Build Advice [NOOB]Trying to make a decent gaming rig for less $$

I'm new to building a computer and I'm looking for a decent build that can run games like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 at decent settings. Not so much ultra, just enough to see what I'm doing and actually be able to play online with out too much of a hassle. Ive been looking around and I've found some parts that seem to match what I need and I'll put that at the end. For people who would rather work from scratch I have this:


Budget:<=$550

Main uses of intended build: Gaming/and some school work.

Parts required:I currently have a monitor, keyboard, and a mouse, so everything that goes inside the tower.

Monitor resolution: 1600x900 HD

Storage requirements:4GB RAM(2x2 works)/1TB Hard drive

Any motherboard requirements (no. of USB, Xfire/SLI, fan headers):3 minimum USB ports/put a maybe on Xfire, If its cheap go for it.



So this is the build I was thinking of, feel free to tweak it to make it cheaper, or work to what I want. Or add things that I might've left out.

Spinpoint F3 Hard drive

G.Skill 2x2GB DDR3 RAM

HAF912 Case

Radeon 6850 Video Card

AMD Phenom II x4 CPU Chip

Asus M4A88TD-V AM3/AMD Mother Board

Antec BP550 Plus 550W Power Supply

I'm missing a disc drive from this build, so if you choose to add one keep it cheap.

This build comes to around $620 because of tax and whatnot, but it may be manageable for me. See what you guys can do to make it cheaper and keep the same power.

I'm hoping you guys can help, but if I'm a lost cause let me know, and I'll just find a simple prebuilt.

 

Will you be over clocking?

Below has $60 of Mail In Rebate. If you can afford it add a Thermaltake Frio or similar.

 

I'd propose this build, instead: Clicky!

i3 2100T might look slower than a Quad Core, but it's astoundingly fast, it'll also outpace everything but the Phenom II X6, the 2100T will also happily go to 4Ghz odd, giving you plenty of room to work with in games. The 6850 is probably overpowered for your uses, but it'll more than do anything you need it to, and you can pick up a Western Digital 1.5TB drive for the same price as the Spinpoint F3.

Corsair Builder 600 watt, because I like to overspec a bit, and I use this one personally, so I know it's stable and can more than happily take a bit of Overclocking madness without any issues.

Just a quick DVD-RW thrown in there too, cheapest I could find, and i've not heard of any issues with Samsung drives before now, so it should run without any issues.

 

Tundras build is also good, however I wouldn't use the Caviar Green as a boot drive. Go for a Spinpoint F3 instead.

Also the T variant i3 is the low voltage version so I would swap that out for a regular one.

 

I disagree with both of the above points!

Firstly the 2100T is Clock Locked - that means that you cannot overclock it at all. Especially not to 4Ghz.

Second of all, Battlefield Bad Company 2 is heavily multithreaded, and quad core parts will beat out dual core parts clock for clock.

Regarding the 6850 - that is the lowest card I could recommend, it would be good if you could stretch to a 6870 or even better, pick up a 5870 second hand for a similar price.

You might find my post on Battlefield 3 relevant, as most of it looks at Battlefield Bad Company 2 for reference. Find it herehttp://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=215590

 

I derp'd.

I still stand by my belief that the I3 2100 is a better idea than the Phenom II's, though. Anything short of an X6 gets eaten alive by the 2100.

 

Based on my novice knowledge of computers all of these points seem valid, but like I said I'm new to all of this and I don't really know what any of this means.

I like Jaybles' build, because it seems fairly close to what I originally had. I would put a maybe on overclocking, if doing so jacks up the price a lot I wouldn't encourage it. This computer is going to have to last me through most of college, but I wasn't exactly looking into constantly upgrading until things really settle down and a constant stream of money starts.

Tundra's build seems alright too, but there were points raised that some of the things he has don't really live up to the standards, is there anyway I could get the best of both worlds?

 

Key problem is going to be that buying into the Phenom II architecture, at this point, is a bit silly. It's proven to be slower in most things, it runs hotter, it's a bugger to Overclock, and it's just outright outdated.

I suggested the core i3, not because it's a ridiculously powerful chip, but because it's faster than pretty much the whole Phenom II lineup, and because it'd get you onto socket 1155, allowing for an upgrade later if you could afford to fork out for a core i5 2500K in the future, meaning you'd get oodles of extra performance with only a new processor, and possibly a new heatsink.

 

I would agree with Parge. BC2 responds much better to quad cores given its' multi threaded nature. Also the i3 chip is locked speed wise like Parge said so no overclocking.

I'd definitely go with your original build idea, but maybe try and squeeze in a better graphics card, again like Parge said.

 

Have to agree with the AMD chip. Alot of games taking advantage of quad cores including BFCC2, BF3, Cyrsis 2, COD etc

 

The thing is, with that i3 CPU, in 6 months you can just pop in a 2500k and OC it...

 

all good points...a dual core hyper-threaded i3 will beat an amd quad in 90% of any applications a guy could use, notably gaming. and the upgrade path is a better option on the intel side. does an i3-based rig pan out to the same money as an amd 955? if so, i'd go intel...and if ur going single gpu with no plans of sli/xfire, 500 watts is more than enough and would handle a single 580/6970. but, as others have said, get a little more if it fits in budget

edit:just skimmed a couple i3-2100 reviews and it handles the amd quads in all (esp games) but the most heavy multi-threaded apps.

so, unless you plan on running encoding benchmarks all day, i'd go i3-2100 and a p67/z68 chipset

 

Nice to see some people agree with my viewpoint.

I knew that the i3 2100 was faster than any Phenom II X4 in gaming when I chose it, it wasn't just because of the "Herp, Sandy Bridge is faster, Derp" logic.

Also with the advent of Bulldozer and Ivy Bridge; it's possible that the 2500k will have fallen in price by next year, meaning a nice bargain down the line for the OP if they've got the money going spare, pick up a 2500K for cheap, whack a good heatsink on there, OC to high heaven and enjoy.

 

Okay, I'm going to just stick with my build, it seems right and I just need to tack on a fan and a disc drive to finish it. At this point having 'locked my answer' would games Like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and older work good at medium settings, and newer games (This might be a stretch but BF3) work on low setting be possible on this rig?