Is 800$ enough for a gaming pc?

[Immitis]

i dont have the money atm so theres no need to list any parts or anything but currently ive been having to game on a pc from 2003 O-O thats 10 years ago. if im lucky i get 10 fps in wow.

later this year (hopefully by march) ill be getting around 2000$ and i have 800 to spend on a new pc.

i already have the monitor so i dont need to buy one of those and yes i will be building it myself.

so will 800 be enough for a decent pc?

[n0cturnal]

Yes $800 is enough to play most games on high settings.

[Immitis]

Yes $800 is enough to play most games on high settings.

Thanks ^-^ i thought it be enough but i figured its always safe to double check.

whenever i get the money ill ask on these forums what parts i should get

[Ghâzh]

Definitely. As long as you pick wisely and save in the right places.

I built my brother a birthday present pc a while ago for ~$750. Didn't include windows though but it'd be pretty close to your budget. It's surprisingly strong actually and honestly not that much worse compared to something costing twice as much. The price to performance ratio is extremely good.

[Palcica]

If you're playing from a computer that is 10 years old,change for you will be so big that you would think you got a 3000$ machine.Yes,that is definately enough money for a gaming rig.

[antelope591]

More than enough....just start at video card and processor and go from there. The rest of the stuff can be found quite cheaply

[chazus]

To be honest, you could go cheaper and get a very respectable system. You don't have to get this, but it's just an example of a system that will run wow very nicely. Also, if you are considering getting Win8, I suggest you purchase it NOW, or within the next few days. You can get it for $15 now, however after Jan 31, it will be like $90-100, just like Win7

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($121.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Wintec One 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($60.27 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7770 1GB Video Card ($107.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 ATX Mid Tower Case ($40.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX12V Power Supply ($30.95 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $518.13
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-24 16:34 EST-0500)

[DeltrusDisc]

If you're playing from a computer that is 10 years old,change for you will be so big that you would think you got a 3000$ machine.Yes,that is definately enough money for a gaming rig.

Aye!

I remember moving to an i5-2500K from an E5200 dual core and then 2-3 months later from the 9800 GT to a 560 Ti.

lol jump like holy hell!

If he lives near a Micro Center, then it will be even cheaper than below:

Gaming 790

MoBo: ASRock Z77 Pro3 – $89.99 CPU: Intel i5 3570k – $214.99 RAM: G.Skill 1600MHz 2x4GB – $34.99 GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti – $279.99 HDD: WD Caviar Blue 500GB – $64.99 PSU: XFX ProSeries 450W – $52.99 Review Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi – $49.99 -------------------------------------------------- Estimated Total Price – $788

Recommended for: Potent gaming build that will take care of almost all gaming needs; will exceed in most games but lacks the power to cope with really demanding titles at max settings.

---------- Post added 2013-01-24 at 09:38 PM ----------

Also, if you are considering getting Win8, I suggest you purchase it NOW, or within the next few days. You can get it for $15 now, however after Jan 31, it will be like $90-100, just like Win7

Whoa! Holy crap. I knew about the $40 upgrade, but if I can get Win8 for $15, I'd buy that right now, just to have it in case. O_o

---------- Post added 2013-01-24 at 09:42 PM ----------

Never mind, found this: http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2012...o-for-just-15/

So it's an *upgrade* by the looks of it and not the full Windows 8, unless I'm reading wrong.

[chazus]

So it's an *upgrade* by the looks of it and not the full Windows 8, unless I'm reading wrong.

It... is and isn't. I literally just bought one yesterday and installed it on a laptop I got (that normally has Vista).

Basically, go to the website, put in your info, indicate you bought a Win7 system around... Oct/Sept. You get a coupon code.

Then use the Win8 Upgrade Assistant, it checks your stuff, and then offers to 'upgrade' for $40. You put in coupon, it changes to $15. You then get an email with a license key.

EDIT: There is a bug with the Win8 Upgrade Assistant, in which it will tell you that "Windows 8 is not available to download in your region". This is resolved by running the Win8 Upgrade Assistant program in WinXP SP3 compatibility mode. It's stupid.

You can then START to install Win8 (Its called Create Media option, not Install Now), at which point it will allow you to download and create an ISO, which you can then burn to DVD, or put on flash drive.

Boot from DVD/USB, and you can do an utterly clean install of Win8. No installing previous OS, no in-windows upgrade.

I will likely be buying 3 or so more in a day or two, just to have a few licenses. I'm not a huge fan of Win8, but I can't deny that it's a good OS. Just frustrating to use at first. And for $15, how do you pass that up? As someone who sells computers and refurbishes, that's like adding $80 value to a computer for $15.

[Imreallybadwithnames]

It... is and isn't. I literally just bought one yesterday and installed it on a laptop I got (that normally has Vista).

Basically, go to the website, put in your info, indicate you bought a Win7 system around... Oct/Sept. You get a coupon code.

Then use the Win8 Upgrade Assistant, it checks your stuff, and then offers to 'upgrade' for $40. You put in coupon, it changes to $15. You then get an email with a license key.

EDIT: There is a bug with the Win8 Upgrade Assistant, in which it will tell you that "Windows 8 is not available to download in your region". This is resolved by running the Win8 Upgrade Assistant program in WinXP SP3 compatibility mode. It's stupid.

You can then START to install Win8 (Its called Create Media option, not Install Now), at which point it will allow you to download and create an ISO, which you can then burn to DVD, or put on flash drive.

Boot from DVD/USB, and you can do an utterly clean install of Win8. No installing previous OS, no in-windows upgrade.

I will likely be buying 3 or so more in a day or two, just to have a few licenses. I'm not a huge fan of Win8, but I can't deny that it's a good OS. Just frustrating to use at first. And for $15, how do you pass that up? As someone who sells computers and refurbishes, that's like adding $80 value to a computer for $15.

as a student, I was going to go the free route and get windows 7 for my new PC - I've heard negative things about Windows 8. But for $15, heck, it's probably worth it. Is it possible to install both windows 7, and windows 8 on my new pc, using the method you described? I know I'll have to make a second partition.

[chazus]

I've heard negative things about Windows 8

The only REAL downside to win8 is the new interface, however (As I post this from my Win8 laptop), that can be easily changed to the normal Win7 format, thus eliminating the only downside. Win8 is faster, smarter, and just better than Win7. I hated it for a long time, but again... the only meh part is easily remedied. Don't bother dual booting, just get Win8 on the cheap and call it a day.

[Imreallybadwithnames]

The only REAL downside to win8 is the new interface, however (As I post this from my Win8 laptop), that can be easily changed to the normal Win7 format, thus eliminating the only downside. Win8 is faster, smarter, and just better than Win7. I hated it for a long time, but again... the only meh part is easily remedied. Don't bother dual booting, just get Win8 on the cheap and call it a day.

Alright, so I went through the steps you outlined, purchased the Windows 8 upgrade, but I think it went right to downloading win 8 onto my computer, not giving me the option to make an iso? It's paused at 4%, what do I do?

[DeltrusDisc]

Pretty sure it is downloading the thing to actually make the .iso. :P

[n0cturnal]

Yeah you get the option to make an ISO or USB installer after the download.

[Imreallybadwithnames]

oh ok, I can breath again, lol

---------- Post added 2013-01-27 at 12:31 AM ----------

Is the "Getting Files Ready" part of the Windows 8 installation supposed to take like 15 hours??? I'm only on 25% after all this time.