# Building a Gaming Computer



## azeem40

*EDIT! Finalizing Build!*

EDIT: I have narrowed down my gaming computer builds to these:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1409689&Sku=B69-1373

This one is one build
[http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103995
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131767
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150561
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817207014
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231428
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148697
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119196
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135204
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116986]

CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 955 ($125)
GPU: MSI AMD Radeon HD 6950 2Gb ($260)
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-970A-D3 ($90)
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600Mhz 2x4Gb ($30)
PSU: Antec HCG 620W ATX12V ($75)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue SATA III 6Gbps 500Gb ($100)
ODD: Asus x24/x16 CD/DVD RW SATA ($19)
Case: HEC Blitz Black Steel Edition ATX Mid Tower Editors Choice ($40)
BONUS: Dirt 3 Redemption Code (FREE with GPU)

So which one would be the best?
EDIT: And also please provide a Monitor that would work best for that build, but still keep the total cost under $1000.


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## wolfeking

what games are you going to be playing? 

I will put together a list, and then when we know what games you are playing, we can tweak it for them.


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## azeem40

wolfeking said:


> what games are you going to be playing?
> 
> I will put together a list, and then when we know what games you are playing, we can tweak it for them.



I did list the games in my thread.


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## jonnyp11

those aren't what you build a gaming computer for. they don't have real settings or anything that would take advantage of anything in the computer, this computer i'm on with a pentium dual core and an igpu could probably do that stuff, you could buy a computer for 4-500 that would do that stuff fine.

what exactly do you mean emulator games?


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## azeem40

No$GBA, PS2, etc. Emulators in general.
However, I will start getting into other games like Halo, Call of Duty, and Battlefield.


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## jonnyp11

yeah, those don't require anything really. there is no point in spending 800 on that stuff unless you are doing other stuff that is more demanding or you wanted to get a really big solid state drive that would increase all boot times alot.


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## azeem40

jonnyp11 said:


> yeah, those don't require anything really. there is no point in spending 800 on that stuff unless you are doing other stuff that is more demanding or you wanted to get a really big solid state drive that would increase all boot times alot.


So Modern Warfare and Battlefield don't require much? Still, I want to build my own computer since I have the $ and would like to game on it if at all possible.


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## jonnyp11

do you mean mw3 and battlefield 3, those aren't emulator games, and they will surely need a gaming computer. i don't see those listed anywhere above so i was going off the runescape and emulators of the original post.


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## azeem40

jonnyp11 said:


> do you mean mw3 and battlefield 3, those aren't emulator games, and they will surely need a gaming computer. i don't see those listed anywhere above so i was going off the runescape and emulators of the original post.



Sorry, I'll try to be more clear. I haven't had game systems since my parents couldn't afford them for me, so I have no clue on what games are out right now. Emulators and Runescape are the only games I've played. I want to build a computer, but Idk what kind to make, so I need help on that. Thanks if you can help out more.


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## jonnyp11

so you also want to play new games too?


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## azeem40

I want to be able to play games in general. A computer that as a whole plays almost all games with good speed and detail.


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## jonnyp11

ok then, i'll start looking.

you are in the US right?


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## jonnyp11

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103995

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131767

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150561

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207014

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119196

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

a little over price, but has 50 in mail in rebates so you should be at or below price, but don't rely on rebates.


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## azeem40

Thanks. Could you explain why you chose those?


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## jonnyp11

cheapest quad core fast enough to do anything you need and can overclock well, plus can unlock 2 extra cores but that isn't needed for any game and only means you're drawing more heat and power

goog mobo from good brand for good price, has all features neeed and fits in the budget well.

good gpu at a lower price than many, plus comes with a free copy of dirt 3 i believe for 10 more than the next good one so why not.

great quality psu with more than enough power for this rig, plus it has a great rebate making it the same price as the cheaper psu's that rebated to there.

great price for the ram plus is good speed too, and is the most popular brand too.

fast hardrive with plenty of room, and is faster than all the others at that price. sucks though that flooding made the supply drop so the prices went up, meaning this costs over double what it did a few months ago (i think it hit 50 for a while, although the prices are dropping again, i think this was 150 last month).

great looking case with good cable management so you can run the psu's wires behind the mobo so it has good airflow and looks good and all.

good priced and great reviewed drive.

only choice really for operating system to run games.


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## azeem40

I asked around about the GPU you provided in the build, and they said it could be better. Otherwise, thanks for the build!


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## jonnyp11

sorry, actually scrolled a little further and found this, better brand and better rebat plus still comes with a free dirt 3

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948


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## azeem40

What is Dirt 3 btw?


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## wolfeking

its a game that some companies throw in with their card. 

http://www.dirt3game.com/


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## azeem40

Thank you. More opinions from more people than jon would be appreciated.


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## wolfeking

I think that you will need a 6970 2GB, or maybe 3Gb 580 to max new games. The 6870 is a good card, but isn't going to max games.


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## azeem40

What would be a better graphics card?


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## wolfeking

In order
HD6950 
HD6970/GTX570
GTX580 
HD6990 
GTX590


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## azeem40

Thanks. More builds welcome. 

EDIT: Would this build be good? But instead, 6970 over 6870?


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## dsgarcia

Here is a good build:

CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 955 ($125)
GPU: MSI AMD Radeon HD 6950 2Gb ($260)
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-970A-D3 ($90)
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600Mhz 2x4Gb ($30)
PSU: Antec HCG 620W ATX12V ($75)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue SATA III 6Gbps 500Gb ($100)
ODD: Asus x24/x16 CD/DVD RW SATA ($19)
Case: HEC Blitz Black Steel Edition ATX Mid Tower Editors Choice ($40)
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium OEM ($100)
BONUS: Dirt 3 Redemption Code (FREE with GPU)

Grand Total: $839

Reasoning: I have the AMD Phenom II x4 955 and love it, I run all games on ultra including battlefield 3 at 60+ fps. The graphics card is the best bang for buck, and a decent brand. Motherboard fits all of your current needs, but if you want to add an additional graphics card down the line you will need to upgrade PSU and motherboard. The High Current Gamer series by Antec is top notch, I have the 900w model and it's everything and more! The Western Digital 500Gb HDD is decent, I have two in RAID 0 and they perform very well for the price. I also have the Asus optical drive and it hasn't missed a beat. The case is not my current case (I had it with my previous build) It has more then enough space and is a good nicely made cheap case. I really think the build above will meet all of your needs, I also play runescape and can tell you it runs like a champ on anything with DirectX 9 + 256Mb or more.


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## FuryRosewood

960T is currently cheaper. go with that, tho if i was building, id probably be going intel with a i3 or i5...


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## azeem40

Thank you. There are so many builds I have been suggested that Idk what the right one to pick would be.


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## azeem40

Would this monitor be good to use?


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## azeem40

Anyone have an answer on which one of the builds in my original post is the best?


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## azeem40

I AM open to more builds, especially i5 builds, so please help!


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## FuryRosewood

you would probably have to open your budget a little between cpu and gpu by about 100 bucks, and you might be able to slip in a i5, but that would push you to around a grand for your total.


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## azeem40

$1000 dollars is fine with me.


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## jonnyp11

this is 1043 (with -20 promo for gpu) with 60 in mir's but can max every game out today, and you can add another hdd later on for more memory and if you want put them in raid 0 to get higher speeds.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.775232

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150517

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207014

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148701

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986


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## azeem40

Thank you! Sorry, I am a very indecisive person. I hope you understand.


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## FuryRosewood

i do not recommend raid if you are depending on the drives integrity, if one drops out...well your boned, if you do plan on raiding...do a mirror, SSD would be faster than a raid 0 anyhow. theres almost no point to doing a raid 0 unless you really hate waiting on the drives


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## azeem40

IDK how to even RAID, so I won't be doing that anyway.


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## onipar

Sounds like you have a good amount of builds to choose from.

For the monitor, if you're looking to save some money, you might want to keep your eye on this HP 20 inch monitor.

I got it less than a month ago for $75!!!  (At Quill.com).  The price seems to have gone up quite a bit, but it may drop again soon.  Look slike you can still find it at sub $100 prices though.  :good:


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## Perkomate

So you're going to go with the 2500K? It's a little more expensive, but is well worth the extra money. 
Because the 2500K is a better performer, it effectively removes the CPU limitation, so you get higher frames per second. It lifts up the performance of the graphics card a little.


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## FuryRosewood

thats my recommendation, tho at some points the cpu still becomes a bottleneck, but not alot


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## azeem40

Yes, i5-2500k is definitely my CPU, and I will choose from the builds presented and post back with what I chose, and then you guys can tell me if I made a good decision or not (won't buy till I say here which one I chose and you guys tell me if it is good).


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## Perkomate

FuryRosewood said:


> thats my recommendation, tho at some points the cpu still becomes a bottleneck, but not alot



when it's overclocked it's a completely different ball game though. I'm not saying it completely eliminates the bottleneck, but it sure as heckminimises it. That's how I can afford to still be running a single 5770.


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## azeem40

So the GPU is fine?


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