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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 1st Sep 2013 at 7:32 AM
Default Graphics Card Help! (Building a new computer
I seem to ask a lot about building computers...
So, my dad's building me a gaming computer for my birthday since our iMac stopped playing Sims 3.
I believe our budget is $1,000 (if that comes in handy).

The games I plan to play are Sims 3, probably Sims 2 and Mass Effect trilogy.
I have no idea what graphics card will be best, whether they'll run on Windows 8 (I don't know if it's possible to still get Windows 7 in Australia).

Thank you for helping...
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Scholar
#2 Old 1st Sep 2013 at 9:16 AM
Do you have any parts left over from olders PCs that you could re-use? What else do you plan on doing? Photo editing? The Sims 4? Do you have an idea of where you'll be buying your parts from?
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#3 Old 2nd Sep 2013 at 10:08 AM
Quote: Originally posted by ajaxsirius
Do you have any parts left over from olders PCs that you could re-use? What else do you plan on doing? Photo editing? The Sims 4? Do you have an idea of where you'll be buying your parts from?

No, our old computer is a laptop and it's well... Not very good, gaming-wise. I don't intend to buy Sims 4 and I want to have Photoshop. I don't know where the parts are going to be bought.
Scholar
#4 Old 2nd Sep 2013 at 1:10 PM
Does your $1000 budget include monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers (if you use that)? You're buying your parts in Australia though, right? And the $1000 budget is in Australian Dollars?
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#5 Old 5th Sep 2013 at 6:41 AM
Quote: Originally posted by ajaxsirius
Does your $1000 budget include monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers (if you use that)? You're buying your parts in Australia though, right? And the $1000 budget is in Australian Dollars?

We have all those, so we just need hardware and software.
And yes it is
Scholar
#6 Old 5th Sep 2013 at 2:22 PM Last edited by ajaxsirius : 5th Sep 2013 at 2:34 PM.
You should try to get something that looks like this:

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/1AdWv

Quote:
PCPartPicker part list: http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/1AdWv
Price breakdown by merchant: http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/1AdWv/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/1AdWv/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($218.00 @ PLE Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock H87M Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($99.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.41 @ Mwave Australia)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($65.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($249.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Case: Antec Three Hundred Two ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($69.00 @ PLE Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($119.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Total: $992.41
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-05 23:19 EST+1000)


Prices you will actually be able to get will vary of course, but you have an idea of what are normal prices and the website I linked to gives you links to online retailers.

The list I made is under $1000 but if you still find it expensive you could downgrade the GPU to a Nvidia GTX 650 Ti Boost and save about $30 I think. And you could downgrade the CPU to an i3-4130 and save $70.

I don't recommend downgrading anything. Having said that, the i3 + GTX 650 Ti Boost should be enough to play The Sims 3, but the i5 + GTX 660 will make a big difference in Photoshop and Mass Effect.
Instructor
#7 Old 29th Sep 2013 at 3:05 PM
At the risk of going off-topic, though I don't want to make a new thread about this, I was wondering if my Radeon HD 6530D card (chip?) is good for running games, well The Sims 2 really. As far as I understood from some sites, it's an integrated graphics chip and that's a no-no when it comes to demanding games like The Sims 2. However, my Sims 2 game runs without lag and glitches on high settings, I used to have all-max settings before, including Smooth edges, and it ran perfectly fine. But then I read somewhere around here that integrated chips may be good at first, but you may start noticing bluriness, weird textures, flashing etc. which I did not experience. So, should I think about getting a real graphics card for games for the future or stick with this one for a while?

I do have to note that when I first installed my Sims 2 game nearly all neighborhoods would crash when loading. When I searched for help here, it was suggested by Mootilda that it's because I don't have a real graphics card. When I reinstalled and up to now, the game runs fine, though I don't play it often.

Sorry if I derailed this thread.

Note: I also have a AMD A6-A500 APU which is kinda bundled with the card.
 
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