Gaming PC $800-1200

[Birdfeather]

Hello everyone, I would like to get started on a new PC build for mostly gaming purposes. The budget is $800-1200 (I'm shooting for best bang for the buck). I don't need any peripheals or Windows factored into the cost. I live in the United States and I have no brand preference. The resolution I use is 1920x1080, and I don't plan on overclocking. Lastly, I would like to get started on it ASAP.

I appreciate any help I can get, thank you.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Hi there,

Here's my recommendation:

CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K - $244 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116504

CPU Cooling: Coolermaster Hyper 212+ - $30 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103065

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 - $130 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157293

Memory: 8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600 - $50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233144

GPU: AMD Radeon 7850 2GB - $260 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121623

PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MKIII 500W - $80 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817703035

Case: Coolermaster HAF 912 - $60 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119233

Total: $854 (not shipped...shipping will probably come out to be like $20-30 max)

 

[Birdfeather]

thanks for the comment intel..I noticed you stayed pretty close to the minimum of my budget which I like..But do you think spending closer to 1200$ will make my computer significantly better? I have no problem spending some extra cash if its gonna make a diffrence, unless that 400$ diffrence is very miniscule and not worth it...

 

[mnewsham]

I would bump it up to the GTX 670, the PSU is fine for that. I would also add a SSD.

 

[Birdfeather]

so you think the gtx 670's are worth the extra $$$? I'd prob go for the EVGA one for the lifetime warranty if they still do that....

 

[mnewsham]

so you think the gtx 670's are worth the extra $$$? I'd prob go for the EVGA one for the lifetime warranty if they still do that....

I think they do a max of 5 year now or something like that, and yeah check out reviews for the GTX 670, it is a nice card. If you can find a really good deal on a 7950 tho you might consider that too.

 

[asutke781]

Since the OP said he didn't want to overclock I would stick with the 670 over the 7950.

 

[lehtv]

Even if you're not overclocking, I'd recommend buying 3570K + Z77. It's not much more expensive than 3550 and H77, so the viable non-OC option would be i5-2400 + H61. You'd regret later on if you changed your mind about overclocking. It's a great way to squeeze some extra life out of your PC for the cost of an aftermarket cooler.

i5-2400 $180 or i5-3570K $229
Asrock H61iCafe (for i5-2400) $65 or Asrock Z77 Pro3 $110
Mushkin 2x4GB 1600 $45
Gigabyte GTX 670-OC Windforce $400 (when it's in stock; you can build the rest of the PC immediately if you need to)
Seagate 1TB $100 or Hitachi 1TB (more DOA reviews but longer warranty) or Hitachi 2TB $140
Crucial M4 128GB $129
Samsung DVD burner $17
PC P&C 600W $57 AR AP
Lian Li PC-K9WX $64

~ $1057-$1191 AR AP

 

[Birdfeather]

haha, it's actually funny you said that lehtv.....I could definetly see myself regreting not being able to overclock my pc down the line :/

btw is is a 600w psu enough to run that gpu??

 

[T_Yamamoto]

haha, it's actually funny you said that lehtv.....I could definetly see myself regreting not being able to overclock my pc down the line :/

btw is is a 600w psu enough to run that gpu??

Yes. More than enough

 

[Birdfeather]

any reason you are all saying i5's for my build instead of i7's? my budget?

 

[Ken g6]

Gaming really doesn't benefit from the hyperthreading in an i7.

 

[lehtv]

any reason you are all saying i5's for my build instead of i7's? my budget?

Because it's a gaming PC. Games don't use more than four threads, some still use only two. So hyperthreading simply isn't needed for a gaming PC, no matter how high end.

 

[Birdfeather]

ohh thanks lehtv for chiming in.....Believe it or not so far I'm closest with going with your build, and i've posted on another forum and asked several friends too....But I really like that setup

How long do you think it will take to utilize the full capabilities of the i7 on games.....I do understand gaming quality in general is going to be by far more heavily influenced by your graphics card more so than your processor.....sorry for pretty much asking the same question twice......I just don't want to get the i5 if I'm going to regret it in 1 year from now......If you guys are confident the i5 will be fine for a good amount of time, I will head that direction, with more money in my pocket too ...http://redirect.anandtech.com/r?url...duct.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070&user=u00000687

 

[lehtv]

Forgot to mention - if you're going with the H61 board, it can't take more than 1333MHz RAM.

How long do you think it will take to utilize the full capabilities of the i7 on games.....

I doubt it will be for a long time. It doesn't make any sense for game designers to optimize their code for eight threads before eight-threaded CPUs become mainstream, and that applies to consoles as well because a lot of popular PC games are console ports. Another factor is the fact that the four threads of an i5 are simply fast enough to not bottleneck any graphics card setup. Games would need to be a lot more demanding, and GPUs a lot more powerful, for quad core hyperthreading to even have practical benefit in games.

 

[Birdfeather]

Forgot to mention - if you're going with the H61 board, it can't take more than 1333MHz RAM.

I doubt it will be for a long time. It doesn't make any sense for game designers to optimize their code for eight threads before eight-threaded CPUs become mainstream, and that applies to consoles as well because a lot of popular PC games are console ports. Another factor is the fact that the four threads of an i5 are simply fast enough to not bottleneck any graphics card setup. Games would need to be a lot more demanding, and GPUs a lot more powerful, for quad core hyperthreading to even have practical benefit in games.

makes sense to me......btw If i do go this route I would choose thehttp://redirect.anandtech.com/r?url...duct.aspx?Item=N82E16813157297&user=u00000687 Z77 Pro over the H61 which I can't find much feedback on I'm guessing it is fairly new.....Have people had good experiances with asrocks? I havn't really heard of that brand to be honest....

thanks again for helping me out so much guys...anandtech FTW

 

[lehtv]

Asrock has been around. They used to be a subsidiary of Asus, back then their boards were low quality, and I suppose some people still avoid them for that. But since becoming independent in 2007, their products became competitors of Asus and other older, bigger names. Their boards are nowadays solid quality and have decent features for the price.

One recent interesting survey of return rates due to failure (at hardware.fr) shows Asrock pulling ahead of others. Despite this their 6-series boards only had two years of warranty as opposed to three from Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and even Biostar. But to reflect that their boards are just as good quality, they now offer 3 years of warranty on the 7-series boards.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Asrock has been around. They used to be a subsidiary of Asus, back then their boards were low quality, and I suppose some people still avoid them for that. But since becoming independent in 2007, their products became competitors of Asus and other older, bigger names. Their boards are nowadays solid quality and have decent features for the price.

One recent interesting survey of return rates due to failure (at hardware.fr) shows Asrock pulling ahead of others. Despite this their 6-series boards only had two years of warranty as opposed to three from Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and even Biostar. But to reflect that their boards are just as good quality, they now offer 3 years of warranty on the 7-series boards.

ASRock is giving Asus a run for their money

 

[Birdfeather]

ohh cool, thank you guys!

one more thing as far as cases go.....Would I be fine to choosing a diffrent case to my liking?(sticking with lehtv's suggestions on internals) not a 100% sure which one yet but I'd prob stick with bigger name brands such as antec, lian li, cooler master, raid max, & corsair....all mid tower cases

 

[lehtv]

Sure, most ATX mid tower will fit the components. The one thing to make sure is that there's at least an 11"or 280cm clearance for the Gigabyte 670.

 

[Birdfeather]

^cool man thanks again

I wonder how long newegg will take to get some gigabyte gtx 670's in

or should I look elsewhere

 

[lehtv]

You can track sites that have them listed here: http://pcpartpicker.com/us/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvn670oc2gd

 

[mfenn]

btw is is a 600w psu enough to run that gpu??

Plenty. In terms of power consumption, the GK104 chip that the GTX 680 and GTX 670 use is the successor to the the GF114 that powers the GTX 560 Ti and GTX 560. So basically its a card with high-end performance and price, but mid-range power consumption.

 

[Birdfeather]

ohh gotcha.....thanks man

 

[Birdfeather]

ordered everything with the exception of the graphics card.......can't seem to locate anybody else selling it for 400$ like newegg that still has them in stock....ebay and amazon has some for sale but they are like 470$