Budget gaming build, starting from scratch

[dunwald]

I would like to build a computer from scratch. After moving a lot I am finally going to get a desktop but I don't want to overlook anything and wonder why I'm missing a cable or why I forgot to get a set of speakers o.O

Budget: 1,000

Wanted:

22/23inch monitor 1980x1200 or so Resolution (May keep monitor with next purchase)

Able to play WoW, SWToR, SC2, Skyrim, D3, GW2 and whatever I might buy next year (usually RPGs or RPG-hybrids) at High settings (I plan to raid/ladder on low settings if needed - even if it can handle a 25man raid on high, if it gets more FPS on low I will raid on low, after all I've been doing that for the last few years).

I'd also like to re-use the GPU I get if that's a good idea (ie, add it to my next system with another GPU, or do I have to get a specific GPU for that? In which case I won't worry about it).

I need windows and all peripherals (speakers, mouse, keyboard, am I forgetting something?)

Will I have all the power cables needed with the directly purchased pieces or will I have to buy individual ones?

Can I base this on an i5-2500k? I've read a lot of this forum in the last few days and seen comments that it's the best gaming option for a CPU right now. Could I then plan on adding a better GPU, maybe a second monitor, and an SSD next year but rely on the same CPU?

Please let me know if I skipped anything or if I should add any info at all,

Thanks!

Edit: forgot to mention I'm in Miami Florida.

Also, keep in mind I do plan on upgrading or buying a new setup and keeping the onitor (as mentioned above) and other parts if posible. With that in mind, feel free to lay out an ok build but point out what I would want to replace first in say, 6 or 9 months.

Would that mean i3 instead of i5 but a good GPU for now? Or i5 now and low-end GPU for 9 months? There's probably plenty of room to play with within what I need.

[Nightbliss]

Where are you from?

Also, with the need for windows and all the peripherals I believe it will be a bit hard to base the build upon the i5 2500k without toning down the GPU or something else along the way.

[Morist]

Firstly, it isn't a budget computer if you expect to be able to run brand new graphic intensive games on high. Secondly, assuming you don't buy bare drives or anything, you will probably get all the cables you need.
The only parts of a PC (generally) that are fairly dependent on each other are the CPU and the motherboard. So you can swap everything else out for upgrades or use them with your next PC, more or less. They'll have to be SATA drives, it will have to be DDR3 RAM, and so on, but that's pretty much everything you'll encounter.

i5-2500k (220)
ASUS P8Z68-V (170)
XFX HD 6770 (125)
4-8GB DDR3 RAM (50ish)
Hard Drives (100-200ish)

would be a good start. Depending on how much storage you want, you'll probly go over 1k with it though, depends a lot on what sort of peripherals you're looking at. You could probably get a cheaper motherboard and a more expensive graphics card. HD6850 is good, and will last you a few years. Both graphics cards will run the games and 2 monitors fine. Just make sure the motherboard has an LGA 1155 socket and has Sata 3 ports, if you want to get a newer SSD next year, to get the most out of it.

[Voytrekk]

Well, with your budget, you could go with a i5-2500k, then use a weaker GPU, and then SLI/Crossfire it next year. With that budget, I would go with
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM$100
i5-2500k$220
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3$125
CM HAF 912$50
XFX HD-6770$110
Antec 550W$70
WD Caviar Black 500GB$130
Sony DVD RW Drive$20
Kingston HyperX 4GB RAM$25
Acer 21.5" Monitor$130


This will be about $1000 with the shipping. You can pick up a keyboard and mouse that look nice to you for anywhere from $20-100. Since you said you will be able to get money later on, you can upgrade from some cheap ones then. The speakers can also run you about $20-50 bucks, and that is your choice as well. The price may be a little bit over your budget, but if you look around, you can probably get some of the parts I listed for slightly cheaper. If you have a micro center near you, you can pick up the processor for $40 cheaper. If you can't go over that budget at all, you could always drop to the i3-2100, which will reduce the price ~$90, but you will lose a bit of performance. Also, I'd wait for someone else to confirm this build before you go to purchase it in case I may have made a mistake

[Drunkenvalley]

Personally, I'd look into getting the money you need for Windows, peripherals, etc, as a separate part of your budget. You can get a good tower for 1k bucks, but you're going to gimp it harshly when you have to spend, what, 300 bucks on peripherals and Windows key?

So, yeah, I'd say wait till you've got about 1300. More and it'll only get better too.

EDIT: I missed that you need a monitor... Yeah, this isn't going to end well imo.

---------- Post added 2011-12-28 at 10:38 PM ----------

My best recommendation given the pricetag is...

[dunwald]

I won't be waiting to buy something later, however I can add things later.

Having said that, is the better choice right now to go with less of a CPU or GPU? Or less on both?

What pieces should I buy as placeholders for the next 6-9 months and what pieces is it worth spending money on now considering the limited budget?

There's no question I need Windows, a mouse, keyboard, monitor and speakers. So what do I have left over? 700? How should I spend that right now assuming I can keep those peripherals and spend another 1000 in 9 months?

[Drunkenvalley]

If you're willing to entirely ignore gaming of notable kinds you can stuff in the i5 2500k and not include a graphics card. This would be a temporary solution till you can get enough money to pick up a graphics card of choice.

Shopping list:
NZXT Gamma Classic
Acer V233HAJbd
OCZ ZT Series 550
ASRock Z68 PRO3 GEN3
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
Mushkin Enhanced Callisto Deluxe 120 GB SATA II
Intel Core i5-2500K w/ CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (combo deal)
Total sum: $877.93

[Strykie]

Im laughing hard at these suggested builds.

Morist - $175 on a motherboard and only 125 on Graphics card?, He'll have to replace that in a year tops.
Trekk - SLI 2 bad cards is still mediocre performance overall, 1tb = $100 and its cheaper to get a case/psu combo
Drunkenvalley -Bottleneck GPU, Too much ram, copy of windows?, AMD? SSD seriously?? he said budget...

Case+PSU $72
Motherboard $100
CPU $220
Memory $23
GPU $290
HDD $125
Optical Drive $17
Monitor $120
Keyboard/Mouse $32
TOTAL = $999 (doesnt include all the discount codes)

[dunwald]

If you're willing to entirely ignore gaming of notable kinds you can stuff in the i5 2500k and not include a graphics card. This would be a temporary solution till you can get enough money to pick up a graphics card of choice.

Shopping list:
NZXT Gamma Classic
Acer V233HAJbd
OCZ ZT Series 550
ASRock Z68 PRO3 GEN3
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
Mushkin Enhanced Callisto Deluxe 120 GB SATA II
Intel Core i5-2500K w/ CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (combo deal)
Total sum: $877.93

I'm still going to play games in the meantime, but as I said in my original post, Hihg-Ultra is something I want, not somethign I need. I don't think I can get away with no graphics card.

So do I go i3 + good graphics card and get and i5 and an even better card later, and run both of them? Or just get a token graphics card for now and scrap it when I get a new one?

[Drunkenvalley]

You'd be running off the CPU's own graphics (HD 3000), which is pretty good all things considered. However, it is not impressive for any sort of actual gaming, much less at HD resolution. But you can drop down to the i3 2100 and push for a HD 6870, which is surprisingly around the same point'ish as GTX 560 ti on anandtech's benches.

I'd mostly recommend this one.

[Deleted]

Im laughing hard at these suggested builds.

"K" series cpu with h67 mobo? pointless...

[dunwald]

Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $85

Acer G245HQABD 23.6" LCD Monitor Black 5ms Full HD Widescreen 300 cd/m2 ACM 80,000:1 (1,000:1), VESA Compatible $140

PowerColor AX6870 1GBD5-2DH Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity $160

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Desktop Memory Model F3-8500CL7S-4GBRL $20

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K $220

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM $100

Mixing and matching a few things from here or from links on the pagesI got to, is the above a good start? I still need a Motherboard, PSU and Case, as well as a keyboard, mouse and speakers. I'm at $725 without Mobo/PSU/Case. Can I fit those in under 1000? I'll worry about the peripherals and tweaking after I see that.

Did I forget anything? Are there pieces above that won't fit with others (or with whatever motherboard is recommended?) Is there anything that's not worth the price above or with a cheaper better alternative?

I figure if this track works out my first upgrade will be storage, followed by a GPU and second monitor in 9-12 months.

[Deleted]

Asrock z68 extreme gen3 124$
8gb 1600 ddr3 2x4gb 44$
WD 500gb Caviar Blue 110$
Seasonic 520W 59$
DVD Burner 20$
Windows7 home 64bit OEM 100$
Speakers 20$
Mouse and Keyboard 21$
Case 50$
Acer 22" 119$
Totaling 667$
Cart Link

Now you have 330$ left. Thats either:
1. Intel i3 2100 + XFX 6850 125$+159$ ~284$ leaving few bucks to get different mouse/keyboard/speakers.
2. Intel i5 2500k + XFX 6770 Cost of this is around 330$

I'd suggest saving money and get i5 + 6850 which comes at 380$. Which is: 670 + 380 = 1050ish
Altho if going over the budget is imposible i'd go with option 2, i5 and weaker gfx

EDIT: By taking 4gb of ram (saving 20$), cheaper HDD, Seagate Baracuda from your post (saving 25$) and taking Powercolor or Sapphire 6850 GFX you can save another 10-20$ and come under 1000$ budget

[Drunkenvalley]

@darkydark: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131378
Same pricetag as the HD 6850 you had there. ovo

[Deleted]

@darkydark: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131378
Same pricetag as the HD 6850 you had there. ovo

You've got point there!
Newegg is not really my thing since we'r oceans apart

[Drunkenvalley]

Newegg isn't my thing either. I was just fishing around yesterday when I noticed it.

[dunwald]

Well I built it and was thrilled with the result at first but I am getting unpredictable inconsistent lockups in game. I have yet to have one occur in windows, a browser or anything besides a game but it's happened in every game at least once (Portal, SC2, WoW, ToR, maybe Dragon Age I, but maybe not, not sure if that's lucky or telling). How do I go about confirming if it's the GPU or a software thing, Motherboard, PSU or what? If it's software how do I make sure every video driver is uninstalled so I can get a real fresh start? I've googled a little and found a variety of issues with this card, it could require a hardware replacement or it could just be a case of old drivers not being uninstalled from some of the few things I've seen.

[Drunkenvalley]

Have you updated the drivers? o.o
Look up the event viewer to see if there's anything there.

[dunwald]

Well I'm no longer convinced it's the GPU. My CPU temp is always above 70C when I check it when I boot back up after a crash. The build I got only included the standard fan. Should that be enough but there's something wrong? Or should I get a new one?

If that's not the issue, I'll try a replacement GPU. What could I get for around 150 to hold me over and help figure this out?