Gaming PC Builds

Build a Gaming PC Under $500 2012 – 2013

We’re back and a lot has been updated since we gave our last $500 build review. If you aren’t familiar with our site we take a look at the latest hardware for any given quarter and then list gaming PC builds and the hardware you need to build them. Please note that the budget for our builds does not include software and that prices for hardware vary quite a bit, so what may be $500 one day may be significantly more or less the following week or month. In addition, the budget also assumes that you will take advantage of … Continue Reading

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Best Value Gaming PC Build Under $1,000 for March 2013

Now that Ivy Bridge has been out for a few months and we’re in the midst of summer it’s time to look again at perhaps the most popular price range of PC build, the $1,000 rig. If you’re willing to spend this much on a system, then ultimately you’ll get something that should last you many years – especially if you continue to upgrade the GPU. Building a Custom Gaming PC on a Budget: While you may decide to lean even more heavily towards your CPU and GPU combination, this is the basic layout that I like to use for … Continue Reading

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Budget PC Gaming Mouse 2013 – 5 to Compare

I’m not naive enough to think that a gaming mouse is going to make me a better gamer automatically. That takes practice, determination, and time. Even though that may be true I still like the accuracy, feel, and the look that a lot of gaming mice have and the small advantage I get seems to be worth it. The main problem that a lot of the flashier gaming mice on the market have is that they simply cost too much for what they are. $70 for 20k DPI mouse? Since when did DPI above 2,000 matter? For most games I … Continue Reading

Budget Diablo III Ready Gaming PC Build

At this point in time you might already have Diablo III on pre-order, or you might be wondering what type of PC it would take to play the game that we’ve all been waiting 12 years for. Believe it or not, it doesn’t take a lot of money to build a PC that’s Diablo III worthy. Recently I had this question come in through an e-mail: “Hello Brandon, My name is Dave (changed). I have been searching the internet endlessly to find out one simple question. I ran into your “build A Gaming PC” article through Google and figured that … Continue Reading

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Best Gaming PC Build Under $1500 2012

After finishing our gaming PC builds for $500 – 1200 I wanted to jump ahead to the $1500 build where for an increased budget of $300 we’ve made some significant changes not only to the functionality of our gaming PC, but also the performance. Graphics Card: For our Graphics Card I suggest nVidia fanboys go with the GTX 570 and Radeon fanboys stick with the HD6950 as the performance improvement for the money at that level simply isn’t worth it (based on the G3D Mark). If you want an upgrade beyond that level, then consider the HD7950 or two HD6850’s. … Continue Reading

Building a $1200 Gaming Computer in 2012

For most gamers that have $1200 to spend on a gaming PC the build itself goes beyond simply performance. In this price range there are a variety of things you could do for both performance, cosmetics, and of course functionality. Rather than give you a strict build for this price range I felt like giving you various options would be the better course. Here’s our $1100 build as it currently sits before we add any upgrades: GPU – GTX 560Ti or HD6950 CPU – i5-2500k or FX8150 Ram – 16 GB Vengeance or XMS3 Motherboard – Asus P8Z68-V/GEN3 or GIGABYTE … Continue Reading

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Building a Gaming PC for Under 1100 2012

At a budget of just under $1,100 we have plenty of room to build a solid mid-range gaming PC. In our last incremental step up we upgraded the amount of ram and the hard drive capacity of our rig. For this build you have a lot of different options. CPU The i5-2500k is still my choice here and will be for a while along with the FX-8150 for AMD builders. GPU At this point we aren’t limited by what games we can play with the GTX 560Ti and the HD 6950, however there are games that require additional power in … Continue Reading

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Build a Custom Gaming PC for Under 1,000 2012

For our Gaming PC builds below $900 it was easy enough to choose where we wanted to put our money because there was always a lot of improvement needed in performance, which was always put as our priority. Going forward from here you’ll have to decide whether you’re going to continue to focus on performance or move towards improving your other components which aren’t essential towards performance. CPU I’m happy with the FX-8120 and 2500k we used in our $900 build, but with the additional $100 you could consider upgrading to the i7-2600k or the FX-8150. Personally, I’d rather upgrade … Continue Reading

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Build a Custom Gaming PC for Under $900 2012

As the budget continues to increase for our custom gaming PC build it’s important to first look at the most glaring deficiencies in our overall build. In the $800 price range our build’s motherboard and GPU were not bad, but were limited in their performance and versatility. CPU The Intel i5-2500k which we chose for our last build should be more than adequate for any level of build. Upgrades beyond this level of CPU have more to do with additional performance you may need outside of gaming as this CPU is very similar in gaming benchmarks to the i7-2600k, i7-2700k, … Continue Reading

Build a Gaming PC for Under $800 2012

Building a gaming PC for under $800 is not nearly as difficult as our build for under $500 because at this range you’ll have a CPU and GPU capable of playing all of the latest games for this year and next year without any problem. CPU The main upgrade we’re going to make for this build over our $700 build is in the CPU. For around $200, versus the $120 we were spending on the i3-2100, we’re going to pick up the i5-2500. The i5-2500k might be a better choice for many of you at just $20 more; however, it … Continue Reading

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