Mid-range PC Build

joey_ness

Honorable
Jun 25, 2013
2
0
10,510
Hi all,
I enjoy PC gaming. I have a GTX 550 ti and a lenovo pc that is at least 4 years old. It definitely works, but games aren't running well enough. It always seems like I'm really pushing the system (the fans make a LOT of noise) and stuff gets pretty laggy at times. I don't know if texture memory is the problem, my CPU bottle-necking or that my PC is really not up to par anymore. Probably all three.

Regardless, I've decided to get a new gaming PC that will be able to run games I like such as Far Cry 3 and The Witcher 2 decently performance-wise and on medium/high settings graphics-wise. Hopefully that can be done with my budget.

I'm tentative about everything because after reading other forums on this, building a pc seems extremely complicated. I have a price range of about $1000 for everything, so if people could give me suggestions and tips for what I can do, that would be great. How much RAM will the computer need? What kind of processor? How many GB should the gaming card be, what model do you suggest, etc. All while keeping in mind that I'm new to the terminology surrounding this technology.

I would really appreciate your help on this! Thanks in advance.
- Joey
 

X79

Honorable
Assuming you don't need the peripherals, this would be pretty ideal for you:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus H87-PRO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($127.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($71.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ Expansys US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced ATX Full Tower Case ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $994.45
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-25 20:37 EDT-0400)

The low-down is that games can run on dual core at the bare minimum; but 4 core will be required and is ideal.

8GB RAM is also ideal and 2GB VRAM (GPU memory) is also the minimum now. This build would set you up for some

pretty sweet gaming I think. The GPU is newly released and pretty powerful. If you've got any questions, just ask.
 

joey_ness

Honorable
Jun 25, 2013
2
0
10,510


this is exactly what i was looking for! it really helps me see what i need. i think i may go with this build and I'll definitely ask if i have any questions. thank you! really helpful