Hey, I know there are dozens of older threads out ther about this, but I figured...what the hell.
My computer is about 4 years old and at the time could run Crysis decently. It's at the point where new games will not run on it. I'm not too worried about being able to play D3 on it, but there are some others that concern me. I'm a Mass Effect and an Elder Scrolls fan and want to be able to run those. Looking at the Skyrim game play videos, I don't think my computer can handle it. Can somebody help me out with a build (for not too much money) to be able to play Skyrim at...say...at least XBOX 360 quality? I'm looking to spend under $600, I already have screen/keyboard/mouse/speakers so don't worry about that.
Thanks!
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“One thing a computer can do that most humans can't is be sealed up in a cardboard box and sit in a warehouse”
--Jack Handy
Hey, I know there are dozens of older threads out ther about this, but I figured...what the hell.
My computer is about 4 years old and at the time could run Crysis decently. It's at the point where new games will not run on it. I'm not too worried about being able to play D3 on it, but there are some others that concern me. I'm a Mass Effect and an Elder Scrolls fan and want to be able to run those. Looking at the Skyrim game play videos, I don't think my computer can handle it. Can somebody help me out with a build (for not too much money) to be able to play Skyrim at...say...at least XBOX 360 quality? I'm looking to spend under $600, I already have screen/keyboard/mouse/speakers so don't worry about that.
Under 600 bucks isn't a very high budget. The problem is that if you're building from the ground up, small budgets are absorbed by buying necessary parts like power supply, case, DVD-ROM, hard drive, etc... Are you going to be recycling any parts from your current computer? Depending on your power supply, you could possibly reuse it since a lot of today's cards are much better on energy efficiency (it was funny replacing a 280GTX that needed 2 extra power connections with a brand new Geforce that was much more powerful and didn't even need a single power connector).
I'd probably go with the i3 Intel processor. Tom's says LGA 1155-based motherboards are going for pretty cheap, starting from $70, so you can always upgrade later. Might not be a bad idea to spend a bit more on a quality motherboard and down the road you could upgrade to something like the i7 without having to gut your motherboard and everything else. Quad-cores are overrated; no game I've played properly utilizes 4 cores. The best you can hope for is optimization for dual-core, which is why the i3 outperforms for example the quad-core phenom AMD 955. I'd get AT LEAST 4 gigs of RAM, probably 6 is better, but my Win7 PC runs fine with 4 to be honest. Win 7 is also a must, goes without saying. As for graphics card, depends on how much is leftover in your budget. Take a look at the link. I used to have a heavy nvidia bias but I believe in Tom's and their reports, so look at the price ranges and compare with local dealers and get the best bang for your buck. Solid state hard drives are too expensive and I don't think they would be that much help in a game that will have most of its info coming from Blizzard's servers. Hope that helps!
You should get an aPU if that is your budget chances are you'll be running a dual core system with a low GPU that can get by moderatley, you won't be able to afford some luxuries though which blows but if that is your budget that is it then.
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Not even Death will save you from Diablo Bunny's Cuteness!
yes i agree with the above. 600$ is very very tight. Maybe you can sell your old comupter for a couple hundred then move on from there. My best advice is to just spend alot of time on newegg.com. Add things to your cart, build wish lists and read ALL the reviews. You will be able to figure out what you need very easily just through the research you do on that site.
If you already have all your peripherals and a monitor that you're happy with, then of course you can get a nice machine for around 600. That barebones kit Eternox linked to for example is really not that bad.
There are pros and cons though to going with a barebones kit. The cons is that you may like certain things within the kit but wish you weren't paying for maybe one or two things that it came with cause you would prefer something else. However, this can usually be overcome by going with any kit that DOESN'T come with a video card. The video card is definitely one of the things you'll want to research and pick out for yourself.
The pros of a barebones kit is that you really do save money overall because you're buying a combination of hardware that may not be moving so fast so they bundle it all together and give you a deal on it. So for example, with my barebone kit that did not come with the video card, the only thing I really didn't like in the package was this cheap Diablotek PSU that it came with. But I looked up the PSU separately and it was only like 30 dollars worth or something. So I figured, well I'm saving money on everything else this kit comes with, so why not just get it and replace the PSU. So I got this Diablotek PSU just sitting there collecting dust. LOL But it was worth it to me because I saved money on everything else.
But yeah, they got some nice barebone kits for a good price on Tigerdirect. I'd personally go with one that had either the i3 or i5. You can get a really nice one for under 600. But since you'd want to upgrade the video card and PSU anyway, I guess it would cost you a bit more.
This one after the rebate (I know, rebates suck) is just under 600. It's got an i7 unlocked processor (nice) and Corsair Vengeance RAM which I personally think is pretty nice. I don't know much about MSI mobos though. The Thermaltake case is pretty nice though it's mostly designed for air and not liquid cooling. Just could potentially be an issue if you ever unlock that processor and wish to go liquid. And that PSU is shitty so you'd want to definitely save up some more money to protect your investment. But this whole thing is probably was pricier just cause of the i7. So let's look at something more modest like an i3 or i5. I've got an i5 and I'm running any new game just fine with maxed out settings.
Here you got an unlockable i5, the Corsair Vengeance RAM, MSI mobo (again you might want to do some research on them), that saem Thermaltake case. I actually have this same case and I like it. It's mainly for air cooling and requires a bit more cleaning, but everything fits in it just fine, even that RAM with its tall heatsinks. So after rebate this thing is about 450. You could get a nice video card for anywhere around 100-150. Then I'd spend about 50-70 on a quality PSU. Then later of course you'll invest in a faster harddrive, but until you do you'll be okay running things off this one here.
So anyway, shop around and if you go barebones, just avoid getting one with a video card. You'll really want to pick that out yourself. Though I did see a kit once with a GTX 550 ti card that came with it which wasn't a bad deal. My point is, if you're looking to build a machine that can run most contemporary games, and you got your monitor and all your peripherals, then hell yes you can build a nice machine for 600. At the least you can get just everything you need and then the capacity to gradually upgrade down the road if you're not quite satisfied with your machine's performance. But invest in the nicer video card as well as the PSU.
My computer is about 4 years old and at the time could run Crysis decently. It's at the point where new games will not run on it. I'm not too worried about being able to play D3 on it, but there are some others that concern me. I'm a Mass Effect and an Elder Scrolls fan and want to be able to run those. Looking at the Skyrim game play videos, I don't think my computer can handle it. Can somebody help me out with a build (for not too much money) to be able to play Skyrim at...say...at least XBOX 360 quality? I'm looking to spend under $600, I already have screen/keyboard/mouse/speakers so don't worry about that.
Thanks!
--Jack Handy
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-performance-radeon-geforce,2997.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-llano-processor,2989.html
Under 600 bucks isn't a very high budget. The problem is that if you're building from the ground up, small budgets are absorbed by buying necessary parts like power supply, case, DVD-ROM, hard drive, etc... Are you going to be recycling any parts from your current computer? Depending on your power supply, you could possibly reuse it since a lot of today's cards are much better on energy efficiency (it was funny replacing a 280GTX that needed 2 extra power connections with a brand new Geforce that was much more powerful and didn't even need a single power connector).
I'd probably go with the i3 Intel processor. Tom's says LGA 1155-based motherboards are going for pretty cheap, starting from $70, so you can always upgrade later. Might not be a bad idea to spend a bit more on a quality motherboard and down the road you could upgrade to something like the i7 without having to gut your motherboard and everything else. Quad-cores are overrated; no game I've played properly utilizes 4 cores. The best you can hope for is optimization for dual-core, which is why the i3 outperforms for example the quad-core phenom AMD 955. I'd get AT LEAST 4 gigs of RAM, probably 6 is better, but my Win7 PC runs fine with 4 to be honest. Win 7 is also a must, goes without saying. As for graphics card, depends on how much is leftover in your budget. Take a look at the link. I used to have a heavy nvidia bias but I believe in Tom's and their reports, so look at the price ranges and compare with local dealers and get the best bang for your buck. Solid state hard drives are too expensive and I don't think they would be that much help in a game that will have most of its info coming from Blizzard's servers. Hope that helps!
http://www.soundcloud.com/salerno
--Jack Handy
There are pros and cons though to going with a barebones kit. The cons is that you may like certain things within the kit but wish you weren't paying for maybe one or two things that it came with cause you would prefer something else. However, this can usually be overcome by going with any kit that DOESN'T come with a video card. The video card is definitely one of the things you'll want to research and pick out for yourself.
The pros of a barebones kit is that you really do save money overall because you're buying a combination of hardware that may not be moving so fast so they bundle it all together and give you a deal on it. So for example, with my barebone kit that did not come with the video card, the only thing I really didn't like in the package was this cheap Diablotek PSU that it came with. But I looked up the PSU separately and it was only like 30 dollars worth or something. So I figured, well I'm saving money on everything else this kit comes with, so why not just get it and replace the PSU. So I got this Diablotek PSU just sitting there collecting dust. LOL But it was worth it to me because I saved money on everything else.
But yeah, they got some nice barebone kits for a good price on Tigerdirect. I'd personally go with one that had either the i3 or i5. You can get a really nice one for under 600. But since you'd want to upgrade the video card and PSU anyway, I guess it would cost you a bit more.
This one after the rebate (I know, rebates suck) is just under 600. It's got an i7 unlocked processor (nice) and Corsair Vengeance RAM which I personally think is pretty nice. I don't know much about MSI mobos though. The Thermaltake case is pretty nice though it's mostly designed for air and not liquid cooling. Just could potentially be an issue if you ever unlock that processor and wish to go liquid. And that PSU is shitty so you'd want to definitely save up some more money to protect your investment. But this whole thing is probably was pricier just cause of the i7. So let's look at something more modest like an i3 or i5. I've got an i5 and I'm running any new game just fine with maxed out settings.
Here you got an unlockable i5, the Corsair Vengeance RAM, MSI mobo (again you might want to do some research on them), that saem Thermaltake case. I actually have this same case and I like it. It's mainly for air cooling and requires a bit more cleaning, but everything fits in it just fine, even that RAM with its tall heatsinks. So after rebate this thing is about 450. You could get a nice video card for anywhere around 100-150. Then I'd spend about 50-70 on a quality PSU. Then later of course you'll invest in a faster harddrive, but until you do you'll be okay running things off this one here.
So anyway, shop around and if you go barebones, just avoid getting one with a video card. You'll really want to pick that out yourself. Though I did see a kit once with a GTX 550 ti card that came with it which wasn't a bad deal. My point is, if you're looking to build a machine that can run most contemporary games, and you got your monitor and all your peripherals, then hell yes you can build a nice machine for 600. At the least you can get just everything you need and then the capacity to gradually upgrade down the road if you're not quite satisfied with your machine's performance. But invest in the nicer video card as well as the PSU.
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