LF Help w/New PC for Christmas

[In Ogres We Trust]

I'm LF help on a new PC for Christmas. Currently, I'm on a laptop and it's a pain to game on, and I'm looking at either a pre-built or custom-built PC. Here's some general info:

Upgrade or New Computer: New Computer

Upgrade on what (you hope): Everything

Willing to Self Build or a Pre-Built: Either (If Pre-Built, I'm looking at a ASUS, Dell, or an HP)

How much you want to spend: Budget build/purchase of roughly $600 (Does not include keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc.)

How much you can spend:$500-700 max for the PC/$100-300 for the peripherals

What all you plan to use it for: Gaming (Diablo III, Starcraft II, World of Warcraft, etc.), Internet, Microsoft Office (Home), etc.

What Operating system you want to use & Bit: Windows 64-Bit

What Resolution you hope to be in: Any

What Settings do you Want & how much FPS: As high as possible on my budget

What Country are you from: United States

What can you re-use: Nothing

Network will be wired or wireless: Both

Any Additional Info Here: I haven't decided on a monitor, but I'm looking at the Logitech Gaming Mouse, Logitech Wave Keyboard, and Logitech Speakers (I'm a fan of Logitech, but I'll consider other options). I would prefer a custom-built PC, but I may end up with a pre-built ASUS, Dell, or HP (I prefer HP, but I've been told that the ASUS is fairly decent). Honestly, I just want to use this as a starter PC to build upon in the future. I can upgrade as I go, but I want to get "the best bang for my buck." What are your thoughts on an ASUS or HP pre-built (Not a fan of Dell) over a custom-built PC?

Thanks for the help.

[Faithh]

I wouldn't go for a prebuilt from Asus/hp. Just build your own PC and you're sure that every part is from high quality. RAM is mainly just valuecheapstuff, psu isn't that great, motherboard is just basic of basic, non-k version cpu and a silly graphics card. Most people here would recommend K cpu's which can be overclocked and give you a lot of performance and you could use some parts in the future.

For the peripherals just buy any 1080p monitor (100eur) and don't spend that much on mouses/keyboards & speakers. Squeeze this a bit down and spend it for better parts. Imo a keyboard costing 80eur is just too much, 60eur for a mouse as well.

[In Ogres We Trust]

I wouldn't go for a prebuilt from Asus/hp. Just build your own PC and you're sure that every part is from high quality. RAM is mainly just valuecheapstuff, psu isn't that great, motherboard is just basic of basic, non-k version cpu and a silly graphics card. Most people here would recommend K cpu's which can be overclocked and give you a lot of performance and you could use some parts in the future.

For the peripherals just buy any 1080p monitor (100eur) and don't spend that much on mouses/keyboards & speakers. Squeeze this a bit down and spend it for better parts. Imo a keyboard costing 80eur is just too much, 60eur for a mouse as well.

Well, what would you recommend in terms of parts? I'm not PC savvy, and, to be honest, I need all the help I can get with a custom-built.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Well, what would you recommend in terms of parts? I'm not PC savvy, and, to be honest, I need all the help I can get with a custom-built.

Something along these lines:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock Z75 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($45.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($91.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB Video Card ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec Three Hundred Two ATX Mid Tower Case ($57.73 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 400W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($45.98 @ Outlet PC)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.89 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $659.53
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-13 23:11 EST-0500)

[yurano]

Something along these lines:

You can fit a 7850 into that budget if you go for things that are on sale:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock Z75 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($45.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($35.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.89 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $649.80
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-13 23:17 EST-0500)