<$700 "Gaming" computer

[eloeder]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: this week

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: WoW, Poker, Photoshop (eventually - will use this computer in about 3 years for minor photoshop activities and will upgrade it later)

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Only need Case, PSU, MOBO, RAM, CPU, GPU, HDD

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com, microcenter.com (I am local to their MD store)

PARTS PREFERENCES: Prefer AMD but not stuck on it.

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe (if I can find a detailed guide on how to do it safely)
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe later (if it will help with photo editing)

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Current monitor is old, will upgrade it later, so the bigger the better

$700 is not a strict budget, but it does have to fly with the other half. Also, more savings = quicker upgrade to the monitor. I built my current rig 7 years ago with midline parts and am just now encountering problems running games which happens to coincide with parts beginning to die. I'd like something which can last about that long with minor upgrades.

Here's what I've come up with so far...

MOBO
Open Box: ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
92.99
-OR-
Open Box: ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard
87.99

CPU
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz
165.99

RAM
G.SKILL ECO Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
109.99

GPU
SAPPHIRE 100283-2L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support
164.99

Case + PSU Combo
APEX Vortex 3620 SGCC / ABS ATX Mid Tower
Seventeam ST-850ZAF 850W ATX 12V V2.2 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
119.98

HDD
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3320418AS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
49.99



With shipping (M4A79) I'm at 698.93
With shipping (M4A78) It's 5 bucks more.

It looks to me like a good build that has a lot of upgrading available to it and the Seventeam PSU should power any upgrades I want to stick in the machine.

Any recommendations for lowering the price and not losing a lot of performance would be appreciated!

 

[vanekl]

Hmmm, I would have gone with something more like this:

$56 Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$99 AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
$80 [after rebate] OCZ OCZ3P1333LV4GK 4GB PC3-10666 (DDR3-1333) Dual Channel Memory Retail (zipzoomfly)
$103 MSI 785GM-E65 AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
$30 COOLER MASTER Elite 460 RS-460-PSAR-J3 460W ATX12V V2.31 Power Supply - Retail

This is a little over $100 cheaper, and no open boxes.

 

[coldsleep]

Most people here are recommending hard drives in the following order:
1) Samsung F3 Spinpoint 500 GB/1 TB
2) Seagate 7200.12 500 GB/1 TB
3) Western Digital (any)

Primarily this is due to the 500 GB platter size on the Samsung & Seagate drives, which offers better performance. The OP had a Seagate 7200.12 in the build, I'd stick with that.

@vaneki - your build doesn't seem to have a GPU, is that an oversight, or did you mean to use onboard graphics?

In general the original build looks pretty good to me, though I don't recognize the PSU manufacturer, which is a slight concern. I'll leave it to more experienced people (with time to search newegg, etc.) to find slightly better deals.

I don't know that you need the Black Edition processor, but I'm out-of-date on my AMD chip knowledge.

 

[vanekl]

Forgot to mention I wouldn't have changed the gpu.

I chose the WD because their drives are usually quiet and durable. Speed is a distant priority to me.

 

[vznoobie12]

Seventeam's been in the PSU industry for awhile. They just never had a breakthrough in the U.S. market until recently... aside from being sold as some of the silverstone models, which I cannot recall off the bat.

You could definitely go with a solid-branded 550w-650w PSU and pick another case. 5770 is energy efficient and even a crossfire setup would NOT* require 850w. Alternative choices:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.315686
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.315684

I'm not a fan of top mounted cases with no top exhaust due to cooling and airflow reasons, though a part of that is also personal bias. Though, that -$40 discount is pretty tempting.

EDIT: NOT*, what an important word to accidentally omit.

 

[Onus]

The Coolermaster PSU is marginal; found in technical reviews (e.g. hardwaresecrets) to be a little overrated and not overly efficient. It is not up to today's standards. Antec, however, receives consistent excellent reviews for all but a couple of the lower wattage Basiq models (even the 500W got a good review; same site). Same comments on excellent quality applies to Corsair and Seasonic (which builds some of the other two's units).
I don't like the cheap Coolermaster cases either; I gave up on them due to minor but omnipresent quality issues. For cheap cases, I get Rosewill now, and have never been disappointed.
As in vanekl's choices, I'd also suggest avoiding open box deals. A previous recipient may have had problems with it, and there may be parts missing that are included be in the Retail box, possibly including driver CD, back plate, and/or drive cables. If you build a lot of systems, you may have those around, otherwise pass.
Crossfire / SLI can help with gaming, but not photo editing. Your onboard GPU may suffice for the latter.