Need Help on Final Decision

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michaeldean

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Oct 22, 2013
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I'm building a gaming PC for my brother and after all other hardware/software is accounted for, we're down to ~$650 for the meat and potatoes. The resolution will 1920x1080 and looking to still get decent FPS in future games without resorting to bare minimum settings.

ASRock Extreme4
$125

i5-3570K 3.4GHz
$220

G.Skill Ripjaw 8GB
$80

XFX Radeon HD 7870 2GB
$180

EVGA 500B 500W
$45

Should that run games decently for the next few years? He would probably be fine even if he had to go down to 1280x720 for future games.

From looking around Tom's and other sites, the Extreme4 and 3570K should work well together for OCing. I'm just worried about the PSU wattage (I typically overkill it to be safe). I figure since the 7870 has a TDP of 175W and I've met the listed requirement of a 500W PSU, I should be good on that. It's also 80 Plus Bronze. We don't plan to OC right away and once we do it will be on air (if we buy within a week he'll get a CM Hyper 212 EVO with the rebate money), so not looking for an extreme OC. And most likely won't be adding another GPU anytime soon, so the PSU only needs to work with what's listed (and maybe 4 USB devices, two being KB/M).

Thanks guys.
 
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michaeldean

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Oct 22, 2013
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What if I do this:

ASRock Z77 Pro3
$90

i5-3570 3.4GHz
$210

XFX Radeon HD 7950 3GB
$270

Thermaltake TR2 500W
$50

That's after re-using an older DVD drive and removing the wifi card. If there's no chance of that PSU working, I can maybe swing an extra $10 for a Seasonic 520W if that would do better. I'm pretty much at the ceiling of the budget though.


Not being able to OC the CPU would be fine if the increased GPU power would help more than the original setup.
 
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michaeldean

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Oct 22, 2013
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I looked and Newegg doesn't seem to have an H77. The board I picked was their cheapest ATX after a mail-in rebate.

In trying to keep price down I found two other $50 500W PSUs. One is the Corsair CX500 and the other a Silverstone 500W.

I came upon a thread elsewhere where someone was just fine using the CX500 with a 7970 and 3570K, so that would should surely work, right? The PSU is my absolute least favorite part of a build.
 
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michaeldean

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Oct 22, 2013
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Thanks.

I'll certainly try to fit it in the budget, but if I can't, would a 520W SeaSonic S12II be good? It's in the middle price between the PSUs and along with being 80 Plus Bronze I came across a page on Tom's that listed XFX PSUs as rebranded SeaSonic (I thought they did Corsair's as well, but not the CX series).

I know it's only $10, but it's $10 on top of other "only $X" decisions.
 
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michaeldean

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Oct 22, 2013
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Thanks tiny voices. That SeaSonic will be the backup then if he can't go for the XFX one.



I saw that one but when we were looking at 7870's the XFX looked better for only $10 more. Thanks though.

I had to shuffle around other items but with the new parts listed earlier, after the rebates we're right around the budget (the XFX a little over, the SeaSonic a little under). In the end it will be better, since I'll get him a long Ethernet cable from Monoprice at a quarter the cost of the wifi card, plus it will be more reliable.
 
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Conrad925

Conrad925

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That's a great price on that 7870 XT Tahiti. Definate bang for buck champion. Be advised that 7870 GHZ card is the Pitcarn based gpu and the Powercolor Myst 7870 is based on the same Tahiti gpu as the 7950/7970. $10 savings makes it a no-brainer.
 
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navask01

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Are you referring to the 7870 from your first build or the 7950 from the updated build?

This is the XT version.Like many people here,i think it's a wrongly named 7930.This 7870 XT is based on the Tahiti line.It's got more compute than the 7870(Pitcairn line) in your first build. Unless you were referring to the 7950,get that if your budget allows for it.
 
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