38 replies to this topic

[Lin]

I've changed my mind, and would like to enter the realm of BF3. Perhaps I still won't like it after all, but I would like the opportunity to try.

Being unemployed for 2 yrs took a huge toll on my finances. In addition, I'll be going back to school starting (hopefully) in the spring to work toward my RN license, but I will also be taking a part time job at the hospital doing whatever I can do to break into a medical career and make a little extra money. Thus, I will need to be able to shoot things in what off time I will have.

I also need it to be as cheap as possible.

Can you please spec me out (from Newegg if possible) the cheapest machine possible that will be capable of playing BF3? I probably won't be able to afford it until summer but I would like to have something to shoot for (pardon the pun). I probably have an old steel case somewhere around here that I can use, so I won't need a case, monitor, keyboard or mouse but I'll need everything else. I don't know what the game requires, you do. If you have the time I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you!

[JJ]

I'm interesting in seeing the spec's as well. I am in a similar boat...

Thx!

[Lin]

I have a couple of external HDD that I picked up before the prices skyrocketed. I have a 1TB and a 2TB...and I cannot use the full 2TB since XP won't recognize it, so I would probably use that in the new gamer. At least I would get the full bang for the buck.

Go ahead and post the specs here, please. I lose emails quickly, and same with PMs.

[Wasabi®]

What's your max budget?

[Wasabi®]

$750 is a good price. assuming the HD is included in that price and you just use the 1TB one you have, it'd be cheaper (and with the difference maybe you can get yourself Windows 7 which I highly suggest)

I was looking on Newegg and was surprised to see they don't even sell Core 2 Duo anymore; only i5 and i7 nowadays. I have a 2008(!) Core 2 Duo E8400 and it runs Skyrim fine. Don't know about AMD..

[Wolf68k]

I tried to keep this as close to $500 as possible. Only said you don't need a monitor, keyboard and mouse but you didn't mention need for HDD, optical and OS. Intel and AMD builds are without those 3, below that is a list of those 3 and their totals of each build.


Intel Sandy Bridge build:
CPU: Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115078
Mobo: ASRock P67 PRO3 (B3) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813157230
GPU: SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814102948
RAM: Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820104166
PSU: XFX Core Edition PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817207013
Total: $490.95 (all free shipping)

AMD build:
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 960T Zosma 3.0GHz Socket AM3 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103995
Mobo: MSI 870A-G46 AM3 AMD 870 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813130591
GPU: SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814102948
RAM: Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820104166
PSU: XFX Core Edition PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817207013
Total: $465.95 (all free shipping)

Note: The GPU, RAM and PSU are the same in both builds, partly due to laziness but also explained below.


HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136098
DVD: LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS-324-98B http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827106334
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade http://www.newegg.co...N82E16832116713
Total: $239.20 (including shipping)
Intel Total: $730.15
AMD Total: $705.15


My personal choice is the Intel Sandy Bridge, when it comes to gaming the i3-2100 will surprisingly perform just as well if not better as the AMD build and it'll be a simple matter to upgrade to an i5 or i7 Sandy Bridge later and the i5 will more than out perform the newest of AMD's 8-core CPUs that just came out, which is pretty sad. Yes when it comes to things like encoding video or compressing files then just about any AMD quad core will do better than the i3's dual-core.
I have to admit I don't follow AMD as much as I use to any more other than the fact that Intel is beating the snot out of AMD. I did find that with the CPU I listed it plausible to unlock the CPU to run 6-cores instead of just the 4-cores it comes stock with, which means nothing for gaming but great for other things.

The reason for the Win7 Upgrade is simply because it's cheaper without being an OEM. You can, with a few extra steps, get it to install just like a Full version without the need of having a previously installed OS first which is what it's really designed for. I've done it twice myself; on my system and Firestar's. It's very easy to do.

The reason for the laziness is because you said you won't be able to do this until the summer. So everything in these list will either be priced lower or be discontinued and other better parts will be priced the same as these are currently.
Now you could go with something from a place like http://ibuypower.com/ or http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/ both of which you can get some very nice builds or either Intel or AMD, choose the case you want as well as all of the other parts and get better performance compared to an equally priced Dell/Alienware or HP machine. So you'll get a better customized build, as if you did it yourself from Newegg parts, but with the same kind of support and warranty that Dell and HP would offer.

Basically you're looking at a budget of around $700.

[Scoop1967 - Dan]

You can definitely lower the cost with a PhenomII 840 from MicroCenter (quad 3.2) 59.99
Can go cheaper on Mobo also, 50-60 bucks is sufficient.

[Scoop1967 - Dan]

Here is the rig my wife runs, Metro MeatGrinder looks pretty good on it.
This is everything including monitor.

Part	                                  Model #	Price
Motherboard	                        M4N68T-M V2	49.99
CPU	                           AMD Phenom II x4 840	59.99
Case	                          Thermaltake V3	37.99
Memory	  Crucial Ballistix Sport Series 4GB DDR3-1333	23.99
GPU	      XFX HD-685X-ZCFC AMD Radeon HD 6850	169.99
Power Supply	  Thermaltake TR2 Series 600 Watt	54.99
Monitor	                     AOC e2243Fw 22" LED	119.99
OS	                              Win7 64bit	109.99
Hard Drive	                           500gb	89.99
DVD	                                  22x RW	17.99
TOTAL		                                        734.90

[Lin]

Wow, this is fantastic, thank you everyone! I'll be in post-surgery recovery for about six weeks, so I will simply not be able to do anything for at least that long. Chances are it will be closer to June before I'm able to get onto this, depending on a couple of other factors, so hopefully I'll be seeing you all in BF3 around late summer.

[Lin]

Lin, don't become an RN. You won't have any time for MG and it's super stressful unless you have the access to be a travel nurse. I understand the job security concept, though, and I hope it's something you really wanna do and that it makes you happy. Good luck.

I truly appreciate your feelings on this Dakota, but the bottom line is that I have been wanting to be a RN since I was a teenager, it was supposed to be the beginning of my life path. Now, there is only enough time for it to be the end, but at least I can still do this with my life...it is what I was meant to do.

MoonGamers...means a lot to me but there is nothing about Moon that will keep me warm at night, fulfill my dreams or pay the bills. I'm tired of being alone, being broke, and I need so much more in my life. This year begins the path to what I pray will be where I need to be in a few years. If I don't find what I'm looking for at least I will be able to help people along the way. I do not plan to leave at this time, but starting somewhere between spring and summer I will be spending only the minimal amount of time here to keep things going while I concentrate on building a new life. We have been blessed with good leadership and good members, MoonGamers will keep going for all us.

[DerRaucher]

I know im dumb.. but what is RN ?

[Scoop1967 - Dan]

Registered Nurse i think in this case.

[Lin]

Yes, Registered Nurse

[JJ]

Thought's, my budget is very close to Lin's.
Thx!

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan

ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan

OCZ ZT Series 750W Fully-Modular 80PLUS Bronze High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom

XFX Double D HD-685X-ZDFC Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Deneb 3.5GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDZ970FBGMBOX

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-12GBRL

[Colonel_Flagg]

Lin, don't become an RN. You won't have any time for MG and it's super stressful unless you have the access to be a travel nurse. I understand the job security concept, though, and I hope it's something you really wanna do and that it makes you happy. Good luck.

I truly appreciate your feelings on this Dakota, but the bottom line is that I have been wanting to be a RN since I was a teenager, it was supposed to be the beginning of my life path. Now, there is only enough time for it to be the end, but at least I can still do this with my life...it is what I was meant to do.

MoonGamers...means a lot to me but there is nothing about Moon that will keep me warm at night, fulfill my dreams or pay the bills. I'm tired of being alone, being broke, and I need so much more in my life. This year begins the path to what I pray will be where I need to be in a few years. If I don't find what I'm looking for at least I will be able to help people along the way. I do not plan to leave at this time, but starting somewhere between spring and summer I will be spending only the minimal amount of time here to keep things going while I concentrate on building a new life. We have been blessed with good leadership and good members, MoonGamers will keep going for all us.

Lin,

Good for you! It's always nice to see someone fulfilling their dream!

I had to make a life changing decision recently myself, for the first time in over 6 years, I am no longer a Chief Officer in the Fire Service and for the first time in like 9 years, I am not even a junior officer either! I decided to step down and live my life! I've given close to 26 years, it's time for me to enjoy myself :-)

I've been away from it for a month and I really don't miss it that much. I hope your change is as enjoyable as mine has become :-)


/CF

[Wolf68k]

Thought's, my budget is very close to Lin's.
Thx!

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan

ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan

OCZ ZT Series 750W Fully-Modular 80PLUS Bronze High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom

XFX Double D HD-685X-ZDFC Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Deneb 3.5GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDZ970FBGMBOX

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-12GBRL

If the main thing you're doing with this system is just gaming, then 12GB of RAM is over kill. 4GB should be minimum these days with the latest of games, like BF3, although 6-8GB would be better and not much of a need to go beyond that.
If on the other hand you're editing videos or working with 3D modeling programs like 3Ds Max then the more RAM the better.
Plus which the mobo you picked does better with dual-channel over triple-channel.

One other thing. The mobo uses the AMD 880G chipset, according to a number of sites and YT videos you can go for the AMD Phenom II X4 960 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103995 , which is only slightly slower than the 970 (3.0Ghz compared to 3.5, so should be easy to overclock to 3.5 if you really wanted), and if I read the downloadable manually correctly you can unlock the 2 locked cores turning it from a quad-core to a six-core, granted it'll be completely useless for gaming but you can get a lot of others things done that relies on the CPU more.

[Livestrong]

Since were on the subject. All I need is a mobo,cpu and ram. I have everything else. I need to keep around $300. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Oh and Lin, my wife has been a RN for 15 years and it is the most rewarding job she has ever done. Good LUck!

[Wasabi®]

Thought's, my budget is very close to Lin's.
Thx!

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan

ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan

OCZ ZT Series 750W Fully-Modular 80PLUS Bronze High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom

XFX Double D HD-685X-ZDFC Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Deneb 3.5GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDZ970FBGMBOX

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-12GBRL

Lose the 12GB RAM, make it 8GB and get a better case.

[WTBass]

I'd gladly chip in on the cost of a BF3 puter for the ...if she'd nurse on me a little bit!!! I could drop ship the component to who performs the build! Food for thought Gentlemen....

Lin, I hope you can realize your dream...I know lots of RN's and they all need some stress relief...I'm sure BF3 would be a great channel! Good luck darlin, I'll send some good karma your way.

My old gaming machine has about had it...the NIC/MB tends to unplug my network cable more often than not lately...and I think it is being fairly rude. It's only 6 years old! I'm picking up a new MT; it is not a gamer by any means but will still be years better than this old POS. $247 to the door...If I can salvage my old video card I might be able to play again one day.

I hear Winblows 7 will give me a massage once I get it set up! Work is moving to the 7 enterprise client and I need a little practice with it...much better than the "talent management system."

[JJ]

Thought's, my budget is very close to Lin's.
Thx!

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-12GBRL

Lose the 12GB RAM, make it 8GB and get a better case.

Suggestions?
JJ