$1200-$1400 Budget for Gaming Rig

SinisterMessiah

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I recently purchased an i7 rig for myself and now my brother would like me to put together something for him in the $1200-$1400 range. I have a pretty good idea from building my i7 rig and browsing the forum and I've pulled what seems to be some of the better options that other people have used. Just looking for any input on if there may be some better bang-for-the-buck options that I'm missing:

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Haven't really looked into CPU coolers yet but I guess I probably have $100 or so to throw around after I choose one, so I might go with a 2nd set of the Ripjaws for 8 Gigs of RAM total.


Thoughts appreciated! He'd like to pull the trigger on this sometime this coming week.
:D
 

SinisterMessiah

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Ah, that's what I thought the difference was but I wasn't completely sure. I think he might want xfire down the road having shot himself in the foot with his last rig and having a similar issue w/ poorly performing PCI-E slots.
 

SinisterMessiah

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Sigh, of course I'm having last minute doubts...I did up an AMD build just for giggles, it is roughly the same price, the only difference is 8 Gigs of ram in the AMD build instead of 4 Gigs of ram in the Intel i5 build. The AMD build is basically identical to the i5 build except for Mobo/Processor
 
Asus M4A79XTD Mobo
Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2Ghz
 
Is the 8 extra gigs worth it for AMD processor vs. Intel processor here?
 
 

osu43130

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If it is for gaming then you do not need 8 gigs of ram it is over kill.
Stick with the i5 build unless you want to save a few bucks going AMD.

Really only difference is that the 1156 has no upgrade path where as the AM3 boards will be able to use the 6 core processors from AMD when they are out.



 

whatelsematters

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well that isn't really the "only difference" between the chips. you're absolutely right about the 1156 socket, but the i5 has better performance overall than the amd chip. there are loads of benchmarks and reviews concerning this.

i definitely agree with your comment about the ram, 8gb is too much for a gaming rig.

i'll add that my current i5/5850 (oc'd to 3.8) build is my favorite computer since i had dual voodoo 2's in sli in like 1998. i wholeheartedly recommend sticking with your i5.
 

osu43130

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I realized that I did not put that the 750 was a better chip after the fact. However I was going on the assumption that they were already going with the 750 which is what I would have suggested anyways.
 

SinisterMessiah

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I guess it becomes a situation where do we take the slight performance hit and go with the platform we may be able to easily upgrade in the future with the AMD setup, or do we go with the better performance now in the i5 750 not knowing what the performance lifespan of the i5 750 will be.

I guess I assumed any performance difference gaming wise would end up coming down to the video card, and the difference wouldn't be all that noticeable between the two.

What I thought was an easy decision has become a little more challenging.
 

osu43130

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I personally went with the 955 over the i5-750. More personal preference then anything else. Not to mention the performance you gain from the i5-750 on a non-upgradable socket is kinda not worth the money (of course just my opinion).

The real problem is your budget...lol You are stuck in the in between phase of the Processor game.


If I were you I would think of going 955 and trying to fit in a 5970. let me see what I can do maybe it is possible.
 

osu43130

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I was being more sarcastic then anything because with 1400 you actually get a choice between processors. Which is where the problem comes in deciding which one will benefit the user more.
 

osu43130

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I like that Mobo better however, if you take out Win 7 and the Hyper 212+ the build I suggested comes in around 1300 with a little bit larger PSU. Not exactly sure the 550 will be good enough, but 750 is probably too much since the OP will not have to XFire with the 5970.

Technically the OP could probably drop down to a board that does not support X-fire and save even more money.
 

SinisterMessiah

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Thanks for the continued suggestions. I definitely do not anticipate Crossfire being utilized. I am however interested in maintaining USB 3.0 / SATA 6 support for down the line. I will definitely look at saving some extra dollars on the motherboard and going with the 5970 for graphics power.

How is this for a motherboard for a single card solution?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128419
 


Good choise, if you have anough money. You can get a mobo like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128415
 
If you want to save money go with the AMD 955 and a single HD 5870 there really is no need for a HD 5970 less you go above a rez of 1920x1200 or are trying to max out crysis

really a i5 750 AMD 955 or a i7 920 will all be good enough to game on just pair it up with a HD 5870 and your set IMO