The People Speak Week 10: Building a PC

Last week's discussion on the pricing structure in place for video games got everyone talking about something that inevitably costs a lot of money:

Upgrading your PC.

If you haven't already read the Battlefield 3 preview I wrote, you should probably check it out here: http://www.gamerevolution.com/manifesto ... yeson-4451

You see, the last time I bothered to upgrade my computer was for Battlefield 2. That game was fucking awesome. With Battlefield 3 shaping up to be awesome, it's probably time to look at building a new computer. I need your help though. What components are needed for the latest PC games? Think about processors, motherboards, RAM, graphics cards, sound cards, EVERYTHING. Here's the curveball: All of these components have to fit into an $800 budget. Go!
 
Since you said you built your last one, do you still need a tower or will you use your old one? What about DVD/Blu Ray Drives? You could save 150 or so by using old ones of both of those...And sound cards aren't really necessary either.
 
I'll "build" you something, but I have some questions first.

Does the 800 dollars include a Monitor? Keyboard and Mouse? Speakers? Or are you talking just the tower?

Does it include a legit copy of Windows 7, or are you going to install something on your own?

Edit: Do you have a preference in how your tower looks? IE: Do you like see through windows and flashy lights, or do you prefer something a little more professional looking? Do you care about the size of the tower?

Do you plan on Overclocking, or are you just going to run with what you'll have?
 
Pretty quick little throw together, it shows up at $830, but with Mail in rebates it's only $770!

This is assuming you're using your old ROM Drives to save money and there is no copy of Win 7 needed since that is another $100...

Lian Li Mid Tower - $80

Asus 790x - $119 ($10 Mail In Rebate)

HIS HD 6870 - $210 ($20 Mail In Rebate)

Corsair 650TX PSU - $90 ($20 Mail In Rebate)

AMD II X4 970 Black Edition - $170

6GB Corsair DDR3 1600 - $74 ($10 Mail In Rebate)

WD 1TB 7200 RPM HDD - $88


GRAND TOTAL: $831 With $60 of Mail In Rebates



Or you can be cool and go with something like this http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=12437174 :p
 
I linked this last week but apparently this deal is still going on:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBund ... mbo.606690
-AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz 6 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor
-MSI AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX Motherboard (Model:880GM-E43)
- G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory (Model:F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ)
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (Model:ST31000528AS)
- LG 24X DVD +/-R SATA DVD Burner (Model:GH24NS50) - OEM
- Rosewill Black Computer Case 500W Power Supply (Model:R519-BK)
- BYTECC 18" Serial ATA-150/300 Cable w/Locking Latch (Model:SATA-118C)

And a different video card from last week.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814127518
-MSI N460GTX CYCLONE 1GD5/OC GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Come's out to be $609.98. I don't trust the whole "Newegg can't guarantee the compatibility of combo items" statement there but I'd grab the power supply from Green Lantern's link too cause I don't know how many MWs to power the video card.
 
I've always despised the PC gaming industry for this matter, so many awesome PC games I've had to miss out on because my hunk of crap can't even play the trailer to the game. I like to call my current dell desktop computer Rosie (like Rosie O' Donnell) cause it's fat and old and it still works but you secretly want it to die so you can replace it. I'm joking I don't actually want O' Donnell to die but it's impossible to keep up with game requirements of the games that release when growing up when you're a brown son (not Indian brown) of a single mother who isn't a celebrity. The highest requirement game I've been ever able to run on my PC was Counterstrike Source and my PC did a adequate job.

Just like Apple and their products it seems like whenever you get the perfect PC for those dream PC games (Crysis, BF, Value's games) you'll quickly discover you're still not there either because your video card isn't good enough or all that porn/illegal movies destroys your computer and leaves you crying while playing the crappy console port thinking "Hey at least I'm playing it.... That's good... Right?"

EDIT: Daniel you are correct BF 2 was awesome and BF 3 will be better... Just wanted to say that for some reason
 
Green_Lantern said:
NickKmet said:
Only 128 GB on the SSD, GL?

128GB is expensive enough!

No kidding! They're only supposed to be for installing your Operating System and a few games anyway. They're not designed to hold your entire porn collection. That's what a 1 TB external hard drive is for!
 
That's why you only upgrade a single component every 6 months or so, Delorean. That should keep you up to date enough to at least play current games on low-to-medium settings.
You could get last gen components for cheap (like a 4/5 series ATI now) and still be able to max out most things for cheap.

And a 128gb SSD isn't big.
A 512gb one is. You can get good ones for like $1300-1400.

I need to be rich. I'd get me some 2tb of raid SSD.
 

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