Gaming Rig Around $800

DreMan1990 · Apr 20, 2013

Hey everyone! First time post. I just wanted to come here and ask if the following would be a good gaming build for about $800. I would appreciate any feedback and suggestions. I also want to make sure all these parts will fit together and are compatible. Games I will play: Vindictus, LoL, Minecraft, Starcraft 2 and games along those lines. I would like to play in ultra settings or as close as I can get. My budget is about $800 and no more than $900.

Approximate Purchase Date: this week
Budget Range: 800-900 with shipping
System Usage from Most to Least Important:gaming, surfing internet, watching movies, basic homework
Are you buying a monitor: No Gateway Monitor 22'
1680 x 1050 UltraContrast 2000:1 HDMI

Do you need to buy OS: Yes (Windows 7)
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: any
Location: Fort Meade, MD US
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: Yes

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/S1z1
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/S1z1/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/S1z1/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($98.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($66.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($235.66 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Tempest 210 ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($15.30 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Mouse: Microsoft SideWinder X5 Wired Laser Mouse ($11.99 @ Mac Mall)
Speakers: Creative Labs A220 9W 2.1ch Speakers ($28.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $810.83
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-20 23:51 EDT-0400)

ihsaan96 · Apr 20, 2013

Change your processor to the 3570K , change your ram to ONE kit of 2x4GB so you save money. Buying seperate 4GB sticks is more expensive. Also you don't really need a soundcard, the onboard audio on your motherboard is good enough for those speakers.

DreMan1990 · Apr 20, 2013

Hey thank you for the quick reply and the information. I went ahead and changed it to match your recommendations.

realchaos · Apr 20, 2013

Are you overclocking?
Here's what I see so far:
-1333mhz ram. It's not a big difference, but you could get a 1600mhz for like $2-3 more.
-Change the psu to Corsair CX500M (Semi-modular version is same price as non-modular after rebates. If you don't want to do rebates, grab the non-modular version.)
-You could cut down on the HDD and grab the Blue version.
-I wouldn't go with a cheap speakers system. They won't work that well.
-

ballerslife · Apr 20, 2013

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($98.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($406.98 @ Newegg)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNWD-N1502UBE 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($14.25 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($55.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($15.30 @ Newegg)
Total: $868.44
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-20 21:29 EDT-0400)

Downgraded the CPU by a little bit. Gave you a card that's 3x more powerful than yours. This will max any game, including Crysis 3, at 45+ FPS

DreMan1990 · Apr 20, 2013

ballerslife :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($98.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($406.98 @ Newegg)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNWD-N1502UBE 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($14.25 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($55.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($15.30 @ Newegg)
Total: $868.44
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-20 21:29 EDT-0400)

Downgraded the CPU by a little bit. Gave you a card that's 3x more powerful than yours. This will max any game, including Crysis 3, at 45+ FPS

Man that graphics card is extreme. Really pricey too is there another one that could be a little less in price but almost as powerful?

ballerslife · Apr 20, 2013

You could drop to a 7950 at $300. But that's the ultimate graphics card, will suffice you for 3-4 years. Alternatively, a 7870 XT is almost like a 7950 at $250. I think that would be best for you.

realchaos · Apr 20, 2013

Honestly with that monitor resolution and the games you are playing, even an entry level gpu like the 7850 will be good enough. What I'm wondering is that you said you will like the play higher end games at ultra, what games are you talking about? The games you listed are no where close to high end.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.20 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($66.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Tempest 210 ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($15.30 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $749.41
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-20 21:48 EDT-0400)
This will max out any game you listed on your monitor.
-FX-6300 with the Asus M5A97 R2.0 is a great budget combo that will allow for overclocking in the future if you find the need to.
-Cheap, low profile ram.
-Standard 1tb HDD
-7850 can easily max any of your games
-Just put in a case. You're choice depending on what you think looks good
-Modular psu that will allow for crossfire

ballerslife · Apr 20, 2013

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/S0kr
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/S0kr/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/S0kr/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($98.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($235.66 @ Newegg)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNWD-N1502UBE 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($14.25 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($55.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($15.30 @ Newegg)
Monitor: AOC e2251Swdn 60Hz 22.0" Monitor ($117.48 @ Newegg)
Total: $814.60
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-20 21:50 EDT-0400)

Bagged you a 1080p monitor. Graphics card is like a 7950.

DreMan1990 · Apr 20, 2013

Wow, I really like all these options. I took some of your suggestions and mixed and matched with others. I updated the original and it seems like it's a good deal. Also I'm looking at playing higher end games eventually those games are just the first ones off the top of my head. I could definitely go for some Crysis 3. =)

realchaos · Apr 20, 2013

Grab the Asus m5a97 r2.0 board. The main difference between the asus and asrock one is that the asrock one allows for crossfire, but you can't crossfire with the 500w psu. The asus one is cheaper so it's a better deal

.
The CX500M (semi-modular) is the same price as the CX500 after rebates. If you are going to do rebates, grab the 500M.
Other than that, it looks like a very solid build.

DreMan1990 · Apr 20, 2013

realchaos :

Thank you =) It was only possible from the help of you guys. I really appreciate it. The build has come a long way from what it was lol. I think I might keep the asrock motherboard only because I might utilize crossfire down the road. I think for now the 500M psu is fine until I decide to do the crossfire. I'll definitely change out for the CX500M because who doesn't like free upgrades?

Also should I buy a CPU Cooler?

photonboy · Apr 21, 2013

DreMan1990 :

CROSSFIRE has issues (as does SLI) such as micro-stutter or other profile scaling issues. Generally, it's best to wait two years then buy the next Medium/High card that offers at least 2x the performance as your current card and then either keep your current card as backup, sell it or give it away to a friend.

Many people crank up the quality and suffer frame rate issues. Don't forget to balance frame rate and quality. Ideally get 60FPS VSYNC'd. I always start a game by tweaking with FRAPS showing the FPS and VSYNC off. I tweak for the best quality at 65FPS or higher average FPS, then turn on VSYNC (and often re-tweak later if more demanding part of game).

CPU:
On an $800 build the choice of CPU is actually difficult. For $120 or so you can get a cheaper AMD CPU and put $100 towards better graphics resulting in a better PC now. However, for $220 you can get an i5-3570K with cheaper graphics so in many games it may not be as good as the first option, but you extend the LIFE of your gaming rig through the purchase of another graphics card where the cheaper AMD CPU would be much more of a bottleneck in that system.

I tend to favour the i5-3570K concept for you as you discuss upgrading graphics in the future (though again, I suggest two years from now for optimal value).

SOUND:
The cheapest, half-decent sound is from quality $100 stereo speakers. Surround Sound is problematic for placement and a $100 5.1 system is much poorer quality than $100 stereo speakers (sure you get surround but at poorer quality).

A sound card is fine, but you still need half-decent speakers or its pointless. So, if your budget is $100 for sound get good stereo speakers and use ONBOARD audio. If your budget is $150 get the same speakers but a $50 sound card.

realchaos · Apr 21, 2013

-Yes crossfire does have issues, hoping AMD will get it fixed but there's no date on that happening.
-A FX-6300 will not bottleneck a system. It can handle any single graphic card and possible a good amount of SLI/crossfire set-ups. If he downgrades the gpu for the i5, his Crysis 3 gameplay will drop a lot. You can't extend the life of a gaming rig with a stronger cpu. A better gpu will extend it, though not by much.

@OP, you will only need a cpu cooler if you plan on overclocking. Unless you have some heat-issues in your house or want a quiet pc, the stock should do fine. You can always add a cpu-cooler in later as well.

DreMan1990 · Apr 21, 2013

photonboy :

DreMan1990 :

CROSSFIRE has issues (as does SLI) such as micro-stutter or other profile scaling issues. Generally, it's best to wait two years then buy the next Medium/High card that offers at least 2x the performance as your current card and then either keep your current card as backup, sell it or give it away to a friend.

Many people crank up the quality and suffer frame rate issues. Don't forget to balance frame rate and quality. Ideally get 60FPS VSYNC'd. I always start a game by tweaking with FRAPS showing the FPS and VSYNC off. I tweak for the best quality at 65FPS or higher average FPS, then turn on VSYNC (and often re-tweak later if more demanding part of game).

CPU:
On an $800 build the choice of CPU is actually difficult. For $120 or so you can get a cheaper AMD CPU and put $100 towards better graphics resulting in a better PC now. However, for $220 you can get an i5-3570K with cheaper graphics so in many games it may not be as good as the first option, but you extend the LIFE of your gaming rig through the purchase of another graphics card where the cheaper AMD CPU would be much more of a bottleneck in that system.

I tend to favour the i5-3570K concept for you as you discuss upgrading graphics in the future (though again, I suggest two years from now for optimal value).

SOUND:
The cheapest, half-decent sound is from quality $100 stereo speakers. Surround Sound is problematic for placement and a $100 5.1 system is much poorer quality than $100 stereo speakers (sure you get surround but at poorer quality).

A sound card is fine, but you still need half-decent speakers or its pointless. So, if your budget is $100 for sound get good stereo speakers and use ONBOARD audio. If your budget is $150 get the same speakers but a $50 sound card.

For now I feel like I don't really need amazing speakers, just enough to get me by. My real sound system is in my car. =)

DreMan1990 · Apr 21, 2013

realchaos :

No heat-issues here so I guess I can skip getting the cpu-cooler and save that money.

photonboy · Apr 21, 2013

realchaos :

Crossfire/SLI:
There's no simple fix to solve micro-stutter. Both AMD and NVidia have been aware of this issue for years. It's a combination of hardware and software issues (including the GPU, CPU, game design, drivers etc.). They have learned a lot in the last two years though such as certain RadeonPro tweaks improving Crossfire, the Titan doing great in SLI etc. I know NVidia is working on improving the issue for the GTX700 series.

FX-6300 and bottlenecking:
To say this CPU can't bottleneck any single GPU is completely false and easily misproved. All one need do is look up BENCHMARKS for gaming. If it wasn't bottlenecking a game then it would perform EXACTLY as well as any other CPU on the market such as the i5-3570K.

As per this review:
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/57615-amd-vishera-fx-6300-fx-4300-review-12.html

The i5-3570K gets about 109FPS whereas the FX-6300 gets only 86FPS when paired with a GTX670 (Skyrim at 1080p DX11..)

The i5-3570K gets 27% higher frame rates. Yes, it's more expensive but the point is that the FX-6300 was bottlenecking things for this game and Crossfire/SLI would only make things worse.

DreMan1990 · Apr 21, 2013

Well I think I'm going to start ordering today. Unfortunately it seems the Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory is out of stock on multiple websites. I also just wanted to make sure that all these parts are going to work and fit together right.

photonboy · Apr 21, 2013

DreMan1990 :

There are plenty of modules that will work.
Ideally, it's good to verify the RAM is in the supported list from the motherboard site, but barring that ensure the VOLTAGE matches the motherboard spec (i.e. 1.5V ?).

BIOS updates periodically have new RAM profiles as well.

So go to the motherboard support site and:
1) check the supported RAM list
2) if not there choose DDR3-1600 that is the same VOLTAGE the motherboard supports
3) Verify no HEIGHT issues with the CPU cooler you buy

I generally recommend G. Skill memory as they have a very good reliability record.

*If you want me to RECOMMEND a specific set, respond and post your MOTHERBOARD model.

realchaos · Apr 21, 2013

The FX-6300 isn't bottlenecking anything. It's more of how the architecture was made. Of course every processor with the same gpu will get different results, because they are not all made the same way. Look at the Dirt3 benchmark from the link you posted. The FX-6300 got a bit more fps than the i5-3570k. Does that mean the i5-3570k was bottlenecking the cpu in that game? No. The only reason the i5-3570k gets more fps is because it is better at single-threaded programs. With the i5-3570k vs FX-6300 again, the i5-3570k will win ~60-75% of the time while the FX-6300 will win the rest. Both are great processors that won't bottleneck to a point that the OP will notice at his resolution. If you want to continue this discussion, pm me so it won't over-take the OP's thread.

Anyways, it sucks that the patriot ram was out of stock. The next best thing will probably be the Crucial Ballistix: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148544&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID= As they are reliable, cheap and low-profile. It's also the standard ram with CAS9, 1600mhz and 1.5v.

DreMan1990 · Apr 21, 2013

realchaos :

Ya, I really wanted the patriot ram but I ended up buying the ones you suggested. Well, everything is on its way to the house. I just have to go pick up the CPU from the store later. Hopefully everything works and comes in one piece. Thanks again for everyone's help!

photonboy · Apr 25, 2013

realchaos :

Bottlenecking:
If you put a better part in a system and a game runs better, then the original part was a bottleneck. If you put a better part in a system and it does NOT improve things then that part was NOT a bottleneck.

In fact, you can have a bottleneck at the GPU, CPU and HDD all in the same game at different times (loading times are partially HDD bottlenecks which can be proven by testing with an SSD).

It's actually not that complicated.

Gaming Rig Around $800

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