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Budget Gaming Rig for a Friend ~$800

post #1 of 5
8/20/12 at 9:01pm
Thread Starter 
My friend's looking to build a new PC for gaming and general use from the ground up. As far as games go, he plays StarCraft II and is anticipating Guild Wars 2--not too demanding of games, but he's becoming more and more interested in games that are more graphics intensive and wants to be able to enjoy them should he choose to. He wants at minimum a Sandy Bridge i3 CPU. He already has a keyboard, mouse and monitor at 1080p (1360x768).

Edit// He also not interested in overclocking if that helps.

Basically, he needs the following to equate to $800 or less:

CPU 2nd Gen i3 or better
MoBo
GPU
Memory
PSU
HDD
OS Windows 64-bit Home Premium
Optical Drive
Case

The Microcenter closest to us just closed down, so we're mainly looking at Amazon and Newegg.

Doable? And How? Thanks in advance!
Edited by laundromatty - 8/20/12 at 9:05pm
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post #2 of 5
8/20/12 at 9:36pm
tell him to find some extra cash. This is the best build for your money I could come up with and it will be a solid gaming rig for a few years without upgrade.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($159.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($42.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Green 1.5TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card ($299.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 370 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.98 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair 500W ATX12V Power Supply ($41.98 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($90.62 @ Amazon)
Total: $848.52
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-08-21 03:06 EDT-0400)

I surprised myself fitting both the 660 AND a 2500K into this build together. Figured it would be one or the other, luckily there is a sale on the i5. Still needs a case but for $40 pick him up a standard box with nothing flashy and he will be fine


the difference between this build and one that will fit in his $800 budget is that in the end he will have something that will last him and be a great gaming machine for some time vs something that will suffice his current needs but still needs to be upgraded in the near future

edit - included case, he just needs to bump up the budget to $850 and you are golden
Edited by xRehab - 8/21/12 at 12:08am
Underwater
(19 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
i5 3570K Gigabyte G1 Sniper 3 EVGA 670 FTW Crucial Ballistix 16gb (2 x 8gb) 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
OCZ Agility 3 240gb Seagate 3tb None Liquid Fusion 250ml 
CoolingCoolingCoolingCooling
Raystorm MCP35x Black Ice SR1 Cougar 120 
CoolingOSMonitorKeyboard
Primochill UV green Windows 7 Asus 23" Das Keyboard Ultimate 
PowerCaseAudio
OCZ ZT 750W NZXT Switch 810 Gun Metal  ultrasone pro 750 
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Underwater
(19 items)
  		  
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
i5 3570K Gigabyte G1 Sniper 3 EVGA 670 FTW Crucial Ballistix 16gb (2 x 8gb) 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
OCZ Agility 3 240gb Seagate 3tb None Liquid Fusion 250ml 
CoolingCoolingCoolingCooling
Raystorm MCP35x Black Ice SR1 Cougar 120 
CoolingOSMonitorKeyboard
Primochill UV green Windows 7 Asus 23" Das Keyboard Ultimate 
PowerCaseAudio
OCZ ZT 750W NZXT Switch 810 Gun Metal  ultrasone pro 750 
View all
  hide details  
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post #3 of 5
8/20/12 at 9:48pm
Heres what i came up with for a subtotal of $795 on newegg.

CPU Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz Quad-Core $190
MoBo GIGABYTE GA-B75M-D3V $65
GPU MSI N560GTX Twin Frozr II/OC $170
Memory CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 $43
PSU RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-530SS 530W $40
HDD Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB $85
OS Windows 64-bit Home Premium $99
Optical Drive ASUS 24X DVD Burner $20
Case COOLER MASTER Elite 430 $52
CPU Cooler hyper 212 evo $30

Hope this helps
Edited by xthrillkillx - 8/20/12 at 9:56pm
Project Rampage
(12 items)
 
First Build
(14 items)
 
Voodoo
(9 items)
 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7-3930K  ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 2x HIS Radeon HD 7970 CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB 2133 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveOS
2x Corsair Neutron GTX 120GB Western Digital Black 500GB ASUS DVD Burner Win 8 Pro 
MonitorPowerCaseMouse
3x ASUS 24"  CORSAIR Professional AX1200  COOLER MASTER HAF X 942 Corsair M60 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition at 4.2GHz ASUS M5A97 AM3+ MSI R6950 unlocked to 6970  8GB DDR3 1866 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingOS
Corsair Force 3 120gb ssd, WD Blue 750 ASUS DRW-24B1ST Hyper 212 evo Win 8 Pro 
MonitorPowerCaseMouse
3 24s Corsair 650 NZXT Apollo Black Corsair M60 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
2x Pentium III 1GHz ASUS cuv4xd 3DFX Voodoo 5 5500 AGP 2GB  
Hard DriveCoolingOSPower
80GB CM v12 98SE and xp pro Rosewill 350 
Case
Thermaltake Xaser II 5000 Plus 
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Project Rampage
(12 items)
 
First Build
(14 items)
 
Voodoo
(9 items)
 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Intel Core i7-3930K  ASUS Rampage IV Extreme 2x HIS Radeon HD 7970 CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB 2133 
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveOS
2x Corsair Neutron GTX 120GB Western Digital Black 500GB ASUS DVD Burner Win 8 Pro 
MonitorPowerCaseMouse
3x ASUS 24"  CORSAIR Professional AX1200  COOLER MASTER HAF X 942 Corsair M60 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition at 4.2GHz ASUS M5A97 AM3+ MSI R6950 unlocked to 6970  8GB DDR3 1866 
Hard DriveOptical DriveCoolingOS
Corsair Force 3 120gb ssd, WD Blue 750 ASUS DRW-24B1ST Hyper 212 evo Win 8 Pro 
MonitorPowerCaseMouse
3 24s Corsair 650 NZXT Apollo Black Corsair M60 
View all
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
2x Pentium III 1GHz ASUS cuv4xd 3DFX Voodoo 5 5500 AGP 2GB  
Hard DriveCoolingOSPower
80GB CM v12 98SE and xp pro Rosewill 350 
Case
Thermaltake Xaser II 5000 Plus 
View all
  hide details  
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post #4 of 5
8/20/12 at 10:19pm
check this link out for a build. most are from newegg/amazon. honestly if your friend had the extra $60 i would go with a 660ti imo
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/fcOd

oh and a lot of ncix but it includes all shipping
Intel shiznit
(12 items)
 
School Laptop
(7 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
i7 3770k Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP5TH Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 Samsung ram  
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Ocz Agility Series 2 SSD Western digital caviar black Sony Optiarc Thermalright SilverArrow SB-E 
OSPowerCaseAudio
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit PC Power & Cooling MK II 750W Cougar Evolution  Onboard Xfi Mb2 
View all
CPUGraphicsRAMHard Drive
phenom II n660 ATI 4250M g.skill ram WD caviar blue 
Optical DriveOSMouse
Toshiba Bluray Ubuntu 12.04 Wireless Logitech 
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Intel shiznit
(12 items)
 
School Laptop
(7 items)
  		 
CPUMotherboardGraphicsRAM
i7 3770k Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP5TH Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 Samsung ram  
Hard DriveHard DriveOptical DriveCooling
Ocz Agility Series 2 SSD Western digital caviar black Sony Optiarc Thermalright SilverArrow SB-E 
OSPowerCaseAudio
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit PC Power & Cooling MK II 750W Cougar Evolution  Onboard Xfi Mb2 
View all
CPUGraphicsRAMHard Drive
phenom II n660 ATI 4250M g.skill ram WD caviar blue 
Optical DriveOSMouse
Toshiba Bluray Ubuntu 12.04 Wireless Logitech 
View all
  hide details  
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post #5 of 5
8/20/12 at 11:01pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the help, guys!

xRehab: I don't think he's willing too much above his price point, but I like that he wouldn't have to upgrade for a while. The fact that we don't have a Microcenter nearby for in-store pickup makes things difficult. I'll show it to him the suggestion along with the other builds and see what he thinks.
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