Building a Gamer Comp for Gamer Husband. =)

M

Miveal

New Member
I need help!!

I just want to make a fast gaming computer at a reasonable price.

Any suggestion for parts. He has speakers, screen, keyboard, and mouse already. I just need to build a tower. Where should i get parts and what parts should i get?

i am going AMD route.

Currently picking out Motherboard

ASUS Crosshair V Formula AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Gaming Motherboard with 3-Way SLI/CrossFireX Support and UEFI BIOS

or

ASUS F1A75-V EVO FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Or

ASUS M4A87TD EVO AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
 
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He plays Everquest and i think the other one is starcraft. Im not too sure what my budget is... I just dont want to go over a price of a tower i could have just bought. I also know he is always looking at ASUS.
 
It would be really helpful if we got a max budget we can work around. Best you're gonna get is about $600, and this'll play the games you listed. And most prebuilt machines wouldn't have a dedicated video card, and their power supplies are junk, so you would have to buy 2 separate parts for that. $800 and up will get a really good machine that'll last a long time.
 
the max would be 1000. Ive been looking at items on newegg. Seems like every piece is going to cost like 200. He already has a case which he got from a guy who just likes to build computers. I was thinking of using that one or Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case. Would i need a special case?
 
You wouldn't necessarily need a special case, but us on the forum have a couple ones we would suggest because of the features. But it is not necessary. Only the CPU and GPU would be over $200. I'll take a look and see what I can come up with.
 
CPU - $215
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

GPU - $265
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102954

MoBO - $105
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128520

RAM - $43
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231416

power supply - $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

DVD drive - $19
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151233

Hard drive - $110 (Hard drives are expensive right now. A month ago this would've costed $50)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148767

Plus $100 for a copy of windows 7 64-bit

Total: $947

There are things you could upgrade or downgrade, and it will still be able to play the games you listed.

Could go the AMD route and a 6870 instead of the intel CPU and 6950 and save $195. Do you know what the resolution on your husband's monitor is?
 
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For the most part no, most any case (at least a midtower) would work just fine. There are several quality cases in the $50-$60 range, like the Antec 300 Illusion you referred to. If you don't want the bright blue lights on the front of the case, the Antec 300 would be the same thing without them. The Coolermaster Centurion 5, as well as others, would be nice for the same price.

From what it sounds like from the games your husband plays and your budget, I would go the AMD route. The Phenom 2 955 quad-core would do great at around $120, and you could find a decent Asus/Gigabyte motherboard for around $100. I'll throw out some basic ideas to think about below, and let others chime in:

CPU - AMD Phenom 2 955 quad-core ($120)

Mobo - Asus/Gigabyte ($100)

PSU - Antec Earthwatts 650W or something similar ($70-80)

Memory - 2 X 4GB G.Skill CL9 ($45)

HDD - Western Digital/Seagate 500GB ($110-140)

Optical - Asus/Samsung DVD Burner ($18)

Case - ($50-60)

Video Card - Evga GTX 460 1GB ($170)

Total = ~$700

It's really too bad that hard drive prices are so outrageous now, otherwise you could knock off an additional $60-80.
 
I dont know the resolution of his monitor. I think its pretty darn good though and is big and more wide than tall.

Which would be better an amd or intel and why i5 and not i7. is there much of a difference?
 
for gaming, it just depends on the game. the i7 is no different than the i5 in games, because HT is not used.
AMD is cheaper and will do the job. Intel is faster and will run the games at a higher FPS.

Really, I would suggest a Intel setup with a GTX570, but thats my taste. A AMD will afford you the money for a GTX570 or GTX580 (if your lucky). Ill go put together a list with these parts and post it up.
 
If your husband is mainly looking to use the build as a gaming machine, and will be playing EQ, Starcraft, and maybe some other similar titles - I HIGHLY recommend going the AMD route. Intel has faster processors, but at the price of a higher cost. For instance, you go with the i5 2500k, which is a very nice processor at a reasonable $215, but then the Intel-based motherboard will cost considerably more than an equivalent AMD one. The combination of this higher price (although not outrageously so by any means), along with the fact that a decent Phenom 2 quad is truly all you need, is the key here.

That way, you can either save money in general or save money for a better video card, which would be what over 99% of games would be bound on in the first place. If you're gaming, I'd sure as hell rather have an AMD Phenom 2 955 and a GTX 560 Ti as opposed to an Intel i5 2500k and a GTX 460. Going off your budget, you could even spend a little more and swing a GTX 570 if you wanted. If all your husband plans on playing is EQ and Starcraft, he certainly won't need a better video card than a 460, but if he plans to play other new games...the AMD route gives you the beefier video card options. While a few games will see higher benchmarks having an Intel processor vs an AMD one, the vast majority of games are very GPU-bound, and the AMD processor would be plenty strong enough to hold its own without holding up your system. It's not like having the aforementioned Phenom 2 955 would be your weak link. At least not until you get up into the top video cards, SLi, and Xfire.

To sum up: Why pay for more when you don't need it?
 
AMD 1k example

GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
or
ASUS M5A97 EVO AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
Up to date boards with features.

　
AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Deneb 3.5GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDZ970FBGMBOX
Plenty ^
+
GA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1563-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support ...
or 2GB 6950
　
Seasonic is top quality + gold certified + modular + power enough for future upgrades.
SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold ((SS-650KM Active PFC F3)) 650W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD ...

Good timings at 8-8-8
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM

Fasttt for os and most frequently used programs.
Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F60GBGT-BK 2.5" 60GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Data and other program storage.
Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Free with HDD
Sony Optiarc 24X DVD Burner, Bulk Package Black SATA Model AD-7280S-0B - OEM

Windows 7 - $100
Your case

For the use you describe it won't need any upgrades for quite a while, altho it's of latest design and is fully upgradable.
There's a couple $20 rebates and $30 off on the PS and your going to have tax and shipping. After all that this is right around the 1k mark. Maybe there are other places where you can save a bit, like Mwave, Tigerdirect, and Superbiz but usually shipping from 2 or more places have an impact.
 
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Okay so im going to try to take this process slowly and try to educate myself along the way. So im going to go the AMD route and am looking at..

ASUS Crosshair V Formula AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Gaming Motherboard with 3-Way SLI/CrossFireX Support and UEFI BIOS

ASUS F1A75-V EVO FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS


..for the motherboard. Ive been reading that a good motherboard is necessary.
 
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