800 dollars for custom building a gaming PC

[Kuilui]

Before you roll your eyes I actually spent a lot of time looking for a thread that met my needs but I couldn't find one that quite fit, sorry.

Hey I've been wanting to build my own gaming PC for awhile now and I have 800 dollars to spend on building a tower. I am not that great with computer parts honestly and a lot of you seem pretty adept with them so I come asking for help. A friend of mine offered to put it all together for me whenever I get the parts. So if you wonderful people could help me create a gaming computer for 800 dollars or less I'd appreciate it. I plan on recording gameplay using Fraps or bandicam so I know I'll need an extra hard drive. My budget also includes shipping, tax,etc. If you could use http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/ just to make the part list more organized for me and you so that others can help see the build and maybe tweak it that would be great.

I really appreciate you guys giving me a hand. Thanks in advance!

 

[Hazy992]

Shouldn't be too hard to configure a pretty damn good rig with your budget. Do you need an OS?

 

[Kuilui]

Shouldn't be too hard to configure a pretty damn good rig with your budget. Do you need an OS?

Yes, Yes I do. My more computer savvy friend was suggesting I go to windows8 64bit.

 

[Hazy992]

Shouldn't be too hard to configure a pretty damn good rig with your budget. Do you need an OS?

Yes, Yes I do. My more computer savvy friend was suggesting I go to windows8 64bit.

There's no real reason to go with Windows 8 TBH, I'd just stick with Windows 7.


Motherboard - ASRock H77 Pro 4 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157302] - $80
CPU - Intel Core i5 3470 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115234] - $200
RAM - Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x4GB DDR3 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148543] - $34
HDD- Seagate Barracuda 2TB drive [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148834] - $110
Power Supply - Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 Plus Bronze PSU [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020] - $90
Case - NZXT Source 210 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146075] - $40
GPU - ASUS Radeon HD 7770 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121642] - $145
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit [http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Premium-64bit-System-Builder/dp/B004Q0PT3I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354751475&sr=8-1&keywords=windows+7+home+premium+64+bit] - $92

Right this is what I've managed to configure with your budget. That PSU is probably far too big TBH but I get paranoid about these things and I don't want your rig screwing up because of it

I could see if I can do an AMD based build that would have a better GPU for around the same money if you like?

EDIT: The PSU should also give you some upgrade headroom with this build.

EDIT the second: Also I just used Newegg as a base as I don't know many US retailers. I'd suggest shopping around to try and get some better deals.

 

[Kuilui]

That build looks great, thanks a lot and I agree on the PSU I'm sure I'll want to upgrade eventually so glad to have the option to do so. You did probably in twenty minutes what I've been tormenting myself trying to do for two weeks lol, next time I'm breaking down sooner and asking for help. Yeah an AMD based build would be nice to look at and compare if your up for doing it.

I can always buy one later I guess but do you think I should buy a second hard drive to record with Fraps, bandicam or whatever other game recording software I go with? I've heard if you don't have a second one it usually causes problems.

 

[Hazy992]

That build looks great, thanks a lot and I agree on the PSU I'm sure I'll want to upgrade eventually so glad to have the option to do so. You did probably in twenty minutes what I've been tormenting myself trying to do for two weeks lol, next time I'm breaking down sooner and asking for help. Yeah an AMD based build would be nice to look at and compare if your up for doing it.

I can always buy one later I guess but do you think I should buy a second hard drive to record with Fraps, bandicam or whatever other game recording software I go with? I've heard if you don't have a second one it usually causes problems.

Yeah I don't mind doing it, they're actually kinda fun to do

I'm not sure about the 2nd Hard Drive, I figured you just wanted the 2nd one for space. I could try and get an SSD for a boot drive in to the AMD one then a regular hard drive for storage maybe?

 

[Kuilui]

That build looks great, thanks a lot and I agree on the PSU I'm sure I'll want to upgrade eventually so glad to have the option to do so. You did probably in twenty minutes what I've been tormenting myself trying to do for two weeks lol, next time I'm breaking down sooner and asking for help. Yeah an AMD based build would be nice to look at and compare if your up for doing it.

I can always buy one later I guess but do you think I should buy a second hard drive to record with Fraps, bandicam or whatever other game recording software I go with? I've heard if you don't have a second one it usually causes problems.

Yeah I don't mind doing it, they're actually kinda fun to do

I'm not sure about the 2nd Hard Drive, I figured you just wanted the 2nd one for space. I could try and get an SSD for a boot drive in to the AMD one then a regular hard drive for storage maybe?

Yea from what I understand if you put your games on an SSD and the other drive is used for Fraps and basically everything else you get more frames per second and more stable recording. This is what I've heard anyway. So if you want to try go for it but if it seems like you have to really compromise or downgrade just for the SSD then don't do it, I can always figure it out later if I run into issues. Personally I'd rather just have the nicer GPU. Seems my computer never has a good enough one.

 

[Hazy992]

Motherboard - MSI 990FXA-GD65V2 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130650] - $119
CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727] - $85
RAM - Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x4GB DDR3 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148543] - $34
Power Supply - Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 Plus Bronze PSU [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020] - $90
Case - NZXT Source 210 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146075] - $40
HDD- Seagate Barracuda 2TB drive [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148834] - $110
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit [http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Premium-64bit-System-Builder/dp/B004Q0PT3I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354751475&sr=8-1&keywords=windows+7+home+premium+64+bit] - $92
GPU - Galaxy GTX 660 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162123] - $210

Total = $780

With this build the CPU is a fair bit weaker but it's still damn good for the money. You do however, have the option to overclock unlike the last one and you could always upgrade to something like an FX 8350 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113284] in the future

The GPU however, is a lot better than the other build so gaming performance should be good.

EDIT: If you don't mind spending a little over your budget (like less than $10) you could probably pick up an aftermarket cooler for overclocking.

Also if you drop down to a 1TB HDD and spend slightly over again you might be able to get a cheap SSD in there.

Hopefully some other Escapists will come and look at this and hopefully improve it.

Hope this helps

 

[thesilentman]

Shouldn't be too hard to configure a pretty damn good rig with your budget. Do you need an OS?

Yes, Yes I do. My more computer savvy friend was suggesting I go to windows8 64bit.

Some computer savvy friend you have there... Just stick with Windows 7 Home Premium/Professional 64-Bit for now. I have Windows 8 Pro, and I see no difference except for the Metro Start menu and less of an OS overhead, which isn't an issue on more powerful machines.

 

[Hazy992]

snip

Just wanna say as well that if you go for the Intel build you could swap out the i5 for an i3 and save yourself some money. You should be able to get a better GPU that way. You could also probably get a Z77 motherboard so you have the option to get an unlocked processor for overclocking.

 

[Kuilui]

Thanks for all the help . That does sound like a good alternative. Going with the I3. Although that other build is pretty tempting. Going to need to think it over.

 

[Hazy992]

Thanks for all the help .

No problem,I'm happy to help

Either build should be pretty good for gaming

 

[Hazy992]

The i3 3220 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116775] is $120 so that gives you $80 more to play with. You could keep the GPU and get an SSD or get like a 7870 or something

 

[Kuilui]

The i3 3220 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116775] is $120 so that gives you $80 more to play with. You could keep the GPU and get an SSD or get like a 7870 or something

That is an idea, hmmmm. I was reading more about the ASRock H77 Pro 4 motherboard it seems a lot of people have issues with it arriving broken or totally dead. Any other suggestions? I'll go over my budget a little for something that people seem to trust more. Knowing my luck it'd show up dead.

 

[Hazy992]

The i3 3220 [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116775] is $120 so that gives you $80 more to play with. You could keep the GPU and get an SSD or get like a 7870 or something

That is an idea, hmmmm. I was reading more about the ASRock H77 Pro 4 motherboard it seems a lot of people have issues with it arriving broken or totally dead. Any other suggestions? I'll go over my budget a little for something that people seem to trust more. Knowing my luck it'd show up dead.

Well there is this MSI H77 motherboard [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130648] for $85 but honestly I'd just spend the extra $5 and get this Z77 board [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130653]. Both have a mail in rebate to knock some money off, and if you get the Z77 board you have the option of putting in something like a 3570K in a few months time and overclocking it.