At this time, you can put together a build that plays Skyrim on Ultra at 55-80 fps and Battlefield 4 on Ultra at an avg of ~40-45 fps that costs just $490. This PC will be quiet, small (microATX), cheap, and powerful. I built one just the other day containing all of the below parts and I thought I would share it with those interested. The low price is made possible by consolidating a number of deals. All of the parts are high quality from some of the most trusted companies out there.
Newegg
Memory: Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) – $69.99 + FS
Tower: Cooler Master n200 case - $39.99 after $10 MIR + FS
Micro Center
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-H LGA1150 mATX Intel Motherboard - $39.99 after $10 MIR (expires 03/02/2014)
*Mobo only allows for 1 USB 3.0 in the back. Allows for a lot of USB 2.0. Only allows for one graphics card. Max RAM is 2x 8GB (16GB total) 1600MHz
HDD: Western Digital Desktop Mainstream 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive – $47.69... Although I would just go with a 1TB for ~$69.99 if you have the money.
*Can pick up both items in-store for free or shipping is ~$5 for both items.
Tiger Direct
PSU: Thermaltake TR2 ATX 500W - $19.99 after $15 MIR (expires 02/28/2014) and $15 off promo code JUB117499 + FS
CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 Dual Core Processor - 3.4 GHz, 3MB L3 Cache - $119.99 + FS
Amazon
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 750Ti w/ G-SYNC Support 2GB GDDR5 128bit - $149.99 + FS
Total comes to ~$490 for everything. If you’ve never built a PC before, its easier than you think. There are an endless number of tutorials on youtube and many that even use these exact parts. It would take you 2-8 hours max depending on your level of knowledge. For this setup, I am POSITIVE that you do not need an aftermarket CPU cooler, although you might want to make sure that your case has a sufficient number of fans (3 or 4+ should be fine).
If you have a little bit more money to spend, I would recommend the Intel i5-4670K (about $100 more) and the GeForce 660 GPU for $50 more or the Geforce 760 GPU for $100 more. If you go with the i5-4670K and the GeForce 760, you should be able to play anything that comes out in the next few years on ultra without a hitch.
If you want to use my recommended build as a starting point and want to change various things, I will gladly help you if you post here.
Newegg
Memory: Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) – $69.99 + FS
Tower: Cooler Master n200 case - $39.99 after $10 MIR + FS
Micro Center
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-H LGA1150 mATX Intel Motherboard - $39.99 after $10 MIR (expires 03/02/2014)
*Mobo only allows for 1 USB 3.0 in the back. Allows for a lot of USB 2.0. Only allows for one graphics card. Max RAM is 2x 8GB (16GB total) 1600MHz
HDD: Western Digital Desktop Mainstream 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive – $47.69... Although I would just go with a 1TB for ~$69.99 if you have the money.
*Can pick up both items in-store for free or shipping is ~$5 for both items.
Tiger Direct
PSU: Thermaltake TR2 ATX 500W - $19.99 after $15 MIR (expires 02/28/2014) and $15 off promo code JUB117499 + FS
CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 Dual Core Processor - 3.4 GHz, 3MB L3 Cache - $119.99 + FS
Amazon
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 750Ti w/ G-SYNC Support 2GB GDDR5 128bit - $149.99 + FS
Total comes to ~$490 for everything. If you’ve never built a PC before, its easier than you think. There are an endless number of tutorials on youtube and many that even use these exact parts. It would take you 2-8 hours max depending on your level of knowledge. For this setup, I am POSITIVE that you do not need an aftermarket CPU cooler, although you might want to make sure that your case has a sufficient number of fans (3 or 4+ should be fine).
If you have a little bit more money to spend, I would recommend the Intel i5-4670K (about $100 more) and the GeForce 660 GPU for $50 more or the Geforce 760 GPU for $100 more. If you go with the i5-4670K and the GeForce 760, you should be able to play anything that comes out in the next few years on ultra without a hitch.
If you want to use my recommended build as a starting point and want to change various things, I will gladly help you if you post here.
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