Build Suggestions?

[Serenity]

So, I've been trying to put my own build together for months now, and I've spent hours and hours putting together ideas only to second guess myself as I REALLY don't know what I'm doing despite my reading at the end of the day, so, now that I have the money, I was wondering if anyone wants to volunteer to pick out a setup, lol. Essentially, I'm looking for the best gaming rig I can get for about $600. I would like something that I can upgrade down the line, but I want to be able to start a few games now. I don't need blu-ray or DVD burners, just readers. This rig is going to only be used for gaming, and even the hard drive doesn't have to be more than 500GB. So, before I dive into it myself again, anyone have any good suggestions?

[Tigger29]

You can build a pretty decent system for $600 but it would help to have some more information:

1> Do you need any peripherals?  In other words do you need to buy a keyboard, mouse and a monitor?
2> Is this replacing an older computer?  If so you may be able to recycle some parts such as the hard drive, DVD, power supply, case, etc?
3> Do you need an operating system included with that $600 or do you have a copy of windows you can use already?

[cattb]

If you goto www. tomshardware, the site has builds of the month. For 600 and under I would go with a AMD system where you spend less on the CPU and use the extra money for a better video card.

If you were going to spend towards 1000, I would look more towards Intel.

Just my 2 cents. I am not trying to start a Intel, AMD battle here either.

Get your self a good PSU, no cheapy. The 6850, 6870 ATI cards are good midrange as the 460, 560 nvidia are good midrange cards also.
I have had seagate, maxtor,and  WD hardrives. I have had good luck with them all.(I am still running maxtor IDE hardrive in another computer). At this time I would recommend the WD black with the 5 year warranty.

Do your research, good luck.

[guncrasher]

if you can, i would wait a month or two and save a couple hundred extra bucks  for a better system. me personally i would go for an intel system.

semp

[gyrene81]

video card is going to be you're biggest expense...monitor and/or mobo will be second depending...

i'd agree with semp and wait at least a month. but then, you could watch for sales and grab piece by piece to get the most bang for your buck on some parts...good monitors have been fairl steady in price, memory fluctuates, hard drives stay steady, cpu's decrease slowly, mobos stay pretty steady, video cards decrease slowly...but we're coming up on the holidays and if you watch the some of the online retailers daily you can get some really good deals.

the places i normally shop are...
newegg
directron
amazon
frozen cpu
tiger direct
buy.com

[Masherbrum]

GPU: SAPPHIRE RADEON HD 6790….…............... $150
CPU: INTEL CORE I3-2100…..….….…..............…. $126
OPTICAL DRIVE: SAMSUNG SH-S222A………….…….. $22
MOTHERBOARD: GIGABYTE GA-H67M-D2-B3……..... $90
PSU: ROSEWILL RG530-S12………….................…. $50
RAM: PATRIOT 4GB DDR3/1333………..….............. $40
CASE: ROSEWILL R218……………….…................…. $30
HARD DRIVE: WESTERN DIGITAL CAVIAR BLUE 1TB....$60
OS: OEM WINDOWS 7 HOME PREMIUM…………….…. $99


TOTAL COST…………....…. $667

Copy and Paste from the August 2011 issue of Maximum PC.   This PC tested higher than the AMD system they built for nearly the same price.

[Serenity]

Awesome, I appreciate the feedback, and I'm still doing my own research, but with so many options, it helps to see what you guys suggest parts-wise to narrow down my research. And for the record, that $600 would be only for what goes in the tower. Monitor, keyboard, OS, etc. would be on a different budget.

[Bino]

...
Get your self a good PSU, no cheapy
...

Amen!  Comments in this forum led me to select a SeaSonic X750 when I built my machine last year. 

And SeaSonic is the OEM for certain Corsair branded PSUs, too.  Look for Corsair units with the UL listing number 307858. For example, the Corsair TX750.

[guncrasher]

one thing I noticed was that hard drives went up in price alot in past week or two.  was looking for a wd 750 black that was selling for 60 now it's selling for 100.


semp

[SilverZ06]

one thing I noticed was that hard drives went up in price alot in past week or two.  was looking for a wd 750 black that was selling for 60 now it's selling for 100.


semp

holy crap. I just checked the price of my wd black 1tb and it doubled in price. as did my 64gb. ssd since I bought them a couple months ago.

[Masherbrum]

The flooding in Thailand is why HDD's have gone up in price.  

EDIT:  A little bird just informed me that a $70 HD two weeks ago, will be around $200 in December.

[guncrasher]

fry's still has the hard drives at low prices.  but in store-pick up only.  for now.

semp