Budget Gaming PC build

Brett913

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Apr 22, 2013
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Need case, PSU, and HDD to complete our build. We have the i5 3570k, ASRock H77m MoBo, GeForce 520GT 2gb pci-e, and 1 stick 8gb ram so far. Any suggestions? After purchasing windows will only have about $150 left to spend.
 
I hate to say this but even my most modest budget gaming rig would have a GTX 650Ti or at least HD 7770 so know that u have to get a GPU far better than a GT520 for any half decent gaming performance
 

marshallbradley

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Sep 24, 2012
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You're really not going anywhere with a GT520. How comes you bought such an expensive CPU, but such a lackluster GPU? The GPU is many, many times more important than the CPU for gaming. Is there any chance you could return/resell the CPU and get maybe an i3?

M
 

Brett913

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Apr 22, 2013
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We were actually given the video card by a neighbor for free so we planned on just using it until we could get something better. My son has aspbergers and has become obsessed with Minecraft and modding and the PC we have now is not cutting it for him. He wanted to buy a new PC but due to the cost we thought maybe we could build and try to make it something we can continue to improve upon. That is why we went with the i5 instead of the i3 and figured the free video card would work for now and then we could replace the video card later. Does this seem reasonable and if not why would you recommend instead. We just purchased CPU, board, and RAM yesterday so we could return them.
 

Brett913

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Apr 22, 2013
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We got a good deal and paid $220 for the CPU and board so that is what we would be working with if we were starting over.
 

marshallbradley

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Sep 24, 2012
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Hmm well actually that is a very good deal, and for Minecraft you really don't need that much graphics power, it's more reliant on the CPU (so it's good you went for the i5). With the extra information you've given me, I'd say you definitely made the right choice :), it's easy to upgrade the graphics further on down the line.

As far as the PSU goes, I'd suggest getting something 500W or above. Although 430W will work for such a low end graphics card, getting a 500W unit means that you can upgrade to a more mainstream videocard later on down the line, and the price difference between 430W and 500W is negligible. Make sure to get a good brand such as Corsair/Seasonic/XFX. Here's my suggestion: http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Builder-Series-Watt-CX500/dp/B0092ML0MY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366741204&sr=8-1&keywords=cx500

Hard drive is not really a tough choice. The cheapest 500GB/1TB 7200RPM drive will be fine. This one is a good price: http://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-Deskstar-7K1000-C-7200RPM-HDS721050CLA662/dp/B003FFB0RY/ref=sr_1_31?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1366741476&sr=1-31&keywords=500+gb+7200+rpm

This leaves us with about $50 for the case. Personally I have owned and think the Antec One is a fantastic budget case. It looks good, but not in an obtrusive plastic-y way like many other PC cases. The build quality is very high and it has a very good feature set: http://www.amazon.com/Antec-One-Computer-Case/dp/B006TVQU6C/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1366741266&sr=1-1&keywords=antec+one

There are literally dozens of high quality cases to choose from in your price range though. Personally I wouldn't go for anything that's not made by a quality manufacturer though, such as NZXT, Corsair, Antec, Fractal Design, Cooler Master and perhaps 1 or 2 more, since they can be of rather shoddy build quality and you don't want to cut yourself on a sharp edge or have it break on you!

Some other cases to consider: http://www.amazon.com/NZXT-Source-210-ELITE-Inches-Midtower/dp/B005869IUY/ref=sr_1_17?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1366741629&sr=1-17&keywords=nzxt

http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Tower-interior-chassis-M59-001BK/dp/B002OEBILK/ref=sr_1_19?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1366741654&sr=1-19&keywords=nzxt

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Carbide-200R-Compact-CC-9011023-WW/dp/B009GXZ8MM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1366741692&sr=1-1&keywords=corsair+200r (a tad pricey)

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Computer-All-Black-RC-430-KWN1-AMZ/dp/B00BCXF6KS/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1366741721&sr=1-2&keywords=cooler+master+case

M
 

Brett913

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Apr 22, 2013
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Thanks for the detailed response. We tried to do some homework before purchasing so it is nice to hear we made some good decisions. Is 500W a good PSU for a longer term plan? We were told the board can use a GPU that requires 2 slots, i forget what he called it sorry, and that might be something we look into later if he starts getting into other PC types of games, which I expect he will once we get the new PC built and he discovers how much better it is. Also, are there any certain requirements for the case to use that other type of GPU we would purchase in the future.
 

marshallbradley

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Sep 24, 2012
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Oh by the way, I didn't notice this earlier, but the motherboard you have is mATX. That's a good thing because it gives you more options with your case. You can either go with a Mid tower case (such as all the ones I've linked above) or a mATX sized case such as: http://www.amazon.com/Fractal-Design-Cases-Black-FD-CA-CORE-1000-BL/dp/B0074V2UXI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1366753418&sr=8-2&keywords=mATX+case (very solid case, only downside is that it has a top mounted power supply). Since the expand-ability is limited by the motherboard rather than the case, there's no real reason to go for a Mid Tower over an mATX case, but mATX cases are considerably smaller which is always nice.

500W-600W is going to be able to power any single GPU configurations (note by this I mean a single physical graphics card, the number of slots is irrelevant if that clears up any confusion). As graphics technology progresses, the power efficiency shoots up, which is why you can be fairly certain that with a decent 500W supply you'll always be fine, just as in a couple of years time 400W will likely be the standard. 500W can accommodate any current mainstream graphics card on the market really (unless you're heavily overclocking with something like a 7970).

Most every graphics card that runs modern games decently is a two slotter. Any mATX/Mid Tower will be able to accommodate this without issue. You might be meaning SLi/CrossFire though, which the motherboard doesn't support (not that it needs to, these are features for people at the very extreme end of computer gaming, i.e. multiple monitors and so on). This is when you have more than one GPU, but you shouldn't have to worry about that at all.

The only requirements to run a graphics card better than the one you currently have is a big enough power supply. As I said earlier, 500-600W will take care of anything currently on the market with ease.

If possible you might want to return the 8gb of RAM and get 2x4gb sticks, or buy another identical 8gb stick. I only say this because having 2 sticks rather than 1 allows for dual channel mode, which doubles the bandwidth of the memory. This is important for games such as Minecraft, which are CPU/Memory bandwidth rather than GPU bound.

M
 

Brett913

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Apr 22, 2013
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Any reason we can't use the optical drive and hard drive from our existing PC. Hard drive is 500 GB 7200 rpm SATA 3G and optical drive is 16X DVD(+/-) R/RW 12x RAM (+/-)R DL LightScribe SATA. These are currently in a Pavillion Slimline s3300t.
 

Brett913

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Apr 22, 2013
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Also, in case it helps at all. I have a Presario SR1630NX and Dell Dimension 9100 with all the parts in them as well that we can steal from if there is anything we can use from them. PSU from the Dell is 375W. Or is it possible people may want to purchase these, or the parts from them, online or at a local computer store?
 

marshallbradley

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Sep 24, 2012
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I imagine because it was a deal for $220. A 3570K alone normally costs that much.

@Brett Yes, you should be able to nab the hard drive and the optical drive from your existing PC since they are SATA devices. You'll need to wipe the hard drive though and reinstall Windows, since it won't boot unless it has the drivers for the new motherboard installed (which is almost impossible to do unless you reinstall Windows). I would strongly recommend against using the power supply though, you never know the quality of the unit, or the age (older units don't have as much power on the 12v rail as newer ones do), so it might end badly for all your new computer pieces if it goes rogue or whatever. Just get a fairly high quality CX 500, and never have to worry about it again.

I have quite often seen people selling Dell/HP/etc computers like that on eBay for spare parts and repairs, but I have no idea how much they sell for.

There's not really anything else you can salvage, but you have plenty of budget now for the case and power supply, so it's not a massive worry.

M
 

Brett913

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Apr 22, 2013
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We looked at the z77 and almost purchased that but since we were trying to stay on a budget we went with h77 instead. z77 would have been about $245 instead but considering I don't really know what overclocking is or how to do it nor do I know what bclk is. But if you would like to explain I would like to know more.

Thanks again marshallbradley. One last question then I think I am good. If we use the hard drive from the existing PC and it has Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit and I still have the Windows 7 upgrade disk then can I use that to reinstall windows on the new PC since it will have the same hard drive. Sorry if that is a dumb question.
 

marshallbradley

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Sep 24, 2012
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Overclocking is basically when you increase the speed of your hardware past the default factory settings. Most Intel chips are "locked" to the speed they ship at, but anything with K one the end (i.e 3570K and 3770K) is "unlocked" and therefore you can increase the CPU frequency, assuming you have a Z77 motherboard. Of course you pay a slight premium for the K version of a chip, which is why people recommend against getting it, unless you want to overclock, since you're basically spending extra money pointlessly. Something like an i5-3350P for example would have very similar stock performance at a lower price. BCLK is the motherboard's rather than the CPU's clock frequency. It is possible to slightly overclock using this, but it's really not recommended to do so since you're overclocking everything on the computer (such as things that control the RAM/HDD) which you really don't want to do as it can lead to data loss in the worst cases. Overclocking is only for the most hardcore of computer enthusiasts though, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. 90% of the time it's done as a hobby in itself, rather than trying to attain any true real world gain.

Assuming it's not an OEM version, yes. The problem with OEM versions is that the product key is tied to the original motherboard the OS was installed on. so you'd have to buy a new product key. If it's not an OEM version you'll be fine though.

I strongly recommend wiping the hard drive and just doing a clean install, as if you try and fiddle around using the CD to "Repair Windows Installation", it can sometimes lead to driver inconsistencies which will result in a very unstable system. I'm fairly sure you can do this with the upgrade disk, or if not download it onto a USB key and simply boot from that (Microsoft provide free, high speed downloads for all their flavors of Windows 7 for exactly this purpose).

M
 

Brewda

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Mar 2, 2013
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You contradicted yourself. You said budget gaming pc but went with intel i5 3570k. Amd fx-6300 is a better choice.

220 for a 3570k, you can sell that and get fx-6300 + asrock extreme3 for $220
 

Brett913

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Apr 22, 2013
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The deal we got was only on the unlocked processors and not the other versions of the i5 so we would have paid more for the motherboard and an unlocked i5. We went with the i5 instead of an AMD because we were told that would be a better processor for the games my son plays, primarily minecraft. We will also use the computer for our everyday things which would include internet, itunes, and photoshop. I wouldn't have to sell them since I could just return them but I am not sure I see the advantage if it is to just get a different processor and motherboard for the same price.
 

marshallbradley

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Sep 24, 2012
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I think you've misunderstood Brewda. The deal was both the CPU AND the motherboard for $220. That's a pretty sweet deal right there, and demolishes your FX 6300 idea for the same price.

@Brett just stick with what you have, it's the best option you can get given your budget, since esp. with this "deal" you've basically gotten the motherboard for free. It will work very well for all modern gaming titles, including Minecraft.

M
 

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