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Gaming rig $500

O

O_Nevermind

n00b
Joined
Feb 23, 2012
Messages
28
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming and Web Browsing
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
500 dollars, No tax
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

US, Portland, OR
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, Power supply, cd drive, hard drive, maybe a SSD, case, GPU,
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
none
6) Will you be overclocking?
no
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
using a 42 westinghouse LCD 720p
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
next weekend/2 weeks time
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, Sata 6gb/s, onboard gpu if possible,
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, windows 7, 64 bit


I'm building a PC for a friend, he was born a little special, and hes a gamer all his life.

He doesn't really need the PC for anything but games, Next weekend I'm going to be in LA so I'm definitely gonna hit up microcenter for some deals,

I was also looking at either a 6950 or a 560 ti 448 cores links below:

6950
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150549

560 ti
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130758

I'm buying the graphics card, but hes paying for everything else.. So the 500 is for everything but the graphics card.

Thanks guys,

and major props to Dannybui
 
You sure he has a 720P 42" TV monitor?

As for the build sans GPU itself, here's what I recommend:
$248 - Intel Core i5-2500K + Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H Intel Z77 mATX Motherboard from Microcenter (tax factored in already)
$39 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$80 - Samsung by Seagate Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ/ST500DM005 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$22 - Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE SATA DVD Burner
$63 - Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W PSU
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite Black ATX Case
---
Total: $502 shipped.
 
I'm pretty it is since über old, it might be a 1080p but most of the time I saw him play at 720p,
Plus did the 50 dollars off go in that 248 from micro center? Or is that only for Asus motherboards, thanks for the help!

O
 
Never mind about the 50 dollars off thing, btw does he really need a i5? Or is it mainly because of the Gpu?
 
Yes, especially at 720p games will be often CPU-bound.
An i5 insures the machine will be able to safely play future games (BF3, etc are already quad-core aware).
 
O_Nevermind said:
I'm pretty it is since über old, it might be a 1080p but most of the time I saw him play at 720p,
Click to expand...
Well find out what he actually has. There's a big GPU difference between 1080P and 720P

O_Nevermind said:
Never mind about the 50 dollars off thing, btw does he really need a i5? Or is it mainly because of the Gpu?
Click to expand...
Depends on the games he's playing. However, an i5 pretty much ensure that whatever game he plans on playing will get the CPU power needed.
 
So its definitely the 1080p version 60hz. and i understand about the i5.. thanks for the help!
 
Awesome, this is gonna be a good build for him,

thanks guys for being awesome.

You're Legend..... wait for it....
 
LOL! Someone has been watching a little too much "How I Met Your Mother". :)

Anyway, good luck with the build.
 
hey the motherboard above is out of stock at microcenter, :( is there another one that is compatible to the i5 2500k and cheap? like the Asrock? or i shouldn't trust it?
 
That's a good price for a 2500K and a Z77 at MC. Could you still get a good deal there if you went with a i3-21XX and have enough to buy him a SSD for the build?

Also, for about the same money you could buy him a 7850 from the Egg and get GTX580 performance out of it if you OC it.
 
he doesnt need a ssd for his build... i know its faster since i have one, but for some like him, nah doesn't need one... if anything it would be a future upgrade.
 
If you are not going to take advantage of the motherboard discount from Microcenter, why don't you just buy a 3570k for $210 online. You could save even more buy buying a non-k i5 since you will not be overclocking. The 1000 mile trip is not worth the savings if any after gas and taxes.
 
I can still get a i5 2500k for 183 after taxes, a friend lives by that microcenter and he is coming up here soon, so i can still get it for 30 dollars less than whats its advertised for at frys or newegg. i was thinking of just getting a i3 2100 and leave it at that.
 
If you are not going to buy a CPU that can overclock, you do not need a Z77 motherboard. Look at H77 or B75 motherboards and maybe you can use those savings to bump up your i3 to a $140 i5 2400 at Microcenter.
 
hmm. good idea, i will look at those... but saving the most money is most important... thanks for the advice.
 
This $70 Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3V will be fine for a budget system or $75 GA-B75M-D3H if you need HDMI. I am sure Danny will show up soon with 1000x better budget motherboards from his master list so I wouldn't buy just yet ;)
 
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I would buy from amazon since i have prime and would get it in two days.. thanks for motherboards, i looked for the i5 2400 at micro but couldn't find it, i could still get him a i5 3450 for 150 at micro, 162 total w/ taxes...
 
So these are the parts that I am going to purchase:

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB - 80
G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 - 40
Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W - 63
Nzxt source 210 elite White Case - 50
GIGABYTE GA-B75M-D3H - 75
i5 2500k - 183.83

Plus ASUS HD7850-DC2-2GD5 Radeon 2GB - 250

742 total including the graphics card.
 
Since you're going to be at Microcenter anyway, you might as well take advantage of MC's $50 off deal of any Z68/Z77 mobo when purchased with a 2500K CPU. I would grab the Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H as it should be around $60 plus tax.

If you're not going to take advantage of that deal, no point in grabbing the Core i5 2500K when the Core i5 2400 will do just fine and is cheaper.
 
Definitely right, so if i get the i5 2400, it would work greatly with that motherboard? Just want to be sure before i order everything today.

thanks for responding again.
 
O_Nevermind said:
Definitely right, so if i get the i5 2400, it would work greatly with that motherboard? Just want to be sure before i order everything today.

thanks for responding again.
Click to expand...

If you're talking about the B75 mobo you linked to earlier, it should.
 
Yes. You will be fine with the 1.5v Ripjaws you linked. Unfortunately Amazon has sold out of the two motherboards I linked earlier and the other sellers are nearly $10 more. You may need to buy them from Newegg or find a substitute that Amazon has in stock.
 
If you're fine with mATX, it is. I say if you're not expanding, go for it.
 
Yup, Everything is getting processed and now about to be shipped, excited, but not as much as excited as my friend is.
 
Order placed, case coming in on Friday, the other parts should all come in next week, I'll take pics after the build
 
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