Good Beginner Gaming Computer?

[jshtulman1]

Hello,
I'm brand new to customizing desktops, and I was wondering whether the parts I'm planning to use are going to come together and make a formidable gaming computer. My goal here is to create a computer that will play the newest games on high settings for about the next three years. Tell me if I can accomplish that goal with:

Intel Core I5 3570k

8 gigs of ddr3 ram @1600 mhz

EVGA GTX 680 Superclocked

500 GB 10,000 RPM hard drive.

Is this a good beginner rig? My gripe with the set-up is that the gtx 680 has only 2 GB's of GDDR5. My concern is that it will bottleneck the card for newer games that exceed that limit. Is my concern justified or am I overreacting? Your thoughts on my set up are appreciated.

 

[tsnor]

"500 GB 10,000 RPM hard drive. " Not the best choice. Look at larger 7200 rpm drives in a raid array. Look at at 256GB boot drive like M4 at less then $1/GB. Skip the 10K drive.

Hard to go wrong with these: Intel Core I5 3570k, 8 GB ddr3, EVGA GTX 680 Superclocked unless you have a budget.

 

[alacritous]

What resolution are you playing at? If you're concerned about VRAM, then that is the most important bit of information (as it determines how much you need). If you have only a single monitor (1080), I think a 680 with 2GB sounds fine.

 

[jshtulman1]

I would really appreciate it if you explained what is bad about the hard drive. So, does this mean the rest of my components are good? Will this last me 3+ years? Also, could you possibly address the VRAM issue? I'm really worried about that.

 

[jshtulman1]

Yes, a single monitor @ 1080p. I want to play Day Z at high settings with a good frame rate.

 

[alacritous]

I'm no expert, but I think you'll have no memory worries for a while in that case.

 

[g-unit1111]

"500 GB 10,000 RPM hard drive. " Not the best choice. Look at larger 7200 rpm drives in a raid array. Look at at 256GB boot drive like M4 at less then $1/GB. Skip the 10K drive.

Hard to go wrong with these: Intel Core I5 3570k, 8 GB ddr3, EVGA GTX 680 Superclocked unless you have a budget.

Yes, I completely agree - don't waste money on expensive storage gimmicks with high fail rates like 10K RPM hard drives and the OCZ Revodrive.

What kind of budget are we working with here? I can suggest a system if I knew that.

 

[jshtulman1]

No more than $1500. Thanks for the great respones, though!

 

[g-unit1111]

No more than $1500. Thanks for the great respones, though!

Your finished build should look something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($417.55 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Phantom (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($134.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($22.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1525.43
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)