Budget Gaming Build for Highest Settings

[Madmick]

I'm learning the fundamentals, so I thought this would be a good exercise for me to refine my understanding of exactly what is and what isn't needed in a build, and how to design the build in order to properly integrate all the separate components. Also, it would help me better understand performance demands at the highest levels.

For example, I read in the "Help Noobie Build of Budget System" thread on this first page that right now only SSD's can handle the SATA 6Gb/s ports, so it wouldn't make sense to pay more for a motherboard enabled for that specification when a much cheaper SATA 3.0Gb/s HDD should make no difference in a gaming build designed for even the highest settings. I also wanted to learn a bit more about forward compatibility since it would be nice to understand exactly where spending a few extra dollars now could save many more future dollars by enabling certain features to be upgraded (what you guys call "future-proofing").

My understanding is that consoles have diminished performance demands so steeply in games that a relatively inexpensive PC can be built that can handle max settings + mods/add-ons + limited anti-aliasing. What's a theoretical build that could run something like Crysis 2 with a full set of mods optimizing graphics/texturing? (examples: Continuum, Blackfire, Maldo HD 3.0)


Mobo: ???
CPU: Intel i5-2500k (Quad Core 3.3Ghz Sandy Bridge)?
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 560 Ti?
RAM: 2x4GB DDR3 1600?
PSU: ???
HDD : ???
Sound Card: ???
Cooling: ???
Tower: ???

 

[DSF]

Can you be a little bit more specific about what you mean by budget? A $~200 CPU isn't typically considered budget, more like midrange. A budget build is generally thought of as being <$600 or so for the whole build.

 

[Madmick]

Perhaps I should have used the word "value" instead. What is the best value in a build that can handle max settings + mods for the most demanding games? This will probably be a more expensive build. I'm looking for the minimum hardware required to meet the highest gaming demands, not a luxury build that SLI's three GTX 680 cards on top of an Intel i7-3930K.

The CPU/GPU/RAM were just guesses; they're probably not enough. Most cite the 2500K as the best value in processing right now (ignoring that Ivy Bridge is literally about to drop and change this). The GTX 560 Ti is probably the best value in the $200-$300 range of GPU's. BlastingCap has already informed me that ~3GB is all that's required for most games of this generation unless you're running mods or add-ons. I've heard that BF3 will eat as much as 8GB by itself. I figured 8GB DDR3 was a good minimum.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I5 2500k
Z77/68 mobo
2x4 gb ram
7850
1tb hdd
ssd
JUSTLOOKHERE

 

[Blue Shift]

People are selling off a lot of their used GTX 570s and 580s right now. Sometimes used parts can be a better value than new ones.

 

[mfenn]

JUSTLOOKHERE

:thumbsup: :awe:

OP, you didn't mention what resolution you play at, but 1080p is quite common. The build I have listed in that thread will handle current games on max details at 1080p fairly well. It's also in a pretty good place scalability-wise, you can just add a beefier GPU if you want to spend some more money to increase performance.

 

[Madmick]

:thumbsup: :awe:

OP, you didn't mention what resolution you play at, but 1080p is quite common. The build I have listed in that thread will handle current games on max details at 1080p fairly well. It's also in a pretty good place scalability-wise, you can just add a beefier GPU if you want to spend some more money to increase performance.

1080p on a 27" screen. Awesome. I'll study that thread and come back once I develop more specific questions.