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1000$ First-Time Gaming Rig

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May 19, 2013 5:01:23 PM

Personal notes: I just want to apologize up front for any errors or posting anomalies, this is my first time on this forum and I'll do my best to rectify. So, that out of the way...

I have a list of parts picked out, see 'The result of my research' section, and I'd like to base your suggestions off of mine, but if any of you feel you can do better, be my guest, I look forward to your ideas.

Approximate Purchase Date: Definitely before the end of the month, the sooner the better.

Budget Range: 1000-1050 after MIR, can be less.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: hardcore-medium-end gaming (things like BF3, BF4, Crysis 3, ARMA 2&3, GTA V, etc.), internet surfing/entertainment, schoolwork.

Are you buying a monitor: No (though I will upgrade my current one eventually)

Parts to Upgrade: A new rig minus the peripherals and monitor

Do you need to buy OS: Yes, Windows 7

Preferred Websites for Parts: Newegg, tigerdirect, and amazon

Location: Texas, USA

Parts Preferences:
-I'd prefer to have an upgrade friendly computer, I.E. slots for 2 graphics cards, 4 slots for ram, enough slots for at least 2 hard drives, and able to have my CPU overclockable.
-I really want to stick to a 4 core CPU, no more, no less.
-8GB of RAM, with the ability to add more.
-No SSD, I may get one eventually, but not now.
-Prefer to not have to deal with liquid cooling, this is my first rig after all.

Overclocking: Maybe, but not for at least a few months. I don't want to have to overclock out of the box.

SLI or Crossfire: I want to have the option to, but as an upgrade path.

Your Monitor Resolution: My current monitor is 720p at 1366 x 768 but I definitely plan on upgrading. (I don't know what I'll get, but 1080p will be a must.)

Additional Comments: I don't care about bling or fancy windows on the side; they don't matter to me, price and performance matter more. A quiet PC would be nice, but a cool (as in cold) PC is far more important.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I've had a Toshiba Satelite L675 Laptop for 3 years and hated nearly every minute with it.

The result of my research:

Intel Core i5-3570K

ASUS P8Z77-V LE PLUS LGA 1155 Intel Z77

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866

Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"

MSI N660 TF 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16

Ultra Rogue M950 Full Tower Gaming Case

Rosewill BRONZE Series RBR1000-M 1000W Continuous@40°C, 80Plus Bronze Certified,Modular Cable Design

Windows 7 64-bit

More about : 1000 time gaming rig

May 19, 2013 5:09:17 PM

very nice build, I would get a less powerful PSU and spend a little more maybe get a gtx 670
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May 19, 2013 5:18:44 PM

haswell comes out in june, Fishy_Fish wants their build before end of month and please stop saying haswell everywhere LOL :) 
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May 19, 2013 5:28:16 PM

To rajaawad23
Yeah, I'm thinking the PSU would be a lot, but I figure that if it works it could serve me well for many years to come, even when this rig becomes obsolete. Also, a GTX 670 Would be great, but I'm tight on money, I've been saving since August 2012 (a long time in high-school,) so I simply don't have the money.

To Marcopolo 123
I'm just not sure what to think about Haswell, and I really don't want to wait for a new lineup, reviews to come out, motherboards to be compatable, re-thinking my whole system, and worst of all, the rush of people trying to get their mits on a new CPU. So, all in all, I'm sure it'll be a great CPU series, but probably not for me if I have to wait for a few months to get honest reviews and stuff.
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May 20, 2013 12:03:03 AM

Fx 6300. ( doesnt make a huge difference, also am3+ will support steamroller( amd's new upcoming cpu series.)
Msi hd7950 tf ( faster then hd7970/gtx680 when overclocked)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($63.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($55.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.19 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($309.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($65.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.94 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $913.04
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-20 03:04 EDT-0400)



This case is good, also huge rabate !
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-case-caph410g1
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May 20, 2013 8:08:05 AM

Marcopolo123 said:
Fx 6300. ( doesnt make a huge difference, also am3+ will support steamroller( amd's new upcoming cpu series.)
Msi hd7950 tf ( faster then hd7970/gtx680 when overclocked)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($63.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($55.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.19 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($309.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($65.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.94 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $913.04
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-20 03:04 EDT-0400)



This case is good, also huge rabate !
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-case-caph410g1


nice build, but instead of FX 6300, I would go for the fx 8350 (http://pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-cpu-fd8350frhkbox) only $70 more than the fx 6300, this will be a great system, slightly faster and more future proof than the intel build.
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May 20, 2013 4:29:56 PM

Several responses here, and some problems are emerging as I see I was not specific enough in my list of wants in a computer. I am not by any means trying to be mean, and I hope that this is not interpreted as so, I'm simply a kid trying to get started up on this whole "Hardcore-PC-gaming" thing."

Firstly, I stated that I wanted to stick to a 4 core CPU above, not trying to be mean, just don't want to end up with a slower 8 core CPU when I'm only using 2 and wasting away 6. So in other words, yes, the FX-8350 is great, but I just don't think it's the one for me, same with the FX-6300, they're great CPUs but probably not for what I'm doing (gaming on mainstream games alongside lesser optimized games that do not take advantage of a whopping 8 cores).

Secondly, and I did not state this above, so it's understandable, but I would prefer to stick to a full tower to have that extra airflow and adaptability, (I'm thinking ahead when I want to cram a whole new system in 5 or so years down the line, same goes for the PSU, I'd be re-using if at all possible.)

It gets a bit ... interesting ... here :p  --> I've seen so much bias on every forum I've read and am astounded at the magnitude of the AMD VS INTEL debate, especially when people claim to hold no personal bias towards either and swear by the company that they bought from regardless of the persons' needs or wants. I do not give a flying crap about the INTEL VS AMD debate, it really sounds like a really silly debate especially since they don't fight the same fight, yes they're both CPU companies, but COD and BF3 are both shooters, that doesn't mean you should compare the products without proper research into what should be compared to what (I'm looking at people whom compare I7s to the AMD APU series.)

All I guess that I really need is not for someone to recommend a completely new system, simply adjust parts like the motherboard, RAM, etc. and fine tune any bottlenecks they see, not give me a new CPU or Graphics Card. Unless I see compelling evidence suggesting that my chosen CPU is inferior to another (a very futile claim I might add on behalf of my beliefs, for there are reasons this CPU is the 'mainstream CPU' right now.)
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May 20, 2013 4:46:04 PM

just leave it with what you came up with, if anything get a 7870, 7950 depends on what you can afford
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May 20, 2013 4:55:52 PM

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.00 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($130.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($55.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.19 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($309.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Phantom (Black/Green) ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Fortress 750W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $993.12
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-20 19:55 EDT-0400)

Way better then ur build
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May 20, 2013 7:16:52 PM

I'm going to examine tonight and get back to you guys tomorrow about what I think. So far however, I've noticed that:

1. I never included a disk drive in my initial parts list, however, a 20 dollar one will do (just to install windows)
2. I shouldn't need an aftermarket cooler immediately if I don't plan on overclocking for a bit right?
3. I think I'll switch my RAM to 1600, seems 1866 is only 1%-3%faster and costs more.
4. Marcopolo123,you never included a copy of windows 7 in that setup so I'd be overbudget :p  Also, that the G-card looks (spec wise) pretty darn awesome, but again, I've got a 1000-1050$ budget so it simply will not conform :(  .
5. Unfortunately, I don't have a Microcenter within 5 hours of my house so yeah... no in-store savings on a 3570K there...
6. Personal questions: Would the 7950 beat 2 GTX 660's in crossfire (a possible upgrade path...)? Advantages of the 7870 over the 660?

Anyways, that's all I can do for now quite literally. Only so much computer hardware cramming you can do in a seventeen-hour-day alongside high-school I guess... Who knew?
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Best solution

May 20, 2013 11:52:09 PM

2 gtx 660 are way faster then hd 7970/gtx 680
http://www.behardware.com/articles/876-21/review-nvidia...
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_geforce_gtx_66...
The performance would be plenty.

Hd 7870 is a bit faster then gtx 660

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May 21, 2013 6:32:35 AM

Okay, I think I'll stick to the GTX 660 MSI Twin Frozr, and later if I so have the desire, I'll upgrade by getting another 660, or possibly a GTX 780... or something that would beat the performance, meh, I'll worry about that particular upgrade later when it becomes an issue.

Again, I think I'll stick to the GTX 660 MSI Twin Frozr III.
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May 22, 2013 4:27:11 PM

Thanks for all the advice, I think I'll close the thread as SOLVED by selecting a random response.
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!