Pre-built PC/ starter "gaming" rig

[Thresh25]

A buddy of mine wants to be able to play Shogun 2 and Battlefield 3 on low-medium settings. He doesn't want to go over $700, but would be willing to go to 750 if need be. Based on the recommended specs I think he needs a quad core. Because he needs EVERYTHING, a monitor, windows, case, mouse, keyboard, etc a custom build is somewhat out of budget and he also wants to get this system as soon as possible so I could not talk him into building.

That being said I still want to help him get the best system for his money and was wondering what you guys thought about this....

Newegg.com - Gateway DX Series DX4350-UR21P (PT.GBYP2.003) Desktop PC Phenom II X6 1065T(2.9GHz) 6GB DDR3 1.5TB HDD Capacity ATI Radeon HD 4250 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Anything else that is better/cheaper? He doesn't need anything near 1.5 tb of HDD space, but this seems to be the best deal. That leaves 250 or so to play around with for a monitor and gpu. But seeing that the stock psu is only 300w will he need to upgrade that too? If so, does this tiny case even really allow for that to be possible? Any psus in mind?

Thanks

 

[samjhon1198]

Take a loot at here mate, Gateway DX4320-19 Desktop Computer- $563, It has AMD Phenom II X6 1035T 2.60 GHz - Mini-tower - 8 GB RAM - 1.50 TB HDD - DVD-Writer - ATI Radeon HD5750 1 GB Graphics Card - Wi-Fi - Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium - HDMI - DVI

 

[Trotter]

This would be better (out of the box):
Newegg.com - iBUYPOWER Gamer Power 562D3 Desktop PC AMD FX-Series FX-4100(3.6GHz) 8GB DDR3 500GB HDD Capacity AMD Radeon HD 6670 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Or this one, added a 6670 and set it up for dual graphics:
Newegg.com - iBUYPOWER Gamer Power A522APU Desktop PC A6-Series APU A6-3670K(2.7Hz) 8GB DDR3 1TB HDD Capacity AMD Radeon HD 6530D Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

 

[patonb]

For a gaming rig, trotters got both beat. the hex core is 2 wasted core, leaving 4 slow cores to game.

For gaming you want fast cores over more than 4 cores.

 

[Thresh25]

Okay so to me this 2nd one Trotter posted seems like a way better deal. Especially for only 30 bucks more. The 1st one has 8 gigs of ram, vs 4 in the second. Am I correct in saying he doesn't need 8 gigs of ram? I assumed 4 was plenty. Then the second you're only paying for a 500 gig hdd instead of 1tb, which he definitely doesn't need.

Will he need to upgrade the 6670? He should be able to play on low correct? I was playing on low with a 4850 until I upgraded to the 6850. But even with the 6850 I've got to be on medium for lag free gaming on BF3.

Thanks a lot for the input, the 2nd link seems like the best bet.


edit: anyone have any ideas for a good monitor for less than 150? Size doesn't really matter

Edit 2: I misread, both come with 8 gigs of ram, which is plenty

 

[Yerfdog]

Okay so to me this 2nd one Trotter posted seems like a way better deal. Especially for only 30 bucks more. The 1st one has 8 gigs of ram, vs 4 in the second. Am I correct in saying he doesn't need 8 gigs of ram? I assumed 4 was plenty. Then the second you're only paying for a 500 gig hdd instead of 1tb, which he definitely doesn't need.

Will he need to upgrade the 6670? He should be able to play on low correct? I was playing on low with a 4850 until I upgraded to the 6850. But even with the 6850 I've got to be on medium for lag free gaming on BF3.

Thanks a lot for the input, the 2nd link seems like the best bet.


edit: anyone have any ideas for a good monitor for less than 150? Size doesn't really matter

Edit 2: I misread, both come with 8 gigs of ram, which is plenty

6670 BF3 benchmark
Technically, he would be able to run it on low fine. On 1024x768 that is.

 

[Thresh25]

Okay so he ended up having a little more to play around with...about 850-900 for now but with a monitor and OS he still wants to just buy the PC and upgrade a few parts as needed.

I'm a little out of the loop of the newest technology as I haven't paid much attention since my last build so I was wondering on your guys opinions on best value

Here's the original, 550 + 150 or so on a monitor-700 with 200 on a gpu and new power supply would be likely
Newegg.com - iBUYPOWER Gamer Power 562D3 Desktop PC AMD FX-Series FX-4100(3.6GHz) 8GB DDR3 500GB HDD Capacity AMD Radeon HD 6670 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

600 Probably wouldn't have to upgrade the psu, so the rest of the money could be spent towards monitor/gpu.... I think otherwise these two are basically the same
Newegg.com - CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra 2117 Desktop PC AMD FX-Series FX-4100(3.6GHz) 8GB DDR3 1TB HDD Capacity AMD Radeon HD 6670 1GB Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

700... but heres an 8 core processor... will the performance gains be worth it to justify spending that much more for just the processor? He could get a 100-150 dollar monitor, and then get a card in a couple of weeks
Newegg.com - CyberpowerPC Gamer Ultra 2099 Desktop PC AMD FX-Series FX-8120(3.1GHz) 8GB DDR3 1TB HDD Capacity AMD Radeon HD 6670 1GB Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

Last one for 730
Newegg.com - iBUYPOWER Gamer EXTREME 589D3 Desktop PC AMD FX-Series FX-8120(3.1GHz) 8GB DDR3 1TB HDD Capacity AMD Radeon HD 6850 1GB Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

However this one needs no improvements, I could just go with the 6850 and psu, and just got a 120-150 or so monitor for him.


Also, i found a website called buyxg.com... anyone heard of them? Looks like you can customize anything and it'd be a better deal with better parts.

Opinions please and thanks in advance!


edit: On buyxg.com I was able to customed where it was 40 dollars cheaper for an AMD x4 4.2ghz vs and 8 core 3.2... would it be better to go with the quad if the other 4 arent utilized in games?

 

[patonb]

Never heard ofd buyxg... so stay clear.

unless he's doing a lot of multitasking intense programs, 8 and even 6 cores are wasted.

As a fyi, you can build them straight from ibuypower.com and cyberpower.com eh.

 

[jasonalwaysready]

if the budget is 900+, then you would probably do a lot better by building.

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA Model SH-222BB/BEBE - CD / DVD Burners

Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - Operating Systems

Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-Z77MX-D3H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply

Newegg.com - ASUS ENGTX560 TI DCII TOP/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Newegg.com - Samsung by Seagate Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ/ST500DM005 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

$922 and it has $30 in MIR

this should allow some room to get a mid tower case of his choice. if that upper limit is a bit more strict and we arent counting the MIR, then i would get a 6870
Newegg.com - XFX Double D HD-687A-ZDFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

to make more room for a case.

 

[patonb]

He needs a monitor too, doesn't he