Black Friday $900 PC Build

[yongxp]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: This Week! Nov. 27 Black Friday

BUDGET RANGE: $800 - $900 Before Rebates

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming - Paperwork

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: Quad processor or intel i5 - i7 core ; At least a 7500 - 10,000 RPM HD Harddrive ; 4 - 8 GB of RAM

OVERCLOCKING: No

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Quiet Computer ; I don't require a lot of memory in the hard drive ; I don't want any parts that would slow down my processor or GPU

I know parts would be cheaper on Black Friday, I plan to order them around 12 o'clock. So I'll be checking the forum around that time also.

 

[dpaul8]

That is a tight budget given the specifications you gave. You are going to pay a premium for a 10k rpm hard drive, with only very modest performance gains over a Caviar Black or Samsung F3 drive. I would recommend you look at the i5-750 CPU with a P55 motherboard, and start with 4 GB of RAM. You can always add more RAM later. I would take the money saved with this combination, and put it toward a good video card since gaming is your top priority. Good Luck!

 

[MadAdmiral]

I agree with dpaul. The 10k HDD is not going to get you a whole lot for what you're going to pay for it, and the F3 is a good drive. The i5 would get the best performance, but you can save some money going with an AMD build, allowing you to splurge on the GPU.

I would recommend you make sure the RAM you buy has a CAS latency of at least 7 (lower is better). This is still fairly cheap and overs good performance. Also, I would stick with DDR3 1333 RAM. There's an article showing that the performance in gaming is just as good as DDR3 1600, and is cheaper.

For the budget, are you already counting the 10% discount on everything Newegg's running starting Wednesday? (I.E. if at most you wanted to pay was $900, that would be $1000 worth of parts)

 

[jerryb]

I agree with dpaul. The 10k HDD is not going to get you a whole lot for what you're going to pay for it, and the F3 is a good drive. The i5 would get the best performance, but you can save some money going with an AMD build, allowing you to splurge on the GPU.

I would recommend you make sure the RAM you buy has a CAS latency of at least 7 (lower is better). This is still fairly cheap and overs good performance. Also, I would stick with DDR3 1333 RAM. There's an article showing that the performance in gaming is just as good as DDR3 1600, and is cheaper.

For the budget, are you already counting the 10% discount on everything Newegg's running starting Wednesday? (I.E. if at most you wanted to pay was $900, that would be $1000 worth of parts)

Where did you see the 10% off at newegg?

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Here's an idea of a Crossfire ready i5 build in your price range. It's a little light on the GPU to make the budget. What games are you planning on running? You might be better off going with a cheaper motherboard and PSU to squeeze in a 5850.

Intel Core i5 750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215

OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ700MXSP 700W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341018

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.287177 $282.98 - $30.00 MIR (CPU + PSU combo)

ASUS P7P55D PRO LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131405

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231276

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.287741 $259.98 (Motherboard + RAM combo)

Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066&cm_re=antec_300-_-11-129-066-_-Product $49.95

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181 $54.99

SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151192 $25.99

XFX HD-577A-ZHFC Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150457&cm_re=5770-_-14-150-457-_-Product $169.99

Total - $843.88 - $30.00 MIR

XFX HD-585A-ZNDC Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB XXX Edition 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150455&cm_re=5850-_-14-150-455-_-Product $339.99

 

[MadAdmiral]

In the forums. It's not really a 10% discount, but rather a 10% cashback. No details on how that's working yet...

 

[yongxp]

I'm also looking for a AMD build, heard they were more affordable.

Thanks for the intel core i5 build, shortstuff. I'm going to look more into it later.