Need help with a very tight budget build

[lethalck]

Hi I am fairly new to this community i do some looking around at builds for gaming pcs and i have to be honest, to me its all a little confusing. While i have a basic knowledge of computers and parts for the most part, as far as processors and in depth components i am pretty lost

My main issue with getting a gaming pc is money, i am currently very tight as far as my budget goes

I am however able to use a credit card (my preferred payment option)
so i figure i have 2 options here
on a $1000 budget (trying to keep my options open as far as performance)

1 : I can build one myself and hopefully the website will accept a credit card as a payment

2: Settle for a Dell.com/ Alienware "gaming" computer (I have a dell credit card)


My main concern is that while I don't need my pc to be over the top in performance (shouldn't be over clocking or running high end games like BF3 or Skyrim)

I plan to play games such as Diablo 3, TF 2, Torchlight 2

I do however want to keep my pc open for upgrades I want it to be able to be flexible, nicely cooled, and easily cleanable, on top of keeping my game play smooth and unhindered

I hope I am not doing this wrong or in the wrong spot, I really could use some pointers as far as a nice performance build for around $1000

or if maybe what I am reading about dell and alienware isn't all bad and it could be something i could settle for

 

[chain220]

$1000 isn't a very tight budget at all. You can get a pretty powerful PC for that price. If you're not intending to run high end games, you could probably get a solid system for $600 with room to upgrade in the future whenever needed. Even at that price you could probably get decently playable on BF3 ultra 1080p (maybe not, but it'd be close). I would definitely suggest building your own if you can figure out what you're doing, before buying Alienware.

 

[Azn Cracker]

Build your own! At that price range I suggest an
-intel i5-3570k as the cpu
-and maybe a radeon 7870
+ the other parts

That would play all your games on max and still leave you a few hundred bucks in change.

 

[lethalck]

my main gimp that is really making me sway to a dell/alienware

is that i have a dell credit card

as far as i can tell i don't see that new egg has payment options or accepts credit cards
i have yet to delve into ibuypower to check

i just figured 1000 would be comfortable without being shortchanged
I'm very nervous to put out the money and need critical upgrades as far as graphics or performance go

I'm really just looking for it to handle what i throw at it but like i said im not going to be working it to the bone

could anyone throw me some roundabout parts together to get me a decent idea, and more feedback would be greatly appreciated

I've been holding off on a gaming pc for a very long time now

back in the days of CounterStrike 1.6 I've wanted a nice gaming pc
i don't want all this anticipation to go to waste

 

[chain220]

If I were you in that budget range, I'd get:

CPU: Intel i5-3570k $215
Mobo: ASRock Extreme4 $130
RAM: Corsair 8GB DDR3-1600 (2x4GB) $40
Storage: SSD - Crucial M4 256GB $105 (Optional extra hard drive for storage)
Video Card: 7870 2GB $240
Case: Anything that'll work, not to sure. $70-100
PSU: Corsair 600W $50
Optical: Something cheap $15-20

This'll handle anything you throw at it, totaling ~$870.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

my main gimp that is really making me sway to a dell/alienware

is that i have a dell credit card

as far as i can tell i don't see that new egg has payment options or accepts credit cards
i have yet to delve into ibuypower to check

i just figured 1000 would be comfortable without being shortchanged
I'm very nervous to put out the money and need critical upgrades as far as graphics or performance go

I'm really just looking for it to handle what i throw at it but like i said im not going to be working it to the bone

could anyone throw me some roundabout parts together to get me a decent idea, and more feedback would be greatly appreciated

I've been holding off on a gaming pc for a very long time now

back in the days of CounterStrike 1.6 I've wanted a nice gaming pc
i don't want all this anticipation to go to waste

everyone takes credit cards nowadays, Visa, Mastercard, Amex. Newegg even takes Paypal!

here's my suggestion for a $1000 build including OS and Monitor:


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Intel Extreme Master, Limited Ed 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($31.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: OCZ Agility 4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($93.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($279.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case ($57.04 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On IHAS324-98 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Zalman MZ230ED 23.0" Monitor ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Keyboard: Gigabyte GK-KM5200 Wired Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($12.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $995.93
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-16 12:45 EST-0500)

 

[lethalck]

I like these builds and thank you both a bunch for your input. Need to find me a regular credit card for building my own. This dell card has a 2000 $ limit so its gonna be hard to beat that. Maybe I can find somewhere that'll allow payments lol