Three PC build for family gaming.

[ensada]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for:

I will be purchasing three of the same systems so that my wife and kids can start PC gaming with me. We all take turns playing on our single PC now. My daughters will use their PCs for school work as well. We'll play some of the following games:

Minecraft (local server)
World of Warcraft
Neverwinter Nights 2
Baldur's Gate 2
The Sims 3
Puzzle Quest
Nancy Drew games (wife and kids, not me!)
Team Fortress 2
Europa Universalis
Civilization V
Total Annihilation!

New games like those as they come along, but we probably have enough games through GOG and Steam to keep us going for quite a while. Minecraft alone is a huge time sink, and everyone wants to play at the same time.

2. What YOUR budget is:

$600-750 per PC, I'd like to come in under $2300 for the whole build after shipping if possible. We'll need LCDs and Win7 for each PC as well. Cheaper is better, and if we could spend even less, that would be great.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from:

United States, I prefer purchasing from NewEgg but am happy to consider other stores. I live near a MicroCenter, so that's an option as well.

4. IF YOU have a brand preference:

I don't have a brand preference at all. Whatever you think is best.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are:

We already have a nice laser printer, and we'll be purchasing three external wireless cards because I have one on my current PC and it works wonderfully. Nothing other than that.

I should also mention that I will probably use my PC to host local games. My PC is an Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz with 6GB RAM and a Radeon HD5770 1GB video card. If the new PCs are faster than that, please let me know so I can use one of them to host games instead.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads:

A few of them, but I thought it was a good idea to post my own as well.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds:

Default speeds for us. I'm comfortable with putting together my own systems, but I just want things to go together and work well without excessive 'fiddling'.

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with:

I believe my wife and kids will prefer to go lower rather than higher. In the region of 1280x1024? Currently my personal PC outputs to my 60" DLP and I don't have a normal LCD so I'll be buying a 4th LCD for my personal system as well. Don't count that 4th LCD in the build budget though. It's hard to get a good idea for resolutions on a big TV, so I can't ask them to pick for themselves. I'm very receptive to any advice or guidance, so if you feel there's a good LCD monitor/video card that in turn supports a specific resolution, just let me know. Keep in mind though that they wear glasses and probably won't be able to deal with tiny text.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it:

Around March 1st.

10. Thick skin, and how!

I know keeping things under $2300 for three PCs with LCDs and operating systems is a pretty tall order, so if it can't be done just let me know. If we have to, we can wait a while and work on saving up some additional cash, but the kids are growing up fast and I want to get them into doing some PC gaming as a family before I lose them to their teenage years.

Thank you so much for your guidance!

 

[fffblackmage]

$2300 for 3 gaming PCs. D:

Let's see...

$146 - Acer G235HAbd 23''
You can find 17" square-ish LCDs for $100-ish, but meh that.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824009266

$80 - AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana 3.2GHz
Cheap tri-core, yay. 4th core and L3 cache could probably be unlocked. The X4 635 seems to have replaced the 640 at the $100 price point....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103886

$63 - ASRock 880GM-LE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157199

$150 ($130 AR) - MSI N460GTX Twin Frozr II SOC GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB
I feel it's worth getting the GTX 460 for ~$30 more over the GTS 450.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127519

$17 - LG DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136177

$40 ($35 AR) - Patriot 2x2GB DDR3 1333
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220537

$50 - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152181

$45 ($35 AP) - Rosewill Blackbone ATX Case
Comes with two 120mm case fans!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147023

$47 ($27 AR) - CORSAIR Builder Series CX430
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139017
Alternatively....
$37 - XIGMATEK ACXTNRP-PC402 400W
Anyone think this is bad? Tom's Hardware gave it a good review, though I'm not sure if that says much.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817815007

$22 - Gigabyte Keyboard + Mouse
Cheap keyboard + mouse. Nothing fancy here.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.592010

$280 - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 3-Pack for System Builders - OEM
Wasn't there a better deal for a three-pack somewhere else?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116755

That's about $2250-ish? I don't think anyone really likes having to deal with rebates, but picking parts with rebates here and there could save you quite a bit.

Hmm, I didn't include speakers... Most cheap speakers are just that - cheap. Not sure what to recommend here.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

i personally would stagger my purchases if i were doing what youre doing because if you buy now yoyull have 3 obsolete machines 4 months from now with buzzdozer and the sb reboot

 

[mnewsham]

Blackmage's build looks good, they wouldn't be doing crysis but minecraft should be a cake walk.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Just two things to recommend. You can get an Athlon II X4 640 (?) and a "free" motherboard at Microcenter for like $100. (Some of the deals are AR, so figure $120 or so for them. Full-atx boards rather than micro-atx are also +$10) Make sure that you get DDR3 boards, because DDR3 RAM is cheaper than DDR2.

Second, is that for keyboard and mouse, I always go to ewiz.com, and search for "imicro". They have some of the cheapest keyboards and mice there. I usually buy qty 10 of PS/2 keyboards and USB mice, and I end up getting them for $7.50/set shipped.
Without getting a major qty, your cost might be closer to $10/set. Still a decent deal, although I don't know if I would recommend those mice for gaming, they are pretty cheap, and fail easily. I always keep spares around.

Oh, and I agree with ffblackmage, you probably don't want to go any lower than 23" 1920x1080 displays. The extra size over a 20-22" is nice. Not to mention, it's nearly impossible to find 1680x1050 22" LCDs anymore. (The only advantage of stepping down in resolution, is that it would reduce the stress on the graphics cards slightly, so that you could increase the frame-rate or eye-candy.)

 

[VirtualLarry]

i personally would stagger my purchases if i were doing what youre doing because if you buy now yoyull have 3 obsolete machines 4 months from now with buzzdozer and the sb reboot

At that price point, the OP isn't going to be interested in SB or BD rigs anyways. It's AMD all the way.

 

[ensada]

Thank you all for the advice! Blackmage, I really like your list. I think for the speakers we'll use headsets so that we don't have a room full of noise, so I think you covered just about everything. Larry, I'll swing by MicroCenter and check out the bundles. Is there a motherboard maker I should stay away from, or is pretty much everything they sell going to be okay?

Oblama, I think SB/Buzzdozer are the next generation of processors? We can probably wait if the price point when they come out will be within reach, but won't they be pretty expensive?

How does Blackmage's build compare to what I'm running now (Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz with 6GB RAM and a Radeon HD5770 1GB video card). Seems like the processor is much faster, but the video card has less RAM and is a bit more expensive than my Radeon which was $99 after rebate.

Thanks again all.

 

[mnewsham]

Stay away from biostar, your current cpu should be a little faster and the video card is a little better then a 5770, all and all about on par with it.

 

[Sniper82]

You should consider finding windows 7 off the forums or going with a lower OS to save. Otherwise you need to focus on your video card more than anything for gaming. You can get away with 2gb memory but 4gb is really recommended. Put more into them if you have to. Even if you have to go dual core to save a bit. Pick your parts wisely, Asrock offers 1 year warranty where gigabyte and others offer 3 years. Prices of motherboards are around the same across all chipsets/platforms regardless of brand.

 

[fffblackmage]

Thank you all for the advice! Blackmage, I really like your list. I think for the speakers we'll use headsets so that we don't have a room full of noise, so I think you covered just about everything. Larry, I'll swing by MicroCenter and check out the bundles. Is there a motherboard maker I should stay away from, or is pretty much everything they sell going to be okay?

You're welcome.

Personally, I don't like Biostar, ECS, or Jetway.
MSI, Gigabyte, and Asus are big brands you generally can't go wrong with.

How does Blackmage's build compare to what I'm running now (Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz with 6GB RAM and a Radeon HD5770 1GB video card). Seems like the processor is much faster, but the video card has less RAM and is a bit more expensive than my Radeon which was $99 after rebate.

Less ram, but the graphics processor is more powerful. See below.

your current cpu should be a little faster and the video card is a little better then a 5770, all and all about on par with it.

Obviously, the tri-core Athlon II has an advantage with the multi-threaded apps, but it's also a bit faster in single-threaded apps. Even if the Core 2 has a higher instruction per cycle over the Athlon II, it's not enough to make up for the 800MHz deficiency.

Athlon II X3 450 versus E6750 (2.67GHz / 1333MHz FSB)

And I'd also say the GTX 460 768MB is more than just a little better than the 5770.

 

[wuliheron]

Many of those games just love a fast cpu and the more cores the better making the athlon II quad core the minimum I'd recommend. Since you can't afford large HD monitors the graphics cards are less important.

 

[mnewsham]

Many of those games just love a fast cpu and the more cores the better making the athlon II quad core the minimum I'd recommend. Since you can't afford large HD monitors the graphics cards are less important.

Most games dont use more then two cores yet...

 

[mnewsham]

Okay i decided to take a look to find a better GPU with that budget and came up with this for 145 After rebate, Now the rebate is limited to two items per billing address, SO you would end up paying more in the long run compared to the 768MB version but you get more performance for ~$20 more.

 

[wuliheron]

Most games dont use more then two cores yet...

A lot of the newer games use 3 cores, but the specific types of games he listed can now take advantage of 6 cores. Since the difference in price is minimal and he doesn't require a great gpu I'd definitely recommend adding the extra core for a little future proofing if nothing else. Running single threaded apps a bit faster is pretty worthless for anything but business purposes.

 

[mnewsham]

A lot of the newer games use 3 cores, but the specific types of games he listed can now take advantage of 6 cores. Since the difference in price is minimal and he doesn't require a great gpu I'd definitely recommend adding the extra core for a little future proofing if nothing else. Running single threaded apps a bit faster is pretty worthless for anything but business purposes.

You have got it backwards, most work related work can benefit from multiple cores at a lower clock, (server cpu's are a good example) I have yet to see a game that will benefit significantly from 6 cores (there are some with 4 but not many). He could even get an athalon II X2 and be okay with most games.

 

[dpodblood]

Blackmage pretty well listed the best you are going to get at that price range. OP you mentioned having a back log of Steam games. Is your whole family going to be playing games off the same Steam account? If so just keep in mind that while you can have games installed across multiple machines, only one machine can be logged into a Steam account at a time.

Good luck with the builds.

 

[wuliheron]

You have got it backwards, most work related work can benefit from multiple cores at a lower clock, (server cpu's are a good example) I have yet to see a game that will benefit significantly from 6 cores (there are some with 4 but not many). He could even get an athalon II X2 and be okay with most games.

I never said business don't take advantage of multithreading, merely that running single threaded apps slightly faster is only useful for businesses.

Nor would I recommend a dual core cpu for gaming to anyone except for portable devices or a hex core to anyone except an enthusiast with money to burn. As the number of cores continues to increase so does the number of games that use more cores and right now a quad core cpu just happens to be the happy medium. The price difference is minimal and AAA games are already beginning to take advantage of the extra core as more people buy computers with quad cores.

If you pinch a penny too hard all you get is sore thumbs.

 

[mnewsham]

I never said business don't take advantage of multithreading, merely that running single threaded apps slightly faster is only useful for businesses.

Nor would I recommend a dual core cpu for gaming to anyone except for portable devices or a hex core to anyone except an enthusiast with money to burn. As the number of cores continues to increase so does the number of games that use more cores and right now a quad core cpu just happens to be the happy medium. The price difference is minimal and AAA games are already beginning to take advantage of the extra core as more people buy computers with quad cores.

If you pinch a penny too hard all you get is sore thumbs.

These are not going to be gaming rigs built to play hardcore games for the next 5 years, these are basic mid range gaming machines for family gaming. A tri-core CPU is fine, i wouldn't sacrifice clock speed for the extra core at the same price.

 

[dpodblood]

These are not going to be gaming rigs built to play hardcore games for the next 5 years, these are basic mid range gaming machines for family gaming. A tri-core CPU is fine, i wouldn't sacrifice clock speed for the extra core at the same price.

Civ V is a notable exception on that list.

 

[mnewsham]

Civ V is a notable exception on that list.

Granted but OP is going to have to accept that 1080p on CIV V he isnt going to be getting much eye candy with this price range anyway quad core or not.


http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/203

If you look down at the gtx 460 1gb/768mb using an i7-920 you are only getting 38.5/36.4 FPS at maximum quality, so with his GPU he would need to turn off eyecandy just to play at a reasonable framerate.

 

[wuliheron]

Granted but OP is going to have to accept that 1080p on CIV V he isnt going to be getting much eye candy with this price range anyway quad core or not.


http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/203

If you look down at the gtx 460 1gb/768mb using an i7-920 you are only getting 38.5/36.4 FPS at maximum quality, so with his GPU he would need to turn off eyecandy just to play at a reasonable framerate.

He's going to be using small monitors with low resolution, so turning down the eyecandy is not the issue. The issue is fps.

 

[mnewsham]

He's going to be using small monitors with low resolution, so turning down the eyecandy is not the issue. The issue is fps.

23" with 1920x1080...

 

[s44]

The games OP listed aren't going to need a full-powered 460 (Civ5 doesn't need high frames). If he wants them, the Zotac 1GB is also on sale for $144AR shipped for a few days at the Egg (to top the Frys sale on the same item, I think). There's also the pair of Galaxy 1GB models for $269AR shipped.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If you do go with 1920x1080 monitors, a GTX460 1GB is probably the better bet. It might break the budget though.

 

[mnewsham]

If you do go with 1920x1080 monitors, a GTX460 1GB is probably the better bet. It might break the budget though.

well getting the SLI pack here. for $284.99 AR ($142.5 per card) and then one of these. $144.99 (AR) so he SHOULD be able to fit it in the budget.