Gaming PC for $1300 max

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
J

jackcmedia

Honorable
Nov 4, 2013
4
0
10,510
Good day, forumites.

I am thinking of honorably discharging this rustbucket of mine and building an awesome PC. The idea is to be able to play the latest games at full FPS 1080p in High, as well as recording those games using FRAPS or other game recording software. I also delve in programming and 3D-modeling, but those are secondary things...

Since this will be the first computer I will build myself, I want to make sure that I choose a good set of components. With a limit of $1300 max, I was thinking something along the lines of:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($93.22 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($162.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($76.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($334.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Tempest 210 ATX Mid Tower Case ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($84.78 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer ($21.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1040.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-04 05:30 EST-0500)

I have not included neither a cooling system (the case I selected comes with two fans) nor a motherboard, as I get kinda lost in these matters. Besides, I've never overclocked anything and I'm afraid turning my components into expensive and fancy looking paperweights. I'd be grateful if you could provide me with motherboard and cooling suggestions.

The 250 GB SSD I added will be dedicated to hold the output of FRAPS or other recording software. I don't think I'll need a SSD for the OS, but it would be nice to have one.

So, that's it... Keep it civil and feel free to suggest any changes that might improve this build (my first one, it's about time), or provide a better list of components and I'll see what I can do.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
J

jackcmedia

Honorable
Nov 4, 2013
4
0
10,510


Yeah, I also thought that would be too much for the OS and commonly used programs, but after investigating for a bit, it is clearly too small to be dedicated to FRAPS and other recording tools.

By reducing the SSD capacity to 120GB, I can shave around $60. I was thinking about investing that money into a couple of additional WD Caviar Blue 3.5" 7200RPM 1TB 64MB, short-stroked to approx. half size and connected by RAID0 (as shown here). That should give me a cheap alternative, with decent read/write speeds, a huge capacity and the flexibility of owning extra HDDs (for other future uses).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
E

EdwardChop

Honorable
Oct 4, 2013
54
0
10,640
Good decision, if you will just get 2TB hard drives, will add room for even larger amount of storage if you are planning to use multiple drives :)

EDIT: Also, you can upgrade the motherboard to an Extreme 6 if you so choose
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

sheag123

Honorable
Dec 1, 2012
619
0
11,360
another option,

180 gb ssd, 2tb hdd, gtx 780, and a seasonic made power supply

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1XgBs
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1XgBs/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1XgBs/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H87M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($82.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.75 @ Newegg)
Storage: Intel 335 Series 180GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($129.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.34 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($484.70 @ Newegg)
Case: BitFenix Merc Alpha (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.97 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($50.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1185.71
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-04 09:07 EST-0500)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
J

jackcmedia

Honorable
Nov 4, 2013
4
0
10,510
In the end, I decided to take EdwardChop's suggestion. The final setup will be something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.98 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek Dark Knight II SD1283 Night Hawk Edition 89.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($93.22 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($98.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.65 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.65 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.65 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($339.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT Tempest 210 ATX Mid Tower Case ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($84.78 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer ($24.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1281.83
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-07 13:58 EST-0500)

Too bad I won't be able to build it (local distributors don't import those components and, if they were, they dare to charge me double the price for them, adding customs fees). Anyway, thanks.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
E

EdwardChop

Honorable
Oct 4, 2013
54
0
10,640
Nice, also you can upgrade the mobo to a better one such as the maximus vi formula, or even just the asrock extreme6. Yiu might wanna change the ram to meet the color scheme though
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

sora

Splendid
Oct 30, 2013
7,812
0
31,460

I don't think he cares about the computer looking aesthetically appealing.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
J

jackcmedia

Honorable
Nov 4, 2013
4
0
10,510

What? It's too expensive just for eye candy (not to mention it goes over my budget), and a review I read about it doesn't justify the extra price compared to other, cheaper motherboards.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom