First Build - $1000 gaming rig need help

SSD?

Do you live near Detroit? Cuz there is a Microcenter in Madison Heights.

Here's a fairly standard build that should fulfil your needs (you can't overclock the CPU, but you can the graphics card. If you want to over-clock the CPU, go with an FX 6300 from AMD instead):

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Low Voltage Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($60.49 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Sandisk Extreme 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($106.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($253.29 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.94 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($153.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $1003.65

A single 120GB SSD should be plenty for your needs. I've also selected an IPS monitor for you.

If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to ask.

M

Here is a build to consider:

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

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD4H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($193.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: ViewSonic VX2253mh-LED 22.0" Monitor ($167.58 @ Newegg)
Total: $1166.46

I was a little over your budget but its worth it. I would watch this guy's video. It will make your build easy and entertaining.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vojpoXz5xno&list=PLaXR9ONtMJAX4y4nRRLmsgKTmodA2ALSO

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($123.48 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($79.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($253.29 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Raidmax ATX-238WU ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.94 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus VS238H-P 23.0" Monitor ($139.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1074.60
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-12 10:37 EDT-0400)

This build assumes you will overclock your CPU. And the FX-6300 is a great overclocker. (saves you money by getting more performance for what you pay) Also, the GPU is very fast but it'll play all games at High.

The monitor is a gaming monitor. 2ms response time.

Overclocking is easy. Just read a little and watch some videos that explain things. I think it is worth it. I suggested the FX-6300 cuz it has a good track record and is wayyyy better than any i3 once you overclock the fx-6300.

Overclocking is a process so you need to do things in steps. Meaning up some settings and run a stress test program (Prime95). If you overclock succeeds then keep pushing it. Also, I added a CM Evo which is necessary for the overclock. The AMD cooler is not designed for overclocking.

If you overclock incorrectly (don't monitor the temps or voltage) then you can destroy your CPU. However, as long as you invest some time reading on the subject you will be ok. The process of overclocking is easy nowadays.

If you are willing to make the drive, Microcenter has insane deals on CPU + motherboard. Look at these:



By going to Microcenter, you pay $175 (includes tax). If you don't go to Microcenter, you pay $200. Small savings but still nice.
The real savings are if you buy a 3570k. However, you live 2 hours away, so the gas money isn't worth the drive unless you need an excuse to go to the amazing city of Detroit.

@riahim The draw-backs are that it's possible to break your CPU, often in ways not covered by the warranty. Like envy14tpe said, the FX-6300 is a better CPU once over-clocked, but at stock settings, I'd say the i3 and FX are much more even, depending on what games you play (as a rule of thumb single threaded/badly optimized games tend to favour the i3, whereas more multi-threaded things favour the FX).

The other draw backs are that you have to spend more money on both cooling and often more pricey motherboards (so cost increases basically). Also stuff like increased noise and (if done incorrectly) system instability can occur.

On the upside you obviously get a little more for your money (but there's also a lot of luck involved, since some chips simply don't over-clock well). The no. 1 reason people over-clock though, at least in my experience, is because they actively enjoy it.

Do I think over-clocking is worthwhile? Only if you enjoy it basically. It brings a lot of hassle (noise, cost, heat, etc) without as much benefit as people want to believe it does. Is over-clocking going to make a game with an unplayable frame rate suddenly silky smooth? No... A CPU over-clock is going to add at most maybe 5 FPS, and probably a lot less (at least in 95% of games which are GPU bound). On the other hand I'm not going to deny that a lot of people (including myself) enjoy the min-maxing of over-clocking and pushing your hardware to it's limits. I think a lot of people make the mistake of recommending over-clocking universally, when 95% of PC users just want their system to run well, without having to worry about CPU PLL voltage and the like.

Both mine and envy14tpe's builds are solid I feel (his is basically the same as mine with an FX-6300 instead of an i3 -- he also has a slightly better power supply, which is probably wise if you're going to over-clock). I'd say both have very similar stock performance, with his winning out slightly when over-clocked. I wouldn't recommend avenseth12's build though, as I feel he's put way too much emphasis on the CPU, which has a) taken him really over budget and b) led to a system that will actually perform worse in games, then our $150 cheaper alternatives, since the 7870 XT is a far superior card to the GTX 660 (and games rely -- unsurprisingly -- a lot more on graphic power than CPU).

@envy14tpe Like I said I think your build is solid. Only 2 things I would change would be A) Corsair Vengeance RAM has obnoxiously high heatspreaders which means you can't use it with a lot of great CPU coolers. You might as well go for the lower (and cheaper) G.Skill set I linked. Also there are much better ways to spend $50 than the POS Raidmax case, that looks like it might slice a couple fingers while installing the motherboard or collapse in a cold draft. Why not something with high quality for the price like the Antec One? Also IPS monitors are a lot better, and one would only cost maybe $10 more.

And yeah, I doubt it's worth going on a 4 hour round-trip to save $25

All the best,

M

It's true you need to take more care with an overclocked CPU, but for a noob (me a year ago) it is actually fairly easy. I'm sure marshallbradley will agree, overclocking is worth it.

I really wouldn't advise an i3 unless your budget was in the $600 range or wanted to do office work.

@marshallbradley. Your comments are well thought out and I do like your build. Why did you choose the low voltage RAM? (just curious)

I think the big takehomes are: get a FX-6300 and overclock it, a 7870XT is awesome, 120/128GB SSD is possible in your budget, and read a little about overclocking.

People, please suggest a monitor for OP. I think mine is a good choice but I could be proven wrong...

It takes a bit of patience to learn it. And do not assume that if your system is stable at a certain voltage, that a few voltage more will be "okay".

Fair enough. If not then look for an i5-3470 + H77 motherboard. Forget about i3s.

You could easily go with an i5 (though it would take you slightly over-budget which is why I didn't link it in the first place). The i3 has about 70-80% of the gaming performance of an i5 (since a lot of games don't run more than 2 threads anyway and the i3 can run 4 threads -- the same as an i5 -- with hyperthreading).

All I'd do is change out the i3 in my current build for an i5 3350P. It's about $50 more than the i3, but would decimate the FX-6300 (over-clocked or not) and of course the i3 in gaming and most productivity tasks. You still won't be able to over-clock with it, but the stock performance is basically equal to an i5-3570K (0.3 Ghz is nothing, trust me).

This is almost certainly what I would go for (I mean an extra $50 or 5% is nothing really, esp. when you're going from a dual-core to a quad-core) but I like to stick to budgets when they're given, since pushing people to spend more than they aim to is not something I believe in.

EDIT: @envy14tpe No reason really, I just chose it because it's a decent kit with low heat-sinks at a good price. It also does leave more over-clocking head-room (IIRC) and there aren't really any downsides.

I think you're under-estimating the i3 as a gaming CPU. A lot of people forget that even in games like Crysis 3 (not only one of the best CPU optimized games currently out there, but also a very CPU dependant one at that) it has about 84% of the i5's gaming performance. On badly optimized games it's obviously going to beat the FX as well due to the vastly superior single threaded performance.

Another thing I think is worth noting is that you can always over-clock the GPU, which not only makes a much bigger performance difference in gaming, but you don't have to spend more on specialist parts. I think GPU over-clocking is a much more beneficial/easy way (you don't even have to restart the computer to over-clock the GPU now days) to get into over-clocking. If you enjoy it a lot, then keep that in mind when the time comes for your next CPU upgrade!

M

I think envy14tpe meant a H77 chipset motherboard. The one marshallbradley suggested falls under that category.

The Intel Core i5-3470 is clocked a bit higher and is a tad better. The difference is not noticeable though. Buy whichever is cheaper, which the Intel Core i5-3350P generally is. But if the Intel Core i5-3470 is within $10 more, then buy it. More than $15, I wouldn't.

In theory the 3470. In the real world, the extra 0.1Ghz clock speed is going to make such a tiny difference (perhaps 1 extra FPS in gaming terms), that going for the cheaper one is always a better bet.

M

I gotta favor the 3550P. No one notices or will see a 0.1GHz difference.

And yes, I meant get a H77 motherboard. The one marshallbradley linked is very popular.

It sounds like you are leaning towards not overclocking. It's a great choice cuz you don't have to tweak your computer, instead you simply let it run smoothly.

For $1100. You can't get much better than this.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($173.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($82.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($253.29 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Raidmax ATX-238WU ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.94 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus VS238H-P 23.0" Monitor ($139.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1127.68
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-12 13:10 EDT-0400)