Anyone into PCs? Post your rigs here!

m4a1mustang

OK, one monitor makes it a lot easier to build a budget gaming rig.

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KaienZ34

cool cool

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m4a1mustang

OK Kaien,

Since your budget is $1000-$1500, I decided it was high enough to go full Intel. I think at the $1000+ range there's no reason not to go Intel over AMD as you get the best performance. When you get under $1,000 I think there's a bit of a gray area where you could go either way, and then below $750 or so I think that's when AMD chips really shine.

So, for a $1,000-ish build with Newegg pricing:

Case: Antec 300 Mid Tower $69.99 (you could pick whatever ATX case you felt like using. I just used the 300 as an example)
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V/Gen3 $189.99
Processor: Core i5-2500K $219.99
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3-1600 (2x4GB) $45.99
HDD: WD Caviar Black 7200rpm Sata III $129.99
GPU: Sapphire 2GB Radeon HD 6950 Dirt 3 Edition $279.99 (I like this card of all the other 6950s because it has the BIOS switch that unlocks the shaders to 6970 levels, and it's got a great cooler allowing you to OC it past 6970 clocks if you so desire)
Power Supply: Corsair TX750 $129.99

Total: $1,065.93 excluding OS and accessories

That would be a pretty nice rig for single monitor gaming. If you wanted to spend more you could replace the i5-2500K with an i7-2600K and maybe get a second GPU to run in Crossfire if you plan on using a 3 monitor gaming setup like me, and/or add a SSD for your OS and programs.

The thing that pisses me off right now is that HDD prices have gone through the roof because of the drive shortage. A 1TB HDD used to be pretty cheap, now they run over $200. That's why I only chose the 500GB HDD for you... so you can just wait and add more space later at a cheaper price if you need to.

Anyone else have some thoughts?

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KaienZ34

Damn that is so nice, it should rock the sh1t out of any game i what to play. So i should be able to get all the parts on newegg or there and somewhere else.

Sorry but i'm a bit drunk right now...

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delusional

My Build:
Mobo - GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58
CPU - i7-950
Memory - Patriot 6GB DDR3
PSU - Corsair 750TX
GPU - Radeon HD4850 (from my old old old setup)

Most of my stuff was bought a bit over a year ago except the graphics card. that was from a few years ago.

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m4a1mustang

Yeah on a single monitor it would handle pretty much anything you could throw at it.

If you decide you want to try multi-monitor gaming, all you need to do is get a second GPU and upgrade the CPU if it turns out to be a bottleneck.

With regard to pricing, you'd just have to shop around. I don't know if you have any Microcenter stores near you, but I have always found good deals in store on hardware. For example, this past weekend I bought my Core i7-2600K for $279 ($90 off full retail price) and because I was buying a Motherboard with the processor, I received $50 off my ASUS P8Z68-V/Gen3.

I paid $429 for my CPU + Mobo. If I ordered now from Newegg, I'd pay $488. Not a big $$ difference, but it's still 12% less.

Now, you mentioned you were a few months away from building. I am sure prices will come down some in that time, since the Radeon 7xxx series cards should be coming out soon, and we should get more details on Ivy Bridge which may drive the pricing on the Sandy Bridge processors down. Any differences will probably not be too big, though... I wouldn't hesitate to do this build (although personally I would choose the i7-2600K over the i5) because it's more than enough to handle everything you can throw at it right now. It also helps that you've got a good motherboard that will support an upgrade to Ivy Bridge and multiple GPUs.

Also, if for some reason you decide you'd rather keep your build much cheaper, say under $750, but you still want the ability to enjoy today's games on one monitor, we can sort out a setup for that too. But it will limit your ability to upgrade... but that really might not matter to you if you could save hundreds of dollars. The build I did for my GF is pretty stout, and you can really beef it up for not much less... spend a little bit more on the processor and the GPU and you've got a very nice budget gaming system.

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