Hello everyone!

My names Steven AKA Thefieldmarshal, and I specialize on budget PC's. I have a PH.D in computer engineering from CMU, have been working in the field for over 2 decades. I am recently published in the area of research and making budget gaming PC's. I've been very successful in making them at a low cost(sometimes I even make money when I sell them). I enjoy taking the time to help people with hardware questions and my focus is helping people with budgets max their performance needs. I will update my website weekly.

!!!!!READ THIS FIRST!!!!!
Home Page: http://budgetgamingpc.weebly.com/index.html

Introduction Info
The Basics: http://budgetgamingpc.weebly.com/the-basics.html

MUST READ!!!
Sandy/Ivy Bridge Technology: http://budgetgamingpc.weebly.com/san...echnology.html

Recommended Parts: http://budgetgamingpc.weebly.com/rec...get-parts.html

Builds: http://budgetgamingpc.weebly.com/builds.html

$500.00 Dollar Gamer: http://budgetgamingpc.weebly.com/budget-of-500.html

Budget Gamer: http://budgetgamingpc.weebly.com/budget-gamer.html

Extreme Gamer: http://budgetgamingpc.weebly.com/extreme-budget.html

Budget Enthusiast: http://budgetgamingpc.weebly.com/budget-enthusiast.html

Note: The website ISN'T finished. I am still revising it, and if anyone finds any information incorrect or not worded properly, feel free to let me know. That being said if you have any questions feel free to ask as well!

EDIT: My email listed on the website is from Carlow where I am currently working with Cory Maloney in developing some new business solution software.

Very nice! I'm looking at the 500 dollar gamer. What sort of fps could I expect RECORDING a game like BF3 multiplayer at med/high settings?

The GTX 650ti should handle BF3 at high settings across the board. Given the multitasking power of the FX-6300, I would say VERY good results.

^^^ Me

Cool. Thanks!

If you can extend your budget, I recommend upgrading the PSU to 500w 80+ certified from one of the companies I recommend and grab an HD 7850/7870, this will make your experience amazing being able to max BF3.

If you can afford a $500 pc, I reccomend saving for a while longer and building a $1000 pc. Just finished mine:

Intel Core i5 3570K @4.2GHz (air cooled, RAIDMAX Hurricane case w/ side fan)
8GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM G.Skill Ripjaws X
GIGABYTE Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition ( the only thing to dip below 60fps with all settings maxed is Sleeping Dogs with Hi-res patch, and it only happened whilst riding a motorcycle at excessive speeds)
1TB Hitachi HDD
600W Corsair PSU

The feeling of not having to turn down ANY settings in almost* ANY game is unbelievable.

*BF3 all settings maxed at 2560 x 1600 averages around 50-60fps, but can occasionally dip to as low as 45fps (mainly when multiple explosions occur)

I focus on budget builds myself. I've built 14 PC's this year ranging from spare parts+300 bucks-1500 dollar end up setups. I honestly prefer trying to max performance for a min cost. Myself I own a 1000 dollar setup and it works great, but my focus is on budget PC's. If you can save up i'd recommend that over a budget PC.

I know what you mean...There's just something that's fun and immensely satisfying about seeing how much performance you can cram into a very affordable budget....

This is where you and I think alike, "What can this little machine do?!" *Squeeze*

Though I won't lie, my current system is more or less a monster. I have considered selling it and doing an ITX build, maybe with the BitFenix Prodigy case. Anyways...

What I actually came in here to say is that anyone planning on a system build could possibly lower the cost of even what you have with enough advanced planning. People have this idea that they must buy all their parts at one time, and this just isn't true!

Places like Tiger.com, Newegg.com, Amazon.com, and just about every other .com that sells parts loves to have sales. If you play your cards right you can easily score serious savings on parts. The key to doing this is timing, and spreading your purchases out over the course of maybe a couple of months. The retailers of parts aren't, obviously, going to throw everything you need on sale at one time. They are going to cycle through the sales on components.

The idea behind this is if you put a power supply and case on sale, then anyone that buys it will just impulse buy the rest of the system or a few more components. Once that sale is done they move it to other components, so and and so forth. Now if you play the game correctly, and purchase in phases over a period of time, you can shave even more money off the build cost. Purchase the PSU when it is on sale, snag the motherboard when it is on sale, case comes around, snag it, do this until you have all your parts.