This is going to be my first gaming PC. My budget was around $400 so it's not supposed to be some Godly PC. I would like to be able to run games like Battlefield 3 and Skyrim without lag and it doesn't have to be able to run max settings. I was told that an AMD processor is cheaper but Intel is more future proof and upgradable. I do plan on buying a fairly expensive graphics card later. Any suggestions or minor tweaks would be greatly appreciated.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pezG

The Intel HD graphics on that motherboard combined with that memory and CPU will run like a dog, you need to factor in a graphics card straight away really.

Hmm, am I blind or are you missing a Graphics Card? And a Case for that matter? ... And why a micro atx board?

I was going to say that you could go with a lower wattage to save some bucks on the PSU but then I saw that the brand was not all that good.. I would highly recommend going with corsair, but then it would be more expensive so.. and also I know nothing of this raidmax so it could be not that bad.

Also I don't see a good reason to build it without a GPU because you really won't be able to play anything decently without one, I say save your money and only build the PC once you can get all the parts

@onarum: This was the other suggested build.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/p5wB

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/peVF

You really need a dedicated GPU if you want to run the games you mentioned at all at a decent framerate, even at minimum or close to minimum settings.

@Kidavenger said:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/peVF

that one looks good, not sure if 500W PSU would be enough though.

Also 4GB RAM seems a bit restrictive.

Tested posted this article recently. Will and Norm know their shit.

@onarum said:

@Kidavenger said:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/peVF

that one looks good, not sure if 500W PSU would be enough though.

Also 4GB RAM seems a bit restrictive.

He's going for a $400 budget, I think he should save some more, but that is pretty close to as good as it gets for $400 worth of decent quality components.

@Nauhz: You need a graphics card.

@onarum: Which power supply would you recommend?

@Nauhz said:

@onarum: Which power supply would you recommend?

I tend to go with corsair, love their stuff.

Check the build Kidavenger posted, looks pretty good, and if you can stretch that budget a little more I would recommend getting a 600W PSU at least and 8 GB RAM

@onarum: @onarum said:

@Nauhz said:

@onarum: Which power supply would you recommend?

I tend to go with corsair, love their stuff.

Check the build Kidavenger posted, looks pretty good, and if you can stretch that budget a little more I would recommend getting a 600W PSU at least and 8 GB RAM

Would this run good?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pf9i

@Nauhz said:

@onarum: @onarum said:

@Nauhz said:

@onarum: Which power supply would you recommend?

I tend to go with corsair, love their stuff.

Check the build Kidavenger posted, looks pretty good, and if you can stretch that budget a little more I would recommend getting a 600W PSU at least and 8 GB RAM

Would this run good?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pf9i

That's good, but also blew the budget by more than 100 bucks.. also I never heard of that RAM manufacturer, RAM is a pretty important part of the overall performance, that's the thing with tight budgets for a gaming pc, you want to stay on budget but also the quality of the components must be good(because performance is a big factor) I say that it's better to save on a lower grade PSU than it is to save on lower grade RAM(my recommendation for RAM is also corsair btw)

But then again I'm by no stretch of the imagination really knowledgeable on this stuff, if you go here http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum-31.html you can post a build recommendation request with your budget in mind, and there are far more knowledgeable people in there I'd wager, at least more than me that's for sure.

edit: check this thread http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/353572-31-build-upgrade-advice before making a request though.

I was really worried for you when I looked at the first build you had posted. The most recent one is mostly newer model parts of what I have. I can run any game, and have run Skyrim and BF3, at 720p with more features and better graphics than console version.

Make sure you have a SATA cable for the hard drive or that the one you're getting isn't a "bare" model. Best Buy will charge you $20 for a short Dynex as revenge for your online purchasing. Don't forget you need an OS. If you are going to ever move to Win8, do so before next year when the price jacks up. I'm on it now and the one problem with games I've come across is I can't play The Walking Dead with my controller, which looks like an easy fix.

Your current build doesn't have an optical drive, which is fine as long as you don't plan on installing the OS by disc. Even if you are, if you can rip a drive out of another computer for a day you really don't need to buy one.

Last thing to remember, Steam is having it's Autumn sale right now. if you need a game or two.

I'd give it 1 George Washington out of 5

Like the others have said, where's the GPU at?

@Nauhz said:

@onarum: @onarum said:

@Nauhz said:

@onarum: Which power supply would you recommend?

I tend to go with corsair, love their stuff.

Check the build Kidavenger posted, looks pretty good, and if you can stretch that budget a little more I would recommend getting a 600W PSU at least and 8 GB RAM

Would this run good?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pf9i

Yep

Just to clarify for everyone, all of these builds have been suggested to me. I have not chosen any of the parts in any of these builds.

This is the current model I am working with:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pf9i