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Tom's Hardware > Forum > Systems > New Build > [Solved] i7 Gaming PC for around $1000

[Solved] i7 Gaming PC for around $1000

Forum Systems : New Build [Solved] i7 Gaming PC for around $1000

Hi, I want to build a gaming system for around 1K.

Approximate Purchase Date: ASAP in October because of i7 950 price is going up

Budget Range: <$1100

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming > Multimedia/Movies

Parts Not Required: Mouse, Keyboard, Speakers, Monitor(will use my tv), soundcard

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com (i will also buy from a local store where its cheaper)

Country of Origin: US

Parts Preferences: Intel CPU

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: will use tv which is approx. 1680x1050

Additional Comments: Is this a decent build?
The total cost is about $1140 but with newegg tax it goes up to $1200. I would like it to be as close to $1000 as possible.
I want to keep lga 1336 to take advantage of triple channel and core i7. i7 950 was only $10 more expensive i decided to go for it but recently it went up $20 but i will still go for it since its still at a discount price at microcenter. at newegg it is $300. i was choosing between 470 and 5870 but since 470 was cheaper i went for 470. rest of the parts i tried to find both the most reliable manufacturers and the cheapest parts.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CPU: Intel i7 950 - $230(microcenter)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_ [...] id=0346210

GPU: Evga gtx470 - $310(newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130550

MBD: Gigabyte X58 U3DR - $210(newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128423

RAM: Kingstom Hyperx 6gb ddr3 1600 lat8 - $155(newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820104116

PSU: Corsair 650W - $90(newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139005

HDD: WD Black 640gb 6gb/s - $70(newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136544

OPD: Samsung SATA - $17(newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827151192

CASE: Antec 300 - $60(microcenter)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_ [...] id=0283272

Message edited by Anonymous on 10-11-2010 at 11:50:39 PM

Reply to Anonymous

^ For a gaming PC, tri-channel has little or No advantage over dual-channel configuration. Actually with the money saved dropping to the i5, you can get a SSD as a boot drive...

i5 760
http://www.microcenter.com/single_ [...] id=0341729

Gigabyte P55A-UD3 + Gigabyte GTX 470 Super Overclock - IMO one of the best GTX 470s out there...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.533437

RAM -
$10 off w/ promo code EMCZYYV65, ends 10/13
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231277

CM HAF 912 + CM Silent PRO 600W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.523813

SSD -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231377

Reply to gkay09

Thanx for the reply!

I will take the tripple channel out and swap for a dual channel for $50 less.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820104142

If i take dual channel my system will cost $1165. I would still like to keep the 1336 because I think that it would last longer technology wise.

Also to my build I thought that I might add these filters...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811999217
... since the Antec 300 does not come with filters. I will grab 3 of these for the 3 installed fans on the Antec 120mm fans since they only cost $0.35 each. I couldn't find one for the 140mm fan though...

Reply to Anonymous

Eh - LCD TVs for the most part are either Full HD or "HD Ready" i.e 1366 x 768 so do verify hehe

Reply to batuchka

The tv I'm going to use is hd ready - 1366 x 768
Its a Samsung 32'' tv...

Reply to Anonymous

if your going 1336 U NEED triple channel.....dual channel doesnt work in 1336

Reply to jasonp12

Dual-channel RAM will work on a triple-channel board. It's not optimal, but you're not going to see any noticeable difference in gaming, and I would expect only 2-3% difference at most in memory intensive applications like video editing.

OP, if you want the 1366 CPU/mobo, that's fine, just realize that it's not going to offer any real gaming boost over an i5 system. If your budget is the most important factor, there's no reason to go with the i7, if the $1100 limit is flexible, then do what you want.

Message edited by coldsleep on 10-12-2010 at 05:45:26 PM

Reply to coldsleep

Thank You coldsleep!!!
I'm going to take the socket 1156 and i'm going to buy a $130 Gigabyte board and a $230 i7 870 at microcenter. The price would go down to $1085 which I will take. Would this configuration still last me a while?

Reply to Anonymous

It will probably have a slightly shorter lifespan than the 1366 system, but not too much different. You won't see much difference at all between the i7 and the i5 750/760 in gaming though.

Reply to coleam45

Best answer

Unless you're doing heavy photo/video/audio editing, there's no reason to get an i7-870 over an i5-760. They're basically the same processor, the i7 just has hyperthreading, which doesn't help out in games at all.

coleam45 is likely correct that the 1156 platform will have a shorter lifespan than 1366, I'd measure that difference in months, though. My expectation is that both will be useful for at least 2-3 years for gaming, with 1366 being viable for (at most) another 4-6 months after the 1156 platform is too slow to be useful. Honestly, there's not a ton of difference for just gaming and casual use between the two platforms.

By the time either platform is truly out of date, I expect you'll have upgraded your graphics card at least once, and will likely be considering whether or not to upgrade just graphics card again, or move to a completely new build anyway.

Reply to coldsleep

The only real differences between LGA 1366 and LGA 1156 are that LGA 1366 supports dual x16 PCI-E lanes while LGA 1156 only does dual x8 (it will still do a single card at x16 though) and 1366 uses triple channel RAM while 1156 uses dual channel. At this point though, these doesn't make much of a difference. You'll see about a 3-4% performance decrease with x8/x8 over x16/x16 in crossfire/SLI with today's cards, and no games will use more than 4 gigs of RAM. This could change with later generations of video cards and newer games though, which is why I said that the 1366 platform might last a little longer.

Reply to coleam45

^^ coldsleep and coleam45 have pretty much explained about the i7 and the i5,...IMO there is no necessity to waste money on the i7 setup for gaming,...but its your call though...

Reply to gkay09

Quote :

The tv I'm going to use is hd ready - 1366 x 768
Its a Samsung 32'' tv...

Ouch $1.1k for gaming on a 1366 x 768 display and i7? Thankfully Toms to the rescue!

The Game Rundown: Finding CPU/GPU Bottlenecks, Part 2
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 38-16.html

Quote :

Conclusion: A Trend Toward 3+ Cores

The average optimal number of CPU cores suggested by the test results is 2.75, showing a clear trend towards at least three CPU cores.The question of whether the CPU or GPU is most important is easily answered. If you don't have a multi-core CPU, then upgrade it. If you have a dual-core CPU at around 3 GHz, then invest your money into a graphics card, as most games are GPU-limited. This is not something that will change with new DirectX 11 games.

Also recommended reading: Moore's Law and rate hardware depreciates over time @@

Message edited by batuchka on 10-13-2010 at 11:33:44 AM

Reply to batuchka

Best answer selected by bear95.

Reply to Anonymous

Thank you! Going from i7 to i5 and 1336 to 1156 will save me a lot of money ( thank you for the tip!). I will get an i5-760 at microcenter for $170. I'm an enthusiast not an intense gamer so I will use this pc for a while on the 1156... maybe around 5 years... even though the 1156 may be dropped, I will still use it for a while. I've been using a core 2, 1gb macbook for 5 years and I played games such as need for speed, cod, and starcraft 2(lowest settings) and all my work and other stuff and I was ok with it. This desktop may not be extreme but it will be an extremely nice change for me and I will be extremely happy with it.

Reply to Anonymous

Also Thank you coleam45 for your help!

Reply to Anonymous

honestly I gotta say this, get a separate screen for yourself, the higher resolution is well worth it, 1920x1080 is the best imo

Reply to smile9999

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