Best pre-build gaming pc tower? $400 budget

[Naynay]

Ok my current pc sucks lol so looking to buy a new one. So i need help in building/getting parts. I'm new to this. Heres a few thing you guys should probably know.

1. New pc will mostly be used for gaming, specifically Fallout New Vegas, Oblivion, starcraft 2, and World of Warcraft.

2. My budget is $400

3. Only buying from Newegg and amazon

4. Only the tower, I already have a tower casing, 17" widescreen monitor, dvd rom drive, 500 gb hard drive, OS, keyboard, mouse, and power plug/monitor plugs etc.

5. Want to play games with atleast 1280-800 to 1440-900 resolution

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[HoryLeo]

I'm not good with PC parts but I can give you a few advices about what I know.

1. RAM: None of those games require more than 2 GB RAM from my knowledge, but you should get 3 just to be sure that you avoid performance issues. If you want more than 3 GB RAM to play different, newer games (like Oblivion's "sequel", Skyrim) you will need to have the 64bit version of Windows XP / Vista or Windows 7. I'm pretty sure that the normal 32bit version of Windows can hold a max of 3 GB RAM.

2. Video Card: None of those games require a good , powerful video card with 1 GB of memory, so you can buy a cheaper one that doesn't have that much memory. But, some new games might show up that awaken your interest and they might need a powerful video card. Most games prefer video cards from Nvidia and Ati Radeon, so your best bet is to buy 1 of these (Nvidia is easier to configure).

[CaptainChaos]

New Vegas is about the most resource intensive game on that list. WoW can get crazy during large PvP battles (or in any area with 40+ players), but that's more network latency than anything.

Just FYI, I played New Vegas on an i7, 10GBs RAM, and an ASUS GTX260. IIRC it uses about 800MBs of RAM at max everything (1920x1080 res), and couldn't occupy more than 25% of two of my cores. I don't know how intensive it was on my Video Card, but I had absolutely no problem maintaining 60fps at any point during the game except in New Vegas with the high-res texture pack. Loads times weren't great (but they weren't bad either) until I transferred the game to my SSD.

When I get home tonight, I'll try and load up New Vegas again and give you an idea what it eats up since I haven't played it since I got my GTX560. At least then, you'll have an idea.

I will say that I've bought ASUS everything since ~2003 and haven't regretted it ever. Even their retail PCs give great performance for the money.

EDIT: Just loaded F:NV up at max everything with high res texture pack and an assload of other mods.

CPU usage from 15-25% on 2 cores.

RAM right at about 800MBs

VRAM anywhere from 400-600MBs

My 560 never went above 40% GPU usage.

I don't see why you'd need anything fancy if you're not looking to run games at ridiculous res and graphics settings. I can't help you pricing out parts though, but I don't see why even a dual-core with 3-4GBs of Ram with any kind of older ATI or Nvidia wouldn't do the job. If you don't already own a 64-bit version of Windows, that will likely run you as much as the hardware you buy.

[prideslayer]

What OS?

If you're still running a 32bit OS (e.g. Windows XP) you can get a dual or single core 32bit system dirt cheap. They're practically giving them away. You also need to give some indication on just how old some of the stuff you have is. Many newer motherboards don't have legacy IDE ports. Chances of the power supply in your current system supporting anything too spectacular are pretty low as well -- not just in the wattage department, but newer motherboards require more/different plugs as well.

You're better off just buying a whole system than trying to figure out what's going to work with what you've got, given your limited knowledge.

Start here on the cheap: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.956680

And use the money you save there to buy a new DVD or blu-ray drive since the one you have almost certainly isn't going to work.

[Atreyu]

What OS?

If you're still running a 32bit OS (e.g. Windows XP) you can get a dual or single core 32bit system dirt cheap. They're practically giving them away. You also need to give some indication on just how old some of the stuff you have is. Many newer motherboards don't have legacy IDE ports. Chances of the power supply in your current system supporting anything too spectacular are pretty low as well -- not just in the wattage department' date=' but newer motherboards require more/different plugs as well.

You're better off just buying a whole system than trying to figure out what's going to work with what you've got, given your limited knowledge.

Start here on the cheap: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.956680

And use the money you save there to buy a new DVD or blu-ray drive since the one you have almost certainly isn't going to work.

[/quote']

Hmm, found what I want eventually:

/>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883103411

[Naynay]

Got some help from another site =p this is what ill be buying

CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core

CPU Cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing

Motherboard - Asus M5A78L-M LX PLUS Micro ATX AM3+

Memory - Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600

Video Card - XFX Radeon HD 6770 1GB

Power Supply - Corsair 430W ATX12V

Will be $410 with taxes, shipping etc. 350 with mail in rebate thing.

So I cant use the same dvd drive? i have this one
/>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129018

Do I even need one? I rarely use it lol. I also have a usb dvd drive. My dad owns a pc/laptop shop, he doesnt sell pricey gaming pcs but he probably has every plug for pcs/videos cards etc so i can probably get them free there.

[srayesmanll]

"So I cant use the same dvd drive? i have this one
/>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6827129018"

Nope, the motherboard doesn't appear to have an IDE slot, which according to the link the DVD drive requires. You'll either need a SATA DVD drive, or go with your USB DVD drive.

[prideslayer]

Looks good except the DVD as already covered.

[srayesmanll]

I actually need to stay out of threads like this. It makes me think my PC is totally inadequate...

ASUS M3A78-T AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Phenom II X4 920 2.8GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Processor HDX920XCGIBOX

G.SKILL 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal

and the kicker...

SAPPHIRE 100245L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

And yet, I can run Skyrim on High (use to be Medium, but something happened with 1.6/1.7 update and it defaulted to High when it automatically checked on steam launch) with the DLC Hi Res packs, and numerous mods (no ENBs, although I use Imaginator and it looks really nice). Every time I posted my setup over there, all I got was "and that works???"

EDIT: Oh yeah, running Win7 64-bit (originally ran Vista 64-bit when I bought it)

[prideslayer]

If it does the job, you don't need anything 'newer' or 'better'. Long time ago I was one of these.. "enthusiasts".. that always had to have the hottest new thing, fastest this, overclocked that, etc. The novelty of paying so much for so little wore off though, as did constant tweaking rather than just using the damn thing. I try to keep my upgrades down to no more than $500 every two years or so.

"back in the day" I had to have everything.. day one. TNT2 Ultra. GeForce256. GeForce3 Ti 500. Slot-A Athlon w/ goldfinger. For a while I even had a AthlonMP board with two unlocked & overclocked AthlonXPs. 15,000 RPM SCSI disks on some outrageously expensive RAID controller -- I only just recently replaced this with a SATA RAID actually.

It gets really tiresome after a while, and it's pointless from the first day. Now I just buy stuff when I need it, like a normal person. I just replaced my 32bit single core AthlonXP system w/ AGP graphics the middle of last year.

Don't waste your money.. or do.. but don't feel bad about it if you don't.

[srayesmanll]

No, I'm happy with my current game rig and it has served me well (knock on wood, formica, plastic, whatever). I'm just one of those guys that when somebody starts talking computers, I get the itch to build another one. But 3 is enough for me...for now

[Naynay]

srayesman after seeing your pc specs and still being able to handle skyrim im thinking of downgrading my future pc lol

Only highest requirement game I have is new vegas anyways. I play most other games on consoles.

Should I go from 8gb ram to 4gb? and get this video card instead?

/>http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvr685oc1gd

[prideslayer]

srayesman after seeing your pc specs and still being able to handle skyrim im thinking of downgrading my future pc lol

Only highest requirement game I have is new vegas anyways. I play most other games on consoles.

Should I go from 8gb ram to 4gb? and get this video card instead?

/>http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvr685oc1gd

What's your OS? Was the first question I asked you. If it's not 64bit Vista or Win7, 8GB is entirely pointless.

[Naynay]

I have both 32 bit and 64 bit windows 7 discs.

[srayesmanll]

Here has always been my belief on building machines: Get the best video card and most memory you can afford (that match the MB and CPU chosen of course). At the time I bought those components, the 4850 VC was about upper mid video card, and I originally got 4gb and vista 32 (I said Vista 64, but it was actually the 32bit). You say that FONV is the most stressing game you play. Say a 6-12 months down the road you suddenly get a craving for Skyrim, or whatever the latest/greatest that comes out. You will be disappointed you didn't get it now (although you can always add memory and replace the video card). My suggestion is get the memory now: 8GB memory and win7 64-bit. This is especially useful if you are going to do anything like video conversions and such. The gigabyte card looks good - looked at the card on Newegg and seemed to have a high proportion of good reviews.

[prideslayer]

I have both 32 bit and 64 bit windows 7 discs.

Well then, install the x64 and keep the 8GB of RAM.. or get even more. I have 16GB and.. it's still not enough. You can never have enough.

[Mashi]

Well then' date=' install the x64 and keep the 8GB of RAM.. or get even more. I have 16GB and.. it's still not enough. You can never have enough.

[/quote']

Damn if that isn't true. They just upgraded our Win 2008 datacentre at work to 2TB because 1TB wasn't enough. Sadly, it also looks like 2TB isn't enough, and we need to add another cluster to pick up the slack. The boss wasn't impressed, I'm glad that's not my job.

[prideslayer]

Well then' date=' install the x64 and keep the 8GB of RAM.. or get even more. I have 16GB and.. it's still not enough. You can never have enough.

[/quote']

Damn if that isn't true. They just upgraded our Win 2008 datacentre at work to 2TB because 1TB wasn't enough. Sadly, it also looks like 2TB isn't enough, and we need to add another cluster to pick up the slack. The boss wasn't impressed, I'm glad that's not my job.

The ESX cluster I run is light on memory (3 machines, 64G per machine) but has an FC SAN with two 15TB RAID-10 arrays. Initial plan called for all that space to be used inside of a few months, but I've been fighting that pretty hard. Only 6.1TB used so far, in total.