2 Gaming PCs for Under $1200?

[Stunny99]

Hey all,

My wife and I are due for some new gaming computers. We have NEVER built our own before and are slightly scared to do so but I do understand it makes things a bit cheaper. We may consider doing that. We have a maximum budget of $1200 but would like to come in under that. We need 2 identical computers. We do not need any accessories, just the towers.

Before we jump into trying to build one and possibly break something (haha) do any of you have any recommendations on places to buy 2 decent computers with our budget in mind. Specifically which PC is worth the money etc. We do not need ULTIMATE graphics but it would be nice to run things on high.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

[Deleted]

You only got 600 each? How old are you PCs that you can actually buy an upgrade with that?

That said I could give you a setup that wouldn't blow your budget but you'd still have to assemble it yourself.

Prozessor Sockel AM3+
AMD FX 6300

Mainboard Sockel AM3(+)
MSI 970A-G43

DDR3-1600
Kingston HyperX Savage 8,0 GByte Kit

Graphics Card
EVGA Geforce GTX 950 SC

Harddrive
Western Digital Blue, 1,0 Terabyte

Case
BitFenix Neos

Power Supply Unit
be Quiet! System Power S7 450 Watt

That's about 550$ and abit of handiwork.
Price depends on your supplier of course.

[Lathais]

Hey all,

My wife and I are due for some new gaming computers. We have NEVER built our own before and are slightly scared to do so but I do understand it makes things a bit cheaper. We may consider doing that. We have a maximum budget of $1200 but would like to come in under that. We need 2 identical computers. We do not need any accessories, just the towers.

Before we jump into trying to build one and possibly break something (haha) do any of you have any recommendations on places to buy 2 decent computers with our budget in mind. Specifically which PC is worth the money etc. We do not need ULTIMATE graphics but it would be nice to run things on high.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

For $600 a piece, probably not gonna be playing too much on high.

[Stunny99]

Thank you for your responses. I understand my budget is tight. That is the reason why I am posting here among you bright people. My current pcs are 5+ years old. Having some issues these days.

Thank you for any suggestions.

[Deleted]

Could you stop refreshing for a minute? It takes some time to copypaste and translate all this stuff.

I edited my first post with some specs, won't be playing much on high but it's most likely still better than any current gen console.

- - - Updated - - -

Ah great, now he's gone, wasted.

[Rokom]

I don't think any decent pre-builts exist for $600. What components do you have in your current rigs? There's a chance you can reuse some of those parts, or even just upgrade your current towers.

[Stunny99]

Our computers were assembled in 2010. A few ram sticks have died since then and we have replaced a few hard drives. Other than that, they are exactly the same. They run incredibly slow these days and have a lot of hiccups. Reformatting does not seem to speed them up anymore. They have the following in them:

ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G 5 x SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus Quad-Core 3.0 GHz Socket AM3 95W ADX640WFGMBOX Desktop
CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model CMX8GX3M2A1333C9
ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 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 Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM
Western Digital Black WD6402AAEX 640GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Diablotek PHD Series PHD550 550W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply
ASUS Radeon HD 6870 EAH6870/2DI2S/1GD5 1GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

[Nynax]

The Puppy build on the front page is priced @ $570

http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/...-the-Month-DLC

[Rokom]

Our computers were assembled in 2010. A few ram sticks have died since then and we have replaced a few hard drives. Other than that, they are exactly the same. They run incredibly slow these days and have a lot of hiccups. Reformatting does not seem to speed them up anymore. They have the following in them:

ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G 5 x SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus Quad-Core 3.0 GHz Socket AM3 95W ADX640WFGMBOX Desktop
CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model CMX8GX3M2A1333C9
ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 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 Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM
Western Digital Black WD6402AAEX 640GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
Diablotek PHD Series PHD550 550W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply
ASUS Radeon HD 6870 EAH6870/2DI2S/1GD5 1GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

If you're willing to build them yourselves your case, RAM, DVD burner, and hard drive should all be reusable, which would shave off ~$150 for each build.
2 other quick questions.
1. Would new OSs need to be included in the price?
2. Do you happen to live anywhere near a microcenter?

[Stunny99]

Not close to a micro center. I have a Microsoft Windows 7 64 bit. I could use the free upgrade to 10.

Does the fact that my case only has USB 2.0 matter?

[Kagthul]

Assuming you need new cases, HDDs, et al.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/FWRYxr
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/FWRYxr/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($116.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($52.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($40.50 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.70 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($26.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $552.01
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-28 01:51 EDT-0400

Move quick to grab that PSU, its super solid and more than half off.

Will run mkst games on high, and many on ultra at 1080p.

- - - Updated - - -

If you can re-use your HDDs and dont need an OS, i would go with this instead:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Cv92dC
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Cv92dC/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($163.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($52.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($309.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.70 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($26.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $618.64
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-28 02:21 EDT-0400

Just slightly over budget, but stepped up to a very solid Core i5 and a GTX 970 which will run most games at 1080p/60fps/Ultra

This assumes you dont need a HDD or OS.

[chazus]

Moving this to the build/upgrade subforum