Gaming PC on a budget

[greyfeld]

I've come to the point where I need to heavily upgrade my PC for the new games that are coming out. I basically need an entirely new PC, but I'm trying to keep some of my old parts to cut down on the cost. I have a fairly new 650W PSU, and I have a 400GB harddrive I'm still working from. I also think my tower is large enough to accommodate the new hardware. My DVD drive should still be good, and I don't really care about audio, as long as it works.

So, I think what I'm looking at is picking up a new MOBO, CPU, GPU and RAM. If I'm not mistaken, I'll probably also have to get a new OS, because my current OS is Vista 32-bit.

In the end, I'd like this upgrade to last a good 5-6 years. Is there any set of hardware that I can get for $600-$800 that fits that description?

Edit: I forgot to mention, somebody's already suggested these parts:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233144
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150604

I imagine they'll fit my gaming needs, but I'd like to see if I can cut down the price a little more, especially since I need to shell out cash for a new OS, and I'll probably have to have somebody install the hardware for me, since I tend to nearly break things when I try to fix them myself.

 

[xaugerx26]

Dont waste the money on getting someone to put together the computer for you just watch a couple tutorial video on how to install certain parts and you should be fine...

Are you going to OC? If so you should get a cooler for your CPU

This ones cheap and its a GREAT Cooler http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

The rest looks good... At least i think

 

[greyfeld]

No, I won't be overclocking. I'd end up frying something, so I'm fine with just leaving the hardware as-is.

I'll make a final decision on whether I do the install myself or not, but I'm really looking for information about hardware (not to mention what OS I should be looking at).

 

[greyfeld]

I feel I should point out that I don't care if I have to run games on medium-low settings in 3-4 years. If I can play on low settings for another couple years after that before I need to upgrade again, I'm happy with that.

Especially if it'll save me an extra couple hundred bucks right now lol.

 

[mousseng]

If you don't want to overclock, then don't get the 3570k and a Z77 motherboard. You'd do better with an i5-3550 (or possibly even a Xeon E3-1230v2) and an H77 motherboard.

I feel the Xeon may be the better choice for it lasting longer, but that's debatable.

 

[bdhack2002]

If you don't want to overclock, get the i5 3450 as it is $30 cheaper and you won't notice the performance difference. You can cut $40 from the motherboard by buying a cheap one. I would stick with the graphics card and memory since it is a gaming PC. Note that prebuilt machines cost twice as much as self built ones, so if you want to save the money, you will need to build it yourself. Also, gaming machines can't stay awesome for gaming for 6 years. Lower your expectation on that front.

 

[greyfeld]

So would this work:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116505&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157302&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233144&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127592&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

Or perhaps is there a better video card for this setup? And what OS should I be looking at?

 

[greyfeld]

If you don't want to overclock, get the i5 3450 as it is $30 cheaper and you won't notice the performance difference. You can cut $40 from the motherboard by buying a cheap one. I would stick with the graphics card and memory since it is a gaming PC. Note that prebuilt machines cost twice as much as self built ones, so if you want to save the money, you will need to build it yourself. Also, gaming machines can't stay awesome for gaming for 6 years. Lower your expectation on that front.

Depends on what you mean by "awesome." My current PC was a year old when I upgraded to a 4650 graphics card and installed a new PSU so I could play the first Assassin's Creed back in 2007. I'm only now upgrading, since large-scale combat in Guild Wars 2 makes my FPS churn. I'd say that's pretty awesome.

 

[mousseng]

So would this work:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116505&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157302&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233144&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127592&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

Or perhaps is there a better video card for this setup? And what OS should I be looking at?

Looks really solid to me. I mentioned a Xeon processor earlier, the E3-1230v2. The only difference between it and the i5-3550 is it lacks the onboard GPU, has HyperThreading enabled, and costs $35 more. Like I said, whether or not this actually would benefit you is debatable, but it's still an option.

As for an OS, if you plan on playing GW2 after it launches, you're going to want 64-bit Windows 7 (as I don't believe Anet is developing it for Linux). There are lots of venues to get W7 at - are you a student? A lot of colleges offer heavily discounted retail copies of Windows 7, and Microsoft offers programs for students that gets them discounts as well (I do believe).

 

[greyfeld]

Looks really solid to me. I mentioned a Xeon processor earlier, the E3-1230v2. The only difference between it and the i5-3550 is it lacks the onboard GPU, has HyperThreading enabled, and costs $35 more. Like I said, whether or not this actually would benefit you is debatable, but it's still an option.

As for an OS, if you plan on playing GW2 after it launches, you're going to want 64-bit Windows 7 (as I don't believe Anet is developing it for Linux). There are lots of venues to get W7 at - are you a student? A lot of colleges offer heavily discounted retail copies of Windows 7, and Microsoft offers programs for students that gets them discounts as well (I do believe).

lol well I have no idea what hyperthreading is, so whether that's useful is more than debatable as far as I'm concerned xD And since I'm getting a graphics card with the setup, I'm pretty sure onboard graphics is relatively unimportant.

Nope, not a student. Just a poor shmoe who enjoys video games lol. I'm sure I'll have to pay full price, but I'm seeing W7 64-bit for about $100, so it shouldn't be too bad. Although I've heard people having a lot of problems with 64-bit OS's and software compatibilities, is this something I need to worry about?

Everything rung up on pcpartpicker is showing about $560 in total (after rebates), which is nice.

Would I be able to get a higher powered GPU without paying significantly more than the price of the one I listed earlier? I just want to make sure I'm not having to replace it in two years.

 

[mousseng]

lol well I have no idea what hyperthreading is, so whether that's useful is more than debatable as far as I'm concerned xD And since I'm getting a graphics card with the setup, I'm pretty sure onboard graphics is relatively unimportant.

I'm not really well-versed in explaining what HyperThreading is/does, but basically it splits each core into a physical core and logical core, which allows it to do witchcraft and do more things at once. All-in-all, you're probably better off saving the $35 and putting it towards a GPU.

Nope, not a student. Just a poor shmoe who enjoys video games lol. I'm sure I'll have to pay full price, but I'm seeing W7 64-bit for about $100, so it shouldn't be too bad. Although I've heard people having a lot of problems with 64-bit OS's and software compatibilities, is this something I need to worry about?

Not really, no. Operating systems and the software for them are trending towards 64-bit, so support, stability, and compatibility are much better than they were years ago. There's really no reason to not go 64-bit now.

Would I be able to get a higher powered GPU without paying significantly more than the price of the one I listed earlier? I just want to make sure I'm not having to replace it in two years.

The next step up from the 560 is the 560ti, which costs a minimum of $230 (most cost more - around $250 or $260). The next step after that would be the 7850, which is also a minimum of $230, and averages around $250. So basically, you're looking at a 7850 if you want something better than the 560.

 

[greyfeld]

The next step up from the 560 is the 560ti, which costs a minimum of $230 (most cost more - around $250 or $260). The next step after that would be the 7850, which is also a minimum of $230, and averages around $250. So basically, you're looking at a 7850 if you want something better than the 560.

What about the VRAM? Somebody was telling me that I should be getting a GPU with 2gb VRAM, but I've also heard that the amount of memory isn't nearly as important as bus size or something like that. Is the 1gb on this card going to be fine, or should I be looking for something with more?

Also, I was told that an i5-2400 would process nearly as fast as the i5-3550 for $30 less. Unfortunately, I don't really understand these CPU benchmark charts. How big is the difference between their performances?

 

[mousseng]

What about the VRAM? Somebody was telling me that I should be getting a GPU with 2gb VRAM, but I've also heard that the amount of memory isn't nearly as important as bus size or something like that. Is the 1gb on this card going to be fine, or should I be looking for something with more?

Having more VRAM is important in two main scenarios: 1) Your game has ultra-high resolution textures, and 2) You're running your game on multiple monitors (or otherwise at a ridiculously high resolution). 1GB of VRAM is fairly baseline right now - there's not a huge need for it at 1080p, but you may want to look into getting a card with 2GB if you don't want to upgrade (because that'll probably be the limiting factor down the road). The 7850 has 2GB of VRAM, for the record.

Also, I was told that an i5-2400 would process nearly as fast as the i5-3550 for $30 less. Unfortunately, I don't really understand these CPU benchmark charts. How big is the difference between their performances?

The 2400 does provide similar performance, but it also lacks native PCIe3. If you'd rather avoid upgrading the CPU for several years, you may want to have PCIe3 as video cards grow and begin to need that extra bandwidth.

But if you don't plan on upgrading your video card for several years either, you might benefit more from that $30.

 

[greyfeld]

But if you don't plan on upgrading your video card for several years either, you might benefit more from that $30.

lol to be fair, that extra $30 doesn't sound like it's going to do much in the way of GPU upgrades. I'm looking at double the cost from the 560 I listed, which would push me toward $700 before labor costs to install everything. Personally, I'd rather stick with the higher range CPU and just have a bit of wiggle room for a GPU upgrade at a later date.

Hmmm... I can't think of any more questions right now. You've been extremely helpful, thank you very very much