Hello! Thankyou for taking your time to look at this thread.
My name is Jayson, one of my main hobbies includes PC gaming. I have a few questions regarding building a new computer, the one I bought from bestbuy, was a terrible idea.
Which leads me to the reason I am here; I am trying to build my own system, on a budget with these reasons in mind:
I am looking forward to playing a upcoming PC game: Diablo 3.
I am trying to find something that is worth it long-term
Below are the Supported graphics cards for "High" settings for the game;
High ATI Radeon HD 5770
High ATI Radeon HD 5750
High ATI Radeon HD 5870
High ATI Radeon HD 5830
High ATI Radeon HD 5850
High ATI Radeon HD 5970
High ATI Radeon HD 5750
High ATI Radeon HD 6750
High ATI Radeon HD 6750
High ATI Radeon HD 6770
High ATI Radeon HD 6770
High ATI Radeon HD 6790
High ATI Radeon HD 6850
High ATI Radeon HD 6870
High ATI Radeon HD 6950
High ATI Radeon HD 6950
High ATI Radeon HD 6970
High ATI Radeon HD 6970
High ATI Radeon HD 6990
High ATI FirePro 3D V8700
High ATI FirePro 3D V8700 Duo
High ATI FirePro 3D V8750
High ATI FireStream 9250
High ATI FireStream 9270
High NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280
High NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
High NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275
High NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285
High NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295
High NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295
High Nvidia Geforce GTX 280M
High GeForce GTX 460
High GeForce GTX 465
High GeForce GTX 470
High GeForce GTX 480
High GeForce GTX 550 ti
High Geforce GTX 560 ti
High GeForce GTX 570
High GeForce GTX 580
High GeForce GTX 590
High Nvidia GeForce GTS 360M
High Quadro FX 5800
High ATI Radeon 4800 HD
High ATI Radeon 4850 HD
High ATI Radeon 4870 HD
High ATI Radeon 4800 Series
High ATI Radeon 4800 Series
High ATI Radeon 4800 Series
High ATI Radeon 4800 Series
High ATI Radeon 4850 X2
High ATI Radeon 4870 X2
I am trying to build a computer around these graphics cards.
I need:
Case
Power supply
Processor
Hard drive
Cd-rom
OS- Win 7
Motherboard
Video card
Ram
I have currently a budget of 500-600 dollars (This can be stretched, I am trying to get an idea on what would be worth it), is there any possible way anyone can make this happen?
I have checked Videobenchmark.net, Newegg.com and saw that the Radeon 6850 is really nice for the price, But I need some experienced opinions.
Can anyone build this for me?? I would greatly appreciate it- More than you know.
lol, you listed just about ever GPU in existence, that makes it rather difficult to help you. Let's try a different approach: What is your monitor resolution, and just how important are features like anti-aliasing, HDR, Physx, and other technologies.
$600 is not a whole lot to work with for a first time build, especially if you need a case, keyboard, mouse, and monitor.
I would suggest a high end i3 with hyperthreading, or mid range i5 (sandy bridge 2xxx series) to get you started. They are cheapest at Microcenter if you have one near you
Then a p67 chipset motherboard in the $80-100 range.
Load up on 4 or 8GB of 1333 ram (or 1600 ram if on a good sale), keep in mind you can start with one 4GB stick and buy another later.
get the cheapest case, keyboard, mouse, DVD drive, and monitor you can stand to use (no built in power supply with the case)
Get a small 7200rpm HDD (160GB-250GB, just big enough for OS and a few games, but this will be upgraded later)
Budget ~$50 for a decent power supply (OCZ, Raidmax, Corsair, Cooler Master, or similar good name brands)
Whatever is left unload on the largest GPU you can afford
Thankyou for the reply!! I am sorry I didn't post enough information. I do have a monitor/keyboard/mouse. My monitor is a Compaq s1922 Series wide LCD monitor, if that helps.
If you can reuse the hard drive and DVD/CD drive from your old computer i would free up a little more cash for the GPU. Hard drive prices are very high at the moment.
asus motherboard with a i5-2500k CPU $350
asus motherboard with a AMD Phenom II X4 970 $250
DDR3-1600 8GB $45
650W PSU around $80
OS OEM $120
DVD drive $30
Hard drive 1TB WD Caviar Black $250
Hard drive 1TB Samsung F3 or Seagate $150
Case $50
video card $150
I was wondering, should I up the processor? I mean I'm trying to play games on ultra, would dual core work?
For approx 20$ more, you should get the i3-2100, this change should be worth the money.
Next, as noted in the previous replies, you should lower your HDD, to lets say, 160 or 320GB and wait for the prices to get lower again(according to some predictions, it should happen in march/april 2012) and then upgrade it.
You could use the money to get a slightly more powerful PSU(to secure future build basis) and a better motherboard, something from the Z68 series, since it will provide you with more options for future improvements and builds.
Also, I believe your monitor is native 1366x788 resolution, so the Radeon 6850 is an overkill for that monitor. If you don't plan on changing the monitor for a HD one, you may consider getting less powerful GPU, since you won't be able to use the 6850 to its max with your current monitor.
I would not do anything less than an i3 for a gaming rig, leave the pentiums for house wives who play farmville.
stay away from the larger HDDs as they are way over priced. Before the flooding you could get a 2TB drive for $80, and the prices will come again around Q3/4 of next year. I am sure you could do jsut fine on a 160GB for a good long while (win7, Adobe creative suite, 3 large games, office, plus a few other major productivity programs takes 140GB on my computer). Just play it conservitive for now on the HDD and get a real one later.
The H61 chipset is not bad, but the p67 will open up more possibilities down the road and better support higher end hardware when you can afford it (like XMP ram you are looking at). While it is easy to upgrade things like ram, gpu's, cases, etc. You generally dont want to change your HDD, mobo, cpu unless you have to.
great deal on the Ram, go for it
While a good GPU, you will not realize it's potential unless you are running a quad core proc (i5), and have a higher res monitor. Go look up some benchmarks and see what gpu will do an average 60fps at 1366x788, and stick with that (unless you plan on upgrading that monitor later). I am not 100% up on my AMD cards, but perhaps a 5750 or 5770 would be better for this level of build?