Tech and Talk > Gaming > PC gaming Tech > System Parts - Advice for a gaming system newb?

System Parts - Advice for a gaming system newb?

The Core i5's are nice CPU's for gaming and aren't too expensive while the i3's are slightly less powerful but easier on the wallet. If you want maximum power then i7 is what you want. The i3, i5, & i7 are available in Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge which just designates the microarchitechture used on the processor. Sandy Bridge is just a hair older than Ivy Bridge but just as capable.

People will typically tell you to go with an AMD setup if you're looking to go the cheap route. You can spend a little bit more on an Intel product, like $15 to 20 more, and have a much better setup. Before someone accuses me of being an Intel fanboy....I ran AMD stuff from the K6 days all the way up to Phenom II.

If you're wanting decent and relatively cheap, here's one suggestion:
All prices from Newegg, but feel free to look at other sites.

CPU: Intel Core i3-2120 $124.99 »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···=i3-2120
Motherboard: Asrock Z77M $94.99 »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···k%20z77m
Optional Video Card: Geforce GTX 560 $169.99 »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···14125390

Why did I suggest a Z77 based board with a Sandy Bridge CPU and not an Ivy Bridge CPU? Mainly because Ivy Bridge is still fairly expensive and the Sandy Bridge counterpart is fine for entry level stuff. Also, Z77 adds native PCIe 3.0 and USB 3.0 support which gives you that warm fuzzy "future proof" feeling.
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I'll be stretching out the rhyme like gravity stretches time.

reply to HarryH3
I think you should disclose your intended budget for this project.

I was personally waiting for these motherboard two of which have just been released to retail this week:

GA-Z77X-UP5 TH = ~$249.99 USD
GA-Z77X-UP4 TH = ~$184.99 USD
GA-Z77MX-D3H TH = ~$???

»www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···Z77X-UP5
»www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···Z77X-UP4

I expected these boards to be more expensive by about ~$50 each.

I would expect the last board to be somewhere in the ~$100 range possibly less given the release price of the above two. The specs on these motherboards are fairly decent and they also come with dual Intel Thunderbolt ports. Future proofing isn’t necessarily an attainable thing but if it were I believe these boards are some of the closest to it,….for now.

I’m in the market for a video card now myself and I really don’t want to spend a lot on it as I don’t really game much anymore. However, I just bought a new “quasi cheap” 2560x1440 LED back light IPS 27” display for my Wife a couple of days ago. So I want to try a video card that can drive a display like that well and possibly be able to handle a triple monitor setup. I think something like an HD 6870 would do fairly well in the ~$150 range (after rebate).

If you have a Microcenter near you then you may be able to get a good CPU / motherboard combo deal. Also the prices on Z68 motherboards have dropped some after the release of Z77 so you can still get a good board for less going that route.

Microcenter has the following boxed processor:

Core i5 3450 3.1GHz LGA 1155 Processor - $149.99 USD

However, you would have to pay tax on it.

reply to ironweasel
I like those prices! I'm leaning towards Intel as it seems that they're really kicking AMD's butt lately.

Is Asrock decent? I'm not familiar with the brand, then again most of the MB makers that I knew of back in the day are long gone.

reply to Octavean
I don't really have a budget yet, as I don't really know what to get. But I also don't want to drop $1,000 on what is basically a toy. Heck, I only paid $350 for my new laptop for my business.

Sadly, the closest Microcenter is 3 hours away. I hate that they always have these awesome deals that are in-store only. That price would make the i5 a no-brainer! We do have a Fry's nearby but I haven't seen any screaming deals from them lately

That new monitor sounds awesome!

reply to HarryH3
ASrock, much like Rosewill, has recently graduated from the cheapo budget market segment to very solid mainstream components. I'd recommend Asrock mobos and Rosewill CPU/cases.

Wish I read this earlier today--I had just taken a trek to our Microcenter in VA (about 30 min away for me) to pick up an SSD for a friend!
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If we lose this freedom of ours, history will record with the greatest astonishment, those who had the most to lose, did the least to prevent its happening.

reply to HarryH3
Sorry to hear that you have no Microcenter near you. I have a choice of 3 nearby: Paterson NJ , Long Island Westbury and Yonkers NY. I went to the NJ location this past weekend to buy an Auria EQ276W 27" 2560x1440 LED IPS monitor for my Wife. It uses the same quality display as the Apple Cinema display but cost less then half the price at ~$399.99 USD. Basically its one of those Korean 2560x1440 LED IPS monitors people have been buying up on eBay like the Achieva Shimian, Yamakasi Catleap Q270 and Crossover 27Q:

»www.pcper.com/reviews/Displays/A···nder-350

However, it’s the first of its kind available from a retail store in the USA with full warranty and applicable return policy. Its also an amazing display and a killer deal. Apparently you don’t even have to go into the store to get it like I did because Microcenter will ship it. I’m tempted to get another one these things are awesome.

We have Microcenter in Houston and Dallas. I'm just outside Austin, so it's a long drive to either store. Fry's used to have awesome deals on CPU/MB combos but it seems they have moved on to having low prices on off-brand and/or discontinued TV's instead.

That monitor sounds awesome! I'm still rockin' an NEC MultiSync XE21 CRT. Yep, an 80+ pound beast from a bygone era that takes up a huge amount of desktop real estate.

Maybe you can see if Fry’s will price match Microcenter on the components you want? Might just be as easy as a phone call or maybe you can drop by a store and ask if its in rout of your daily travels.

And yeah, the Auria EQ276W 27" 2560x1440 LED IPS monitor is insanely awesome IMO! Great viewing angles, saturation, contrast, color and brightness. Deep blacks (although they could be a bit deeper). Excellent crisp text even if it does get a little small its still quite legible and razor sharp. The experience is almost like 3D because everything just seems to pop out at you in amazing detail. I can’t believe this monitor went for ~$399.99.

reply to HarryH3
As mentioned earlier, it would be really helpful if you would tell us what your budget is here Harry. Less than $1,000? Is that the only guideline?

I suppose the budget is "cheap" compared to most gaming systems. I'm trying to get away with spending as little as possible while getting a decent system that will be usable for at least a couple of years. Last night my son was looking at MB's on Newegg and thought that the MSI Z77A-G45 would work: »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···13130645

Sadly, Fry's wouldn't price match the Microcenter I5 3450 at $150. I'll be scouring the net for other CPU deals...

reply to HarryH3
I was just checking my email and saw that Newegg has the ASRock Extreme 4 on sale: »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···7293-L0I

Is it worthy of consideration?

One thing I'm noticing as I browse all these MB's is that the ones with a lot of reviews seem to have a 15-18% "1-star" rating. Is that just the state of things today?

I estimate that 25% of people don't know what they're doing and thus end up unhappy and leave a bad review.

This is found in some of the reviews by reading it carefully.

Indeed! They walk among us...

There was one 1egg review I once read where it seemed like the person thought it was something totaly differant.

Another where someone blamed microsoft for not having the drivers for the new 2011 northbridge sata controler. (um ya thats going to be common for win7 as the device is much newer than the OS)

so read the 1eggs carefully some might be real but others are kinda silly (thats why I look for teh 1egg reviews to read them not just see how many)

reply to HarryH3

I'm checking out the ASRock website. It looks like they stay on top of BIOS updates. My major issue is going to be that my 12-yo son really likes the MSI blue anodized heatsinks. It doesn't make it "better" just "neater".

reply to HarryH3
Regardless of the color of heatsink on the mobo, I'm just afraid you're not going to see a stellar increase in performance if you don't put a new GPU on your shopping list.

The main problem we're seeing right now is that his system is constantly using the paging file. The current MB is maxed out at only 2GB or RAM and he likes to keep too many things open and running at the same time. His old HD 4850 is still fairly near the top of the heap when I look at the GPU hierarchy chart over at Toms Hardware. We're going to see what happens with his current GPU in the new setup. If it sucks, then we'll revisit that at a later time.