Critque the new gaming PC

[Scouzer]

My sister asked me to help her pick out parts for a new gaming PC. I don't really keep up with these things so I want to double check that everything is compatible and a good mix. She just wants the best gaming PC for about $1000.

These are Canadian prices.

Intel i5 3570 - $194.97
MSI ZH77A-G43 $88.98 <--- Feedback welcome here. Hate picking mobos. No overclocking required.
EVGA GTX 660 - $209.99
Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX 8GB 2X4GB Kit - $56.99
Plextor M5S 256GB SSD - $178.99
Corsair CX500M PSU - $64.99
Bitfenix Shinobi Case - $71.67
Assembly (Don't want to do it) - $50.00
Windows 8 - $92.63

Total: $1009.21. Thoughts?

 

[mfenn]

All of that looks totally reasonable to me. I would probably go for Windows 7 unless she specifically wants 8 though.

 

[Scouzer]

All of that looks totally reasonable to me. I would probably go for Windows 7 unless she specifically wants 8 though.

I will run it by her. I find Windows 8 with Start8 pretty awesome though, way snappier than 7.

 

[Cerb]

I will run it by her. I find Windows 8 with Start8 pretty awesome though, way snappier than 7.

Are animations turned off on one, but not the other? That and fat bloated security software are going to be the only things that could make a human-perceptible difference between the them (and Vista, for that matter, if you took the time to tweak it). With animations on in either one, there's absolutely no way it's not placebo, assuming similar hardware and other software.

 

[lehtv]

These are Canadian prices.

Intel i5 3570 - $194.97
MSI ZH77A-G43 $88.98 <--- Feedback welcome here. Hate picking mobos. No overclocking required.
EVGA GTX 660 - $209.99
Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX 8GB 2X4GB Kit - $56.99
Plextor M5S 256GB SSD - $178.99
Corsair CX500M PSU - $64.99
Bitfenix Shinobi Case - $71.67
Assembly (Don't want to do it) - $50.00
Windows 8 - $92.63

Total: $1009.21. Thoughts?

Where's this priced from?

Initially I'd say that looks pretty good, but you should be able to find a bit cheaper mobo, and a 128GB+1TB storage config is more balanced IMO. The case could also cost a bit less. Then upgrade GPU to GTX 760. I might even consider going HDD only on this budget (essentiall a $850 PC), as it would allow higher GPU performance which is the no.1 thing that matters for gaming

 

[Scouzer]

NCIX.

I wasn't having much luck finding a cheaper H77 mobo that had any half decent reviews. I don't expect I'd save much more than $10 anyway.

I thought about the dual hard drive route, as I agree with you, but I don't think she's savvy/disciplined enough to manage two hard drives. She would fill the SSD with junk then be confused why her computer is full, lol.

I ordered it this morning!

 

[DSF]

It may be too late, but I agree with lehtv.

Some game installs are pretty large, depending on what she does. BF3 is something like 30 gigs all by itself. Another factor most people forget is the way Windows system directories balloon over time. My WinSxS directory is at about 30 gigs right now.

Even on my old gaming machine, on which I stored no music and video, and only certain pictures, I was using 300-400 gigabytes. I like to have most of my games installed, especially since I do a lot through Steam and re-downloading them is a hassle.

If she plans to store music, pictures or video she's going to run out of space very quickly. The good news is that a new storage drive isn't too hard to add later. In terms of file management, if she's a Steam user she can now configure it so that she can easily tell Steam which drive to install a given game to. Works for most games, not all.

 

[Legios]

NCIX.

I wasn't having much luck finding a cheaper H77 mobo that had any half decent reviews. I don't expect I'd save much more than $10 anyway.

I thought about the dual hard drive route, as I agree with you, but I don't think she's savvy/disciplined enough to manage two hard drives. She would fill the SSD with junk then be confused why her computer is full, lol.

I ordered it this morning!

Not to nitpick, but she will fill the PC with junk either way, now she just has no way to move the stuff unless you add an extra HD.

 

[lotust]

haha I have not built a PC in so long I have no idea what you have built :-0 I remember building an AMD 64 Slot CPU pc running windows XP.

 

[Lavans]

Personally, I would rather drop the SSD and get a 1Tb HDD instead, and take the surplus to get a GTX760 over a GTX660. Games won't load as fast, but will play at a much higher framerate, making the system far more futureproof for the same amount of money.

 

[Scouzer]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I will check with her in a month or two and if she's loaded the SSD up we will order her a TB hard drive, should be an easy fix at that point.

 

[lehtv]

I wasn't having much luck finding a cheaper H77 mobo that had any half decent reviews. I don't expect I'd save much more than $10 anyway.

Sorry I was unclear. I meant that a B85 motherboard would do just as well... But now that I check what's available, the cheapest B85 board is $82, so H87 it is.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I will check with her in a month or two and if she's loaded the SSD up we will order her a TB hard drive, should be an easy fix at that point.

That's true, but you have to weigh that option against how likely it is. If it's likely, you might as well include the HDD in the current budget - and if it's in the current budget, 256+1TB is quite excessive since you could get 128+1TB and a faster graphics card