Budget gaming PC ~$1,000~

[Ishanx]

Hello guys, I was thinking of buying a new laptop but thought I'd just assemble a PC instead because I really want to experience proper gaming after using a laptop for the last ~6 years and the fact that it would offer better performance/price ratio.

I have a few questions first:

• Does an i5 significantly improve gaming over an i3?
  
• To what extent does the CPU affect gaming?
  
• Does a quad-core affect gaming or will it in the near future? Quad-core vs dual-core.
  
• Will an SSD do any good other than improve boot time and other things? I'd be mostly gaming.
  

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Okay, from the guide...

1. I'll be starting from scratch so I would want to know what Graphic/Video card, CPU, RAM, MB, HDD, Case, Cooling I should buy.

Since I am going "budget", I guess it's going to be an AMD system.

Is the Radeon HD 7850 1 GB good for today's games and hopefully for the next ~5 years?

Do you reckon I go for an i3/i5/something AMD?

I think I'll go for 8 (4 x 2) GB RAM

I don't know much about Motherboards. Anything that will last in terms of compatibility and not become ancient anytime soon.

I think >=700 GB would do me good. Will adding an SSD make sense if I just really want to game?

2. My budget is around ~$1,100. Prices in India are higher so I have to keep that in mind as well.

?I can stretch my budget a little bit if it's really necessary. ~INR 60,000

3. I'll be using my computer to play games in High. Games like AC:III, BF:3, Torchlight 2, Borderlands, etc.

I'll also be using it to watch MKV videos that do not work flawlessly on my current laptop. They are 720p videos. A little Photoshop, Picasa here and there. I listen to a lot of music so would adding a Sound Card do any good?

4. What is the standard gaming screen size? I will not be SLI/Crossfire-ing.

5. I'll be buying these components by the month of May or June.

6. As far as I know I will not be overclocking.

I don't need an optical drive but I guess a cheap DVD Burning/Reading thing won't hurt.

I don't care for 3D, Touch.

I am an audiophile.

[Seabizkit]

hey...

really cant stress this enough... (don't feel like typing for ages)

get the best combo of motherboard and CPU...something like

Asus P9X79 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard - ?179.99

Intel Core i7-3820 3.60GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - ?224.99 inc VAT

GTX 660 - ?160

use rest for RAM. CASE, and what ever else

reason... this will last you the longest time...

1. BTW huge diff between i3, i5, i7

2. CPU is the bottleneck factor - hence ensure you have really gd and there is an upgrade path

3. Huge-ish... depending on who you ask, Processor has load of room*... ie even if not mult-threaded... app/game... if something comes up... background processes... then this will happen on the free cores.

4. yes... and no.... spend money on other things..., if you have left over then get one.

if your building a gaming machine... then AMD is out.

just get what i suggested above you wont be disappointed.

[tim_s]

I am going to group questions together as you are asking the same question in variation.

Does an i5 significantly improve gaming over an i3?

To what extent does the CPU affect gaming?

Does a quad-core affect gaming or will it in the near future? Quad-core vs dual-core.

Some current games are capable of running 4 threads and thus a Quad-core / i5 would improve upon performance over a Dual-core / i3. With next generation you will see the threads rise with the likes of Crysis 3. (You also have cache / on board graphic differences - directed specially for the i3 vs i5 question)

Will an SSD do any good other than improve boot time and other things? I'd be mostly gamin

Yes you will see an improvement in boot time and some performance on other applications depending on access patterns and SSD choice.

[threetonesun]

• Does an i5 significantly improve gaming over an i3?
  
• To what extent does the CPU affect gaming?
  
• Does a quad-core affect gaming or will it in the near future? Quad-core vs dual-core.
  
• Will an SSD do any good other than improve boot time and other things? I'd be mostly gaming.
  
• Is the Radeon HD 7850 1 GB good for today's games and hopefully for the next ~5 years?
  

1) Define significantly. Base your budget around the best GPU and CPU you can, but if it's for gaming, GPU comes first.

2) Some, although it depends heavily on the game. Again, base the build off the GPU.

3) Yes, again though, it depends on the game.

4) Boot and load times, but for those two things alone an SSD is a huge improvement.

5) Today is a mid-range card. It will run games on high at 1080, but probably not ultra? Five years from now? No one can say, it'll probably chug along at low, low resolutions in five years, assuming it still has driver support.

[+PeterUK MVC]

Is the Radeon HD 7850 1 GB good for today's games and hopefully for the next ~5 years?

You should aim for a GPU with 2GB and 5 years is asking alot maybe 3 years?

5. I'll be buying these components by the month of May or June.

Haswell Processors from Intel will be out around that time on a new socket LGA 1150 so you might want to wait until then.

[xendrome]

1) Define significantly. Base your budget around the best GPU and CPU you can, but if it's for gaming, GPU comes first.

A CPU can limit frame rate .. pair a GTX670/680 with an i3 and the i3 won't be able to keep up with what the GPU can produce.

[tim_s]

i5 + decent GPU - this will be a good phase 1

[Ishanx]

Thanks guys.

[TheLegendOfMart]

7850 for 5 years, no way. I have 7850 and while I can run most games 1080p maxed out I am finding that I'm having to dial back the settings for the latest games.

[KaoDome]

I had to build a PC for a friend not too long ago, he was aiming for 900? more or less; so I'll tell you how thing ended up there in case that helps you choose some things, the prices I put are from the time it was built:

Proc: Core i5 3570K ~ 193?

Sink: Cooler Master Hyper 612S ~ 44?

MB: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H ~ 120?

Power supply: Aerocool Strike-X 600W (it was a cheapish 80 Plus Bronze) ~ 60?

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X DDR3-1600 16GB (2x8GB) CL9 ~ 92?

HDD: OCZ Vertex 4 128GB (because he already had a 1TB barracuda to put too) ~ 115?

Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 OC 2GB ~ 185?

Plus external case and a DVD recorder, everything ended up ~870? and I'd say that equipment should last for some years after all the motherboard allows for overclocking and SLI or Crossfire setup, and he can always push CPU and graphics card a little further. At that time a 660 or 660 Ti was quite out of range, don't know how it'd be now.

[ryoohki]

The last poster suggestions are good, personally would drop the ram the 8 gig

What resolution you plan on running you're games? That's the most important question you'll have to ask yourself because it will greatly affect the video card choice.

Remember also that new console are coming out this year, witch mean that the port of those games will run slow on a good hardware today, you can do a good 2 year with those video cards

[threetonesun]

A CPU can limit frame rate .. pair a GTX670/680 with an i3 and the i3 won't be able to keep up with what the GPU can produce.

You'd have to look at actual numbers. It's possible an i3 with a GTX680 could drop a game from 80 to 60 fps. 20 fps loss, but still above 60.

IMO there are bigger factors in processor choice, namely do you need a quad core, and will you overclock which will push you one way or another.