not sure if I'll be overclocking, as I've never done it before and I have a feeling something would go wrong :p  I'll definitely look into it though.

Sounds like I'll most likely be going through with the build :D  I did have one thing I was looking at though that I wanted to bring up. With the XFX Radeon 4850 there are a bunch of bundle deals with Biostar motherboards, and I would save $20 getting one of the bundles. Is Biostar better or as good as ASrock? Here's a link to the combos
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCombos.aspx?Item=N...

The motherboard/gpu I have now total to $115 shipped after rebates, so a similar price would be awesome!

Best solution

If you want SATA3 USB3 or the option to crossfire(only x4 tho) this is a decent board that I used in my last build: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...

Otherwise look at this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...

I recommend both of these over the two you had linked because of they have 4 memory slots vs 2.

Edit: I have used the Asrock board you originally linked and the 880+ and TA870U3 and just ordered the combo with the BIOSTAR A770E3. My big gripe about the Biostar boards are the BIOS setting, I think the Asrock BIOS are easier to work with when overclocking. Otherwise all have been really decent boards for the price.

Thanks for the replies.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... This board looks really nice for the price, especially after the $15 off it's like I'm getting it for $40! Would it be worth spending a little bit more for the ASrock board though? Will I see a $35 difference in performance? I've never overclocked or anything, so I don't see the BIOS being too much of an issue. I might be wanting to get into overclocking though :/ 

Still wondering if I should pull the trigger on this ram when it's $35: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168....

The two boards are very similar, only thing that jumps out at me is the 2nd pcie 2.0 slot on the Asrock and the Biostar board only says up to 1333 memory but the product page has some 1600 memory under supported memory so I think it will support it. The kingston memory is nice I used a pair in my last build.
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