A budget of $500-700. Long time MMO gamer!

marioesco

Distinguished
Jan 21, 2012
8
0
18,510
Hey guys,

This is my first post here on TH and it's a pleasure to meet you all. :hello: I have been running any extremely dated AGP-built gaming PC that I pieced together some five-to-six years ago. I am looking to drop $500-600 for essential parts to put together an up-to-date gaming rig. Any help would be fantastic! I've had one hell of a time trying to make up my mind on what I want.

Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: Within the next week or two

Budget Range: 500-700

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, multi-tab browsing.

Are you buying a monitor: I have two ACER X223w's.

Parts to Upgrade: I have a Thermaltake Aguila case which I think I could reuse? I also have a 600w Antec PSU that runs fine.

Do you need to buy OS: Nope. I have a fresh copy of Win7Pro waiting to be installed.


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg.com

Location : Las Vegas, NV

Parts Preferences: I would like to build around an i5-3570k but I'm up to any suggestions!

Overclocking: More than likely? Future.

SLI or Crossfire: Not anytime soon.

Your Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050

Additional Comments: I am really looking for the greatest bang for my buck. I would like to have something easily upgradeable. I normally have $$$ over time and not all in bulk. I want something that I can continue to improve on as I go.
 

cutebeans

Distinguished
This is going to play every game at max with your resolution.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 PRO3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($82.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.50 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($62.99 @ Compuvest)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $504.49
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-25 00:26 EST-0500)
 

tigerg

Honorable
Feb 24, 2013
1,013
0
11,660
cutebeans has a good AMD build. What is your current HDD? Is it IDE or SATA? If you can still use it for your new build, you might be able to skip getting a new HDD and fit an i5 based system within the low end of your budget. You could probably do a nice i5 for $700 quite easily too. I will leave the configuration of a good i5 to someone more knowledgeable about parts though.
 
what sort of fans are in the old tower?

IMHO at least 1 120mm fan as exhaust and one 120mm fan as intake are required for a modern system. if you use 92mm or 80mm fans, it might be worth replacing with a USB 3.0 front port.

I am assuming that since you use AGP, you also have IDE Hard drives and DVD drives, meaning they cannot be used at all in the new system.

Here's my suggested i5 build for you, including Windows 7:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI B75MA-E33 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: GeIL EVO Veloce Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($62.99 @ Compuvest)
Video Card: Diamond Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($34.90 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $690.80
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-25 10:04 EST-0500)
 

marioesco

Distinguished
Jan 21, 2012
8
0
18,510
I've done some tweaking to the i5 build. Let me know how this stands. I'm planning on keeping my case and psu since they are in good shape.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Biostar TZ77MXE Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($112.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $600.93
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-25 22:35 EST-0500)

Mobo comes w/ promotional CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10
 

marioesco

Distinguished
Jan 21, 2012
8
0
18,510
Welp. It has been finalized! Leave feedback, please!

Order Summary

Sales Order Number: 128326949 (RushOrder)
Sales Order Date: 2/25/2013 9:44:03 PM
Shipping Method: Newegg 3Day

1 x ($199.99) SAPPHIRE 100355L Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card $199.99
1 x ($179.99) Intel Core i5-3350P Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.3GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 69W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80637i53350P $179.99
1 x ($149.99) AMD Gift coupon: Bioshock Inf. + Tomb Raider $149.99
1 x ($109.99) ASRock Z77 Pro4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $109.99
1 x ($74.99) Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - OEM $74.99
1 x ($49.99) CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10 $49.99
1 x ($17.99) SAMSUNG DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA Model SH-224BB - OEM $17.99
1 x ($7.99) Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G - OEM - OEM $7.99
1 x ($-49.99) DISCOUNT FOR AUTOADD #76828$-49.99
1 x ($-149.99) DISCOUNT FOR AUTOADD #75408$-149.99
Subtotal: $590.94
Tax: $0.00
Shipping and Handling: $9.03
Rush Order: $2.99
Total Amount: $602.96