$530: Second Tier Gaming Build

Check out the $530: Second Tier Gaming Build!

With the Intel Core i3-540  costing roughly $105, it can be a great processor for a solid gaming build. This processor beats out the Athlon II X3 445. If you want a higher clock rate for about $15 dollars more, then I would suggest going with the Intel core i3 – 550.

The GeForce GTS 450 graphics card comes in at around $120, and is by far a great card for its price range. You should get a great performance of 16 80×1050 resolution in most games, and 1920×1200 with lower game details. (If you want to get a slightly better graphics cards for a slightly slightly higher prices, consider the other cards in the “Budget Yielding Alternatives” section below)

The GIGABYTE LGA 1156  Micro ATX Intel Motherboard includes 2×240 pin memory slots allowing up to a maximum of 16GB of  dual channel DDR3 memory. A built in Audio chipset allowing 8 channels of sound using Realtek ALC888B. As well,  includes 4 x USB 2.0 connectors, 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16, 1 x PCI Express x1, and 2 x PCI slots.

In this build I included a high quality G.Skill 4Gb (2 x 2GB) DDR3 SDRAM 1333 (PC3 10666), a 320 GB Western Digital Caviar Blue 7200RPM, 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive, a SeaSonic 520 Watt Power Supply, a good ASUS CD/DVD burner, and chose the cooler Master Elite 310 Black/Red ATX Mid Tower Computer Case.

All parts have a set of constituent products under “Budget Yielding Alternatives” that you may feel like considering if you want to go with something a little different (especially with computer cases), or better (as in a hard drive with more space, power supply with more wattage for future use, or higher quality RAM).

Check out The Build Here!

Leave a Reply