delete this thread

[Kevin Spring]

oops oops oops oops oops oops oopsoopsoopsoopsoopsoopsoopsoopsoopsoopsoopsoops

 

[shellls45]

The 640 is not very good for modern gaming. At this price point it would be better to forgo overclocking. I would do a locked i5 with stock cooling and H87 MOBO.

 

[dwatterworth]

For a more budget oriented build, it is about getting the most bang for the buck. I would say drop the SSD and pump that money into your GPU, getting perhaps a baseline 7950 or 660. That 640 is completely throwing off any balance. If you are building this system with the end user upgrading the system in mind, don't waste time on that GPU and just ship with integrated graphics. Along the lines of storage, opt for a 1tb WD black series drive, the name recognition is a powerful seller. The SSD is a very attractive item but simply takes too much $$ away from a budget build without much benefit to true gaming power.

For memory, I would shoot for a 1866 kit to at least get the most from the officially supported rate on Haswell. Crucial makes some very nice kits with better timings than the corsair modules at lower prices with high reliability to boot.

I'd say the PSU is a sore spot as well. In the enthusiast community, no one likes to skimp on the PSU and just having to fork over more $$ for a unit that won't set your house on fire would be a deal-breaker. Go for a non-modular seasonic, XFX or corsair unit at the same price point/wattage.

 

[JD88]

The 640 is not very good for modern gaming. At this price point it would be better to forgo overclocking. I would do a locked i5 with stock cooling and H87 MOBO.

Agreed.

How are you planning to market the purpose of this machine? It is very out of balance in terms of CPU to GPU performance.

$180 in labor? Someone who knows what they are doing could have that up and running in less than two hours.

I think you would be dishonest if you were to market this to a customer as a "gaming pc."

 

[mouse24]

A GT640 in a 1k system labeled gaming? Yeah expect to get major calls from unhappy customers on that one.

I forgot to switch which vendors when I made this part list but heres what I came up with.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-D3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($144.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($86.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 3000 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On IHAS324-07 DVD/CD Writer ($29.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $921.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-16 15:22 EDT-0400)

Obviously you could tone down the Mobo and CPU if you absolutely must have an SSD. (Or just sell it to them as an upgrade of some sort)

The ram... Yeah prices are bad and that 1.65v which I don't recommend for modern intel systems, you'll likely get away with ti but I mainly put it in as a sort of "grab any ram you like as long as its under or equal to 1.5v and doesn't cost an arm and a leg"

 

[Kevin Spring]

I'm aware that anyone could build a pc, but this is my job and the $180 is a requirement. My other idea would be to build an AMD machine instead, since we carry the 8350 8 core for 179

 

[mouse24]

I'm aware that anyone could build a pc, but this is my job and the $180 is a requirement. My other idea would be to build an AMD machine instead, since we carry the 8350 8 core for 179

Wait... you get paid to do this? A 640? I am extremely interested in what the other builds were... I mean sorry if this sounds rude but what were you thinking? No ones going to buy that except the extremely ill informed or the extremely trusting/gullible.

 

[bjaminnyc]

Drop the SSD, drop the 640, add HD 7850. Drop the processor and MB & go with an 8320 and ~$100 970 or 990 Am3+ board + evo 212. Should drop the total by $150 and be a far more capable gaming box, and 8 cores sounds sexy.

 

[dwatterworth]

Reference this build article on Toms. Scale up CPU, memory speed and PSU. That should get you there at your price point.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-a-pc-fx-6300-overclocking,3617.html

 

[JD88]

I'm aware that anyone could build a pc, but this is my job and the $180 is a requirement. My other idea would be to build an AMD machine instead, since we carry the 8350 8 core for 179

Do you carry the FX-6300?

I would suggest using that chip or an i3 for around $130 or whatever you charge, then use at minimum a GTX 660 or AMD 7870 so most games are at least playable at medium settings.