Budget gaming build

[scootaloos]

Approximate Purchase Date: This week or next

Budget Range: (500 - 600) After Rebates

System Usage: Gaming

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, hard-drives

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, Tigerdirect (I don't live near a microcenter!)

Country: United States

Parts Preferences: Processor, Motherboard (SLi compatible), Video card (SLi compatible only need one for now), Power supply, Case, RAM, CD ROM or DVD ROM Drive

Overclocking: no

SLI or Crossfire: Yes

Monitor Resolution: 1024x768, 1920 x 1080

Additional Comments: I need this for mainly WoW and guild wars 2 (MMO games) And if possible some higher end games like battlefield 3

 

[jmsellars1]

If you are gaming on a single monitor, SLI and Crossfire aren't great upgrade options. A single card can do the job while consuming less power, creating less heat and running into less compatibility issues. Another reason it won't be great for a lot of people is because they will usually wait until the card is old and outdated before deciding to buy another, this would not be a good idea either because you would be buying old hardware and wouldn't get much of a boost. There is a reason that noone suggests GTX 260 SLI or 9800GTX SLI etc.

I would aim for something along the lines of:

Intel Core i5-2400
ASRock H61M/U3S3
Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB)
Gigabyte GTX 560Ti (Fermi) 1GB
Corsair CX-500 500W
Fractal Design Core 1000
Samsung DVD Burner

Total - $624.93 on Newegg

You should be able to play virtually anything on ultra high settings with this, BF3 may not be completely smooth on ultra so you may have to tone down the AF and AA slightly but it will still look great.

 

[scootaloos]

How many frames will I be looking at in games such as WoW, Guild wars 2, and Battlefield 3 all on ultra? Any estimates?

 

[scootaloos]

Best answer selected by scootaloos.

 

[jmsellars1]

If I had to estimate I'd say BF3 would be just about playable ie. 20-30 FPS but would I think you would get a steady 30 if you tone down the AA and AF slightly. For any MMO I would expect a constant 60FPS but might dip toward 30 in a huge fight or something, still more than playable.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey