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Please Help - $550 First Gaming Build

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Hello,

I am going to be building my first PC mostly for gaming (bf3, diablo III, skyrim) as well as some photoshop and video editing.

I wanted to ask the knowledgeable users of this forum what they would do if they were in my position.

I will be looking for sales on things over the next month to try to get the best deals. I have around $550 to spend. I already have a mouse, keyboard, OS (Windows 8), and I use my 1920x1080 TV as a monitor.

I live in Austin, TX and I've been looking on Newegg. Through doing some research I saw a lot of recommendations for the Intel Core i3-3220 Ivy Bridge 3.3GHz CPU for budget gaming builds
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I'm probably not going to overclock, and I was thinking that I should spend more now on my CPU and upgrade my GPU later.

So, I was thinking of going with the I3-3220, and maybe an HD 7770
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I'm not sure what to do as far as the rest of the parts go, or if that's even the best thing to do in my budget with my plans to upgrade to a better GPU later. Any advice that anyone has to offer would be greatly appreciated. Especially on which CPU and GPU to get.

Thank you

More about : 550 gaming build

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Gaming Expert

a 7770 is fairly limited at 1080p resolution but something like this

i3 $120
H77 motherboard $75
2 x2 gig of RAM $28
500 gig hard drive $70
dvd drive $17
450 - 500 watt psu $45
case $50

Leaves you nearly $150 to spend on a graphics card in your $550 budget . If you can stretch it a little you can afford a Radeon 7850 which will game well

You cannot overclock that processor . Its locked by intel

Best solution

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mYSC
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mYSC/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mYSC/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($123.20 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($33.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($55.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card ($158.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec Three Hundred ATX Mid Tower Case ($35.20 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $520.33
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-11-08 18:15 EST-0500)

Gonna have to go up a little more if you want to run bf3 1080p on high graphics. If you can afford another $50 get the 7870 graphics card.

Gaming Expert

Thats good lchrisk

But It really should have a stronger power supply , and while the old Antec 300 was a great case it lacks a few features

I'd get the Antec ONE . Much better cable management , and front USB 3 ports
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Thank y'all very much for your responses.


I'm thinking about going with an I5 CPU instead now and just using integrated graphics while I save up for at least a 7870.


Do y'all have an opinion on which I5 to get? I suppose I'll begin researching that now.

Thanks again for your help.

Pyroccd said:
Thank y'all very much for your responses.


I'm thinking about going with an I5 CPU instead now and just using integrated graphics while I save up for at least a 7870.


Do y'all have an opinion on which I5 to get? I suppose I'll begin researching that now.

Thanks again for your help.

If you are going to over clock, get the i5-3570k. If you are not going to, get the plain 3570, no k version. Another option is the 3470.

If you are going to over clock, make sure you get a nice cpu cooler, like the cooler master 212. Also get a z77 board to over clock.

If you are not, you could just get a cheap board like the h77. They have a whole bunch of them.
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