Beginner looking for help on building a casual internet browsing comp and maxing out gaming...

Get parts in this order:

Case
PSU
Hard Disk Drive and/or Solid State Drive
DVD drive - Unless you have an external one
Memory (RAM)
CPU - AMD or Intel
Motherboard - Based off of CPU choice
GPU - AMD or nVidia

Find what you can and post the list. We can go from there on what you need to change/add/remove.

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504 -230
CPU cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181015 - 65
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293 -135
Ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233143 - 99
PSU : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341018 - 90
HDD : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840 - 100
GPU : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150608 - 254


Total - 973 This is before mail in rebates on all of these items and I know the PSU had either a 30-40 dollar mail in rebate. All you need to add to this is is a case, and this is a VERY stout gaming setup, some items could easily be changed to bring down cost (all i would consider modifying is the CPU and GPU, everything else will give you plenty of room to expand later on down the road if desired.)


This is all assuming you already have a monitor, mouse, and keyboard. If those items also need to be purchased, you will have a difficult time doing that and being able to play games at high settings, in which case you may need to save a little longer for a proper build

hi, ive been surfing the web searching for a good pc build. I stumbled upon this and its just what im looking for, i too am looking for a build around the range of 1k. I looked at the parts recently recommended and all i can say is wow. I might get this unless something else is brought up.
Thanks a lot.

Nope, just pick what you feel you'd like. If it's no good, we'll tell you.

At least 8GB of RAM.

What I'm trying to do is get you to learn about this stuff as you go instead of just throwing a list at you. The more you know about what your getting, the better you'll feel about it.

The following is a non-overclockable configuration. Overclocking is nice, because it adds CPU performance above what could otherwise be obtained. However, it no longer improves performance without also increasing cost. Overclocking generally costs $60-100. For this budget when gaming, I usually think that's better spent on the GPU (possibly overclocking that for free instead!) rather than CPU. So without further ado, what I'd recommend for you:

CPU: i5-3450 ($190 /w promo code)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116405
Just about as good as you can get for gaming without overclocking.

Motherboard: Asrock b75 ($73 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157313

CPU Cooler: Stock Intel cooler.

RAM: 2x4gb 1333mhz ($40)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231424

GPU: Asus 670 ($400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121637
A seriously powerful GPU which will max out most games on a 1920x1080 monitor and run even the most demanding games smoothly on very high settings. Spending less on this and getting a 7950 or 7850 is probably the most reasonable way to reduce the cost of this build.

Case: Bit Fenix Outlaw ($45)
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=63255&vpn=BFC%2DOLW%2D100%2DKKN1%2DRP&manufacture=BitFenix&promoid=1223
Case is largely a matter of personal preference. This is a decent budget case that's not wacky looking. If you want shiny, wacky, with blue LEDs, look at the Zalman z9 or z11 cases.

PSU: Antec Neo Eco 450c ($35)
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=60491&vpn=NEO%2DECO450C&manufacture=Antec&promoid=1223

SSD: Crucial m4 128gb, which will give the programs you place upon it zoom-zoom fast load times. ($120)
http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-2-5-Inch-Solid-State-CT128M4SSD2/dp/B004W2JKZI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341366450&sr=8-1&keywords=crucial+m4

HDD: Seagate 500gb ($65)
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=63468&vpn=ST500DM002&manufacture=Seagate&promoid=1015
Only like $20 to double the size to a 1TB, and another $25 or so to go to 2TB, depending on your space needs.

DVD-burner ($10)
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=60731&vpn=GH22NS70&manufacture=LG%20Electronics%20USA&promoid=1223

Total: $978
-The main selling point of the build: the beast of a GPU. If you've never built your own computer before, you're going to LOVE the sheer gaming power available at this budget. pre-builts in this price range come with a GPU with less than a third of the pixel-pushing power.
-not included: windows/speakers/headphones/mic/other peripherals, but I assume you have those. I didn't check Fry's prices. Maybe there's some better deals on a part or 2, but probably nothing major.
-If you need windows, it should be $85 @ us.ncix.com (home premium 64-bit OEM license). If you want a free (legal!) version, you can join the Windows 8 trial program.

I was assuming you had a 1920x1080 monitor. A good change to the build if you have a lesser monitor would be to drop to a 7850 for GPU & possibly wait on the SSD or increase your budget so you can afford:

($235-240) A quality IPS 23" monitor like the Dell Ultrasharp u2313hm. As a bonus: your old monitor becomes a nice non-gaming adjunct.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B005LN1JEC/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1341366548&sr=8-1&keywords=dell+ultrasharp+u2312hm&condition=new
or better yet, one of the 27" 2560x1440 monitors:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1270861/potalion-2710qw-monitor-club
Edited by MisterFred - 7/5/12 at 5:11pm

For regular desktop pcs (laptops are different), Intel comes in a bewildering variety of flavors that become relatively simple once broken down:

Celeron or Pentium = dual-core processor (well ok, there's one single-core celeron)
i3 = dual-core processor with hyperthreading. Hyperthreading is a technology that allows cores processing relatively easy instructions to do two things at the same time. Simpler answer: it simulates double the amount of cores, but the simulated cores aren't as good as a true, physical core.
i5 = quad-core processor
i7 = quad-core processor with hyperthreading (hyperthreading is useless for gaming, it's mostly for video editing. So unless you wanted to produce your own stream, an i5 will almost always be better)

K-suffix = overclockable processor (also, more expensive)

ghz = more=faster, but usually not by a huge amount. For instance, the i5-3450 runs at a base speed of 3.1ghz, whereas the i5-3570k runs at a base speed of 3.4ghz (unless you overclock it, then it runs higher). The faster processor is better by some small margin, but for the vast majority of every day tasks (browsing the web, playing video games), you won't notice a real-world difference.

Part number for the i3s, i5s, & i7s: it will start with a 2 or a 3 depending on if it's an older generation ("sandy bridge") or newer generation ("ivy bridge") processor. For instance i3-2100 or i5-3450. The ivy bridge processors are slightly preferable at equal clock speeds. After the first number, a higher number generally indicates more clocks speed. For instance: i5-3550 runs slightly faster than i5-3450. Sometimes it indicates some other features. For instance, the i3-2125 comes with a better integrated graphics ability than an i3-2120.

there are a few other variations, like low voltage processors, but they're for isolated niche markets, so you needn't concern yourself with them.

None of which you actually need to know if you just follow my (excellent, if I do say so myself) build above.

P.S. Damn, someone should sticky that post .
Edited by MisterFred - 7/5/12 at 5:12pm