Building a gaming computer

familyman14

Posts: 184   +0
Hi, I am having a gaming computer built for me and my kids and would like your opinions on the specs. I looked at an Alienware x51 which would suit our purpose but noticed because of it's small size there are cooling issues, besides I like the idea of having a local shop do the work. Here are the specs:

In-Win Case
- Intel 3.4Ghz 1155 Core i5-3570
- Asus P8H61-M LE/CSM
- Geforce GT640 2GB PCIE 2DVI HDMI
- 8GB DDR3 1333MHz
- 1TB SATA Hard Drive
- DVD+/-RW Drive
- Card Reader
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
- Kaspersky Antivirus 2012 1Yr 1User/1PC
- 1 Year Limited Hardware Warranty


What do you think?
 
For current game titles, you need more than a Geforce GT 640. You would be better off going with the 650 for just a few $ more, if you couldn't get a better card such as the Geforce GTX 660.

GeForce GT 640 DDR3 vs GeForce GTX 650

Everything else looks pretty good to me. :)

Which case and power supply is going to be used?
 
I'd say it's a pretty typical example of a pre-built system with an overpowered CPU, underpowered GPU and cheap motherboard. For a gaming computer you should really be looking at a HD 7850 or GTX 660 for the GPU, but it depends what games you play and at what resolution.

It would also be a bit cheaper to order and build the computer yourself, there's plenty of guides out there and people here would be more than willing to help.
 
Whats your budget that build is not very evened out spec wise you need a good balance.

Video card wise the 7870 is a good all around card for the price the 640 is not a good choice if your going to game at high rez.
 
I have to agree with everyone else really. I think we could build something better for your budget.
 
If you are willing to build the system yourself it is quite easy and there are tons of tutorials on the net plus everyone here would be willing to help you can build a far better system for right around the same money.

this is a system I just made up in about 20 minutes of looking others might suggest different things but I think it will suffice.
CPU - intel core i5-3450 $195
MB - MSI Z77A $120 with $10 rebate
RAM - G.SKILL DDR3 1600 8GB $40
VIDEO CARD - Sapphire 7850 $180 with $10 rebate this card is around a GTX 570 speed wise
HDD - Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB $85
PSU - Antec NEO ECO 620 watt $70
Case - Antec Three Hundred $70
OS - Windows 7 Home Pre $100
DVD Drive - Samsung 22X DVD Burner $17

now this is just my opinion but I like the balance of this system better and the total is $876 before shipping
 
You could also buy from a company like CyberPowerPC, although it would be more expensive in terms of price vs performance.

Check out the build in the attached PDF.
 

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If you are willing to build the system yourself it is quite easy and there are tons of tutorials on the net plus everyone here would be willing to help you can build a far better system for right around the same money.

this is a system I just made up in about 20 minutes of looking others might suggest different things but I think it will suffice.
CPU - intel core i5-3450 $195
MB - MSI Z77A $120 with $10 rebate
RAM - G.SKILL DDR3 1600 8GB $40
VIDEO CARD - Sapphire 7850 $180 with $10 rebate this card is around a GTX 570 speed wise
HDD - Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB $85
PSU - Antec NEO ECO 620 watt $70
Case - Antec Three Hundred $70
OS - Windows 7 Home Pre $100
DVD Drive - Samsung 22X DVD Burner $17

now this is just my opinion but I like the balance of this system better and the total is $876 before shipping
Yes I'd go a bit cheaper on the motherboard:
ASRock Z77 Pro3 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard ($94)
Rosewill CAPSTONE Series CAPSTONE-450-M 450W ATX12V v2.31 & EPS12V v2.92 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply ($70)
And a bitfenix shinobi ($60?). Also I'd take out the DVD drive.
 
HK are those Rosewill PSU any good? Also aren't the thermals better on the Antec case?
I used to discounted rosewill power supplies, but recently my friend built a computer and wondered about that 450w capstone since it was on discount for maybe $50 or $60.
I looked around and it seems now rosewill is putting out some respectable power supplies.
Take a look at the anandtech review on the 450/650 capstone series.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5698/rosewill-capstone-450w-and-650w-80plus-gold

Also aren't the thermals better on the Antec case?
I think you're right but I like the Shinobi and I like the fan filters :)
 
Thank you all for your replies. Considering my very limited computer building skills , lack of proper tools to do the job and where the price range for them to do it is so close, I am going to go ahead and have the qualified builders handle it. I will mention to them about upgrading to the GTX 660 and ask what they think about Kleptos build..minus the DVD drive. Will keep you posted if interested.
 
There's quite a few custom builders out there, a quick google will do the trick. Obviously you'll get charged a premium compared to if you built the computer yourself but they're still cheaper than the equivalent branded ones e.g. Alienware/Acer Predator.
 
Here's the new build after talking to him.

Custom Built PC:
- In-Win Case
- Intel 3.4Ghz 1155 Core i5-3570
- Asus P8H61-M LE/CSM
- Geforce GTX660 2GB PCIE
- 8GB DDR3 1333MHz
- 1TB SATA Hard Drive
- DVD+/-RW Drive
- Card Reader
- Coolmax 600W Power Supply
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
- Kaspersky Antivirus 2012 1Yr 1User/1PC
- 1 Year Limited Hardware Warranty
new price of 1195.35 with labor.
 
Here's the new build after talking to him.

Custom Built PC:
- In-Win Case
- Intel 3.4Ghz 1155 Core i5-3570
- Asus P8H61-M LE/CSM
- Geforce GTX660 2GB PCIE
- 8GB DDR3 1333MHz
- 1TB SATA Hard Drive
- DVD+/-RW Drive
- Card Reader
- Coolmax 600W Power Supply
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
- Kaspersky Antivirus 2012 1Yr 1User/1PC
- 1 Year Limited Hardware Warranty
new price of 1195.35 with labor.
That's basically the same build as what klepto suggested but with a slightly better GPU and worse mobo and PSU, but is $300 more expensive. Maybe you should buy the components online and just get a quote for the labour. The computer shop won't be getting their parts any cheaper anyway.
 
Imo just buy the parts I listed and get them to put it together antivirus and the such can be done by you.
 
Me and my dad just ordered the parts for a new gaming PC
  • AMD Phenom 2 X6
  • Sapphire HD Radeon 6870
  • 8GB RAM
  • 128GB SSD
  • Generic 650/750W Power Supply.
I'll let you know how this goes, a lot of reviews I've read say that that these comonents alone can max out the FPS on most modern games.
 
a lot of reviews I've read say that that these comonents alone can max out the FPS on most modern games.

and how old are those reviews? 2010/2011? Just wait for 2013 to roll around and you will have payed more money by buying two builds closer together yearwise because the comp you just bought will be replaced quicker than a ivy bridge processor build. sure the GPU is fine, but same reasoning applies. last gen cards don't half in price once the new gen is out. but they are still a year or more behind the modern gen
 
and how old are those reviews? 2010/2011?

They're actually very recent reviews, including such games as Battlefield 3 and Skyrim, the frame rates are in the hundreds, which doesn't really matter, because I'd have vertical sync on, capping most games to 60. It'd do very well into 2015 atleast.

My current PC which we are just about to get rid of has a card from 2003 and can easily handle most modern games at about 25 fps anyway, which is all you really need to play.
 
They're actually very recent reviews, including such games as Battlefield 3 and Skyrim, the frame rates are in the hundreds, which doesn't really matter, because I'd have vertical sync on, capping most games to 60. It'd do very well into 2015 at least.

My current PC which we are just about to get rid of has a card from 2003 and can easily handle most modern games at about 25 fps anyway, which is all you really need to play.

ummmm the most powerful cards from 2003 would be the ati 9800 or the nvidia 5900 neither of which will play modern games at 25fps im sorry there is no way not even at 800 x 600 res.
 
I just put together a build I would put together on a $850 budget:
Intel Core i5 3570K $235.00
EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB $335.00
ASRock Z77M Motherboard $089.00
BitFenix Shinobi Black Case $069.00
Corsair CMX8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 $045.00
OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Modular $079.00

I went a bit cheap on the mobo but I believe that this build will run all of the newest games on max settings, also relatively good at video and model rendering.

I didn't bother with the OS, get windows 8 for $40 if you want and then iso+mount it onto a usb.
 
The 6870 is pretty much equivalent performance-wise to a 5850; my 5850 can play most games maxed out with 60+ FPS, but I definitely don't see FPS in the hundreds, unless you're talking about low resolutions like 1280x1024 and the like.

In any case, it's irrelevant; good performance is subjective.
 
ummmm the most powerful cards from 2003 would be the ati 9800 or the nvidia 5900 neither of which will play modern games at 25fps im sorry there is no way not even at 800 x 600 res.

I don't know what it is, it ran with an older motherboard, but it easily handled games from 2011. We've built a new one now. But back to the matter at hand, the PC rig that you posted is just fine.
 
Anyway the 6870 is a good card but not really what I would get in the way of a more future proof card. I bet the card in you current computer is a 6000 series nvidia card I could see a 6800 playing some games at low rez.
 
So I wasn't able to build the computer back in September but am ready now. My new question is has anything changed for the better in the past few months or is Kleptos build still the one to make?
 
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