What kind of tower and PSU should I get for this rig?

Jesse1836 · Aug 24, 2013

Also, do any of these parts conflict with each other?

GPU: GeForce GTX 560 or Sapphire Radeon HD 7750*
RAM: 4GB
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 250GB SATA 7200rpm 3.5" desktop PC hard drive HDD ST3250410AS
OS: Windows 7 (64-bit)

I'm sorry if any of this rig is off I just really need help getting together a budget gaming PC right now.

Outlander_04 · Aug 24, 2013

The GTX 560

what motherboard are you going to use?

Deus Gladiorum · Aug 24, 2013

Jesse1836 :

You didn't list your motherboard. Basically that's one of the most important things that matter when it comes to parts "conflicting" or not being compatible. As for a PSU, 520 W should be more than enough:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151094&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=5961731&SID=0

As for a tower, this is the one I own and it works very well:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146081

Word of warning, it looks like that CPU will likely bottleneck you, but by how much I'm not too sure. I'd recommend you upgrade that. This is a notable performance increase from your Q6600 and it's still pretty cheap:
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-G2020-2-9GHz-Processor-BX80637G2020/dp/B00B4G70RU/?tag=logicaincrem-20

Jesse1836 · Aug 25, 2013

I'm sorry I meant to post that at the very first.
Mobo: MSI P35 Platinum Motherboard

PS: Thank you Deus, but the motherboard and processor come bundled for $100. I thought it was a good deal, but I haven't bought it yet just in case.

Jesse1836 · Aug 25, 2013

Deus Gladiorum :

Jesse1836 :

You didn't list your motherboard. Basically that's one of the most important things that matter when it comes to parts "conflicting" or not being compatible. As for a PSU, 520 W should be more than enough:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151094&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=5961731&SID=0

As for a tower, this is the one I own and it works very well:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146081

Word of warning, it looks like that CPU will likely bottleneck you, but by how much I'm not too sure. I'd recommend you upgrade that. This is a notable performance increase from your Q6600 and it's still pretty cheap:
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-G2020-2-9GHz-Processor-BX80637G2020/dp/B00B4G70RU/?tag=logicaincrem-20

I'm sorry I meant to post that at the very first.
Mobo: MSI P35 Platinum Motherboard

PS: Thank you Deus, but the motherboard and processor come bundled for $100. I thought it was a good deal, but I haven't bought it yet just in case.

Deus Gladiorum · Aug 25, 2013

Jesse1836 :

If you get the following Motherboard with the G2020 I recommended, the difference in price is $20 more than if you go with your original motherboard and CPU, but I believe that the performance difference should justify it:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157362&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=5961731&SID=0

For some comparisons between the G2020 I recommended and the Q6600:
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-G2020-vs-Intel-Core2-Quad-Q6600
http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/493/Intel_Core_2_Quad_Q6600_vs_Intel_Pentium_Dual-Core_G2020.html

Additionally the motherboard you suggested only has a PCIe 1.0 slot. With that GPU, you'll want a PCIe 2.0 slot to get the most out of it. Otherwise your performance for your GPU is basically halved.

Jesse1836 · Aug 25, 2013

Deus Gladiorum :

Jesse1836 :

If you get the following Motherboard with the G2020 I recommended, the difference in price is $20 more than if you go with your original motherboard and CPU, but I believe that the performance difference should justify it:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157362&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=5961731&SID=0

For some comparisons between the G2020 I recommended and the Q6600:
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-G2020-vs-Intel-Core2-Quad-Q6600
http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/493/Intel_Core_2_Quad_Q6600_vs_Intel_Pentium_Dual-Core_G2020.html

Additionally the motherboard you suggested only has a PCIe 1.0 slot. With that GPU, you'll want a PCIe 2.0 slot to get the most out of it. Otherwise your performance for your GPU is basically halved.

Alright, you've won me over with the change of processor/motherboard. And what tower do you recommend? I greatly appreciate all the help given!

Deus Gladiorum · Aug 25, 2013

Jesse1836 :

Here's the tower and PSU I recommended earlier:

Deus Gladiorum :

Jesse1836 · Aug 25, 2013

Deus Gladiorum :

Jesse1836 :

Here's the tower and PSU I recommended earlier:

Deus Gladiorum :

Okay great thank you for your help! So:

GPU: GeForce GTX 560
RAM: 4GB
CPU: Intel Processor G2020
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 250GB SATA 7200rpm 3.5" desktop PC hard drive HDD ST3250410AS
Mobo: ASRock B75M-DGS
Tower: NZXT Crafted Series Tempest 410 Black Steel
PSU: SeaSonic S12II 520 Bronze

Is there anything I'm missing? (I'm going with Windows 7 64-bit for the OS, I'd rather not have to learn 8)

Deus Gladiorum · Aug 25, 2013

Jesse1836 :

Deus Gladiorum :

Okay great thank you for your help! So:

GPU: GeForce GTX 560
RAM: 4GB
CPU: Intel Processor G2020
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 250GB SATA 7200rpm 3.5" desktop PC hard drive HDD ST3250410AS
Mobo: ASRock B75M-DGS
Tower: NZXT Crafted Series Tempest 410 Black Steel
PSU: SeaSonic S12II 520 Bronze

Is there anything I'm missing? (I'm going with Windows 7 64-bit for the OS, I'd rather not have to learn 8)

Nope, assuming you've already got the monitor, keyboard, and mouse taken care of you're good to go. One last thing though, could you link me to the model of RAM you're looking at?

RazerZ · Aug 25, 2013

For $10 more get this build. Better GPU, 2x faster CPU and better case.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($92.13 @ TigerDirect)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Zalman Z12 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($70.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $397.08
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-25 01:38 EDT-0400)

Jesse1836 · Aug 25, 2013

Deus Gladiorum :

Jesse1836 :

Deus Gladiorum :

Okay great thank you for your help! So:

GPU: GeForce GTX 560
RAM: 4GB
CPU: Intel Processor G2020
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 250GB SATA 7200rpm 3.5" desktop PC hard drive HDD ST3250410AS
Mobo: ASRock B75M-DGS
Tower: NZXT Crafted Series Tempest 410 Black Steel
PSU: SeaSonic S12II 520 Bronze

Is there anything I'm missing? (I'm going with Windows 7 64-bit for the OS, I'd rather not have to learn 8)

Nope, assuming you've already got the monitor, keyboard, and mouse taken care of you're good to go. One last thing though, could you link me to the model of RAM you're looking at?

Yes, I do have those things taken care of. And my RAM was going to be:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211409

Jesse1836 · Aug 25, 2013

RazerZ :

For $10 more get this build. Better GPU, 2x faster CPU and better case.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($92.13 @ TigerDirect)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Zalman Z12 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($70.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $397.08
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-25 01:38 EDT-0400)

Well, I suppose I could go this instead. I don't see why not...

RazerZ · Aug 25, 2013

Jesse1836 :

Deus Gladiorum :

Jesse1836 :

Deus Gladiorum :

Okay great thank you for your help! So:

GPU: GeForce GTX 560
RAM: 4GB
CPU: Intel Processor G2020
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 250GB SATA 7200rpm 3.5" desktop PC hard drive HDD ST3250410AS
Mobo: ASRock B75M-DGS
Tower: NZXT Crafted Series Tempest 410 Black Steel
PSU: SeaSonic S12II 520 Bronze

Is there anything I'm missing? (I'm going with Windows 7 64-bit for the OS, I'd rather not have to learn 8)

Nope, assuming you've already got the monitor, keyboard, and mouse taken care of you're good to go. One last thing though, could you link me to the model of RAM you're looking at?

Yes, I do have those things taken care of. And my RAM was going to be:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211409

Also for the ram for $10 more you can go 8gb.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cml8gx3m2a1866c9b

Deus Gladiorum · Aug 25, 2013

RazerZ :

I'm not sure what you're talking about when you say it's $10 more.

It's not twice as fast, or anywhere near as ridiculous as that. It's a modest increase in performance for multithreading, but in single threaded performance the G2020 is better. It's hard to say if multi or single threaded is better for gaming, but it probably leans towards single threaded right now. But there's also the lack of newer instruction sets, though not necessarily a huge deal. Plus it's just worse for gaming looking at the 3D Mark Scores. Also it's way newer (3 year difference) and if you ever want to upgrade to an i5-3570k in future your mobo will be compatible with it already if you go for the G2020. Also it's a price difference of $30

The GPU is certainly better, and you probably won't be bottlenecked by a Phenom II X4 965 nor a G2020 but it's a $30 difference. That's really up to you. But I'd say if you don't have to get a Power Color version, don't. They have bad RMA rates.

I must begrudgingly admit though, that the case is cheaper and has a couple more options in terms of ports and you'd save $20.

Jesse1836 · Aug 25, 2013

RazerZ :

Deus Gladiorum :

So, how does this look to the both of you?

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($92.13 @ TigerDirect)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Zalman Z12 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($70.98 @ SuperBiiz)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (49.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $347.91

The HDD will be easy.

RazerZ · Aug 25, 2013

Jesse1836 :

RazerZ :

Deus Gladiorum :

So, how does this look to the both of you?

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($92.13 @ TigerDirect)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Zalman Z12 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($70.98 @ SuperBiiz)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (49.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $347.91

The HDD will be easy.

Looks great to me.
Also Deus when saying $10 I factored in everything in the build.

Deus Gladiorum · Aug 25, 2013

Jesse1836 :

The actual total will be $447.07, but it's still a great build. I'd still really suggest the G2020 with it's respective Motherboard. You'll knock off $30 and you'll be able to upgrade more easily to a i5-3xxx in future which will be awesome. Neither should bottleneck you anyway, and according to 3D Mark the G2020 blows the Phenom away which means for gaming, the G2020 is basically just better.

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/700/AMD_Phenom_II_X4_965_(125W__BE)_vs_Intel_Pentium_Dual-Core_G2020.html

And again, it's more future proof than the Phenom.

RazerZ · Aug 25, 2013

Deus Gladiorum :

Jesse1836 :

The actual total will be $447.07, but it's still a great build. I'd still really suggest the G2020 with it's respective Motherboard. You'll knock off $30 and you'll be able to upgrade more easily to a i5-3xxx in future which will be awesome. Neither should bottleneck you anyway, and according to 3D Mark the G2020 blows the Phenom away which means for gaming, the G2020 is basically just better.

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/700/AMD_Phenom_II_X4_965_(125W__BE)_vs_Intel_Pentium_Dual-Core_G2020.html

And again, it's more future proof than the Phenom.

Edit: seem about equal but G2020 has better single threaded and Phenom multi threaded, but phenom has better overall performance. Also regarding future proof the mobo is AM3+ and can be used to upgrade to FX series Vishera CPUs.

Deus Gladiorum · Aug 25, 2013

RazerZ :

The FX Vishera series is nowhere near as good as the i5 Ivy Bridge series. I own an FX-6300 and I've used desktops equipped with an i5-3570k on more occasions than I can count. When he upgrades his GPU at some point beyond a 7850, to whatever the line of 9000 series will be, an FX-8350 will not properly handle it as well as an i5-3570k.

Also, I provided the benchmark in the link from the post I just made. Check the 3D Mark score.

Jesse1836 · Aug 25, 2013

Deus Gladiorum :

Sorry guys I had to get some sleep last night, I couldn't even do math correctly... But I've thought about it and I believe I'm going with Razor's mobo/processor because it better suits my specific needs. I tend to run multiple applications at once (That's where quad core comes in handy, obviously) especially via dual monitors and I don't really plan to upgrade my GPU or CPU. (Or at least not at all soon) The games I play aren't particularly graphics intensive, such as Crysis 3 or something like that. Skyrim, Diablo 3, upcoming TESO and TES games, and similar titles are what I love to play. So, while I do think Dues's mobo/processor combo is the somewhat better choice for upgrades in the long term, I don't plan to upgrade anytime soon and I feel quad core is the way to go for me. (And even if I do ever decide too upgrade, the difference isn't to drastic) Thank you both very much. I can tell both of you are experts in your stuff and I'm glad you all helped me reach this decision.

Final build:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($92.13 @ TigerDirect)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Zalman Z12 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($70.98 @ SuperBiiz)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (49.99 @ Newegg)

RazerZ · Aug 25, 2013

Jesse1836 :

Deus Gladiorum :

Sorry guys I had to get some sleep last night, I couldn't even do math correctly... But I've thought about it and I believe I'm going with Razor's mobo/processor because it better suits my specific needs. I tend to run multiple applications at once (That's where quad core comes in handy, obviously) especially via dual monitors and I don't really plan to upgrade my GPU or CPU. (Or at least not at all soon) The games I play aren't particularly graphics intensive, such as Crysis 3 or something like that. Skyrim, Diablo 3, upcoming TESO and TES games, and similar titles are what I love to play. So, while I do think Dues's mobo/processor combo is the somewhat better choice for upgrades in the long term, I don't plan to upgrade anytime soon and I feel quad core is the way to go for me. (And even if I do ever decide too upgrade, the difference isn't to drastic) Thank you both very much. I can tell both of you are experts in your stuff and I'm glad you all helped me reach this decision.

Final build:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($92.13 @ TigerDirect)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Zalman Z12 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($70.98 @ SuperBiiz)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (49.99 @ Newegg)

Don't forget to close this thread with a best solution

.

What kind of tower and PSU should I get for this rig?

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