$600 Budget Gaming Rig

Skizzy

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Nov 28, 2006
Messages
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Posting for a friend:

Howdy guys, back again helping another friend get a moderate budget gamer setup. Best bang for the buck is what he is going for with the best gaming performance. I believe it will mostly be WoW-ish related gaming. Thanks ahead of time for any help. <3

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
-- Gaming and general use.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$600 total.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Beaverton/Tigard, Oregon, USA
A Frye's Electronics is somewhat near, about 1-1.5 hour drive if needed for great combo.

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.
Case, PSU, CPU, Mobo, GPU, RAM, HDD, DVD
All exept Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Only re-using keyboard/mouse, and 20" monitor.

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
20", not my monitor, unsure of max res, most like 1920x1080

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
1-2 weeks.

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.

Nothing special for the mobo, just what is needed at the current times. Doubt we will need X-fire or SLI, USB 3.0 seems pretty standard for most mobos at least 1 port, and SATA 6 if HDD accomadates it.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7 - 64bit Legit

Thanks for any and all suggestions. I know Danny had a build planned out for a similar budget, so hopefully too much time won't be needed to iron this one out.
<3 all, and hope to hear from you Danny as always.
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3240 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($124.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.24 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 1GB Video Card ($129.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($57.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $558.14
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-24 16:38 EDT-0400)

You can probably get the 300R at any of the other retailers as Microcenter I believe you have to buy in-store.

Other than that, this will rip through WoW easily and a lot of other games. :D
 
Very nice. I'd go for a 128gb SSD. You'll probably exceed the budget to about $650 (maybe less), but it will be worth it.
 
I second what Stoly recommended. If you can stretch it another 80-100, add an SSD alongside the HDD. It makes a world of difference for WoW too.
 
I have an alternative build to consider:

$197 - Intel Core i3-3240 and MSI H77MA-G43 combo
$205 - Gigabyte HD 7850 1GB and Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB DDR3 1600 combo
$63 - WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB HDD
$17 - Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS SATA DVD burner (included $3 discount promo code EMCXMVT86, expires 8/29)
$50 - Corsair CX500 500W PSU
$44 - NZXT Source 210 Elite
=====
$576 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

I have a big problem with the use of mail-in rebates to stay under budget. "After-rebate" is not the same as "instant discount" and I don't treat them as such in my builds.

My build is otherwise mostly similar to Reanimation_LP's build. However, to stay under budget, I "downgraded" the power supply from the modular CX600M to the non-modular CX500 (which is still more than enough for your build). I also went with a cheaper case in the NZXT Source 210 Elite. While it isn't as spacious as the Corsair 300R, it has plenty of room for your needs.

If you have extra funds for this build, Stoly's recommendation of an SSD (of at least 120GB, though more is better) is a good idea. But to improve gaming performance, you're better off upgrading the video card to either the GTX 660 Ti (if it's on sale) or the GTX 760. An SSD loads games and programs faster than any HDD, but it can't improve frame rates (or allow you to use higher graphical settings) as much as a better video card.
 
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