My first gaming PC. I need opinions and suggestions

Communities Gaming
1

I live in Mexico and is kinda bitchy to find good parts for a gaming PC that fit your budget because everything here is worth about $100 dollars more. I don't want to touch a console again though. I really want to get to PC gaming, even if it's a lot more expensive.

I plan to build it on the last half of december. I've been following the $750 budget PC, but I encountered some problems, mostly the high price for every part. Just the GPU listed there, the Radeon HD 7970, is worth $8720. My budget is $13000 pesos, if lucky maybe even $14000 ($14k Mexican pesos are $1073.64 usd). So far, I've been struggling to find a good GPU that can play games on high-ultra and that is also not too expensive, but seems impossible.

This is my list so far with prices on Mexican Pesos. Optical Drives, Hard Drive and Wireless Card are not included because I can take em from my current PC. OS is not included because I can't decide if to buy Windows 8 or stick to Windows 7, but in any case the OS is about $3k more.

CPU: AMD FX-6300 = $1773

Motherboard: ASUS ATX M5A99X EVO = $2225

RAM: G.Skill RipjawsX DDR3 = $1728

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 = $817

Power Supply: Aerocool Strike-X 800W = $1686

GPU: ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 = $6452

This all sums $14681, and I'd still need the OS and some fans, going up to maybe $18000. As you can see, this is far beyond my budget.

The main problem is the GPU which is too expensive, but I fear that if I buy a cheaper one, I just will be able to play on medium graphics.

I need to hear ideas, thoughts, criticism, etc. How could I make this rig cheaper, but maintaining some power? Is it even possible? Or PC gaming is restricted to rich folks on Mexico and I should go back to consoles? What should I do?

If you want to consult prices on Mexico, check this site:

http://www.cyberpuerta.mx

Thanks for reading.

2

im new to the pc world, but i did recently build a gaming comp for myself, i got tired of console and wanted to expand. if your new at gaming on a pc the transition could take some time . im still getting the hang of it. but with regards to your pricing and the GPU if your going with an AMD cpu check on their line of APU like their trinity line ,they have on board gpu's built in and some of them can even crossfire with a discreet amd card. so you will get boosted performance  and save some cash instead of going balls deep in a nvidia card at that price. me i had an original budget of 1500$ and after 3 weeks i poured about another 1k into a new stronger gpu and heatsink for my APU. my advice since the pricing is crazy look at AMD and test the waters and see what you get then make upgrade decisions after getting your feet wet

3

well that gpu isn't the best for the money. for strictly gaming(though this is changing as things are starting to use  opengl) i would recommend a hd 7970, i have one ( actually its an r9 280x but its just a rebranded 7970) and it runs everything i throw at it even the most unoptimized games at over 60 fps maxed out. For the CPU, you can try playing the silicon lottery and overclocking but you are going to need a better CPU cooler then the stock one, i recommend a cooler master hyper evo 212 or something in similar design and price. If you do end up going with an APU get a richland based one as they have a good performance increase over the last gen and the price is just slightly higher . 

4

The HD 7970 is the one I wrote is worth $9k, I can't afford it.

Why is the GeForce GTX 680 not good for gaming? I saw on benchmarks that the GTX 680 on SLI is one of the best options out there to play on ultra settings.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU13/708

5

its not as good as its amd conterparts for most market places but i was unable to find one in pesos(i just went of the conversion rate) but at that price difference it is the better deal.

6

Well, at that price I'd definitely not choose the AMD one.

Again, I want a good and not-so-expensive GPU. I don't want to overclock, for me it's not a good option. I just want to play games. I'd be happy if I could play on high, I just don't want to reduce drastically the graphics options.

If I can have better graphics than in a console without a high-end GPU, then my goal is accomplished.

7

Nvidia is always a bad choice if you are looking for a good price/performance ratio. If you don't have too much to spend you could go for a Radeon HD 7870 or even a 7950. They have very good performance for their price. If you can, try to upgrade your cpu as well. A FX8350 is a good choice. Any 2nd or 3rd gen i5 is good as well

8

The HD 7870 seems pretty nice and costs the half of the Nvidia one I wrote. I might take that one.

Would it be really necessary to upgrade my CPU? It costs only $1300 more, so I guess I could buy it, but would it affect much? I still don't quite understand what is the CPU job on gaming.

9

CPUs DO have an influence on the fps you get in games, although their influence is quite low compared to the GPU. In games, you have lots of tasks dedicated to the CPU, for example physics (except if you are running GPU physx, but that is a really dead one).

Here are some CPU benchmarks that I collected for a friend a while ago:

http://www.cpu-world.com/benchmarks/browse/959_63,959_61,831_63,831_61,1026_96,921_81,595_42,1031_96,918_63,918_61,998_80,676_42,752_63,752_61,1027_96,1032_96,1014_80,1035_96,902_80,991_80,1086_63,1086_61,990_80,929_63,929_61,1094_61,958_63,958_61,1096_61,931_63,615_42,1093_61,765_63,765_61,482_36,949_80,1091_63,1091_61,833_63,833_61,1030_96,910_80,763_63,763_61,1084_96,729_42,926_63,926_61,654_42,732_42,884_63,884_61,965_63,965_61,966_63,966_61,992_80,760_63,760_61,758_63,758_61,960_63,960_61,993_80,756_63,756_61,962_63,962_61,1085_96,594_42,617_42,900_80,1016_80,754_63,754_61,1006_80,1034_96,951_80,577_36,597_42,961_63,961_61,1015_80,619_42,1087_96,736_42,1033_96/

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/v/1414668_774945815853861_462737853_n.jpg?oh=ed475becf6fa38b8c679e9ed78dd2b5a&oe=5278074F&__gda__=1383632700_dfc5878c6998520453e0c64e000a6a79

http://www.techspot.com/review/615-far-cry-3-performance/page6.html

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+FX-6300+Six-Core&id=1781

If you are getting the 7870, be aware that it is less powerful than the 680. If you need more power you should go with the 7950 or even the R9 280x. In any case: don't buy reference coolers. Gigabyte is quite good. Sapphire and XFX as well.

10

overclocking is simple if you have a good motherboard and a decent cooler. But by all means it is not necessary to play game well. The FX gets lower fps on benchmarks mainly because its single core performance is not as good as the intels. Many games are not properly coded for full multithreading and cannot use the full potential of the 8 cores of the 8350 (the i5 and i7 only have 4 cores). The FX is a good choice if you ask me. Alternatively you can have a look at the i5 2500k. I am running that one on my desktop and I am very satisfied with it.

Also be aware that the i7 they used in the test is one of the strongest models and costs almost 1000 US $ (approx.)

If you want to upgrade your graphics card next year you should make sure that your motherboard supports PCIe 3.0. Although many benchmarks suggest that there is not a measurable difference between PCIe2 and 3 now, that might change once you have a newer graphics card (and especially if you play 1440p or higher). Be aware that Sandy Bridge CPUs do not support PCIe 3.0!

The new AMD cards have already been released (except for the R9 290 non-X) so the prices should be going down. On the german website where I susually buy my stuff the prices for the 7870 have already dropped a lot

11

I guess I'm going for the FX-8350 then.

Unfortunately, I can't get the HD 7950 or the R9 280x. They cost $2k more than the HD 7870. A sound strategy to me would be buying a decent GPU for now, and try to upgrade it next year with a good one. That's why I'm trying to make it good on every other aspect, but decent on the most expensive one. But a guy told me that I should wait until AMD ends to release their new GPUs so the price goes down. If it drops a lot I might get the HD 7950.

One thing that catched my eye on the Far Cry 3 comparison you sent is that the i7 does pretty well without overclocking, but the FX-8350 had to overclock to compete against the i7 and still lost. Does that means that if I use AMD I NEED to overclock? I wouldn't like to do it due to the risk, but in case it's mandatory, would you give me some tips on how to do it safely?

12

Whoa, what's the PCI? And how do I know which version does the one I listed has? You got me there.

13

PCIe (PCI express) is the connector on your motherboard in which you plug your graphics card. PCIe 1, 2 and 3 look the same but the speed is different (you can plug a modern grahics card in a PCIe 1 lane but it will have slower transfer rates)

14

One thing to throw into the mix with GFX cards. You can CXF a 7870 and come out with about the same results as the 7970. Might not be a bad idea to get one until budget allows for a 2nd

16

How exactly do you do that? (Would be interesting for me because I have a 7870 as well)

17

Aerocool is a bad brand?

18

I would suggest

AMD 8350
Radeon 7870 GHZ edition ( later you can add 1 more for CF)
 

19

Do what? CF it? Buy a 2nd one. Put it in the slot under your first and connect the little cord that comes with the cards. From there I believe you use CCC to manage some configurations but I'm not sure as I have yet to do it and will be in about a month.

20

a 7870 will be better than the next gen consoles. i have a 7850 and run battlefield 3/4 on ultra.

21

naming a bunch of good brand does not mean that the others are crap :-)

(be quiet! is also not too bad as a PSU btw)