computer build opinions.

[stilly]

don't waste your time running more than 1 graphics card. ATI and Nvidia both are plagued by stuttering and driver issues when running 2 or more cards. its a marketing gimmick (i bought into it a couple times hoping it would get better).

you'd be much happier getting a single beefy card that can perform at the speed of the 2 cards. you'll have smoother frame rates, and a better experience.

some people will say "SLI works for me!"

it does.... SOMETIMES. when it does, it works nicely. when it doesnt, you've wasted your money lol.

+1

It seems that most of the time the BEST way to run two cards side by side is for the lower end cards, like two slower or medium cards in sli = a tad faster than the higher end card. HOWEVER, is it really worth it? No. Skyrim only needs a 285 or better to run nice and smooth. Get a 570 and you will only spend around $150 AND have a GREAT card without dropping a lot of cash. SLI is for magazines and people that are only trying to squeeze out as much as possible for performance and benchmarking without really taking into account how ridiculously wasteful it is to blow that money on top of the line cards...

[fonso]

Newegg obviously has more variety, but also consider Amazon. I think you can save on the tax.

Plus, if you use http://www.shop42A.com

CalGuns gets a cut!!!

[opie4386]

Skyrim only needs a 285 or better to run nice and smooth. Get a 570 and you will only spend around $150 AND have a GREAT card



What's 285? That the speed? Pardon my ignorance.

[JDay]

I'd go with an i5, much better bang for the buck than an AMD cpu.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

[Darryl Licht]

Stay away from Fry's. they don't have the best quality.
Try Newegg. They have better warranties.
( my system is an i5-3330, on an AsRock MoBo, a 1TB hard drive, 630w power supply and the msi gtx 650ti/OC.) my system runs Skyrim on very high at 46 fps.

DITTO!!!

Stay away from Frys!

Newegg rocks!

AMD vs Intel... kinda like Ford vs Chevy! Either will do the job!

For a mobo I'd stick with Asus or Gigabyte.

On video card... ATI if you go AMD, Nvidia if you go with Intel CPU.

[evansu2]

The 285 part is the video card series from Nvidia that is listed as the base model of what will run Skyrim at "very high/extremely high" settings (per skyrim's minimum system requirement webpage).

Just remember, when you start to dive into Intel vs. AMD, it's as bad as saying "glock vs. sig"

+1 for newegg, I've used them for years in my own builds, and have always been treated well in terms of returns/waranty etc.

One thing I would like to suggest is, make sure you pick your components like mobo, video, and RAM, and then pick out the power supply, to make sure you pick one with enough juice. The video card will have a minimum requirement, and be sure to get plenty, since you'll more than likely upgrade parts, rather than the whole computer down the road.

Sorry, don't mean to complicate or confuse anymore, just thinking out loud.

[norman311]

I like to read through the Tom'sHardware and AnandTech articles before hitting the online retail stores. Here's an example of a $500 build from Tom's Hardware and a $850 build from Anand Tech. Lots of good info here.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/budget-gaming-do-it-yourself-computer,3364.html

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6492/workstation-buyers-guide

Good luck and have fun!

[Scratch705]

http://kotaku.com/5983493/how-to-build-a-great-gaming-pc-for-under-700

bam. mid-line gaming system for under $700. and small enough so that you can hook it up to your nice big screen and get a HTPC too.

[Petra]

First off, this isn't exactly the best researched, maximum bang for your buck build... but, at the very least, it'll work well as a starting point for your build.

A few notes: You said you wanted AMD, so that's what I went with. I ignored your comment about wanting to use an A10 APU because there's really not a lot of point in going for one of the APUs if you're going to be using a decently capable discrete graphics card. The APUs are a great choice if you're not planning on having a discrete graphics solution, however.

The aftermarket heatsink is optional, but it'll keep things cooler than the stock unit and should help to quiet things down. Also, pick whatever computer case you want... the one I selected is just a placeholder/suggestion.

Do not skimp on your power supply. I cannot emphasize this enough. Too many people buy cheap, low quality PSUs and then wonder why they have all sorts of stability problems with their system.

If you can stretch your budget, I'd suggest using an SSD as a boot drive (my recommendation would either a Samsung 830 or Crucial M4) and the platter HDD as a storage drive... SSDs really make a MASSIVE difference in overall system performance but are still somewhat expensive.



Subtotal for the above is $742.91

[stix213]

Don't forget about cooling in a modern gaming machine.