Inexpensive, yet effective gaming PC.

[bobio13]

Hello, I'm planning to purchase all of the necessary components to assemble a functioning, up to date gaming PC. The one problem is, is that I'm not quite sure what exactly I want. I hope you can help. Here's the info:

Approximate Purchase Date: Before the end of the year.

Budget Range: $600-$1000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming - Anything else.

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: www.newegg.com or others.

Country: Canada

Parts Preferences: I do prefer Nvidia GeForce graphics cards over ATI. As for everything else, I'm not too picky.

Overclocking: Most probably no.

SLI or Crossfire: Not sure exactly what this means.

Monitor Resolution: 1600 x 900 or higher.

Additional Comments: I really hope you can help. I've been having a lot of difficulty understanding a lot of the terms, so it would help if you were a bit descriptive. Also, I'm not necessarily looking for a PC that can play Battlefield 3 or Crysis 2 on max (though that would be great), I'm just really looking for one that can play new games with good graphics and high FPS. I've been dealing with low graphics and FPS for close to a year now, and I'm getting a little tired of it. Anyway, that concludes this message. If you need anymore explanation, feel free to ask, and again, I hope you can help.

 

[1337RPG]

SLI is when you combine multiple Nvidia graphics cards to work as one. Crossfire is the same but for ATI Radeon. With your budget you wont be getting multiple graphics cards.
Is the monitor price included in your budget price or do you already have one. Also how much storage do you need? 1TB? 500GB?

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

Sli and crossfire are running two cards together as one simply put.
Also If I suggest an amd card I am sorry, but if you are comming to me and others on toms for help I am going to try to make the best bang for your buck, currently amd cards produce better value, for the most part. A good 900p monitor.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824113030
i5-2310
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115089
asrock h61 motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157315
2x4gb ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231308
case
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Computer-Removable-RC-343-KKN1/dp/B004SPW7T0/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1350358849&sr=8-4&keywords=micro+atx
dvd drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827100067
hard drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339
600w psu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028
graphics card.
I am going to suggest two. So with the fact that you have a 900p monitor it would probably be smarter to get a 660
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130826
with that resolution it should play most games in max.
This will bring your total to 960 including windows which I didn't list
OR you could get a 70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006
This would be a bit overkill, but it would be good if you ever go past 900p.
This will bring the build to a few bucks under $1000. Also I included windows 7 in the price
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

 

[Booneford]

i3? really?

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

who suggested an i3? also an i3 is still a good gaming cpu.

 

[lighter17]

Here's a build that maxes your budget:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3450 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Memory Express)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H77-DS3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Canada Computers)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($36.90 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($74.47 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card ($285.86 @ DirectCanada)
Case: Zalman ZM-Z9 U3 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($48.08 @ DirectCanada)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer ($15.57 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: Asus VE228H 21.5" Monitor ($125.91 @ DirectCanada)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($96.99 @ Computer Valley)
Total: $998.75
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

It's a balanced gaming build that'll play all current games on higher settings. You won't be able to overclock the CPU, but it's a good performing quad core. Note that although I included a 660 Ti (because you prefer nVidia) I think you would get better overall gaming performance from a Radeon 7950.

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

I would keep everything except get the 7950
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006
and get an h61 motherboard unless you want to crossfire. Also that motherboard won't support sli so, you should go with the 7950, and the 7950 does better than the 660ti in almost every single benchmark.

 

[nstiver]

Honestly I would take Lighter's build thats as good as your going to get man. He found a way to fit a 1080p monitor into the build and that is going to look great compared to what you are used to!

I also STRONGLY recomend going with the 7950 over the 660.

Don't get me wrong, I see where you are coming from preferring NVIDIA and all. I am a fan of the green team too and it took a while for me to accept it but at this point in time, AMD has the better bang for the buck.

Get the 1080p monitor and get the 7950--that is going to be a significantly better gaming experience than a 900p monitor with a 660ti.

 

[bobio13]

SLI is when you combine multiple Nvidia graphics cards to work as one. Crossfire is the same but for ATI Radeon. With your budget you wont be getting multiple graphics cards.
Is the monitor price included in your budget price or do you already have one. Also how much storage do you need? 1TB? 500GB?

Thanks for the info! I might exclude the monitor from the total price. And I totally forgot to mention the hard drive. I'm looking for 1TB.

 

[bobio13]

It seems as thought most of you prefer a Radeon 7950 over nVidia, so in that case, I will go with the Radeon.

 

[bobio13]

Here's a build that maxes your budget:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3450 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Memory Express)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H77-DS3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Canada Computers)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($36.90 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($74.47 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card ($285.86 @ DirectCanada)
Case: Zalman ZM-Z9 U3 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($48.08 @ DirectCanada)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer ($15.57 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: Asus VE228H 21.5" Monitor ($125.91 @ DirectCanada)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($96.99 @ Computer Valley)
Total: $998.75
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

It's a balanced gaming build that'll play all current games on higher settings. You won't be able to overclock the CPU, but it's a good performing quad core. Note that although I included a 660 Ti (because you prefer nVidia) I think you would get better overall gaming performance from a Radeon 7950.

Thank you very much! I will go with the Radeon, as that's what everyone seems to like better. This has been a great help. I'm sure you checked, but these parts are all compatible, correct?
EDIT: Never mind about the compatibility. Also, I'm going through the list of video cards, and I see multiple Radeon HD 7950 video cards. How do I decide which one I want?

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

Honestly I would take Lighter's build thats as good as your going to get man. He found a way to fit a 1080p monitor into the build and that is going to look great compared to what you are used to!

I also STRONGLY recomend going with the 7950 over the 660.

Don't get me wrong, I see where you are coming from preferring NVIDIA and all. I am a fan of the green team too and it took a while for me to accept it but at this point in time, AMD has the better bang for the buck.

Get the 1080p monitor and get the 7950--that is going to be a significantly better gaming experience than a 900p monitor with a 660ti.

Yeah 7950 is great. I don't understand why people prefer nVidia. With my experience, nVidia is overpriced, I got a broken gpu, I couldn't get sli to work and had to sell one of my cards( I litterally tried every fix I even used 3 different sli bridges.) SLI is way more specific than cfx, and finally nVidia drivers suck.

 

[bobio13]

Best answer selected by bobio13.