600-700$ Gaming PC (Comments/Suggestions/Advice Very Much Welcome)

My old PC just isn't cutting it anymore and I'm looking into upgrading. Problem is, I'm what you might call a neophyte and quite worried about the possible headaches that may result from upgrading without knowing exactly what I'm picking up.

What I'm really looking for is a PC that can run well the most recent games on the market, not necessarily beasts like Crysis though that would certainly be a plus, but games such as the recently released Dragon Age Origins.

I already have a nice screen that I don't intend to replace but everything else could go if it's worth it.

I'm mainly an RPG gamer and I have no interest whatsoever in multiplayer, if that helps in any way in determining my specific needs.

I've recently come upon this article from Destructoid and I'm wondering if it's any good. Not only that but I would love to hear any alternative offers I could benefit from.

Though I want to insist that I'm not willing to go much above 800$ to upgrade my PC and that I'm not expert in the least in overclocking and other such advanced methods of getting the most out of hardware. I'm also wholly uninterested in abstract performance, all I really care about are games and browsing the internet painlessly and seamlessly.

If there's any details I could add to my post to help any of you brave folks help me make this projected upgrade of mine happen then I will gladly do so.

I understand that my lack of expertise in this field may have led me into some social faux-pas, if that is the case then do forgive me.

I'm awaiting rather earnestly any suggestions for a potential build and/or comments on the above article I've linked.

Thank you all.

 

Ok I dont have alot of time here but as for building, its pretty simple to do, Much like a lego kit but things only fit one way, so if something doesnt fit, dont force it, try it the other way.

A few pointers, go for a Corei5, and compatible mobo. Corsair hx520 psu, ATI5700 series card if you can find them in stock, or a 4890 (1GB)should do you quite well.

 

So then here's what I've found for now.

Intel Core i5-750 (Processor)
Corsair HX520W (PSU)
Powercolor ATI HD5750
Motherboard

What do you guys think about that? Would it all work together? Would it be able to work with what I need? I know there's still a few components missing but I'll take care of those later.

Also, any advice on which version of Window 7 I should use? 32 bits or 64 bits?

 

The motherboard won't work with the Intel I5-750, for that you need a intel cpu motherboard.
That motherboard will only work with the phenoms which are cheaper than the intel I5.
Make sure you get a good cpu fan for that 95 watt cpu. When I got my phenom 9750 (also 95 watt cpu), I got a cheap cpu fan and my temperatures were almost at 70 celcius, replacing the fan got the temperature down to 45 celcius at full load.
The radeon 5750 video card is very good, I have the radeon 4670 and I'm very impressed with it.
Which windows you get will depend on what the software you will be using requires. Make sure the games you want to play are 64bit if you go that route.

 

This motherboard would be compatible with the CPU you chose GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2

EDIT: Also get Windows 7 64 bit if you can it supports most if not all 32 bit software aswell.

 

Alright so I'm not sure I understand, but apparently my motherboard and my CPU are incompatible.

Would it be possible to propose to me a motherboard that would be both compatible and worthwhile?

I can tell that I should pick one from the list of Intel motherboards but it's hard to tell which one is good enough.

 

jony218, you must need a better cooled case then. The stock intel fan should do just fine in a proper case.

To the op, the mobo zulo1 pointed out is a great choice.

The powercool, well Im not sure just how reliable they are. You need 4 GB of DDR3 RAM. Corsair and G.Skill are amont the best, notably the dominator and xms series from Corsair and the ripjaws. I imagine the XMS are the best value in your case. As for 32 bit or 64 bit, 64 bit all the way. Much better performance then 32 bit and you should have no problem running any 32 bit apps. For a hard drive I would suggest a Western Digital with 32 MB Cache.

 

If you haven't heard of Powercolor, then perhaps you've heard of another similar graphic card that could satisfy my needs? I'd be really interested in any recommendation you have.

 

To be honest, an Intel Core i5 system is slightly above your price range - if you want to stick to $700 max then you're going to have to aim a little lower.

For reference, however, i priced together an Intel Core i5 build the other day for someone else:

Intel Core i5 750 @ 2.66GHz - $199.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215&cm_re=core_i5-_-19-115-215-_-Product

MSI P55M-GD45 Motherboard - $119.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130246&cm_re=p55-_-13-130-246-_-Product

OCZ 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 RAM - $78.99 ($58.99 after mail-in rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...129066&cm_re=antec_300-_-11-129-066-_-Product

HIS ATI HD4890 1GB GPU - $179.99 ($159.99 after mail-in rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161299&cm_re=hd_4890-_-14-161-299-_-Product

Corsair VX550W PSU - $89.99 ($79.99 after mail-in rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004&Tpk=vx550w

Antec 300 Illusion Case - $59.95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...129066&cm_re=antec_300-_-11-129-066-_-Product

WD Caviar Black 500GB Hard-drive - $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&cm_re=western_digital-_-22-136-320-_-Product

Sony DVD Drive - $27.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030

Total - $826.88 ($776.88 after rebates)

 

That looks like a pretty decent build and to get exactly what I'm want, I'm willing to go just that bit higher.

Looking at it, it seems like it would work out pretty well for me. Thanks!

Edit: Also, the link on those memory sticks is all wrong, could you fix it? I'm having trouble finding the right product as is. Sorry for the bother!

 

Newegg do not stock the 550W VX PSU at the moment, and may not do so for a while.
I would also strongly recommend you ditch the poor quality OCZ RAM for quality stuff to reduce risk of crashes/BSODs. There's a reason why it's so cheap.
Corrected PSU link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
Corrected RAM link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260

 

Thank you very much for the help! I'll take your recommendation to heart, though would this work as an alternative to the RAM you're proposing?

Corsair Dominator

I'm just wondering if it would be worth it to invest the extra money or if it's so negligible that I'd be wasting my money even considering this model.

 

CAS8 isn't as much of a big deal for intel CPUs as it is AMDs, you will almost certainly never notice the difference. In the old days when you overclocked a CPU you often reached the limits of the memory and had to raise the CAS latency to proceed further, so buying lower latency RAM was good. With 1600mhz RAM, however, and a modern Core i5, you will never need anything better. As for the dominator heatspreaders, they're very handy if you intend to have 4 sticks of RAM together for 8GB, but if you're sticking with 4GB, they're unnecessary.

 

The graphic card in my build is unfortunately sold out...

I'd really appreciate some help finding an alternative.

I know there's the Turbo Edition but since it's already overclocked, I don't know how safe it is exactly.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102848&cm_re=hd_4890-_-14-102-848-_-Product

 

I understand this may sound very annoying, but I'm Canadian and this item is deactivated on the Newegg.ca

I've checked around a bit for an alternate website that stocks it and all I could find was this Sapphire Radeon Vapor-X HD 4890

I'm really sorry about having to ask again but it seems like it'd be wise to do so.

The internet is really not wanting me to find a card right now. >_<

Thanks for your time and patience, I really appreciate it.

 

But the Sapphire Vapor-X is the card I just linked you to...
Alternatively,
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102852&cm_re=hd_4890-_-14-102-852-_-Product

 

Yes, but I only managed to find it on Tigerdirect.ca which sells it at a pretty big premium for 244$, useless mail-in rebate included. So really, 264$.

That doesn't sound like a very good deal, am I wrong? If it's still fair, then so much the better and I'll just get it and be on my way!

Apologies for not having been very clear about the issue here.

 

See above edit.
If you'd stated you were from canada at the start I would have provided all the links from newegg.ca instead...

 

I know, that's really my bad. I really appreciate you going the extra mile to help me despite that hurdle.

Thank you very much!

You're a real lifesaver.