Newbie Building a Gaming Computer! Help needed!

[Spoonyy]

Well, the title basically says all. I am fairly new to the construction of a computer specifically for playing games on. I love gaming, but have never been able to really get the whole experience since all of my computers are outdated or laptops.

I'm planning on building a fairly cheap computer that can mostly run Minecraft and MW3 on moderate to max settings. Most of the components and parts I am going to use I would like to be from Best Buy.

I started by going through several different pieces. Here is what I have so far:

Processor:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Intel&#...028457&skuId=1847873&st=Core 2 Quad&cp=1&lp=3

Graphics Card:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/XFX+-+A...&cmp=RMX&ky=1whxm51gbOgORrn6M8JOUlLjDtR0yY7Rx

Sound Card:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Rocketf...Card/9180414.p?id=1218047305021&skuId=9180414

Motherboard:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/MSI+-+M...775)/9486647.p?id=1218112690301&skuId=9486647

Case:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Antec+-...Case/3345064.p?id=1218396598733&skuId=3345064

Now, that's all I have so far. Keep in mind I am VERY new to this, so if you see any way to get me a computer that can do what I asked for A LOT cheaper, I would appreciate that.

My preferred price is between $150 to $300. Help!

 

[avok95]

OK, first of all you can't build a gaming PC with a 300$ budget, you need at least 800$ to start with the basics.
Second of all the i5 2300 is not as good as a 2500k, (when you see K at the end it means that the CPU has an unlocked core meaning it can be overclocked easily.
Third of all the motherboard you provided is a LGA 775 socket , the i5 is a LGA 1155 socket (these are two different sockets)
Fourth of all , you won't need a dedicated sound card if you don't have high-end speakers, you would be fine on the on-board sound card and the sound card you have provided will have lower quality sound that the sound card on the motherboard.
Also, the case you have provided does not have proper cooling for a gaming system.

You can possibly build a AMD A4 system (it's a new CPU that has a dedicated GPU integrated inside the CPU and it has surprisingly good gaming performance)
I have prepared you a list of the hardware with an HDD , PSU and a DVDRW (which you didn't mention above)
CPU
Motherboard
Case
PSU
HDD
DVD RW
I still recommend you to expand your budget to at the very least to 600$

 

[fmkenner]

I'm building my first one too. I wanted to go thru best buy (Have a card there) but they really dont have everything you need. Try going to a Micro Center. They have better prices too. You can get a i5 2500K and mother board combo.
cheaper than what you have there. BTW I dont think you can use that CPU with that mobo.

 

[Spoonyy]

CAS:Thermaltake Commander Mid-Tower Gaming Case [+0]

CD:24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)

COOLANT:Standard Coolant

CPU:Intel® Core™ i3-2100 3.10 GHz 3M Intel Smart Cache LGA1155 [-90]

FAN:Intel LGA1156 Certified CPU Fan & Heatsink [-20]

HDD:500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [-13] (Single Hard Drive)

IUSB:Built-in USB 2.0 Ports

MEMORY:8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1333MHz Dual Channel Memory [+0] (Corsair or Major Brand)

MOTHERBOARD:Biostar H61MH Intel H61 Chipset DDR3 mATX Mainboard w/ Onboard Video, HDMI, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB 2.0, SATA-II, 1 Gen2 PCIe, 1 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI [B3 Stepping] [-38]

NETWORK:Onboard Gigabit LAN Network

OS:None - FORMAT HARD DRIVE ONLY

POWERSUPPLY:500 Watts - Standard Case Power Supply

SERVICE:STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT

SOUND:HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO

VIDEO:ATI Radeon HD 5450 512MB DDR2 16X PCIe Video Card [-19] (Major Brand Powered by AMD)

So I got on some website for customizing a gaming computer. I am going to use that as my base. I just want to be able to run games on moderate settings. Any help getting this cheaper would be appreciated.

 

[Daleon]

Would help if you listed the price of that pos system if you want us to beat it heh.

That crap you had listed from BB was a joke to. Almost every thread in here the last week has been $500-700 gaming builds. Take a look at any of those to get an idea.

If your looking to charge some or most of it to BB there are some parts you can get from there and some you definitely don't want to. So give us a better idea of what you have to spend and where. Are you in the US?

I don't know what price that last build was but I'm guessing any shop that would put that together would overcharge for it to so they prolly want $500 or more for it and in that case I'd jump all over this all day vs it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo

 

[Knufire]

Moderate settings, you'd want $600 to be comfortable, but it's (badly) possible with $500.