Looking to build budget gaming PC

Hi, I want to put together a decent budget gaming PC. I'm building this in anticipation to play Diablo 3 (hopefully be coming out within a month or two!!).

Because the game has not been released or a confirmed release date has been set, I'd like to get items piece by piece (e.g., wait till the last few days to get CPU/video card and other more frequently upgraded parts). I was thinking I'd go ahead and get a Case, PSU, optical drive, and any other items I may need if there was a good deal/price. I was hoping to get some advice as I consider myself a noob (although I've been doing some reading) and never have built my own rig before. Based off of prices I've seen here on SD front page, i've mapped out about how much I think I'd spend on the following items:

Case - $30-70 (saw this one maybe? http://slickdeals.net/f/3786314-N...ter-10-MIR)

PSU - not sure?? will this one be sufficient? http://slickdeals.net/f/3768458-C...-fs-newegg

optical drive - $20

HDD - ???due to floods/high prices right now

mobo/CPU - was hoping to get an i5 (i have a microcenter nearby) or equivalent AMD processor

Video Card - I've been seeing prices drop a lot recently and unsure which is best i can get for price, seemed to me to be the AMD radeon 6870 for $130 AR

RAM - 8GB for $30, or possibly 16GB for $60 if it is beneficial (i seem to be seeing this quite often)

I can use all/any help or advice as this will be the first computer I've built myself and thanks in advance!!!

i'd spend more on the video card to be honest. i got a nvidia 560 ti. tom's puts out a best bang for buck.

i too am excited for d3.

i got 8gb of ram. i have a win 7 gadget that shows core/mem usage and it never gets past 60% or so. I'm not sure there is a benefit of 8 over 16 at this point.

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Quote from dayv : i'd spend more on the video card to be honest. i got a nvidia 560 ti. tom's puts out a best bang for buck. i too am excited for d3. i got 8gb of ram. i have a win 7 gadget that shows core/mem usage and it never gets past 60% or so. I'm not sure there is a benefit of 8 over 16 at this point.

i see, is the 560 ti that much better/worth it? the reason why i mentioned the 6870, was because of this thread/price http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/6...-3-pc-game

the lowest I've seen the 560 ti on SD is around $190-200.

i'm not sure at all, but was wondering if the card is that much better to justify the additional 60-70.

I'll stick with 8GB of ram then for now, i guess I can always upgrade to more later..

thanks

Quote from zer0efforts : i see, is the 560 ti that much better/worth it? the reason why i mentioned the 6870, was because of this thread/price http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/6...-3-pc-game the lowest I've seen the 560 ti on SD is around $190-200. i'm not sure at all, but was wondering if the card is that much better to justify the additional 60-70. I'll stick with 8GB of ram then for now, i guess I can always upgrade to more later.. thanks

Ya for gaming 8gb will be just fine, you only really need more for video production, rendering, server, virtualization, etc. Like you said it is cheap and you can always get more later if you need.

Don't forget a legit OS. If you set a project budget you will have an easier time getting this in on budget. As for the hard drive, watch for sales, and keep looking at SSD's. If you go with an ssd most people also run hard drives for bulk storage.

Damn, that's a great price on a 6870. I have a 6850 that cost me about the same, and it flies. Easily keeps up with the 2gb Quadro 4000 I have at work.

Quote from oopsz : Damn, that's a great price on a 6870. I have a 6850 that cost me about the same, and it flies. Easily keeps up with the 2gb Quadro 4000 I have at work.

lol yea, which is why i'm soooo tempted to jump on it!! but with the game i'm gonna be playing not even out yet i figured I should at least wait a little while longer... I just don't know enough about things like the PSU or the case and whether the mobo/CPU and video card will all be compatible (would suck to find out i got great deals on parts that dont work with each other) or if that would even be an issue

Quote from zer0efforts : lol yea, which is why i'm soooo tempted to jump on it!! but with the game i'm gonna be playing not even out yet i figured I should at least wait a little while longer... I just don't know enough about things like the PSU or the case and whether the mobo/CPU and video card will all be compatible (would suck to find out i got great deals on parts that dont work with each other) or if that would even be an issue

the psu you picked should be good with anything. case is a non factor. video card is a non factor. memory is easy 240 pin ddr2 with a speed matching what the motherboard supports. don;t go off/cheap brand or you'll have issues, stick with big names like corsair/ocz/g skill/kingston/patriot . (i've learned this the hard way in the past) also make sure the memory kit you get is 2 sticks of 4gb and not 4 sticks of 2gb. just so you can upgrade later if needed.

mobo just look for one that supports the cpu you want. in this case i5, i assume second gen, is an LGA 1155, which is the scooket type. if you have a microcenter, they should have bundled deals. prices from 80 to 380 depending on what you want on it. Asus/MSI/gigabyte are the big 3 brands. i'm a long time buyer of both asus and msi. i picked this up (mainly based on reviews/brand) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6813130574

Quote from dayv : the psu you picked should be good with anything. case is a non factor. video card is a non factor. memory is easy 240 pin DDR3 with a speed matching what the motherboard supports. don;t go off/cheap brand or you'll have issues, stick with big names like corsair/ocz/g skill/kingston/patriot . (i've learned this the hard way in the past) also make sure the memory kit you get is 2 sticks of 4gb and not 4 sticks of 2gb. just so you can upgrade later if needed. mobo just look for one that supports the cpu you want. in this case i5, i assume second gen, is an LGA 1155, which is the scooket type. if you have a microcenter, they should have bundled deals. prices from 80 to 380 depending on what you want on it. Asus/MSI/gigabyte are the big 3 brands. i'm a long time buyer of both asus and msi. i picked this up (mainly based on reviews/brand) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6813130574

You probably just mistyped, but wanted to correct it.

Quote from dayv : the psu you picked should be good with anything. case is a non factor. video card is a non factor. memory is easy 240 pin ddr2 with a speed matching what the motherboard supports. don;t go off/cheap brand or you'll have issues, stick with big names like corsair/ocz/g skill/kingston/patriot . (i've learned this the hard way in the past) also make sure the memory kit you get is 2 sticks of 4gb and not 4 sticks of 2gb. just so you can upgrade later if needed. mobo just look for one that supports the cpu you want. in this case i5, i assume second gen, is an LGA 1155, which is the scooket type. if you have a microcenter, they should have bundled deals. prices from 80 to 380 depending on what you want on it. Asus/MSI/gigabyte are the big 3 brands. i'm a long time buyer of both asus and msi. i picked this up (mainly based on reviews/brand) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6813130574

Quote from XReflection : You probably just mistyped, but wanted to correct it.

ok, thanks for all the help! I think I'm going to go ahead and jump on that PSU then and grab a case/go check out microcenter. I appreciate all the help!!

I u got some extra money to spend, a SSD Drive wouldnt hurt.

i got a 750W Antec Green PSU for about $100 a year ago, they arent as expensive...
I also got the GTx560, runs every game i have currently, then again, i have i7 with 16GB ram...

Quote from Albort : I u got some extra money to spend, a SSD Drive wouldnt hurt. i got a 750W Antec Green PSU for about $100 a year ago, they arent as expensive... I also got the GTx560, runs every game i have currently, then again, i have i7 with 16GB ram...

Although I do agree an i7 will run games better then a lesser cpu, it's usually the gpu that does the heavy lifting in today's games. 16GB of RAM won't have any difference compared to 8GB in terms of gaming performance.

Quote from Albort : I u got some extra money to spend, a SSD Drive wouldnt hurt. i got a 750W Antec Green PSU for about $100 a year ago, they arent as expensive... I also got the GTx560, runs every game i have currently, then again, i have i7 with 16GB ram...

I just bit on the 600W Corsair PSU for $40 after MIR, i thought the wattage for that price would be pretty hard to beat...

I was looking into SSD's, what worries me about those is that they're quite a bit more expensive and I've heard about them failing? (I don't know too much about SSD's) are they really that much better than traditional spinning HDD's? are they worth it over getting a 7200 RPM hard drive?

Quote from zer0efforts : I just bit on the 600W Corsair PSU for $40 after MIR, i thought the wattage for that price would be pretty hard to beat... I was looking into SSD's, what worries me about those is that they're quite a bit more expensive and I've heard about them failing? (I don't know too much about SSD's) are they really that much better than traditional spinning HDD's? are they worth it over getting a 7200 RPM hard drive?

Well, expect to pay $1-$2 per Gig.
Im barely just put in a SSD SATA III 120GB HDD in my computer...
Get around 380MB/s reading speed(up to 500MB/s)
A regular 7200RPM gives me around 150ishMB/s.

start of bios --> loads everything i have @ startup on a fresh PC, 19sec.