Building my 2nd Gaming PC (Budget - $550.00-$700.00)

Emanuel123 · May 3, 2014

Hello all! I got some -awesome- feedback last week, and decided that it'd be best if I go ahead and increase my budget to $700.00 maximum. Please see below for information about the PC I'm looking to build. Go all the way to the bottom for my current partslist. Please advise if there is anything you think is better than what I have on there.

Approximate Purchase Date: This week
Budget Range: $550.00 - $700.00 after shipping.
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, movies, office work, web browsing.
Are you buying a monitor:No
Do you need to buy OS: No (have one already)
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg, amazon, tigerdirect, doesn't matter that much.
Location: Naperville, IL, USA
Parts Preferences: Intel CPU, Nvidia graphics,
Overclocking: Maybe - I doubt this will be relevant for a couple years.
SLI or Crossfire: No
Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Parts/Equip I already have: 23" wide monitor, 8 GB of crucial memory, Win 7 Ultimate, 120 GB SSD

Additional Comments: Build is for a moderate degree of gaming. Movie watching, surfing the web. Want it to last for the next few years without needing to upgrade too much. Looking to have a GPU with SLI capabilities so that when I upgrade the PC with a new MoBo a few years from now, I can SLI an additional GPU.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.44 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($239.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 350D MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $634.39
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-03 20:41 EDT-0400)

woltej1 · May 3, 2014

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3DoLD
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3DoLD/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3DoLD/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H87M Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($67.99 @ Micro Center)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($56.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 270X 2GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($199.99 @ TigerDirect)
Case: Corsair 350D MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $709.43

slightly over your price range but this is a damn good build.

Emanuel123 · May 3, 2014

woltej1 :

Not over at all! I already have an SSD (sorry I didn't indicate that), so it's under it. Looks like the Radeon R9 270x scores lower in a number of benchmark areas than the GTX 760. Have you personally seen much difference between the two? I'm running a 660 Ti 3GB currently, and I'm not too familiar with what changes were made in the 760.

woltej1 · May 3, 2014

True the 760 is faster, but $50 faster? Nope. The money is better spent elsewhere.

realchaos · May 3, 2014

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($177.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H87M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Micro Center)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($56.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 350D MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $683.94
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-03 21:27 EDT-0400)

-Better quality psu.
-Cheaper processor, same performance. The small difference in clock speed will show no performance increase.
-The GTX 760 is definitely worth it over the 270X. The R9-270X is just a bit stronger than the 7870, but it still loses to the 7950 while the GTX 760 beats even the 7950.
Edit: The GTX 760 is a rebranded 660 ti with better memory bandwidth. It's only a little stronger than the 660 ti, and seeing as you have a 660 ti, why not reuse it.

CTurbo · May 3, 2014

Here you go

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Dqub
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Dqub/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Dqub/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-D2V Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($59.79 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.44 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Dual-X Video Card ($297.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 350D MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Hive 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $697.19
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-03 21:47 EDT-0400)

This is THE best you can do for under $700. The 280x is faster than the GTX760 and has more vram if needed. newegg has a $15 promo for buying the 4570 + that Gigabyte B85m. The B85 is an upgrade over a H81 anyway. The Rosewill Hive 550w is a very good psu, and is much better than that Corsair.

woltej1 · May 3, 2014

The above build is the fastest currently, but has poor upgrade potential.

Emanuel123 · May 4, 2014

woltej1 :

CTurbo's? or Realchaos? Not sure how much upgrading I could do regardless, as none of the mobos have SLI (from what I've seen?) Sorry, still learning quite a bit!

Emanuel123 · May 4, 2014

Additionally, would it be advisable to get a CPU cooler? Or do you guys think the stock cooler with the cpu should work fine?

CTurbo · May 4, 2014

My build is the fastest. An aftermarket cooler is NOT necessary with my build, but it certainly wouldn't hurt. Usually the biggest problem with stock coolers is the noise they make, not their cooling efficiency.

realchaos · May 4, 2014

Change the psu on Turbo's build. Rosewill psus aren't that great. Go for the XFX 550w psu I posted above as it's much higher quality.

CTurbo · May 4, 2014

There's nothing wrong with that Rosewill Hive. That XFX is top notch though. It wouldn't be a bad way to spend an extra $10.

Emanuel123 · May 4, 2014

Thanks all!! I appreciate all of your insight!

Search

Building my 2nd Gaming PC (Budget - $550.00-$700.00)

Emanuel123

Reputable

woltej1

woltej1

Splendid

Emanuel123

Reputable

woltej1

Splendid

realchaos

Distinguished

CTurbo

Pizza Monster

woltej1

Splendid

Emanuel123

Reputable

Emanuel123

Reputable

CTurbo

Pizza Monster

realchaos

Distinguished

CTurbo

Pizza Monster

Emanuel123

Reputable

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page