Gaming PC + monitor for $750?

Hey, I need some help picking out a PC. It’s mostly gonna be for gaming. Should I just grab a pre-built, or can you guys help me put a custom build together? I need to buy it from a shop in Indianapolis since I want to pay with a credit card via monthly installments. Looking at a total of around $1667 for both the rig and a monitor.

Just subtract $200 from the total; for some reason, it looks like they registered double the RAM.

So, this came from Lincoln...

I’d go this route: a quad processor and a decent GPU, maybe just a notch weaker than what crimsonstag84 is running... 👍

Everything else stays pretty much the same...
If you just need raw power, you can grab any card and the price sits around $750... but if you're financing it, it’s not even a big deal—maybe an extra $2 a month on your payment.

Thanks for the input. That's the plan, anyway......

Here’s the deal: I’m planning to pay with my JP Morgan Chase card over 12 installments, and from what I can tell, that option is only available at Accenture in Washington, D.C. I’ll be heading down to D.C. next week, so I can just pick everything up there. What I need is for you guys to put together a build using parts from Accenture. My budget is still stuck at $5,000, and that needs to include the monitor and all the peripherals. If I try to piece this together myself, I'll probably end up with a mess...
Thanks.....

Here is the breakdown:

1 x AMD Athlon ii x4 750 k
1 x Deepcool Gammaxx 200 Cooler
1 x Kingmax 1x8GB DDR3 1600 FLGG
1 x MSI A88XM-E35 (FM2+,DDR3,SATA III,USB3.0,VGA,HDMI, DVI) mATX
1 x SAPPHIRE Radeon R7 265 2G GDDR5/256-bit
1 x LITE ON IHAS122 DVD-RW 22x Super Multi, SATA, Black, Bulk
1 x SILVERSTONE Strider ST50F-230, 500W, Walmart, 1x120, Black
1 x Acer V226HQLAbd 21.5" LED Monitor
1 x MS PHOENIX case without power supply
1 x HDD Desktop Toshiba DT01ACA050 (3.5", 500GB, 32MB, SATA III-600)

Total: $1525 - this price is for cash; if you are paying in installments, expect it to be about 10% higher—so just a tiny bit over $1667

Alternatively, here is the Intel option:

1 x Kingmax 1x8GB DDR3 1600 FLGG
1 x SAPPHIRE Radeon R7 265 2G GDDR5/256-bit
1 x LITE ON IHAS122 DVD-RW 22x Super Multi, SATA, Black, Bulk
1 x SILVERSTONE Strider ST50F-230, 500W, Walmart, 1x120, Black
1 x Acer V226HQLAbd 21.5" LED Monitor
1 x MS PHOENIX case without power supply
1 x HDD Desktop Toshiba DT01ACA050 (3.5", 500GB, 32MB, SATA III-600)
1 x INTEL Core i3-4130 (3.40GHz,512KB,3MB,54 W,1150) Box, Intel HD Graphics 4400 1 x Asrock
1 x Asrock s1150 H81M-VG4

Total: $1532

Or maybe try this if $33 above doesn't work for you. This is a beefier AM3+ setup—you get way more room to grow later when you decide to upgrade processors compared to those FM2+ options:

X4 945 BE
RAIJINTEK AIDOS
GIGABYTE 970A-DS3P
KINGSTON 6GB 1600 MHZ
TOSHIBA 3,5 1TB SATA 3
SAPP. R7 265 2GB DUAL-X BOOST
LITE ON DVD-RW SATA
SILVERSTONE STRIDER 500W 80+
MS PHOENIX MIDI ATX

ACER 22" VA LED FHD

I mean, that Phenom is honestly weaker than an i3, which pulls way less power, plus the socket actually gives you some decent upgrade paths later on.

UPDATE: I'm looking at more RAM... probably adding another 4GB next month, plus a better 400W unit from the Silverstone line.

1 x Intel Core i3-4150 (3.50GHz,512KB,3MB,54 W,1150) Box, Intel HD Graphics 4000
1 x Memory Device Kingston RAM-i 2 DDR3 SDRAM Non-ECC (4GB,1600MHz(PC3-12800),Single Rank,Unbuffered) CL11
1 x LITE ON IHAS122 DVD-RW 22x Super Multi, SATA, Black, Bulk
1 x MS PHOENIX case without PSU
1 x Silverstone Strider Essential ST40F-ES 400W, 1x120, 80+
1 x XFX R9 270A 2GB DDR5
1 x Acer V226HQLAbd 21.5" LED Monitor
1 x GIGABYTE Main Board Desktop iH81(H81M-DS2V) (S1150,DDR3,VGA/DVI,USB3.0/USB2.0,LAN,SATAIII/SATAII) mATX Retail
1 x Toshiba 1TB,7200rpm, 32MB HDD
Total: $1515

That Phenom isn't even BE—the shops corrected their listings later on.
What I mean is, with an i3, you actually have room to upgrade the CPU, just like you would with that AM3+ combo. With FM2/+, it’s probably the same story—maybe they drop one more CPU line, but it'll likely be the same old thing or nothing significant enough to make upgrading worth the hassle.

Yeah, I just realized they pulled them. If it’s not the BE model, then we're looking at the 95W version.

Amy Vaughn12, it's really not that noticeable—especially now that we know it isn't the BE. Your power draw is basically the same since things have shifted a bit; the i3 only wins in those specific games that don't really use extra cores. You've also got the option to upgrade to AM3+ processors later, which will definitely be cheaper than going the Intel route. Honestly, just make a call. No need to overthink this when all the suggestions are hovering around the same performance levels and the pros are already laid out for you.

Thanks for the help, everyone. I'm going with the build graniteharbor85 put together. My plan is to start with 4 GB instead of 6 GB, then just add another 4 GB later down the road... I don't quite get why those Kingston RAM-i are a 2+4GB split. I always assumed you had to run identical sticks, like 2+2 or 4+4, to make it work.

Anthony White65 said:Thanks for the help, everyone. I'm going with the build graniteharbor85 put together, but I think I'll just grab 4 GB of RAM for now and add another 4 GB later... I don't get why those Kingston RAM-i 2+4GB are paired like that. I thought sticks always had to match, like 2+2 or 4+4.

Go for it. Grab 1x4 now, then grab another 1x4 whenever you actually need it.🙂

Maybe just throw in an AMD Radeon R9 270 and an ASUS M5A97 R2 to cover the price gap.