Advice for buying a gaming PC!

darkmarlin16 said:I need a gaming rig for about $1000, can anyone put one together for me?

You can check out the Intel option from the admin:

1 x ASUS H81M-K, 1150, Intel ® H81 express chipset, DDR3
1 x Intel Pentium G3258 (3.20GHz,512KB,3MB,54 W,1150) Box
1 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x TOSHIBA 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA100
1 x Power Supply FORTRON 400W, HEXA 400, 12cm fan, Active PFC 1 x MS PHOENIX
1 x MS PHOENIX case without PSU, Midi tower MBO: ATX, mATX
1 x Sapphire R7 260X 1GB GDDR5 OC, 1GB GDDR5 128bit, 28nm
1 x Spire Kepler Rev.2 cooler, 1156/775/FM1, 96.5×51×125 mm, 92mm

$1012

It's a dual-core processor that overclocks like crazy and will actually outperform an AMD Athlon in many scenarios. HOWEVER, it only has two cores, which might prevent you from even launching certain games. A recent example is Dragon Age: Inquisition—dual-core systems just won't run it. On the plus side, you get a slightly better GPU here than with the AMD build.

The AMD option from futur:

1 x AMD Athlon ii x4 740 Processor, 3.2GHz (3.7 GHz) Box
1 x Crucial 4GB DDR3 1600 Mhz (PC3-12800) CL11
1 x GIGABYTE Motherboard AMD A78 (SFM2+,DDR3,DVI/VGA,USB3.0/USB2.0,SATA III,RAID,LAN) mATX Retail
1 x HDD TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 (3.5", 1TB, 32MB, SATA III)
1 x MS PHOENIX case without PSU
1 x Fortron Hexa+ 400W, 80+, active, 12 cm
1 x LC POWER LC-CC-95, socket 775/1155/1156/AMD
1 x MSI R7 260 OC, 1GB GDDR5, VGA, DVI, HDMI

Total: $1019

You get a quad-core FM2+ processor with limited upgrade room, plus a slightly weaker GPU—just a tiny bit. But hey, it's a quad-core processor; a real quad-core.

It's up to you to decide. 😉

And hey, if I grab that AMD one, I can just pop a new processor right into that motherboard, right?

I'm mostly looking to sink some time into stuff like FIFA, NBA2K, Formula 1, NHL, NFL, or maybe some Need for Speed...

Yeah, basically just a bunch of sports titles and junk like that.

darkmarlin16 said:And if I go with that AMD option, I can just buy a new processor and pop it right into that motherboard, right?

I'm thinking about playing games like FIFA, NBA2K, Formula 1, rFactor, NHL, NFL, NFS...

Mostly sports stuff like that.

That's an FM2 socket, so you don't have much room to grow. You can find some beefier processors that handle overclocking decently, but I'm not sure if it's actually worth the cash. Will anyone release serious six-core CPUs for FM2? Who knows, but personally, I highly doubt it. For the games you mentioned, this rig is totally fine. It'll only struggle once you try running next-gen titles like The Witcher 3 or Dying Light.

Rumor has it that Carizzo isn't making the jump to desktop (Football Manager 2012).

What are your thoughts on this build?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/JVJGnQ

That’s a steal. It was clearly imported from overseas, so you'll just need to grab an aftermarket cooler to go with it.

Adam Moore3 said:It's an awesome deal! It's super cheap if you order it from overseas, though you'll definitely want to grab an aftermarket cooler for it.

Yeah, I saw that on YouTube (ScaterVolt)... what would a similar build cost here in the States?
And how would it handle gaming? For example, could it run GTA 5 on medium or high settings?

~$1667

If you pushed that CPU overclock just a little further, it might hit high settings, though I guess we don't know the exact hardware requirements for sure.

Roger Mitchell4 said:What are your thoughts on this build?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/JVJGnQ

Perfectly balanced. EVGA makes top-tier power supplies, the case is solid, everything seems fine. xinena is phenomenal. Just keep in mind if the warranty coverage isn't an issue for you.

crimsonstag84 said:~$1667

If you push that CPU overclock just a bit further, you should be able to hit high settings, though we don't have the exact hardware specs yet.

The system requirements for GTA V are out. Honestly, they look a little too optimistic—especially those minimum specs—considering how poorly optimized most modern games tend to be these days.

crimsonstag84 said:~$1667

If you push that CPU overclock just a little further, you should be able to hit high settings, though we don't know the exact hardware requirements yet.

$1667 That's way out of my budget! I was actually looking for a case around $30 and a monitor for about $333..
Is there any way to put something together that still performs as well as this build?
I mainly need it for gaming.

A bare minimum:

ASUS VE228TR Monitor
AMD FX-4300 Box 3.8GHz - 8MB Cache - 95W BOX
Crucial 1x4GB CL11
Toshiba 500GB 3.5" 7.2k SATA III 32MB
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P motherboard
EVGA GeForce RTX Graphics Card
Cosmo Cool LC-CC-95 - CPU cooler
NZXT Case
EVGA 400W Power Supply

Total: $1544 Newegg

Or maybe a better monitor, plus$43:

crimsonstag84 said:A basic setup:

Dell Inspiron Desktop Monitor
AMD FX-4300 3.8GHz - 8MB Cache - 95W BOX
Crucial 1x4GB CL11
Toshiba 500GB 3.5" 7.2k SATA III 32MB
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P motherboard
EVGA GeForce RTX Graphics Card
Cosmo Cool LC-CC-95 - CPU cooler
NZXT Case
EVGA 400W Power Supply

Total: $1544 Newegg

Or an even better monitor, plus$43:

It looks pretty good to me! What kind of settings could I run GTA 5, Battlefield 4, COD, and stuff like that on?🙂

crimsonstag84 said:A basic starting point:

ASUS Monitor
Dell Inspiron Desktop AMD FX-4300 3.8GHz - 8MB Cache - 95W BOX
Crucial 1x4GB CL11
Toshiba 500GB 3.5" 7.2k SATA III 32MB
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P motherboard
EVGA GeForce RTX Graphics Card
Cosmo Cool LC-CC-95 - CPU cooler
NZXT Case
EVGA 400W Power Supply

Total at: $1544 Newegg

Or maybe an even better monitor, plus$43:

Should I upgrade the RAM later with another 4GB, or just grab 8GB right from the start?
How much of a difference does this graphics card make compared to the 260x?

Roger Mitchell4 said:It looks decent enough to me... I wonder what kind of settings he could run GTA 5, Battlefield 4, Call of Duty, and stuff like that on. 🙂

High settings should be fine. It’s actually quite refreshing to see someone still rocking an old AMD FX-4300; it’s a brilliantly put-together build, even if I probably would have opted for an i3 myself.

Buy it!!!!

The AMD FX-4300 was never a great deal here in the States since it usually sat just a few bucks cheaper than the FX 6300, but at Newegg, things look different because it's priced at $192. With a setup like this, you actually have a decent upgrade path, maybe moving up to an FX8320E later on
.

What kind of settings could I run in GTA 5?

Only a psychic could possibly answer a question that vague

Timothy Kim60 said:Honestly, the AMD FX-4300 was never a great deal here in the States since it was barely cheaper than the FX-6300. But over at Newegg, the math changes because you can grab it for $192. With a setup like that, you actually have a solid upgrade path to something like an FX-8320E later on
.

Only a psychic could possibly answer that one

So, I might as well just go for the FX-6300 if the price gap is that small...
Forget it!

mellowtiger83 said:I love all those high-end details! It’s great that someone actually remembered the old baby AMD FX series. Such a brilliantly put-together build, though I probably would have opted for an i3 myself.

Buy it now!!!!

As far as I know, an i3 is just a dual-core, and for upcoming games, a dual-core is basically zero!

The difference is $83 at Newegg; for $192 the AMD FX-4300 is a steal. It’s maybe a tiny bit faster than an AMD Athlon, plus it has better overclocking potential and you can eventually upgrade to eight-core processors.

crimsonstag84 said:The difference is $83 at Amazon; for $192 an Intel Core i5-4670, it’s a total steal. It's slightly faster than an AMD Ryzen 3 and offers much better overclocking potential since you can upgrade to eight-core processors later.

Got it! When I'm shopping for a monitor (Full HD, HDMI, 21.5 inch) for about $15, what should I look out for? Also, does the graphics card have any impact on the monitor choice?
And while I have you, should I go with the 260x or the NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti?