Building a Gaming PC

jfxphoto

jfxphoto

Active member
First of all I wasn't quite sure if I should have put this in NSG or here, but I figured I would get a more mature crowd over in M&A's so here goes.

I'm planing on building my own gaming PC for the first time. I have no prior computer building skills and will mostly be following an online guide. My question for you is do you think I'm buying the right parts to make my experience be the best bang for it's buck. I am not looking to break the bank with this thing so I'll be trying to save on whatever I can.

Any feedback or tips would be much appreciated! Definite plus karma for any response.

Thanks! (Parts I am thinking of using below)

Motherboard

GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 Intel Z68 ($160)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=353599&CatId=6975&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=iFudSkud_Rc-0naDTdmUQvRfd2dEnZ0uTA

CPU

Intel Core i5-2400 Quad-Core ($190)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7073164&Sku=I69-2400&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=iFudSkud_Rc-so.uNIL8kdfOStKnJzZ_ww

RAM

Corsair Vengeance DDR3 8GB (2x4GB) ($45)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=40739&Sku=C13-5720&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=iFudSkud_Rc-V9Fl1Lxx5W2sZ8EUJIsfGQ

Video Card

EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti ($120)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=41125&Sku=E145-0550&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=iFudSkud_Rc-nMNJyU1B9L4YT4avy1FTOw

Hard Drive

Hitachi 500 GB ($110)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6091097&CatId=2459&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=iFudSkud_Rc-iMFuBlhSHC3JwNBLZtUSnw

Optical Drive

Lite-On Internal 24x CD/DVD Drive ($18)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4829307&Sku=L12-1312%20OEM

Case

Cooler Master Elite 430 Mid Tower ($50)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6430030&CatId=1842&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=iFudSkud_Rc-_pvBCRN86au0mriPi4UTTA

Power Supply

Cooler Master eXtreme 500 Watt ($30)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4465483&CatId=1079&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=iFudSkud_Rc-7te.C4vsV8RyLZ0OpC0dRg

($723)

budget-gaming-build3.jpg
 
just dont cheap on processor and graphic card if you want to play games !. buy a good intel processor+ a ati radeon 6870 and you will be good to play all games at high or more!! min 4Go of ram. and be sure to have a good motherboard that will be able to stock all your parts !
 
What do you think of the Motherboard & CPU I posted?

I also went a tad on the cheap side for my videocard but I think it should be sufficient what do you think?
 
 
Hey it looks like you've got a solid build there man, any reason why you went intel>amd because you could usually save alot of money on amd based systems in comparison to an Intel build? either way you've got a solid system man. Last thing I would say is check out this 5870, clocked way higher than the 550 definitely the way to go for a gaming build http://1saleaday.com/ with the 6000 series out and these discontinued they're cheap and solid performers especially in comparison to the 550!
 
You'd want to up your psu though if you went with that card, which never hurts anyway investing in a solid power supply you can use for builds to come is worth it
 
Hmm I'll look into that other video card for sure.

If I kept my set up the way it is now would the PSU be sufficient?
 
I'd get another harddisk if I were you.

You're better of getting a 5400rpm 500gb disk or get 2 and configure them as RAID-0's and just back up your stuff a lot.

The Samsung F4EG for example is a really nice 2tb EcoGreen 5400rpm disk, but it's faster than a lot of 7200rpm disks.

 
Yeah you should be good with that psu, you may want to go to 650 if you plan on doing sli or multiple hard drives. Always best to buy a solid power supply because a shorted psu can sometimes take a whole system with it. The one you chose is definitely a quality one for that wattage though Cooler Master makes solid products.
 
Thanks for the replies guys! I don't think I will need 2tb of space though. I will have my music and other things on a Mac.
 
Yeah, I mean I have a 1.5tb but I also store my music/videos/pictures on here which takes up a huge portion of space. Games surprisingly aren't that space consuming I mean granted my Oblivion folder at one point was 50gigs, but normal games aren't usually more than 10-15.
 
Well I finished putting everything together and it all seems to be working!!! I just need to get windows 7 on there and I am good to go.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top