Help Me Build A Gaming PC Please

[Drex]

Hey guys, I'm looking to build a PC that can handle the newer games at high settings without too much fps/gameplay lag. My budget is around 1200 bucks, and that includes the monitor, case, and all the bells and whistles except a mouse and a headset. Should also include warranties but I can worry about that later, just looking for ideas for now I guess.

Alternately, a pre-built PC with strong enough specs to handle modern games at high settings with the same price-tag would work too, though most of the ones I see have one or two things where they are really lacking that turn me off, like a gaming PC with a crappy graphics card or less ram than my 4 year old laptop.

I'm guessing my shopping list should be something like:

-LCD Monitor
-Case
-Motherboard
-Hard drive
-CPU
-Power Supply
-CD-RW/DVD-RW drive(s)
-RAM
-Graphics Card
-Sound Card
-An O.S.
-A keyboard

Keyboard doesn't have to be anything fancy, and I'm used to windows XP and Vista for operating systems. I'm terrible at checking for compatibilities, so my main worry is avoiding parts that don't work together and still getting plenty of bang for my buck. Most of the recommended builds I see don't include monitor in their cost, so I'm hoping an LCD monitor won't mess up the specs too bad for the budget. Thanks for any feedback and help!

[Caiyuo]

Rather than try to attempt listing all these parts out myself and checking prices, I'll just refer you to people who do this regularly instead, lol: Build Your Own - Tom's Hardware

You'd likely be looking at something between these two builds given your budget:
- System Builder Marathon, Sept. '09: $650 Gaming PC : Enter The Dragon - Review Tom's Hardware
- System Builder Marathon, Sept. '09: $1,250 Enthusiast Build : System Builder Marathon: $1,250 AMD System - Review Tom's Hardware
- http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...-sff,2312.html

Edit: Beware, though, that the is an AMD system build which is likely to cause some nerd-noise given how popular Intel's i7 is. You can compare the similarly priced builds and figure out what works best for you given all the info that site provides.

[Mala]

I've been looking over a build myself (with around ~$800 budget) and I already have a hdd, monitor, and keyboard, so it should be within a similar budget for your $1200.

Anyways I've taken a look around for the parts I already have and included what seems like a good deal for your budget in it.

Monitor:
Acer X223Wbd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor
$160

Case:
COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
$140

GPU:
MSI N260GTX-T2D896-OCv3 GeForce GTX 260 896MB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
$180 + $10 MIR

Newegg Mobo + CPU c-c-c-combo deal:

CPU:
Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750

Mobo: (I'm actually torn between 2 midrange P55 boards, however in the interest of saving $30 for a slightly less capable board [reviews say the i5-750 maxes out around 4ghz on this board, which is perfectly fine with me]):
MSI P55-GD65 LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard
CPU + Mobo total: $340 (save $20 via combo)

PSU:
Thermaltake Toughpower XT W0229RU 750W ATX12V V2.3 80PLUS BRONZE ATI CrossFireX Certified AMD GAME READY FanDelayCool Modular Power Supply
$125 + $20 MIR + 15% off with promo code TTOCT15 (Total $106 + $20MIR)

RAM:
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996657
$100

Keyboard: I have an old G15, and while they don't make them anymore, I LOVE the 18 buttons and would prefer them over the LCD screen (which also rocks but oh well). Therefore I picked the G11.
Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard
$64

Total: $1090 - $30 MIR = $1060

As you can see, I didn't include a hard drive, sound card, or optical drive, because I'm not sure exactly what your needs are here.

I personally don't have a sound card, the onboard sound of my current board sounds fine, but I'm not really an audiophile.

For an optical drive, you can pick up a SATA DVD burner for between $30 and $45, or if you go Bluray, $100.

For hard drives, newegg has a 640gb HDD for $70, and 1tb for $80~$110.

Depending on what you choose, you might go sightly over budget, most definitely if you include a sound card.

This system should be able to run any game on the market now and for a while, the GTX260 core216 has a nonreference cooler and comes overclocked (for the same price as a normal one to boot). The monitor is 1650x1080 so the gpu should be able to max out all settings on any current game.

Of course any comments on this from anyone is appreciated, since it will not only help out the OP, but me too since I'm considering a very similar build, sans monitor and keyboard.

As for an OS...perhaps seek out a different means then buying a retail version. I've heard microsoft gives great student discounts (if your a student) and the internet gives even better discounts (you didn't hear this from me). From what I hear, Windows 7 64bit is the way to go, although I'm still on XP x64, but will upgrade eventually.

Oh also be sure to get an aftermarket cooler if you plan on overclocking, which will probably run you about $50~$65 for a top notch one.

[Weeks]

GPU:
MSI N260GTX-T2D896-OCv3 GeForce GTX 260 896MB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
$180 + $10 MIR

If you're going to be spending $180 on the video card, get a Radeon 4890 which will outperform this card on anything not specially coded for nVidia (Even the $150 4870 beats it on some games). Anyone buying AMD or nVidia at this point in time is doing it strictly out of brand loyalty unless a crazy discount is involved.

Oh also be sure to get an aftermarket cooler if you plan on overclocking, which will probably run you about $50~$65 for a top notch one.

$30 will get you a Cooler Master 212 that will more than cover any casual overclocker's needs.

[fishstix]

If you have a Microcenter that you can go to, the i5 750 is $50 cheaper in-store for $150, also if you're buying the gtx260 before the 28th, there's a Dell deal to buy it $125 after rebates.

Here's a wishlist I came up with for a friend just yesterday Newegg.com - Once You Know, You Newegg It's just missing a video card, dvd drive and OS. With the 2 things mentioned above, it's $668 after rebates for an i5, 4gb ram, 500gb hd, gtx260 system, sans the OS and drive though.

[Drex]

No real plans on overclocking here, more interested in just putting it together and having it work

Thanks for all the recommendations, I'll look them over and see what I can put together

[Olo401]

Got a build here that should do the trick: https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/M...spx?ID=9722154

Make sure you check for combo deals too.. Newegg's got some discounts going if you get Win7 and something else.

[Drex]

Got a build here that should do the trick: https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/M...spx?ID=9722154

Make sure you check for combo deals too.. Newegg's got some discounts going if you get Win7 and something else.

Hmm, that link isn't working for me

Thanks for the Windows 7 tip, still not sure if I want to buy it or go with vista, but I'll keep it in mind

How does this look to the pc gurus? Remember that I'm dumb when it comes to compatibility issues, space, and power lol, but I did quite a bit of searching around t o come up with this so I'd like some feedback:

Antec 300 Black Steel Case - $51.95

Acer Black 22'' LCD Monitor - $149.99

Powercolor Radeon HD 4890 - $189.99

Corsair 2x 2GB DDR3 RAM - $79.99 after combo deal
Comboed with
Antec Earthwatts 500W Power Supply - $69.99

AMD Phenom II X3 2.8GHz CPU - $89.00 after combo deal
Comboed with
ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - $114.99

Western Digital Caviar Black 750GB Hard Drive - $79.99
Comboed with
Windows 7 Professional 32-bit OS - $129.99 after combo deal

Samsung Optical Drive - $25.99

Saitek Black Eclipse Keyboard - $33.99

Most come with free shipping, so shipping costs came out to +$30. Also comes with $25 in mail-in rebates. Including all that it came out to just under $1,000, including monitor and OS. What do you all think? Any suggestions that would improve it without raising the price too much? Any compatibility issues? Is a 500W power supply enough?

[SephYuyX]

Going with Vista should never be an option. If it was between XP and 7, then maybe you could have a bit of quandary, but 7 is superior in terms of both.

[Drex]

Well XP is an option too =P I use XP at the moment, and have only used Vista a little on school PCs

[fishstix]

Got a build here that should do the trick: Newegg.com - Once You Know, You Newegg.

lern2 wishlist fixed for you. What I do is click on any one else's public wishlist and copy that URL, changing the ID# out with your wishlist #.

As for the build Drex listed, yeah, 500w is enough. I'd skip the combo and go with this PSU though, it's $29 after rebates if you buy it before 11/1 Newegg.com - OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ500MXSP 500W maybe get cheaper ram Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

However, with a $1200 budget, I'd go with an i5 setup. This is what I came up with for you http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...umber=15750508 (modified one of my lists with some of what you picked out) $40 in rebate, $6 off the PSU, $20 off the win7 combo, comes out to $1092 before shipping. An i5 will probably set you up for a few years longer than the Phenom II x3.

[Drex]

How much of an improvement are we talking with an i5 + pentium mobo? It's "only" an extra $100 I guess, just trying to cut where I can without hurting the specs too hard or needing to upgrade again too soon

[fishstix]

It really depends on what games you play, programs you use. Personally, I only ffxi and play a few other games occasionally: l4d, cod5 waw, old steam games. Occasionally, I video edit but not often, but even still, I find my Phenom II x4 940 is sufficient for everything I do. I can max out the graphics settings of l4d and cod5 @ 1920x1080 resolution with the nvidia gtx 260, and I don't plan on upgrading anytime soon either. I can even dualbox ffxi with constant 29.4 fps on both windows @ 1600x900 w/2048 background res. Not trying to brag, but just saying that while AMD isn't top of the line, it's still very good for most people

So yeah, it's up to you, the i5 can get higher benchmarks, but for everyday use, I dont think you'll miss it. If you want to stick with AMD, I think that's perfectly fine.

[Drex]

At the moment I'm playing Left 4 Dead and Aion, would be nice to be able to run it at max settings...my current laptop gets pretty big lag spikes even at minimum settings lol

Have seen benchmarks all over the place for what you need to run Aion at max, but I'm sure there will be other games I'll play afterwards as well that I'd like this pc to be able to handle in the near future too.

As for the windows thing, I'll probably just go with a Windows XP install for now and upgrade to Windows 7 when I have some extra cash later.

That PSU looks like an even better deal than the combo I had so I went ahead and changed the PSU and RAM around. Still wishy-washy on i5 vs phenom 2 but I'll prolly settle for the phenom in the end.