Hardware Building a desktop

[Devin]

I just recently got my College grant and since my College tuition/fees are covered the money is pretty much there. So I've decided that I should probably get a new computer. To give some perspective I'm currently using the following laptop. (Except I've bumped the RAM up to 8GBs.) Link to current laptop specs. My only issue with it is that it tends to overheat (If I don't have it on the cooler mat.) and that it uses Intel HD Graphics so I can't run many games.

I was thinking about building a PC but my only issues are that I tend to use my laptop in my bed most of the time, I'll need it to bring to College with me, and I don't have a monitor/desk for a PC. So I'm really leaning towards a laptop and I was hoping some of you guys had suggestions on a decent gaming laptop for $500 or less. I can reuse some aspects of the laptop I'm currently using if need be. (Like the 2x 4GB RAM sticks, 640GB HDD, etc.) I don't plan on running Crysis 3 at 60 FPS on high. I typically just play Garry's Mod, Counter Strike: Global Offensive and so on. I can possible go a little over $500.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834313719 < This is a fairly decent laptop, it has an A10-5750M APU with a AMD Radeon HD 8650G which has similar performance to a GeForce GT 630M so stuff like Garry's Mod and CS:GO should run quite well and Lenovo makes some pretty good quality laptops.

 

[Devin]

Thanks Tom. I've decided that I can't really get a good gaming laptop that is a larger improvement over my current one without pay $700+. So I've decided to go the building a PC route. I asked a friend of mine for suggestions on what to put into it and this is what we've got so far.

PC Part List

The only part I really picked out was the casing. Pretty cheap and looks nice. I'd use the 500W power supply included with it however I've read that it's loud, gets really hot, and the cooling fans for it melt. So I went with my friends suggestion of a EVGA 500W power supply. Any tips or suggestions would be awesome. Thanks.

 

[Luckkill4u]

Thanks Tom. I've decided that I can't really get a good gaming laptop that is a larger improvement over my current one without pay $700+. So I've decided to go the building a PC route. I asked a friend of mine for suggestions on what to put into it and this is what we've got so far.

PC Part List

The only part I really picked out was the casing. Pretty cheap and looks nice. I'd use the 500W power supply included with it however I've read that it's loud, gets really hot, and the cooling fans for it melt. So I went with my friends suggestion of a EVGA 500W power supply. Any tips or suggestions would be awesome. Thanks.

yeah get a Different case and you dont need the CPU cooler because your amd cpu should come with one. I would also get 2 x 4GB chips of ram instead of just one and put all that extra money to a better GPU.

or something like this http://pcpartpicker.com/p/m96CD3

 

[Originality]

Since you didn't include a HDD in your build, are you going to use an existing one?

 

[geishroy]

I just recently got my College grant and since my College tuition/fees are covered the money is pretty much there. So I've decided that I should probably get a new computer. To give some perspective I'm currently using the following laptop. (Except I've bumped the RAM up to 8GBs.) Link to current laptop specs. My only issue with it is that it tends to overheat (If I don't have it on the cooler mat.) and that it uses Intel HD Graphics so I can't run many games.

I was thinking about building a PC but my only issues are that I tend to use my laptop in my bed most of the time, I'll need it to bring to College with me, and I don't have a monitor/desk for a PC. So I'm really leaning towards a laptop and I was hoping some of you guys had suggestions on a decent gaming laptop for $500 or less. I can reuse some aspects of the laptop I'm currently using if need be. (Like the 2x 4GB RAM sticks, 640GB HDD, etc.) I don't plan on running Crysis 3 at 60 FPS on high. I typically just play Garry's Mod, Counter Strike: Global Offensive and so on. I can possible go a little over $500.

Sign up for a Newegg preferred account. and pay over time. But go all out. You can pay w/e you want but if you purchase the entire thing at once you will likely have no payments or interest for like 6-12 months. I wouldn't do that and I would pay as you can. I wouldn't think you wouldn't get another grant next semester so you can keep paying for as long as you want. Check it out IF YOU DARE.

 

[nukeboy95]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834313719 < This is a fairly decent laptop, it has an A10-5750M APU with a AMD Radeon HD 8650G which has similar performance to a GeForce GT 630M so stuff like Garry's Mod and CS:GO should run quite well and Lenovo makes some pretty good quality laptops.

Not so, my old lenovo i got brand new had several missing screws and completely broke 9 months after i bought it.

 

[the_randomizer]

Not so, my old lenovo i got brand new had several missing screws and completely broke 9 months after i bought it.

I have a Lenovo, still working just fine, sounds like you had the luck of the draw, but don't blame it on Lenovo, these things do happen. Compaq, Gateway and Dell however, should be avoided at all costs, their attribution high failure rate is justified.

 

[nukeboy95]

I have a Lenovo, still working just fine. Compaq, Gateway and Dell should be avoided at all costs, their high failure rate is substantiated.

Also toshiba.

 

[Joe88]

Also toshiba.

lolwut
http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf

 

[nukeboy95]

lolwut
http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf

I have had 3 toshibas
all three have had bad charging ports and two of them have has the hinges broke.
(models: m505, m505 special edition, and a a660)

 

[Joe88]

My L505D is still running fine since 2009

 

[Originality]

Remember that the companies don't make laptops, they assemble them from basic parts.
Also, this is now off topic since the OP is building a desktop.

 

[CompassNorth]

As someone who has an FX-6300 you'd be better off going off Intel

Are you okay with mail-in rebates? If so
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9XhVD3