I'm looking to build a new desktop on a $700 budget. I have what I believe to be a pretty solid parts list, but I wanted to see what you wonderful people thought before I made any purchases! OS: Windows 7 Professional (which I can get for free via my college) Processor: AMD Phenom II 3.4ghz Quad-core (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727) RAM: G.Skill Ares (2x4gb) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231550) Graphics Card: EVGA GeForce GTX650 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130841) Mobo: ASRock 970 EXTREME3 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157280) Case: Apevia Supra ATX (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144218) HDD: Seagate 1TB 7200rpm (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697) PSU: Enermax 650W (80 plus bronze) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194094) +a cheap hdmi cable and mouse/keyboard ($37) Total cost shipped: $691.11 I'm looking to build something that can handle games at a decent level (I don't need ultra settings, but I want to be able to run something like Far Cry 3 on at least high). I plan to continue upgrading it as time goes on (more RAM, better gpu, an SSD at some point) but I wanted some opinions on whether or not this was a good place to start or if I should consider some other pieces.
If you suggest w8 for anything other than tablets. Prepare for the pc world to nuke your inbox with NOOOOOOO W8 is terrible except for tablet use
I have test ran Windows 8, it is like Xbox on a touchscreen UI with at least knowledge on how to get to the desktop (even a person who is 12 builds a computer) so it is highly not recommended that you get something better than this OSS, I run Windows 7 Home Premuim and it runs fine, professional has a few changes from home premium but windows 7 is by far the best OSS out there. Also about a computer built? i have a gaming computer that could be built on a budget: AMD Phenom II X4 3.40 Ghz Seagate 1 TB HDD 8 GB RAM GIGABYTE 970A-UD3 Msi nVIDIA Geforce GTX 660 Case you can leave it like that...
It actually isn't that buggy, windows 8 actually uses the gpu more efficiently and gives you an average up to 5 fps higher, and there are still plenty of small tweaks applied to win 8 (make sure you update your windows regularly), not to mention there will be a big update to win8 in the near future (next year), service packs are on their way.
I have windows 8 and love it. Start-up times for me have nearly halved, I play loads of games from tf2 to black ops 2 with no problem. There are very few bugs, but there are very few benefits other than what I have mentioned above.
Please at least give a reason why windows 7 is the best. Regarding your build, diesel, for gaming a Intel CPU is what you really should get if you can stretch your budget a little. You may want to consider changing your motherboard to something cheaper as the money saved can be used elsewhere. The idea tends to be not to skimp on your CPU so look around the $150 range if you can. i5's are great for gaming. You don't need more than 8GB of RAM unless you plan on doing video editing (lots of it) or other memory intensive tasks.
Thanks rock! I've tried to build around an i5, but I just can't quite swing it. I've upped my budget a little and upgraded the processor to a higher grade AMD FX-4170 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819106009). Doing that lets me upgrade the video card to a Radeon HD 7870. I could downgrade the card and upgrade the CPU, but I'm not sure thats something I should do.
Aw... I was hoping to sound off about my uber PC's build, but, that doesn't appear to be what you're looking for.
Alright... you asked for it! Processor: Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz Motherboard: Asus P9X79 Deluxe RAM: Corsair 16GB DDR3 SDRAM 1600MHz Main HDD: Force3 120GB SSD Secondary HDD: WD Black 1TB x2 Optical Drive: LG 12x Blu-Ray Video Card: Asus/Nvidia GTX680-2GD5 x2 Power Supply: Corsair HX1050 ATX12V & EPS12V Cooling: Corsaur Hydro H100 Liquid CPU Cooling System Case: Antex Dark Fleet DF-85 OS: MS W7 Pro 64-bit OEM Grand Total (of Awesome), including taxes and environmental fees: $3475.32 Oh... and I use a 40" TV as a monitor. Just a Dynex, but it still looks pretty.
I am so jealous. Two 680s... On the subject of my poor man's build, I did another setup with Intel. Its a little bit more, but reasonable. I'm calling this an under-$800 build now Also, after that I have my updated AMD Build, which is what I'm leaning more towards atm (see below). Any feedback is appreciated! INTEL BUILD CPU: Intel i5 3470 Ivy Bridge (3.2ghz, 3.6ghz turbo) - $199.99 Mobo: ASRock Z75 Pro3 - $76.99 RAM: 8GB Team Xtreem Dark Series (2x4gb) - $45.99 Video Card: Gigabyte/AMD Radeon 7870 2GB - $229.99 PSU: Raidmax 630W Modular Power Supply - $59.99 HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm - $79.99 Case: Rosewill Challanger Mid-ATX - $46.99 Keyboard/mouse: Cheap logitec - $29.99 TOTAL: $769.92 plus shipping. AMD BUILD CPU: AMD FX-4170 Zambezi (4.2ghz, 4.3 turbo) - $124.99 Mobo: ASRock 970 Extreme - $84.99 RAM: 8GB Crucial (2x4gb) - $54.99 Video Card: MSI/AMD Radeon 7870 2GB - $239.99 PSU: Coolmax ZX 700W 80PLUS Cert - $59.99 HDD: Seagate Barracude 1TB 7200rpm - $79.99 Case: Rosewill Challanger Mid-ATX - $46.99 Keyboard/mouse: Cheap logitec - $29.99 TOTAL: $734.92 plus shipping.
