First Build <$650 Gaming PC

[zerokontrol]

Approximate Purchase Date: 2-4 weeks

Budget Range: <$650 after rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Battlefield 3, Skyrim, Dota2, LoL, TF2

Parts Not Required: No peripherals or OS needed aside from monitor (can include recommendations but not a part of budget, future buy)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.ca tigerdirect.ca memoryexpress.ca ncix.ca (keep it Canadian)
Country: Canada

Parts Preferences: None, but was thinking about the Intel i5-2400 or 2500k and the Radeon HD 6870

Overclocking: Maybe? If can fit cooling system in the budget

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe in future if can fit necessary power supply/motherboard in the budget.

Monitor Resolution: 1366x768 for now but in future will upgrade to a 1920x1080 or 1920x1200. You can include monitor recommendations but don't include the price in the budget.

Additional Comments: None

Thanks for your time

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Did some more browsing and kind of came up with a build but need further advice and input.

CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W or AMD Phenom II 960T or AMD Phenom II 1055T

Motherboard: I really have no idea with this one.

Memory: 8GB or 4GB
I am unsure what type, latency frequency to get or if 4GB will run the things in which I wish to run.

HDD: I have a 2GB external which I can store school and other such files but need an internal to store games and such.

GPU: Radeon HD 6870

Power Supply: Not sure how much the build would need but maybe Antec 550W ?

Case: Not really too concerned about looks


The main thing in which I will use the PC for will be HoN, LoL, Dota2 and TF2 but would really want to experience Skyrim and Battlefield 3 with good quality (yay for 64 players) as I have both on Xbox. I am starting to think that I might just not play them or if I do not very high settings. They seem to require to much to run at max or near max and if I can max out on HoN, LoL, dota2 and tf2 then I would be very happy.

 

[zerokontrol]

Updated the OP with a build that I put together. Need serious input on each of the parts and extremely serious input for the parts in which I came up with nothing.

Thanks.

 

[serowman]

CPU: I would go with the 960T and overclock it. For gaming you don't need anything over a quad-core. For a cooler I would get the Coolermaster Hyper 212+ this is what everybody has and it works great.

Motherboard: If you go with a 960t get an Asrock Extreme3 970 it is well reviewed, is a good price, and has all the features you will need.

Memory: For gaming you only need 4gb and this G.skill kit has a nice combo of DDR3 1600 and dual channel.

HDD: Hard drive prices a really high right now because of the flooding in Thailand so you can just pick out the highest capacity drive you can afford on Newegg's Hard Drive page.

GPU: The 6870 is really good for the money. Especially this Sapphire one. It's only $145 after rebate.

Power Supply: The one you picked out should be fine.

Case: I suggest the Antec 300 or the Rosewill Challenger depending on how much money you want to spend.

 

[zerokontrol]

CPU: I would go with the 960T and overclock it. For gaming you don't need anything over a quad-core. For a cooler I would get the Coolermaster Hyper 212+ this is what everybody has and it works great.

Motherboard: If you go with a 960t get an Asrock Extreme3 970 it is well reviewed, is a good price, and has all the features you will need.

Memory: For gaming you only need 4gb and this G.skill kit has a nice combo of DDR3 1600 and dual channel.

HDD: Hard drive prices a really high right now because of the flooding in Thailand so you can just pick out the highest capacity drive you can afford on Newegg's Hard Drive page.

GPU: The 6870 is really good for the money. Especially this Sapphire one. It's only $145 after rebate.

Power Supply: The one you picked out should be fine.

Case: I suggest the Antec 300 or the Rosewill Challenger depending on how much money you want to spend.

Hey, thanks for the reply.

I have seen good things about the extreme 3 and it has SATA3 and USB 3.0, so I will definitely go with that.

I think that I will go with the 8GB of memory to keep myself safer for the future.

HDD is really killing me. With these prices I will never manage this budget with a good enough PC. Some of the HDD's I am seeing are 3x the prices that I had seen them at before. Not sure if I should just wait it out or what to do with this.

I am 100% set on getting the 6870 but sadly none of them in Canada are $145 after rebate, but I did manage to find $155 which is a start.

The Rosewill and the 300 both look good to me


I am confused in relation to CPU, my understanding was that for AMD CPU's, it has to be black edition in order to be overclocked. So if that is the case, should I go with http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808 ?

EDIT: 960T is black edition. That's embarrassing....

DOUBLE EDIT: With the 7000 series AMD cards coming out soon and the Ivy Bridge cards coming out in Spring, would it be better to wait till then to put this together? The prices of the 6870 and the intel i5-2500k should drop which would allow me to fit into the budget better and to put more money together to maybe even upgrade in some sections. Such as a higher PSU for future crossfiring, or even just better CPU/GPU. Any thoughts/opinions?

 

[zerokontrol]

Alright so, I have decided to push back buying this thing until March or April (after all of 7000 series cards are out and after IB). Hopefully the release of those will drop the prices of the current graphics cards and processors. If so how much do you guys think the 560ti, 560ti 448 cores and the radeon 6870 will drop and when? And the same for the 2500k. If the prices on those drop and the hard drive prices get any better than I should be able to fit all of this in my budget (which by that time will be bigger).

I am sold on future crossfire/SLI and will probably look at something like this combo deal from newegg.ca.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.799378

What are the current thoughts on SSD's? I have a 2GB Seagate external HDD which could be used for all my school work and small files and that kind of stuff while having the SSD hold my OS, games and other programs. The companies in which I have read that are good for SSD's are Intel and Crucial, how true is this and why?

Thanks.