Building a 700-800 Dollar Gaming PC

Let me start out by saying; The motherboard you have chosen (890a-ud3) is way too expensive, for gaming that is. I would rather go for a 870A-UD3:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
With the spared money and the last 50 bucks in your budget, you can afford the MUCH better gtx 470 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Save yourself $15 and get the 955 instead of the 965. Same chip different clock speeds, you can oc it youself.

With those changes (and bavman's suggestion) it will put the computer at about $838, which is a bit over budget, but I can afford an extra 38 dollars if the card is that much better, I suppose.

Oh, i am sorry, i miss-calculated.
Here is what you should do;
Go with the 955, get a 4 gigs pair of Ripjaws instead of you current RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Throw away the Disk drive, and get this instead:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
On a final note, the case you have chosen has many equalities to the cheaper ROSEWILL DESTROYER case, which you should certainly look at.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
That should net you the last $38, and even get you under the budget line  

Hmm perhaps

Asrock 870 - crossfire capable + USB/SATA 3.0
HD 6850
955BE?

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
Item #: N82E16835100007 $9.99
.

1 COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel ...
Item #: N82E16835103065
Standard Return Policy $29.99

. 1 Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm ...
Item #: N82E16811147153
Standard Return Policy $49.99

. 3 IPCQUEEN IPC-12025 120mm Case Fan
Item #: N82E16835168006
Standard Return Policy $11.07
($3.69 ea)

. 1 ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813157198
Standard Return Policy $94.99

. 1 G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ
Item #: N82E16820231193
Memory Standard Return Policy $58.99

. 1 LG DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model GH24NS50 - OEM
Item #: N82E16827136177
Standard Return Policy $17.99

. 1 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822152185
Standard Return Policy $69.99

. 1 HIS H685F1GD Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
Item #: N82E16814161348
VGA Standard Return Policy $184.99

. 1 COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS700-PCAAE3-US 700W ATX 12V v2.3 Active PFC Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817171054
Standard Return Policy $79.99

. 1 AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor HDT55TFBGRBOX
Item #: N82E16819103851

Subtotal $786.98
Tax $0.00
UPS 3 DAYS $14.91
Order Total $801.89


This was my christmas build, you can swap out the x6 for a x4 and save some money, case fans and the extra fans would also save you some money.

Got mine OC'd to 4016mhzs and it idles at 23*c on the cores, 38*c when under amd overdrive stability test.

The rosewill case is just amazing for the price, although the cable management area in the back is a bit tight you can still get the majority of stuff back there, also some people complain about the HDD connections being on the back side...i actually like this as the MOBO came with 90* sata cables and this facilitated a cleaner install

sorry, meant minus the extra case fans, the CPU cooler and the arctic silver, x6 to x4, and a lower wattage power supply. Those being modified would fit an OS into the budget under $800

How much better is your build than mine, Taphius? I don't know a whole lot about this stuff, other than how to actually put it together, so I won't be overclocking anything just yet.

Minus the video card, the builds are similar. Althought mine is a bit cheaper now as some components have gotten cheaper.

Like others have said the motherboard you picked is overkill. I picked the ASrock for the price and that is supports crossfire at 8x8x and the overclocking software for it is amazing.

Since you are not going to overclock you wouldnt need the aftermarkert CPU cooler or the extra fans. That would be ~$40 cheaper, going with the x4 955 over the x6 1055 is another ~$30. No thermal compound ~$10, the ram is on sale for $10 cheaper for today only.

So you could get the exact same computer as myself minus two cores for the same price including the OS at current prices.

The only thing i was iffy on was the power supply as i do not know much about them myself, but so far so good and i am very happy with this system so far. Something like 11431 score on amd overdrive test, 7.6 cpu score on Windows experience, 7.8 on video card and the obligatory 5.9 for the hdd.


Just swapping out the motherboard you have for the one i had would save you $40, $15 for going with a 955 over a 965. This would give you the difference in going with a 6850 over the 5770 and using the other components you listed.

instead of cooler master psu go for antec 750W

This is my newest build, taking the replies I've gotten into account:



The item not shown is the Operating system.

Altogether this will cost $713.92

I still haven't chosen a power supply because I don't know how strong it needs to be. I do plan on getting a second video card eventually so i'd like it to be strong enough for that.

where is the psu

Jesus man, look at his post!

"I still haven't chosen a power supply because I don't know how strong it needs to be. I do plan on getting a second video card eventually so i'd like it to be strong enough for that. "

He has not chosen any PSU yet. Here is the thing: The build you have right there will not draw more than 500W off the wall, but since you want Xfire later on, and for heavy tesselation tasks, you wanna go for a 750W PSU at least. Not only will it supply your finest needs today, you will also be able to use it if you upgrade your computer again.

Oh yeah btw, a combo deal of the 1055t + asus m4a88 (with the 880 chipset) is on newegg right now. I know the clock speed of the CPU isnt that high, but remember that it has the "T" extension which means that 3 of the cores will clock themselves up to 3.2 (or something like that) GHz upon playing games that takes less than these 3 cores. i would say it was worth a look. Then you can still go with the 6850 and get a Corsair/Antec 750W PSU (still grab the Ripjaws)

750W is required for 6850 CF or maybe a bit lower than that

Thanks for all the replies everyone! Sorry I haven't responded to the post, been a bit busy the last few days. I've decided on this:

Rosewill Xtreme Series RX750-S-B 750W Continuous @40°C ,80 PLUS Certified, ATX12V v2.2 & EPS12V v2.91, SLI Ready CrossFire Ready, Active PFC "Compatible with Core i7, i5" Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I chose that because it has a lot of very good reviews and very few complaints.

I also decided to go over budget to get a PSU tester just so I don't fry any of the new parts I buy.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Best Of The Best in 750 W Segment Corsair 100$

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
650 would actually be good for 6850 cf^. They do not consume as much as the 5xxx series (which was already pretty damn low)

Zooted, would that meet all of my power requirements even with two cards, or would it just be safer to go with a 750W?

the 650 should be fine for xfire of 6850s and at that price it is hard to pass on the Earthwatts 650.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6850-6870-cross...

you can check an estimate of what you will draw using this calculator.
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp