Hello, I'm postman. I've been gaming since I was around 11, and it has always been on a lower end machine, and most recently (a year ago) I got an asus G60Vx Republic Of Gamers laptop, and it has served me very well. I have upgraded the hard drives and CPU in it, but it's reaching its peak and needs to be replaced with my first "gaming" desktop.
This is mainly a christmas gift, so it needed to be really cheap, $500 basic maximum. I wanted a good enough cpu, a GPU worthy of gaming in the newest of games atleast on medium-high(bf3 specifically), and future proof-ability. I've made an AMD system that's mid-high range (AFAIK).
Here's the parts list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mrRR
Now I have not included hard drives or a GPU in this list. I have two 2.5 inch drives from my laptop, I can wipe the OS drive and reinstall the OS on it with my backup W7 dvd.
And as for the GFX card, I'm going with a GTX 280 that I already have, and as soon as I get enough money, I'm upgrading to a GTX 560 TI.
And I do not own a monitor, so that is why one is in the parts list, I wanted to run 1920X1080, but the monitor does 1600X900 max, that's fine with me so far. Currently I'm at 1366X768, so any upgrade is welcome.
Sadly, I really wanted an intel based system, that way I could upgrade my CPU in the future to something way better than the current phenom ii x4 965 that I have selected. But It would add at least $100 for an equivalent intel based MOBO and CPU(again, afaik).
Thank you for taking the time to read this over, and help me with my first gaming desktop rig. Any suggestions for parts changes would be appriciated, although might be too late (I've already sent this list to various people who feel the kindness in their hearts to buy a part or two for me).
But more importantly, I just want to know if there's a problem or something that could be upgraded for cheap.