$650-700

[Parks0gt]

Approximate Purchase Date: ~2 weeks

Budget Range: $650-$700

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming

Are you buying a monitor: No

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg

Location: City, State/Region, Country -Wyoming

Parts Preferences: Intel

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1440x900

Additional Comments: Mid range PC




Just looking for a decent PC, im so out of date with whats good anymore that i'm hoping you guys could set me in the right direction. ie i cant figure out if i should get a 7870 with an FX-4100 or a 7850 with an i5. Any help would be great.

 

[lighter17]

This system is a little out of your price range although specials may take the cost down a bit over the next couple of weeks:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3450 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($186.97 @ CompUSA)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card ($229.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Antec Three Hundred Two ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.98 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec Neo Eco 520W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($46.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $716.88
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

You can switch the CPU to an i3-3220 and save almost $70.

 

[Parks0gt]

Looks like a really good build, I can swing the extra money. What performance drop would i see if i went to an i3, would i bottleneck my system?

 

[lighter17]

The only current game that I know of where a quad core really makes a difference is BF3 multiplayer. You may see slightly lower frame rates in other games with an i3, but nothing significant. The i5 quad is a bit more future ready, just in case more games start benefiting from 4 cores.