$600 budget, how is this? +other questions.

[amishjello]

First off, I just want to say, I'm no computer genius. I can put them together and such. But I have no idea when it comes to picking out parts (I am trying to learn). I recently got into pc gaming (xbox is a demon). I've gotten pretty good at all genres. Up until now its been all WoW and LoL.

But anyways, I have a decent laptop, HP Pavilion dv6, it works for now, but im struggling to play newer games and it is plagued with a overheating problem that came from the factory. So I'm looking to upgrade and give this to my GF, who is a less hardcore gamer than I.

I have a $600 budget and am willing to go a Max of $750 (i'de rather not though). I have a desktop currently and would like to just upgrade it over time as I buy parts.

But here is what i have so far:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xDzf

Games i play:

WoW
LoL
Torchlight 2
Firefall
Rift
Borderlands

What I want to play but can'tsome i can play on minimum but it still has low fps)
Planetside 2
Farcry 3
CoD
Battlefield
Skyrim

So, Can i get some help please



(Last question: where can i learn to pick parts better? I would really like to learn)

[Asurakai]

for the same price at newegg, you can get a Radeon 7850 which is significantly better than the 650 Ti.

a 160GB hard drive is kinda low, you can get a 500GB at newegg for around $13 more.

the power supply kinda scares me, but it could work though. I am sure Chazus will eventually bust in here and say something about it.

With that Ivy Bridge processor, get an Intel motherboard that has a 2 digit number that starts with a 7, like an H77 for example, to avoid any complications.

you really don't need a sound card if you are on a budget. A good enough one comes with the motherboard.

i5 processor are the best for gaming but the i3 will be good enough for now. another option is to get an AMD FX-6300 for a budget PC as well. The FX-6300 and i3 kinda switch off as to who is better, it ultimately depends on the game but I believe the 6300 will eventually rise above once more games that can utilize more than 2 cores are released. Of course, if you switch to the AMD FX-6300 you will need a motherboard with an AM3+ socket instead. The main advantage to sticking with the i3 is that you can upgrade to the i5 later if necessary.

[Trakanonn]

My $600 Dell XPS 8500 from Costco plays all those games listed on High or better.

And I get up to 110 FPS in WoW on high settings.

Don't need to hassle with building your own unless you are avid, or a streamer, etc. If you build it by yourself you are paying full price for the parts (eg $250-300 for chip).


inb4 elitists are mad.

[Asurakai]

inb4 elitists are mad.

i mad

darnit, now I have to post this unnecessary line because apparently my post was too short

[chazus]

My $600 Dell XPS 8500 from Costco plays all those games listed on High or better.

And I get up to 110 FPS in WoW on high settings.

I somehow doubt this, considering an i5 3570K + GeForce 660 gets about 65 frames on High.

Staring at a wall with nothing on the screen doesnt count.

[Idrinkwhiterussians]

I tried to stay as close as I could to the $600 budget with giving you a couple upgrades:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($33.84 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($34.90 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $631.66
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-14 20:42 EST-0500)

It IS $30 over the $600 budget, but if you can fudge it, it would give you some more potency in gaming.

[n0cturnal]

My $600 Dell XPS 8500 from Costco plays all those games listed on High or better.

And I get up to 110 FPS in WoW on high settings.

Don't need to hassle with building your own unless you are avid, or a streamer, etc. If you build it by yourself you are paying full price for the parts (eg $250-300 for chip).


inb4 elitists are mad.

Yeah man like these people around here don't know anything. I get like 300FPS running WoW on high. Even got screenshot to prove it. http://i.imgur.com/gEjFm.jpg

On topic: Get a h77 motherboard if you are going with a Ivybridge I3, it saves you the hassle of having to upgrade BIOS.

(Last question: where can i learn to pick parts better? I would really like to learn)

Read the forums, look through other peoples threads and study the builds they get suggested, it all comes down to experience.
Also reading different reviews will help you understand the performance each part brings.

Sites like http://www.techpowerup.com/ and http://www.bjorn3d.com/ posts a collection of reviews daily.

http://www.tomshardware.com/ has a bunch of good articles like http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...uter,3364.html http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ison,3370.html http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...view,3107.html http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...lock,3106.html

http://www.anandtech.com/ has good performance database in http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/2 and http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU12/372

[amishjello]

I tried to stay as close as I could to the $600 budget with giving you a couple upgrades:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($33.84 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($34.90 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $631.66
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-14 20:42 EST-0500)

It IS $30 over the $600 budget, but if you can fudge it, it would give you some more potency in gaming.

if i push it to 750 what could i get?

[n0cturnal]

if i push it to 750 what could i get?

You could get either and i5 with a motherboard that is capable of overclocking or a better GPU in the range of GTX 660Ti / Radeon 7950.

[Hayro1]

Why not use your current HD? and budget builds don't go for sound cards, even though it's only 40 bucks, a budget is a budget. You'd have a better time going with a 965 BE and a better video card. And if you pushed it to 750 you could probably fit in a 2500k, would have to actually look through prices atm. The 965 BE outperforms the i3 and is cheaper.

[n0cturnal]

The 965 BE outperforms the i3 and is cheaper.

Not even close.

[Zylos]

You need a better hard drive than that. 160GB will be full before you can even blink.

[Hayro1]

Not even close.

Go look around then. Also, you can't overclock the i3, so it'd outperform it even more-so OC'd, which should be obvious but yeah. In games they're close - sadly - but the 965 pulls ahead, and pulls ahead in a big way anything outside of games, while saving you money.

[n0cturnal]

Go look around then. Also, you can't overclock the i3, so it'd outperform it even more-so OC'd, which should be obvious but yeah. In games they're close - sadly - but the 965 pulls ahead, and pulls ahead in a big way anything outside of games, while saving you money.

In most games the i3 is a fair bit better, it has almost 50% better single threaded performance. The only time the 965 pulls ahead is in some specific multi-threaded scenarios such as rendering.

[Hayro1]

In most games the i3 is a fair bit better, it has almost 50% better single threaded performance. The only time the 965 pulls ahead is in some specific multi-threaded scenarios such as rendering.

Actually, I meant to say the i3 pulls ahead in games (that can't use the 3-4 cores, and if you get a CPU/PC for nothing but games, then I guess it doesn't matter) in the post you quoted. Sorry. In the end though, for a budget build for both games and outside, the 965 BE is superior, you can't deny that.

[n0cturnal]

Actually, I meant to say the i3 pulls ahead in games (that can't use the 3-4 cores, and if you get a CPU/PC for nothing but games, then I guess it doesn't matter) in the post you quoted. Sorry. In the end though, for a budget build for both games and outside, the 965 BE is superior, you can't deny that.

That really depends on what you do outside of games. If you do stuff that benefit from multi-threaded performance then sure, but if you prioritize gaming first then the i3 is the better choice.

This is just what happens when AMD decides to focus on putting in more cores instead of trying to improve the IPC of their CPUs.

[orangeaccord311]

if i push it to 750 what could i get?

You could move up to a full ATX case/mobo and potentially get you something like a samsung 840 SSD. An ATX form will give you more space to work with along with more expansion/ram slots for a future upgrade.

[jholdaway]

Here's a build I put together and its within the 750 budget

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($43.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB Video Card ($106.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Azza Triton 401 ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 400W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.98 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer ($20.39 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $716.25
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-15 18:29 EST-0500)

[n0cturnal]

I wouldn't recommend getting a $750 build with a GTX 550 Ti, it is an old low-end gaming card.

[Lemmiwink]

Actually, I meant to say the i3 pulls ahead in games (that can't use the 3-4 cores, and if you get a CPU/PC for nothing but games, then I guess it doesn't matter) in the post you quoted. Sorry. In the end though, for a budget build for both games and outside, the 965 BE is superior, you can't deny that.

Actually, that statement isn't fully correct. You can't compare clock speed directly up against eachother when there is 2 different architectures. Another point here is that the i3 only has 2 cores while the AMD actually has 2 core pairs that combined barely equals 1 intel core. With the right i3 CPU the 965BE will be quite underwhelming compared to the i3 in too many "compute tasks" to actually justify buying it over an i3.

Another factor that is to be considered is the lack of upgrade options if you do buy AMD. Their best, top of the line CPU cannot even beat an i5, an it's an 8-core CPU! I won't even talk about what it looks like compared to the i5 in single threaded operations, which most programs are cause that would shame it completely.

The only AMD I would recommend until AMD goes back to the drawing board and gives us a new Thunderbird is the A10-5800K due to being ridiculously cheap and will allow gaming on the iGPU.