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Nice post man. I'm going to build mines for about 5 grand, so I don't have t rebuild until 8 years later (hopefully more).
This is indeed very useful as I just got my BF3 Alpha invite and my current PC couldn't run a PICTURE of BF3, much less the actual game.
Id rather spend 60 bucks on the console version, seeing as though my computer can run it.
Nevertheless, informative blog plox!
Nevertheless, informative blog plox!
Great post! Though if you're completely new at PC building, might I mention the option of substituting MX-2 thermal compound for the Arctic Silver? It's non conductive, unlike the Silver, therefore you can spill it all over your motherboard and not have to worry about shorting it out (it also works just as well).
As someone who has built two of their two pc's, i can attest to how gratifying it is to build your own.
It's not nearly as complicated as it seems, and any questions or confusion you have can almost always be remedied with some time on google.
There might be a snag here and there, but that's part of the fun, cause once you get it figured out, the victory's just that much sweeter.
On my second build, i had intended to pull the dvd drive, and the power supply from my old pc, but had spaced checking the connections of the dvd drive and it wasn't compatible with new motherboard.
I had a problem booting up too that i had researched for a couple hours before finally calling a computer shop in town for some input, they didn't have much to say because it could have been so many different problems, so they said i could bring it in and they'd at least check it out real quick, luckily the guy there had a thought and checked my power supply, and it had apparently fried, so i had to buy a new one.
However, my computer sits next to me now, a lean mean processing machine i dubbed "Beastlehoff", and i love it.
It's not nearly as complicated as it seems, and any questions or confusion you have can almost always be remedied with some time on google.
There might be a snag here and there, but that's part of the fun, cause once you get it figured out, the victory's just that much sweeter.
On my second build, i had intended to pull the dvd drive, and the power supply from my old pc, but had spaced checking the connections of the dvd drive and it wasn't compatible with new motherboard.
I had a problem booting up too that i had researched for a couple hours before finally calling a computer shop in town for some input, they didn't have much to say because it could have been so many different problems, so they said i could bring it in and they'd at least check it out real quick, luckily the guy there had a thought and checked my power supply, and it had apparently fried, so i had to buy a new one.
However, my computer sits next to me now, a lean mean processing machine i dubbed "Beastlehoff", and i love it.
damn US prices for PC hardware are ridiculously low. though i didn't know companies like Dell take so much just for prebuild PC - are there really so many idiots in US? in my country shops that sell pc parts online will build any PC you want and install any OS you'll choose for free - you just pick parts you want from their catalogue and wait for the package to come in after 3-4 days.
I allready got a new PC for BF3 cost £670 with keyboard, mouse and speakers hard drive only , just hooked it up to my tv instead of a monitor looks better tbh
I would change the CPU suggestion to an i5 2500k. The one in the article is last gen, nearly 2 years old. The 2500k costs about the same on Amazon and is also quad core. I'd also change the RAM to 8GB, NewEgg puts G.skill RAM on sale a lot lately for around $50-$60.
For about the same price as your recommended processor you could get a current generation Core i5-2500k. You'd have to pair it with an appropriate motherboard as well, but if you're buying a new pc you should really stick to current gen parts instead of last gen so it'll last that much longer before replacement time.
Why an Intel-only version?
Then another important thing - what resolution do you suppose it will run on?
And is RAM really so expensive in USA? I mean, in Ukraine you can get a good 1600 4Gb (1 stick) module for like 20$. Goodram or Hynix. Or even Transcend
Plus, i don't think it's a good idea to do a 2-core CPU recommendation. If it's not a bad port like Black Ops or something like that, 2-core might be enough. But 4-core is a better choice. And in 4 or even 6-core config AMD really shines with pricing. For example, Athlon II x4 645 is cheap and powerful. So is Phenom II x6 1090T (for a 6-core).
As for an HDD i'd really recommend Black-series from WD. Blue and especially Green are better for archive-like storage. Black is best for system and program storage.
As an alternative for a thermal compound i'd name MX-3 from Arctic Cooling. One of the best out there. Silver is a classic, though
For a GPU (and AMD CPU for that matter) i'd recommend to wait till September. Why? New AMD series CPU's and GPU's may come out. And even if the newer ones will be expensive, the older series might get a discount. And buying a 67xx (especially 6790. i'd recommend XFX or HIS with their IceQ cooling) is more preferable if you have a 1650+ resolution.
Then another important thing - what resolution do you suppose it will run on?
And is RAM really so expensive in USA? I mean, in Ukraine you can get a good 1600 4Gb (1 stick) module for like 20$. Goodram or Hynix. Or even Transcend
Plus, i don't think it's a good idea to do a 2-core CPU recommendation. If it's not a bad port like Black Ops or something like that, 2-core might be enough. But 4-core is a better choice. And in 4 or even 6-core config AMD really shines with pricing. For example, Athlon II x4 645 is cheap and powerful. So is Phenom II x6 1090T (for a 6-core).
As for an HDD i'd really recommend Black-series from WD. Blue and especially Green are better for archive-like storage. Black is best for system and program storage.
As an alternative for a thermal compound i'd name MX-3 from Arctic Cooling. One of the best out there. Silver is a classic, though
For a GPU (and AMD CPU for that matter) i'd recommend to wait till September. Why? New AMD series CPU's and GPU's may come out. And even if the newer ones will be expensive, the older series might get a discount. And buying a 67xx (especially 6790. i'd recommend XFX or HIS with their IceQ cooling) is more preferable if you have a 1650+ resolution.
You can build ALOT better for less. A case and all for battle field can be built on Newegg for around 450$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.687210
Core I3
4 gigs of ram
400+ psu
Case
HDD 1 tb
DVD reader
mother board for 336
Then the card of your choice for under 500$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.687210
Core I3
4 gigs of ram
400+ psu
Case
HDD 1 tb
DVD reader
mother board for 336
Then the card of your choice for under 500$
Destructoid wrote something useful and well informed about PC gaming?
Hurry, we need more Jim Sterling trolling all over the place.
Hurry, we need more Jim Sterling trolling all over the place.
Thanks for for that. I'm saving for my new PC but it looks like I'm gonna buy new monitor too. Also, what's a good motherboard for AMD processors to play Battlefield 3?
First of all Alex you don't know anything about building PCs or current market prices. Secondly, the second picture is a promotional image for PS3 game Socom U.S. Navy Seals Confrontation. What a shame. Have a nice life.
First of all Alex you don't know anything about building PCs or current market prices. Secondly, the second picture is a promotional image for PS3 game Socom U.S. Navy Seals Confrontation. What a shame. Have a nice life.
"How to build a $480 gaming PC"...
"Adding it all together without the price cuts brings us to a slim total of $698"...
huh?
"Adding it all together without the price cuts brings us to a slim total of $698"...
huh?
I spoke to a guy working on BF3 and he said these specs would only handle low settings, but good shot at helping people out!
This doesn't seem a great rec. A SandyBridge CPU (i5-2500k) will cost the same as that 660.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5+660+%40+3.33GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5+660+%40+3.33GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
Any help for the europeans? Everyon always links to newegg or in this case the US Amazon. Any european counterpart for cheap parts?
Also, a $52 power supply is an awful idea. The wattage doesn't even matter if there aren't enough amps on the rail. Spend at least $100 on a PSU.
@Chibithor Europeans get ripped off, so there aren't really any cheap places. Just go to Google Shopping and sort by Total Price.
Decent places are http://overclockers.co.uk, Ebuyer, and Amazon. Do not order from PC-Titan.
Decent places are http://overclockers.co.uk, Ebuyer, and Amazon. Do not order from PC-Titan.
Yeah, a 500W PSU seems like an iffy suggestion, especially since a lot of people don't know that power ratings aren't exactly standardized. This is an area where it pays to go with a highly regarded brand, and to err on the side of caution and get more juice than you think you'll need.
1156 motherboard?
1156 motherboards and CPUs are going to be discontinued, that's why they're so cheap.
Don't be a fool, get 1155.
1156 motherboards and CPUs are going to be discontinued, that's why they're so cheap.
Don't be a fool, get 1155.
Unfortunately I will keep from buying this, as it is Origin exclusive. I have a RHD 5670, meaning I'm perfectly able to paly this game at minimum settings. EA just needs to stop being stupid, and we'll be set.
gamestop deals in games , why would they know anything about compterhardware.
spot on? those requirements are pretty blunt , there is a huge difference between a quadcore and a quadcore ( yeah , you read that correctly )
honestly , i hope you build this computer and try to run bf3 on it when the time comes , cause 6670 is not a graphics card ment for gaming.
-> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_6670/6.html
as you see there , it doesn't even cope with BC2 at any decent resolutions.
@stardog , do you know basic electrics? volt / watt = amps
500 watt on the 12 volt is always going to be 41 amps
the problem with cheap psu's however is that they lable them as 500 watters while they might actually only deliver 300 watts on the 12 volt.
spot on? those requirements are pretty blunt , there is a huge difference between a quadcore and a quadcore ( yeah , you read that correctly )
honestly , i hope you build this computer and try to run bf3 on it when the time comes , cause 6670 is not a graphics card ment for gaming.
-> http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_6670/6.html
as you see there , it doesn't even cope with BC2 at any decent resolutions.
@stardog , do you know basic electrics? volt / watt = amps
500 watt on the 12 volt is always going to be 41 amps
the problem with cheap psu's however is that they lable them as 500 watters while they might actually only deliver 300 watts on the 12 volt.
Wierd choice of processor. 200 bucks for a dual core (4 Threads though)
If you go with AMD on the same budget you can grab a true quad core for 50-100 less or even a 6 core processor for about the same maybee even saving 20 or 30 bucks. Which BF3 would benefit alot more from. As with other programs and modern games.
If you go with AMD on the same budget you can grab a true quad core for 50-100 less or even a 6 core processor for about the same maybee even saving 20 or 30 bucks. Which BF3 would benefit alot more from. As with other programs and modern games.
Good guide, sure with some more research and looking around different stores you could get something better for the price or the same thing cheaper, I think the main point is that you CAN build a gaming pc that isn't $2,000 like a lot of people assume it needs to.
I'm pretty sure that those min specs from Gamestop are totally placeholder. They aren't what was in the alpha invite email anyway. And even those aren't final specs. That being said, with a bump to a more current cpu and mobo you should be okay, but probably not on high settings or anything. It actually runs much more effeciently than I would have expected. And DICE have said that if you can run BC2 well then you will be able to run BF3 well also.
My i5 2500K is working great without breaking a sweat (no over-clocking). I've got a decent bit beefier GPU though. That being said, BF is a fairly CPU intense game as well; behind all of the pretty graphics is a lot of physics enabled objects and generally alot of moving shit flying around! Unlike many shooters all the projectiles have a physics model to calculate (bullets drop over long distances, as do RPGs etc.) That, plus all of the vehicles flying, driving, and crashing around can tax the CPU.
Anyway, very good of you to try to help people out who may be intimidated by the process or think that you have to spend thousands of dollars to run BF3 because of how damn sexy it is. I just built my first rug 2 months ago. Spent roughly a grand and have been able to run everything i've thrown at it at maximum settings or close enough that i couldn't really tell the difference.
My i5 2500K is working great without breaking a sweat (no over-clocking). I've got a decent bit beefier GPU though. That being said, BF is a fairly CPU intense game as well; behind all of the pretty graphics is a lot of physics enabled objects and generally alot of moving shit flying around! Unlike many shooters all the projectiles have a physics model to calculate (bullets drop over long distances, as do RPGs etc.) That, plus all of the vehicles flying, driving, and crashing around can tax the CPU.
Anyway, very good of you to try to help people out who may be intimidated by the process or think that you have to spend thousands of dollars to run BF3 because of how damn sexy it is. I just built my first rug 2 months ago. Spent roughly a grand and have been able to run everything i've thrown at it at maximum settings or close enough that i couldn't really tell the difference.
I play on a laptop and I have everything, except I've got an ATI Radeon 4500 card.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
P.S Can anyone tell me if you can replace laptop graphic cards?
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
P.S Can anyone tell me if you can replace laptop graphic cards?
Fail picture is fail! The picture you linked in the middle of the article (http://bulk.destructoid.com/ul/207064-/2Battlefield-3-Soldier-620x.jpg)
is NOT from Battlefield 3. It's from a SOCOM US Navy Seals game! (SOCOM Confrontation)
Honestly. You might as well put Soap McTavish from Modern Warfare on there.
And speaking of the build... THAT is fail too! What the hell are you doing putting an 1156 board here? You can get a core i5 2500k (LGA 1155) for the same price as the core i5 660. With the 2500k, you get the benefit of 4 cores, but with the 660, you get 2 cores with hyperthreading (4 threads). 4 distinct cores is usually faster than 2 cores with hyperthreading, especially in a processor-intensive game like Battlefield. Not only that, the Sandy Bridge chipset (2500k) is more power efficient and resource efficient than the previous generation of processors, considering it's a new architecture on the same 32 nm process.
To the readers: Buy the core i5 2500k (or cheaper LGA 1155 processor), find an appropriately-priced LGA 1155 micro-ATX board (can be had for the same price as the one listed in the article), and you can use the same RAM. Boom! More powerful CPU for the same price. Not only that, the architecture is actually still relevant, considering they're already phasing out LGA 1156 hardware.
Really, dude. First a picture from a completely different game (I mean, you working for a *Gaming Journalism* website!), and your recommendations for outdated architecture. I seriously hope no one took your post seriously and went off to Newegg to overpay on parts. You know better than that.
is NOT from Battlefield 3. It's from a SOCOM US Navy Seals game! (SOCOM Confrontation)
Honestly. You might as well put Soap McTavish from Modern Warfare on there.
And speaking of the build... THAT is fail too! What the hell are you doing putting an 1156 board here? You can get a core i5 2500k (LGA 1155) for the same price as the core i5 660. With the 2500k, you get the benefit of 4 cores, but with the 660, you get 2 cores with hyperthreading (4 threads). 4 distinct cores is usually faster than 2 cores with hyperthreading, especially in a processor-intensive game like Battlefield. Not only that, the Sandy Bridge chipset (2500k) is more power efficient and resource efficient than the previous generation of processors, considering it's a new architecture on the same 32 nm process.
To the readers: Buy the core i5 2500k (or cheaper LGA 1155 processor), find an appropriately-priced LGA 1155 micro-ATX board (can be had for the same price as the one listed in the article), and you can use the same RAM. Boom! More powerful CPU for the same price. Not only that, the architecture is actually still relevant, considering they're already phasing out LGA 1156 hardware.
Really, dude. First a picture from a completely different game (I mean, you working for a *Gaming Journalism* website!), and your recommendations for outdated architecture. I seriously hope no one took your post seriously and went off to Newegg to overpay on parts. You know better than that.
"However, I don't think this should be a huge issue, as most games are video card-reliant instead of processor-dependent."
This might be the case with some games, but it definitely is not with current Battlefield titles. The audio in Bad Company 2 and BF3 is very dependent on your CPU.
Why are you recommending a $220 dual-core Intel CPU when you can get a true quad-core Intel CPU for the same price?
core i5 760 - $210
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115067
Or an quad-core or six-core AMD CPU for even less money?
Phenom II X4 980 - $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103934
Phenom II X6 1100T - $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103913
Selecting a last-gen dual-core CPU...I don't get it.
This might be the case with some games, but it definitely is not with current Battlefield titles. The audio in Bad Company 2 and BF3 is very dependent on your CPU.
Why are you recommending a $220 dual-core Intel CPU when you can get a true quad-core Intel CPU for the same price?
core i5 760 - $210
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115067
Or an quad-core or six-core AMD CPU for even less money?
Phenom II X4 980 - $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103934
Phenom II X6 1100T - $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103913
Selecting a last-gen dual-core CPU...I don't get it.
"However, I don't think this should be a huge issue, as most games are video card-reliant instead of processor-dependent."
This might be the case with some games, but it definitely is not with current Battlefield titles. The audio in Bad Company 2 and BF3 is very dependent on your CPU.
Why are you recommending a $220 dual-core Intel CPU when you can get a true quad-core Intel CPU for the same price?
core i5 760 - $210
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115067
Or an quad-core or six-core AMD CPU for even less money?
Phenom II X4 980 - $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103934
Phenom II X6 1100T - $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103913
Selecting a last-gen dual-core CPU...I don't get it.
This might be the case with some games, but it definitely is not with current Battlefield titles. The audio in Bad Company 2 and BF3 is very dependent on your CPU.
Why are you recommending a $220 dual-core Intel CPU when you can get a true quad-core Intel CPU for the same price?
core i5 760 - $210
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115067
Or an quad-core or six-core AMD CPU for even less money?
Phenom II X4 980 - $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103934
Phenom II X6 1100T - $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103913
Selecting a last-gen dual-core CPU...I don't get it.
i could of run in it i had windows 7. i got invited to play that alpha beta but yea i cant play it u_u
Don't forget you'll need an ACTIVATED (not cracked) Ultimate Windows, or the OS will see only 2 cores. I recommend a i7 with 6mb cache, and 16gb RAM. The video card is up to you, but it must have at least 1,5gb. Trust me! ;)
I built myself a computer recently and happily it lives up to the recommended specs for BF3.
My word of warning though, is that I bought a big after-market heat-sink and that greedy bastard hogs the space above a RAM slot, so I'm limited to 6Gb rather than 8Gb. Maybe a time will come where I'll have to put the stock heatsink back on to get an extra 2Gb out of my system but for now, I'm fine.
My word of warning though, is that I bought a big after-market heat-sink and that greedy bastard hogs the space above a RAM slot, so I'm limited to 6Gb rather than 8Gb. Maybe a time will come where I'll have to put the stock heatsink back on to get an extra 2Gb out of my system but for now, I'm fine.
I'm still laughing at the guy thinking his rig is going to have an eight year life. Good luck with that buddy.
Think your better off going with AMD processor cheaper and you can do quad with 2.9G for around $100. You can save even more money not buying anything from amazon.com too. Your not going to find any deals on there unless it's used, and who would buy used computer parts. You could probably save another 100 at least.
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