$500 Upgrade

[tommy13]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming/Browsing.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$550. Amazon Prime. California, no Tax.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Temecula, CA.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, RAM, PSU, MOBO, DVD BURNER, VIDEO CARD, HD.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Case, Monitor.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Maybe in the future.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Not sure, it's my friends. I'll update this tomorrow.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Now.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
USB 3.0 would be good. SATA 6GB/s I guess.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
7 64-bit.


CPU: i5-2310 $180
RAM: 8GB G.skill $50
DVD Burner $20
HD: Is Samsung still the way to go?
VID: 6850 $150
Mobo: No Idea
PSU: Corsair still the way to go?

I think I might have to go down to i3 but i'd like to stay with an i5. Thank you in advance!

 

[Dangman]

A little over budget but worth it:
$125 - Intel Core i3-2120
$85 - Intel BOXDH67BLB3 Intel H67 mATX Motherboard
$42 - Corsair CMV8GX3M2A1333C9 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$135 - Sapphire 11201-00-20G Radeon HD 7770 GHZ 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$73 - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB SATA Hard Drive
$55 - Antec Earthwatts Green EA-430D 430W PSU
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case
---
Total: $565 shipped.

 

[tommy13]

A little over budget but worth it:
$125 - Intel Core i3-2120
$85 - Intel BOXDH67BLB3 Intel H67 mATX Motherboard
$42 - Corsair CMV8GX3M2A1333C9 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$135 - Sapphire 11201-00-20G Radeon HD 7770 GHZ 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$73 - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB SATA Hard Drive
$55 - Antec Earthwatts Green EA-430D 430W PSU
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case
---
Total: $565 shipped.

Reusing a case. Would it be more beneficial to upgrade processor to i5 or video card to 6850? Is the Intel board that much better than a cheap Biostar? Never had an Intel board before.

 

[Dangman]

Reusing a case. Would it be more beneficial to upgrade processor to i5 or video card to 6850?

Your budget, even with the case removed, really won't allow for a GPU or CPU upgrade. As for which will benefit more in general, depends on the games you're planning on playing and what the resolution of the monitor is.

Also, the HD 6850 is definitely not an upgrade as the HD 7770 is faster than it in most games (only Diablo 3 is where the 6850 outperforms the HD 7770 and that's due to late/poor drivers)

Is the Intel board that much better than a cheap Biostar? Never had an Intel board before.

Yes. And the Biostar mobos aren't that much cheaper than the above Intel.

 

[tommy13]

Your budget, even with the case removed, really won't allow for a GPU or CPU upgrade. As for which will benefit more in general, depends on the games you're planning on playing and what the resolution of the monitor is.

Also, the HD 6850 is definitely not an upgrade as the HD 7770 is faster than it in most games (only Diablo 3 is where the 6850 outperforms the HD 7770 and that's due to late/poor drivers)


Yes. And the Biostar mobos aren't that much cheaper than the above Intel.

Ah, ok. For some reason I thought the 6850 was better. The games would be mostly FPS. Some others like Mass Effect and Diablo 3.

Thanks for all the information, much appreciated.