Building A New Computer - Questions, Anecdotes, and Products

[Benediction]

After going through the (immensely) helpful stickies, shopping around, and determining my budget, I feel I need some human interaction with (hopefully) knowledgeable people.

First, a bit about me. My family has been playing games since I was born. At home it was just board games until Nintendo came out, but we always joked that the Arcade across the street was our family room. The whole family was into it, and my dad always made sure we had something to entertain us. I remember when I woke up one Christmas and found four PCs in our basement, loaded up with Starcraft. Starcraft was like a religion in our house. My mom would build Battlecruisers, my dad would Plague them. My dad would bunker/tank up the choke points (Bunker? I hardly knew her.), my sister would Disruption Web them. We laughed, we cried, we played.

We went through systems as they came out (most of which ended up in pawn shops when they went obsolete), but the PC was always our favorite. It was our common ground.

Through the years we grew apart physically, but have remained in close contact. With the release of Starcraft II, most of my family has reunited in a common hobby, except for me, the slacker with the lackluster computer. So when I received a package in the mail from "Firebats Melting Your Probe Line" containing the game in question, alongside the new Battle.net identities of my family, I rushed to install it on my venerable dinosaur- an HP Slimline with onboard video. I was young and stupid when I bought this. I'm still young and stupid, but I'm making an effort this time.

"It runs World of Warcraft!", I told them.
"Not with shadows.", mom responded.
"Stop trying to vote your brother!", Dad snapped at Alicia.

Bottom line? My computer sucks. So now, I've got $600 and a goal- run Starcraft II seamlessly on high graphics, and prepare myself for the next few years of gaming.


----


SO HERE WE GO!
Mission- Can We Build It?!

Budget: $600, give or take $100

Games I'd be playing:
- Dawn of War 2 (Slimline caps at Dx9, so I have yet to get much use out of my $50 coaster)
- Starcraft 2 (1 frame per 4 seconds is apparently unacceptable for my sister (who married a dude with a goatee, so WTF does she know?))
- Cataclysm (What's the point of reflecting double rainbows off of superwater if I have to disable lighting effects?!)

Games I'm playing now and would love to see play better:
- World of Warcraft (Right now I disable most addons to raid, and I still die to BOOOOOOOOONESTOOOOOOOOOORM)
- Dragon Age: Origins and Awakening (It's playable, kinda. Scattershot takes like twelve seconds to fire, and I can't look at the sky without lagging to death.)
- Warcraft 3 (I don't know how much better this can play, but I've issued the challenge!)
- Is YouTube a game? (Should be, I mean, Minesweeper is a game, and they're similar concepts- waste time flagging bombs until you graduate to cool-guy shades)
- Forum Hero (*click click clack clack clack click click* Freakin' love this song!)

Things I Need (Or Think I Do):
Windows 7 (Using Vista, I've heard 7's grass is greener.)
500g Extra Hard Drive Space (If and only if I can salvage/transfer my current 500g. I'd need 1T elsewise.)
The ability to play Starcraft 2 on High (Ultra is a plus, but I'll settle for High.)

Things I Have:
Great Speakers (Beware my onboard sound!)
Super Awesome Keyboard (The keys are just loud enough to make me sound like I type 180 WPM without having to be smart enough to actually type 180 WPM.)
Decently Decent Mouse (Could use an upgrade someday.)

So now for the questions and stuff.

1) So this site, anandtech.com and their 'benchmark' thingy. The Intel i5 looks like a quality product, it gives good scores on the games I want to play. However, that's like a motherboard, right? Not a graphics card? I see no mention of graphics cards necessary to run those games for those scores. Does that mean I play with onboard graphics, and don't NEED a graphics card? And if I do, what kind? As for that SUPER CHART IN THE STICKY (that I can't link because I'm new and I suck), it doesn't say ATI Radeon HD4350 512, it doesn't say GForce GT220 1g. It says "5850" is "excellent".
Answered! Glory to the power of research!

2) How much of my Pavillion Slimline s3521p would be salvageable/transferable into a new case? It has a decent DVD burner with Lightscribe (never used, I wonder if anyone ever has), a 500g hard drive (the contents of which are super important for um...research...of anatomy), uh, it has these neat media card slots on the front for my SD card and such. I'd imagine the burner. That could shave like $30 off of this package I'm looking at (giggidy). Also, if I can save my hard drive, that means I could use a smaller size in the new computer, as it has taken me three years to break the halfway point. I just don't know if it is SATA II or 3.5 or what. I know it stores .avi files. Lots and lots of .avi files. Important ones.

3) There's a $500 computer on NewEgg called a "iBUYPOWER Gamer Power 540D3 Athlon II X2 250(3.0GHz) 4GB DDR3 500GB ATI Radeon HD 5450 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit". I wish I could just link it.

Now, it has a lot of good reviews, but one thing that worries me is the video card. Yeah, it's a budget computer, kind of ugly case (I'm planning on staring at the monitor, anyways), but it says it has upgrade potential. Would it be possible to get this, put in a better graphics card, transfer in my old hard drive into an expansion slot, and do fine? I don't know anything about the CPU or GPU, and anecdotal evidence only goes so far. I see it falls under "destitute" on the UNABLE TO BE LINKED CHART OF AWESOME FROM THE STICKY (if I'm reading that right). Would a "great" video card still give me the performance I need?
Also answered.

4) My family is useless when it comes to building computers. Yeah, they have 120 APM and can kill 20 Archons with 10 Marauders, but this stuff is a foreign language to them. They just shoved $2k at a fat guy and said "build us machines of war". Unfortunately all of my friends are slender gay guys who've never had to piece together anything harder than a Starbucks order (in their defense, venti skinny white mocha no foam extra sprinkles is a mouthful, and we know somethingJOKE CANCELED). If the above package from NewEgg is terrible, could someone do a PriceWatch search for a decent-awesome motherboard, and piece together something that works? Would it be better to buy the case, GPU, and CPU separately and piece them together myself?

Thank you in advance for all of your help. As I get closer to building this, I'll come back with questions and comments. Any response helps. Even if it's about the merits of family time, or the evolutionary value of a goatee, or how Firebats are an inferior supply line harassment technique. I need help. Possibly multiple degrees of help.

[Ballistic]

..and prepare myself for the next few years of gaming.

Budget: $600, give or take $100

Both of these quotes don't match together, you have to shack your budget up if you want your rig stays for at least 2-3 years working on high res. on most of the games.

I don't want to dissapoint you, but usually low budgeted PCs fall behind in games very fast and after one year more or less you will say to yourself "I was stupid-no offense- to spend 600$ on this PC that do nothing today"

[Benediction]

Thank you for the response. I've thought of ways to get quick cash, but almost all of them involve losing a bit of my modesty on Capitol Hill here in Seattle.

I could probably go up to $800, I don't really need to have lunch -every- day this month.

However, when I say "next few years of gaming", I don't mean to imply that I'm going to freak out about "Generic Overbudgeted Shooting Game 7: Gentlemen Who Shoot Things For Income", and insist that I -have- to play 64v64 capture the flag in Neon Outer Space complete with Refracted Specular Epilepsy Lightning Gun and the Glittering Confetti Canon of Intense Framerate Destroying Proportions.

I should edit my original post to say, "to prepare myself for the next few years of Starcraft II and Dragon Age and Cataclysm".

And I don't take offense to being called stupid. I've been called stupid since the first day I tried overtaking four bunkers full of Firebats with two-hundred Zerglings.

Apparently, I could have gone around them.

[vesseblah]

http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/AMD_P...3_Configurator Has basic cheap gaming computer listed in configurator. If you change RAM 2GB -> 4GB and graphics card to Radeon 5770 and PSU from 450W to 600W the price is $778. This will be still relevant computer in 2-3 years for current games, and turning down graphics for new games too.

You can shave off maybe $100-200 by re-using the CD writer and harddisc from the current computer and going through all bundle deals and rebates in newegg picking up similar components. The $778 price does not include Windows. Win7 OEM costs $99 but you can stick to your curren Vista for now to save money. It is possible to go close to $600 with this, but it does include some parts choices that regulars on these forums would avoid like the plague.

[Benediction]

Oh my, that's a neat looking machine. I've been reading nonstop since I made my first post, and I'm starting to understand the point of a graphics card (and also that the Logical Increments PC Buying Guide makes sense now).

Without sparking a massive war over operating systems (well hi there, Mac), would it severely gimp me to hold onto Vista? I've heard many things about Vista essentially putting a muzzle on its own potential, and that a change in operating system alone would increase my gaming experience.

[vesseblah]

Without sparking a massive war over operating systems (well hi there, Mac), would it severely gimp me to hold onto Vista? I've heard many things about Vista essentially putting a muzzle on its on potential, and that a change in operating system alone would increase my gaming experience.

Original version of Vista was rather bad and had nasty performance issues with both disc access and some games. Most of these problems are fixed now and if you have Vista updated to SP2 it should run within few% speed compared to Win7. The difference between Vista and 7 are more on the user experience, 7 is lot smoother and less annoying in the long run. If you've gotten used to Vista, there's no immediate need to upgrade.

---------- Post added 2010-08-08 at 02:48 PM ----------

One problem with skimping on the HDD is that you probably need to reinstall Windows in any case, and it's rather tricky to do without suffering any data loss. That's why I'd advice to get second 500GB disc just to keep you sane. But it is one way to save money if needed.

[Moobious]

You can't afford to computer of your dreams sorry man.
That being said you can build something that will run everything that you want quite well and come well within your budget.

First off lets start with what you do got:

Optical Drive
Hard drive
External accessories (monitor, speakers, mouse, Key board)

Old drives are slow but that is an issue that effects load times and install times nothing really once you get into the game. The only issue is that one or both of the drives are probably IDE as opposed to SATA. This is an issue only with ergonomics inside the case - most current motherboards only have a single IDE drive controller and while you can hook up 2 drives to one controller the IDE ribbon cable often does not have enough space between the plugs in relation to the mounting places inside the case. If that really is an issue you can pick up a sata optical drive for cheap if you look in the right places. As far as the storage issue I would recommend burning the porn to a dvd and spending the money on something that effects your in game preformance.

What you Don't got:

Processor
Motherboard
Ram
Video
PSU
Case

For a processor Intel is currently king and the price reflects it. An i5 750 or 760 build can be done pretty reasonably but when you;re really scraping pennies AMD still wins. And don't go with an athalon 2 they are not performance CPUs they are for internet boxes you want a phenom 2 with 3 or more cores.

As for a mother board go with a good reputable name brand that has the features you want. Stay away from mAtx boards as they can have heat issues but you don;t need to pay for multiple pci-xpress slots that you won't use or ubs 3 that you wont use ect. Motherboards also come with integrated sound that is usually pretty good for normal use.

Ram is relatively cheap atm and 4 gigs is the recommended amount. DDR3 is faster but as far as in game preformance goes it ins't much faster that ddr2 so you can save a few pennies and get ddr2 although in most cases unless you're extremely strapped for cash you can just get ddr3.

Video is something else. WoW is pretty easy on Video cards and hard on processors. Other games are the opposite it really comes down to how they are written on a coding level. Basically get the best one you can afford.

The powersupply is the most critical component in your computer. Basically if the power is dirty and weak it will kill components. In a best case senario it just kills the PSU itself and nothing else. Worst case it takes out everything with it. The problem with powersupplies is that it takes a deep understanding of electronics to understand what is going on with them, something most computer ppl don't have. You also need to get one that pots out enough juice for your computer relative to the processor, extra fans and video card. Also they de degrade over time so getting something that is way too big now means that it will still be putting out good power 4 years down the road when the capacitors are only working at 40 or 50% capacity.

The case is the home for everything and is also the component that will last the longest. What you really want to look for in a good case is cooling capacity and airflow. Having a built in dust filter is also a huge bonus as it will keep everything running smoothly for years - dust is a huge killer of older computers.

Anyway that wall of text should get you started looking. I'm out of time for the moment. I'll come back after work and recommend specific components although I'm sure someone else will chime in soon.

[Benediction]

Thank you both.
So what I'm seeing now is that I can get an Intel i5 in a good case with a relatively large and stable Power Supply (a 750w PSU, I'm guessing is the acronym), with 4g DDR3 1333 MHz at NewEgg for around $600 after mail-in-and-hope-they-don't-get-lost-Rebates and combo deals.

Add $200 for a GTX460 Video Card (or GPU, I think, still getting used to technical terms), which I've heard is currently a very cost-efficient powerhouse, able to run SC2 on Ultra settings provided the right CPU.

All that sound about right? Am I missing any major components, aside from the OS?

So around $800 for a great (relative to what I'm using) computer, with possibilities down the road for adding hard drive space, an operating system, and maybe some sweet rims.

You guys are super helpful. I'm drawing you a picture, it'll be posted sometime tomorrow.

[vesseblah]

Did you count in motherboard too? Didn't see in the preliminary list.

---------- Post added 2010-08-08 at 06:42 PM ----------

2) How much of my Pavillion Slimline s3521p would be salvageable/transferable into a new case?

DVD drive and harddisc. Maybe that memory card reader if it's type you can plug into 3.5" or 5.25" drive bay. Since the current computer is rather small, it could be used later as a starting point for HTPC building. DVD drive and memory card readers are dirt-cheap either way. You can buy brand new ones for $20 each.

Your porn collection will be safe, but the old HDD might be rather slow and should be kept as data storage/backup needs only instead of reusing as system disc for the new computer.

[Moobious]

I think you are stressing your budget going with an intel build. They are faster but it does come at a cost. If all you wanted to play was wow then go processor all the way and spend less on video but since you do want to play more than just wow then I think it would be better go amd with better video.

[Benediction]

So I did a few things I'm not proud of, and I think I managed to extend my budget to $900.

I've used a few different resources for customizing computer builds and balancing size and speed and brands and whatnot, and they all put me in the $850-$950 ballpark. It's either a $600 computer that looks nice, but lacks Windows 7 and a good graphics card (and subsequently a new PSU), or a $750 rig that needs something more powerful than a 5450 (which I don't even see on the chart of awesome).

Then I found this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883229199

CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme 1076 Intel Core i5 760(2.80GHz) 4GB DDR3 1TB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

General Spec
Brand 	CyberpowerPC
Model 	Gamer Xtreme 1076
Type 	Gaming
Processor 	Intel Core i5 760(2.80GHz)
Processor Main Features 	64 bit Quad-Core Processor
Memory 	4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333
Hard Drive 	1TB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 7200RPM HDD
Optical Drive 1 	24X DVD±R/±RW Dual Layer Drive
Graphics 	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB PCI-Express Graphics Card
Audio 	Sound card - Integrated
Ethernet 	Gigabit LAN
Power Supply 	700W
Keyboard 	Xtreme Gear USB Keyboard
Mouse 	Xtreme Gear USB Mouse
Operating System 	Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Special Features 	Coolermaster Elite 310 Gaming Tower
Motherboard
Chipset 	Intel H55
CPU
CPU Type 	Intel Core i5
Installed Qty 	1
CPU Speed 	760(2.80GHz)
L3 Cache Per CPU 	8MB
CPU Socket Type 	LGA 1156
CPU Main Features 	64 bit Quad-Core Processor
Graphics
GPU/VPU Type 	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
Graphics Interface 	PCI Express 2.0 x16
Memory
Memory Capacity 	4GB DDR3
Memory Speed 	DDR3 1333
Form Factor 	DIMM 240-pin
Memory Spec 	2GB x 2
Memory Slot (Total) 	4
Memory Slot (Available) 	2
Hard Drive
HDD Capacity 	1TB
HDD Interface 	SATA II
HDD RPM 	7200rpm
Optical Drive
Optical Drive Type 	DVD±RW
Optical Drive Spec 	24X DVD±R/±RW Dual Layer Drive
Audio
Audio Chipset 	Integrated
Communications
LAN Chipset 	Integrated
LAN Speed 	10/100/1000Mbps
Front Panel Ports
Front USB 	2
Back Panel Ports
PS/2 	2
Rear USB 	6
RJ45 	1 port
Expansion
PCI Slots (Available/Total) 	1 x PCI Express x16
2 x PCI Express x1
1 x PCI
Mouse
Mouse Type 	USB Mouse
Keyboard
Keyboard Type 	USB Keyboard
Manufacturer Warranty
Parts 	1 year limited
Labor 	1 year limited

Every spec looks right, price is decent, I won't have to worry about shipping different parts at different times, or trying to put stuff together.

It has no customer reviews, however, which scares me. I mean, looking at the numbers and parts is great in theory, but it doesn't always give an exact picture for how the machine will work in practice.

Am I too blinded by the "i5 GTX460 700w Windows 7 1TB" stuff to see a glaring flaw in the system? Is it too good to be true? I worry about systems that can't be refunded, and am trying to be a lot more careful with my investment this time around.

Also, I accidentally my scanner. When I post my "thank you" picture, it will be a terrible Digital Camera shot. Sorry.

[vesseblah]

So I did a few things I'm not proud of, and I think I managed to extend my budget to $900.

Then I found this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883229199

CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme 1076 Intel Core i5 760(2.80GHz) 4GB DDR3 1TB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

It looks totally fine for the price. The one 'catch' with it is that the overclockability is weak with that RAM and PSU so you can't use that to get a lot of extra power out of nothing. The OC issues can be fixed later with few small upgraeds if you feel like it. If you can live with that, I don't see any reason not to buy.

[Benediction]

So if I say that I have no idea what overclocking is, or how to do it, are you going to force me to throw toast at Tim Curry in drag, like my friends did when I told them I was a Rocky Horror virgin?

[vesseblah]

So if I say that I have no idea what overclocking is, or how to do it, are you going to force me to throw toast at Tim Curry in drag, like my friends did when I told them I was a Rocky Horror virgin?

Err... No.

Overcloking is basically running the computer faster than it's supposed to go. In the setup you found the processor goes at 2.8GHz speed out of the box, but it's relatively easy to make it run at 3.8GHz and you effectively get 30% more speed. The catch is that to be able to speed up the computer safely, you need to pick up certain parts more carefully than just generic pieces. To put it in very simple terms you can get 30% more speed for 10% more money. That's the biggest reason people do overclocking nowadays. It's in no way mandatory, just an option for those who like to tinker with the insides of their computers.

[Moobious]

So I did a few things I'm not proud of, and I think I managed to extend my budget to $900.

I've used a few different resources for customizing computer builds and balancing size and speed and brands and whatnot, and they all put me in the $850-$950 ballpark. It's either a $600 computer that looks nice, but lacks Windows 7 and a good graphics card (and subsequently a new PSU), or a $750 rig that needs something more powerful than a 5450 (which I don't even see on the chart of awesome).

Then I found this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883229199

CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme 1076 Intel Core i5 760(2.80GHz) 4GB DDR3 1TB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

General Spec
Brand 	CyberpowerPC
Model 	Gamer Xtreme 1076
Type 	Gaming
Processor 	Intel Core i5 760(2.80GHz)
Processor Main Features 	64 bit Quad-Core Processor
Memory 	4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333
Hard Drive 	1TB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 7200RPM HDD
Optical Drive 1 	24X DVD±R/±RW Dual Layer Drive
Graphics 	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB PCI-Express Graphics Card
Audio 	Sound card - Integrated
Ethernet 	Gigabit LAN
Power Supply 	700W
Keyboard 	Xtreme Gear USB Keyboard
Mouse 	Xtreme Gear USB Mouse
Operating System 	Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Special Features 	Coolermaster Elite 310 Gaming Tower
Motherboard
Chipset 	Intel H55
CPU
CPU Type 	Intel Core i5
Installed Qty 	1
CPU Speed 	760(2.80GHz)
L3 Cache Per CPU 	8MB
CPU Socket Type 	LGA 1156
CPU Main Features 	64 bit Quad-Core Processor
Graphics
GPU/VPU Type 	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
Graphics Interface 	PCI Express 2.0 x16
Memory
Memory Capacity 	4GB DDR3
Memory Speed 	DDR3 1333
Form Factor 	DIMM 240-pin
Memory Spec 	2GB x 2
Memory Slot (Total) 	4
Memory Slot (Available) 	2
Hard Drive
HDD Capacity 	1TB
HDD Interface 	SATA II
HDD RPM 	7200rpm
Optical Drive
Optical Drive Type 	DVD±RW
Optical Drive Spec 	24X DVD±R/±RW Dual Layer Drive
Audio
Audio Chipset 	Integrated
Communications
LAN Chipset 	Integrated
LAN Speed 	10/100/1000Mbps
Front Panel Ports
Front USB 	2
Back Panel Ports
PS/2 	2
Rear USB 	6
RJ45 	1 port
Expansion
PCI Slots (Available/Total) 	1 x PCI Express x16
2 x PCI Express x1
1 x PCI
Mouse
Mouse Type 	USB Mouse
Keyboard
Keyboard Type 	USB Keyboard
Manufacturer Warranty
Parts 	1 year limited
Labor 	1 year limited

Every spec looks right, price is decent, I won't have to worry about shipping different parts at different times, or trying to put stuff together.

It has no customer reviews, however, which scares me. I mean, looking at the numbers and parts is great in theory, but it doesn't always give an exact picture for how the machine will work in practice.

Am I too blinded by the "i5 GTX460 700w Windows 7 1TB" stuff to see a glaring flaw in the system? Is it too good to be true? I worry about systems that can't be refunded, and am trying to be a lot more careful with my investment this time around.

Also, I accidentally my scanner. When I post my "thank you" picture, it will be a terrible Digital Camera shot. Sorry.

If I were in the market for a pre build PC that is about what I would look for in a gaming PC. It is basically loaded with all the bang for your buck parts available.

---------- Post added 2010-08-10 at 03:44 PM ----------

Err... No.

Overcloking is basically running the computer faster than it's supposed to go. In the setup you found the processor goes at 2.8GHz speed out of the box, but it's relatively easy to make it run at 3.8GHz and you effectively get 30% more speed. The catch is that to be able to speed up the computer safely, you need to pick up certain parts more carefully than just generic pieces. To put it in very simple terms you can get 30% more speed for 10% more money. That's the biggest reason people do overclocking nowadays. It's in no way mandatory, just an option for those who like to tinker with the insides of their computers.

Never ever go to a rock horror showing and admit that you've never been there. NEVER.

[ComputerNerd]

If you are not confident in doing so, then overclocking should not be something to be looking at.
While it can give a performance boost for a minimal increase in cost, it is not for the inexperienced.

[Cilraaz]

If you are not confident in doing so, then overclocking should not be something to be looking at.
While it can give a performance boost for a minimal increase in cost, it is not for the inexperienced.

I'd say that it's more like "not for the lazy". Anyone willing to learn the terminology, learn what each voltage does, and learn how everything interacts would be more than capable of overclocking. The person who goes "so, I just up this number, right?" is the one who gets to pay another $300 when they blow out their CPU/mobo.

[Pushealer]

If you dont know what your doing I wouldnt suggest building your own. Get a friend who knows what hes doing or youll have to buy your own. If your not willing to give 10-20 hours to "wtf is wrong" time to the pc AFTER its built to attempt to fix it by reading a lot on the internet forget it.

Building it will take about 5 hours if not more, unless of course you just slap stuff together and hope it doesnt set on fire...which it can do if you make a mistake. Putting it together it easy, putting it together properly isnt if this is your first time.

Also this forum will be no help, really people here only care about telling you what to buy or how to get rid of a virus, if you have a real problem youll have to go elsewhere or ask google.

This is especially true if you plan to salavage any parts from an old computer. I just built my computer two days ago, only got it working last night.


TLDR: if your not comforable just buy a PC, price for parts have come down so much in the last 10 years its crazy. New highend parts like the i5/i7 have NO performace gain over lesser CPUs for just running one game. Also a lot of people here have super high end PCs, so stuff that is good to you and me is a joke to them.

Really you have a lot more reading to do, go ask google.

[Cilraaz]

Also this forum will be no help, really people here only care about telling you what to buy or how to get rid of a virus, if you have a real problem youll have to go elsewhere or ask google.

This is fairly insulting, considering that myself and multiple other users have helped plenty of people with plenty of different problems.

TLDR: if your not comforable just buy a PC, price for parts have come down so much in the last 10 years its crazy. New highend parts like the i5/i7 have NO performace gain over lesser CPUs for just running one game. Also a lot of people here have super high end PCs, so stuff that is good to you and me is a joke to them.

Really you have a lot more reading to do, go ask google.

The bolded portion is just wrong. In essence, you're claiming that an i7 will perform the same as a Core 2 Quad. If you honestly believe that, you have a lot more learning to do.

[Pushealer]

I don't want to dissapoint you, but usually low budgeted PCs fall behind in games very fast and after one year more or less you will say to yourself "I was stupid-no offense- to spend 600$ on this PC that do nothing today"

Just a edit to prove my point here. This guy is in dreamland, realisticlly $600 will last you 3 years with good settings, 5 with decent ones. People here think you need 200fps at the ultra high settings, realisticly your looking for ~30fps with med-high settings am I right? You want to play the game not watch a movie right?

$600 will cut it close with all new parts, look to spend $100 for cpu, $100 for 4gb ram, $120 for a good Motherboard, $50-100 for a good power supply(dont skimp here! Shoot for around 550W).

Then you need the non-core stuff. A harddrive$30, a videocard$60-130 will suffice, cd drive$20-30.

Also a case, $60 anyone from the IRL store will do, shipping is expensive on them.
Then windows OEM will run you $105

With tax and stuff probably closer to $700, see what you can salvage.

---------- Post added 2010-08-12 at 01:34 PM ----------

This is fairly insulting, considering that myself and multiple other users have helped plenty of people with plenty of different problems.

The bolded portion is just wrong. In essence, you're claiming that an i7 will perform the same as a Core 2 Quad. If you honestly believe that, you have a lot more learning to do.

You help telling people what to buy, once they have any other problem no one says anything. You guys loving talking parts, which I can understand.

Its true, what you dont realise is most people do not see a different between 30fps and 200fps. Its like trying to tell me your TV shows color in the ultraviolet range, well thats wonderful and does make it better than mine, but guess what? No one cant see that ultraviolet light.

Also hes running one game, hes not going to be running 10 things while playing SC2. Yes i7 would be great if he wanted to play 4 games at once.