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Gaming PC - $800 - New Builder, advice plz?

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Hi,

Thank you very much for opening my thread. I've always had a friend build my PC for me so this is my first attempt doing it solo/yolo.

Purpose of this thread: I'd like some recommendations on specific computer parts so I can start buying. Basically, I'd like a gaming/dual display/movie/daily usage desktop for under $900 total that can play LoL and other graphic intensive games (starcraft, Call of Duty, etc) at its highest settings.

Looking for the best "bang for your buck deals".




Approximate Purchase Date: All parts ordered by 2/1/13

Budget Range: $800. After Rebate and shipping.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Watching Movies - HDMI connection to my 1080p TV, Multi-tasking - fast speeds while surfing, playing music/movies working in documents, etc.

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: Everything besides case. I'd like to keep PSU and CPU cooler but not necessary. I will post up what they are after turning off PC.

Do you need to buy OS: Yes - I didn't know I needed a new one for a new mobo. This is lame.

Location: Houston, TX. I have all the good stores here: Microcenter, Fry's

Overclocking: Maybe - I would like potential to overclock but I want something that works out of the box.

SLI or Crossfire: No clue what this is.

Your Monitor Resolution: Gaming resolution is up to 1280x1024 but also remember I will be dual displaying on a TV too for regular use/movies.

Additional Comments:

- I'd like to try a RAID for the first time. From my limited understanding, more hard drive space while backing up your data? Yes please.
- I don’t care AMD vs. Intel. I’ve always bought Intel due to the price but whichever nowadays is better for my gaming needs.

Why Are You Upgrading: I'm having trouble running game "League of Legends" and I'm running off of a 2nd hand mobo. Computer runs slow while gaming and regular use.

Minimum Specs: Under the LoL site, they recommend at the least:

- 3 GHz processor
- 2 GB of RAM (Windows Vista and 7 users should use 4 GB of RAM or more.)
- GeForce 8800 or equivalent video card (Dedicated GPU with 512MB+ Video Memory(VRAM))
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Can someone compare the two builds?

1.) Build using a cheap/combo I found:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/w9pL

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-4100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($89.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: MSI 760GM-P23 (FX) Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 650 Ti 2GB Video Card ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $349.96
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-06 03:45 EST-0500)

- I just chose some random RAM, (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
- This Video card fits my budget

2.) Found this on another thread. Way more expensive but a better "bang for your buck?"

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($219.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $504.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-06 03:50 EST-0500)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-GD55 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($117.86 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($310.48 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $818.29
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
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Best solution

You should not look at you budget like that but as a whole from most important to least important (as far as gaming is concerned).

1. CPU $150-$200
2. GPU (these are relative close to being number 1) $150-$250
3. PSU (why this, you ask, because a bad PSU will have bad consequences) $50-$100
4. Motherboard $60-$100
5. Memory $30-$40
6. Case - $30-$60
7. Storage $50-$75 (non SSD)
8. Optical Drive. $15-$20

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.57 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill REDBONE U3 ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $786.47
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-06 15:14 EST-0500)

A couple of pieces of information you probably would like to know about RAID

RAID0 (striped) - Increases performance by writing to both disk simultaneously. Total storage is number of drives times the capacity of the smallest drive (your case would be 2x1 = 2TB). NO backup of data and if one drive fails, so does the array which means loss of data. Requires at least 2 drives

RAID1 (mirrored) - No increase in performance. The same data is written to both disks (hence the name mirrored). If one drive fails, the array can still be utilized with one disk until the faulty disk is replaced. Usually a max of 2 drives

RAID10 (striped + mirrored) Increase performance and backup capabilities. Combines RAID0 and RAID1 (hence the name RAID10). Requires at least 4 drives.

All RAID array drives should be of the same capacity so that you do not short yourself on disk space.

So in your circumstances, you can have performance or you can have backup but not both unless you want to get 4 drives.

Dude, you really hooked me up with this build. It is very budget friendly and the parts are highly rated. I just did homework on all of it. THANK YOU SO MUCH, BUYING SOON.

cball1311 said:
You should not look at you budget like that but as a whole from most important to least important (as far as gaming is concerned).

1. CPU $150-$200
2. GPU (these are relative close to being number 1) $150-$250
3. PSU (why this, you ask, because a bad PSU will have bad consequences) $50-$100
4. Motherboard $60-$100
5. Memory $30-$40
6. Case - $30-$60
7. Storage $50-$75 (non SSD)
8. Optical Drive. $15-$20

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.57 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill REDBONE U3 ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $786.47
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-06 15:14 EST-0500)

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

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($129.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer 81.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($66.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($184.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($54.98 @ NCIX US)
Total: $659.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-13 13:25 EST-0500)
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