[NEW] PC Buying Guides

[Rishwin]

Finally got around to re-creating the PC Buying guides, and decided to only go with 2 builds this time.

The first is a Budget Gamer build. It is the most cost-effective build which is still able to play even the most demanding games out there at high settings.

The second is the Enthusiast Build, which is basically an extreme gaming PC with the best "bang-for-buck" components. I could not in good conscience recommend anything higher than this, because there honestly is no point. I will however be providing alternatives to further increase performance.

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Budget Gamer Build

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103808 - $120

ASRock M3A770DE Newegg.com - ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - $60

Crucial Ballistix sport 4GB DDR3 1333 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148418 - $30

XFX HD 6870 1GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150561 - $170

CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 500W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139027 - $60

SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner Black SATA http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827151233 - $17

Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148701 - $45

NZXT GAMMA Classic Series http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811146061 - $36

Total Cost = $538 with $30 worth of mail-in rebates.

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Enthusiast Build

Coolermaster HAF http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119233 - $60

Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152185 - $60

XFX 2GB 6950 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150549 - $280

Corsair 750W modulated http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139030 - $130

Mushkin Blackline 8GB 1600MHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820226184 - $55

EVGA P67 SLI Micro http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188081 - $150

Intel i5 2500K http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115072 - $220

OCZ Agility 3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227725 - $110

Corsair H60 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835181015 - $75

Total cost = $1,140 with $110 worth of mail-in rebates.

[MentaL]

[Rishwin]

*reserved for future updates/notices*

[Rishwin]

Finally re-made the guides since they were deleted a while ago. Only went with 2 builds, post any questions here any either myself or Yjlasher will help you out.

[jMerliN]

Finally re-made the guides since they were deleted a while ago. Only went with 2 builds, post any questions here any either myself or Yjlasher will help you out.

I'd only suggest adding another HDD to both builds. One for OS, PF, indexes, applications, log files, and other active files. The other for games.

[Rishwin]

Budget build is for lowest price and most cost-effective components. Without getting an inferior brand / slower drive, the 160GB Seagate Barracuda was the best choice.

As for the 2nd build, an extra HDD is completely up to the user, depending on how much they need. HDD space is as much a user choice as peripherals are, not something you include in an extremely general PC build.

I altered the 2nd build slightly too, put the 2nd RAM kit as an option alteration instead. Your average gamer has no need for 8GB of RAM. It is however very handy when coupled with an SSD and lowered/disabled pagefile.

[Rishwin]

Added a Best 'Bang-for-Buck' Build, will update the other 2 to $500 and $1000 budgets respectively.

[Warmonger]

The Budget+ Gamer build is targeted to those that can spare a few extra dollars then the budget build in the original post.

This rig should be capable of running these games close, or completely maxed out.

• Crysis
• Crysis 2
• GTA IV
• DiRT 3
• Battlefield Bad Company 2
• Call Of Duty Black Ops

Budget+ Gamer Build

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - $26
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $61
Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $90
ASUS M5A99X EVO AM3+ AMD 990X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS - $145
CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - $70
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL - $55
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor - $120
SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - $175

Total - $742 w/ Shipping

PSU Rebate - $20 (Expires 9/7/11)
GPU Rebate - $20 (Expires 9/15/11)
Case Rebate - $15 (Expires 9/21/11)

Grand Total - $687 w/ Shipping

Optional (Complete Case):
COOLER MASTER R4-L2S-122B-GP 120mm 4 BLUE LED LED Case Fan - $14

Optional (Overclocking):
ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler Blue LED - $70
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - Thermal Compound / Grease - $13

[cycoextreme]

AMD 6-Core Budget / Performance System:

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz 6 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Processor HDT55TFBGRBOX $149.99
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T BE Thuban 3.3GHz, 6 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Processor HDE00ZFBGRBOX $189.99

GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard $87.99
MSI 990XA-GD55 AM3+/AM3 AMD 990X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard $134.99

SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card $174.99

Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT51264BA160A $49.99
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 15000) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9R $79.99

HEC Blitz Black Steel Edition ATX Mid Tower Computer Chassis Gaming Case w/ Front Blue LED 120mm Fan & Top 120mm Fan $39.99

OCZ Vertex Plus OCZSSD2-1VTXPL60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $69.99
OCZ Agility 2 OCZSSD2-2AGT40G 2.5" 40GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $84.99

RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-730SS 730W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Modular LED Power Supply $59.99

Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model AD-7260S-0B - OEM $19.99

Budget Options
TOTAL W/O SHIPPING $652.92

Different Performance Options
TOTAL W/O SHIPPING $784.92

OPTIONAL
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Sunbeam Twister 120 CW-TWI-120-SV 120mm x 2 MFDB CPU Cooler with Rheosmart PCI fan controller, free TX-4 Thermal Paste Included Inside $21.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM $99.99

TOTAL W/OPTIONAL W/O SHIPPING $774.90
TOTAL PERFORMANCE W/OPTIONAL W/O SHIPPING $894.90
*ALL BUDGET & PERFORMANCE OPTIONS ARE CROSS COMPATABLE WITH EACH OTHER IN THIS BUILD*

[Rishwin]

Updated the Bang-for-Buck build, will do the others in the next few days when i have time.

[Rishwin]

Updated the 'Budget Build', and removed the other build which was now pretty much obsolete.

If i get around to it i may make a huge PC build using the best and greatest parts purely for bragging rights, but i really wouldn't recommend it for anyone.

[cycoextreme]

on the enthusiast build you should really give people a choice between Intel and AMD since even an AMD X6 1100T is only $189.99 w/free shipping so its about $30 cheaper than the Intel, and some people only like Intel or AMD, so give people a choice would be nice

[Rishwin]

on the enthusiast build you should really give people a choice between Intel and AMD since even an AMD X6 1100T is only $189.99 w/free shipping so its about $30 cheaper than the Intel, and some people only like Intel or AMD, so give people a choice would be nice

The 2500K is leaps and bounds ahead of the 1100T, they aren't even in the same class. I'll add the AMD counterpart when there is one.

[cycoextreme]

even so, just make an AMD build b/c i know its a little better price for performance,

PassMark - Intel Core i5-2500K @ 3.30GHz - Price performance comparison

even the 1090T is on top for CPU Mark/Price not much ahead than the i5 2500k but still $50 cheaper than the i5

[Rishwin]

even so, just make an AMD build b/c i know its a little better price for performance,

PassMark - Intel Core i5-2500K @ 3.30GHz - Price performance comparison

even the 1090T is on top for CPU Mark/Price not much ahead than the i5 2500k but still $50 cheaper than the i5

That's why the AMD is in the budget build, it is the best bang for buck.

But for an enthusiast who wants the best performance, there is no question that they will chose the i5 2500K over anything AMD currently has to offer. If they choose AMD then it's because they are on a budget, not because it performs better.

Hence the budget build.

When the Bulldozer range is out then we'll see. But until then, AMD is for people building PC's on the cheap. There simply is no place for fanboys in today's CPU market, you either want performance (Intel) or good value on a budget (AMD).

[Heights]

will be waiting for the bulldozer build suggestion. :)