Budget PC Build

mic4264

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Aug 24, 2011
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Hey I am looking to do a first time pc build and was looking for some advice on what I should get. Looking to buy in the next 2 weeks.

Budget is around $700
Use for Gaming and Virtualization
Looking for a cool lit up case don't judge

What basic specs i was thinking:

maybe an i5 processor
8gigs of ram
1 TB Hard drive
3.0 usb ports if possible in the case

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

PC Build Rookie


 

EDVINASM

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Aug 23, 2011
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Not sure for the case. Used Antec Three Hundred myself, works nicely but nothing flashy. Having your budget in mind would recommend smt like:
Antec True Power 650-750W PSU
ASUS P8Z68V-Pro motherboard (or cheaper, maybe Gigabyte)
Intel 2500k i5 CPU LGA 1155
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 cooler
2x500GB Western Digital blue in Raid0
8GB Kingston Hyper X Grey Series RAM (dirt cheap and bulletproof)
Some DVDRW if need one
ATI 5770 (for now..)
 
It depends on whether you want to overclock and whether you need to fit an OS into the budget. I think if you need an OS then you dont really have enough to overclock anyway. You could go with something like this:

Intel i5-2400
8GB Corsair XMS3
ASRock H61M/U3S3 (USB 3.0 and SATA 3)
Powercolor HD 6770
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Antec 300 Illusion
Corsair CX430 430W
LG DVD Burner
Windows 7 Home Premium

Total - $712.91 ($702.91 after rebates) Shipping not included.

The problem is that this comes just over the budget and the graphics card isn't great, if youre playing at 1600x900 or less you should be ok but if youre playing higher than that i would consider downgrading the i5-2400 to an i3-2100 (similar gaming performance for $80 less) and upgrade the graphics to HD 6870.

Another thing is that i can't seem to find a cheap case with USB 3.0, the motherboard there has it however.