1000-1200$ Gaming Build, Give your 2cents !

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Subidoo

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Approximate Purchase Date: 2 weeks

Budget Range: 1000-1300

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Games mostly WoW, Eq2, ScII, D3, Dead Space 2, ect. Movies and surfing the net, Music, School Work

Parts Not Required: Speakers, Keyboard, Mouse

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, or where is good deal with Quality Parts

Country of Origin: United Staes

Parts Preferences: Best i can get.

Overclocking: Maybe


SLI or Crossfire: Maybe


Monitor Resolution: Need to get a Moniter.

Additional Comments: Quiet PC, Maybe some Lights to Facinate my Kids lol. Able to Last at least 3-4 Years.
 
Solution
MadAdmiral
^True, but I don't like the GTX 570. It's in an odd budget range. I'd really lean towards the 6950, simply because of the fact that with a simple BIOS flash, it becomes a 6970. That's a lot of GPU muscle for not a whole lot of money.

@OP: To be completely honest, if your budget is $1,200 (as the thread title suggests), your best performance build would be my original build, with the GTX 580. Since you're not an overclocker, the "K" series of the new Sandy Bridge CPUs won't do anything for you, so you might as well save your money. If your budget is $1,300 (like your first posts says), then stick in the i7-2600 with my original build, with the GTX 580.

To recap:

$1,200 build:

CPU: i5-2500 $210
Mobo: Gigabyte...
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MadAdmiral

MadAdmiral

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Is the cost of the monitor included in the budget? What about an OS?

I'll start by throwing some ideas out there. It could change a lot, considering a decent monitor will run $150-200, and Windows 7 is $100...

CPU: i5-2500 $210
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4 $190
RAM: Corsair XMS3 2x2 GB DDR3 1600 mhz CAS Latency 9 $40 after rebate
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB $55 with promo code
GPU: HD 6950 $290 after rebate. Check out the guides on how to turn this into an HD 6970 with a BIOS flash.
PSU: XFX 750W $100 after rebate
Case: HAF 922 $90 with promo code. Other good options: Rosewill Challenger, HAF 912, Antec 300 Illusion, Coolermaster 690, Antec 900, or anything from Lian Li.
Optical: Cheapest SATA DVD burner you can find. Under $20.
OS: Windows 7 Home 64-bit OEM $100
Monitor: Asus 23.6" 1920x1080 $170 after rebate

Total: $1,265. This could probably be cheaper, but I didn't look through any of the combos. I also don't know if you're close to a Microcenter, as they usually have Intel CPUs for $50 or more off what Newegg charges. They don't sell online though, so you have to be within driving distance of their stores.

If you don't need the monitor and OS in the budget listed, I'd make some changes to get to the maximum end of the budget. First, I'd probably up the CPU to the i7-2600 for another $90. Then I'd swap the HD 6950 for a GTX 580 for an additional $210. That would make the total $1,295, so you'd be over budget because of shipping and the rebates, but it won't be by a lot.

EDIT: Sorry for the mix up. I meant to say the GTX 580 (the link was to a 580), not 480. It's fixed now. The 480 isn't anywhere near a good card, but the 580 is outstanding.
 
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Subidoo

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The monitor and OS i can get after i get the computer built. So don't include those if the comp can be better :p. So the NVIDIA is better Than the Radeon for Gamewise Graphics?
 
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clarkjd

clarkjd

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According to Tom's graphic card hierarchy chart the 6950 is one tier below the GTX480. but you could flash the BIOS on the 6950 and turn it into a 6970 which is on a par with the 480... YMMV

While the 480 is better than the 6950, is it $210 better?
 
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Why_Me

Why_Me

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This build allows you to add another gtx 570 later on for SLI if you so choose.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197 $99.99 $10 off w/ promo code EMCKJJG33, ends 1/19 FREE SHIPPING
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.587645 Combo Discount: -$30.00 Combo Price: $364.98 $20.00 Mail-In Rebate Card Price After Mail-In Rebate(s): $344.98
CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-850HX 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.589706 Combo Discount: -$10.00 Combo Price: $499.98 $20.00 Mail-In Rebate Price After Mail-In Rebate(s): $479.98
MSI P67A-GD53 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
MSI N570GTX-M2D12D5 GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231427 $49.99 FREE SHIPPING
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185 $69.99 $15 off with promo code HARDOCP112C, ends 1/19 FREE SHIPPING
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106335 $21.99 FREE SHIPPING
LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Writer LightScribe Support

Total: $1,106.91 *not including rebates, promo codes, shipping, etc..

*If you plan on over clocking then consider these two items down below.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065 $29.99
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154003 $6.99 FREE SHIPPING
Tuniq TX-2 Cooling Thermal Compound
 
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MadAdmiral

MadAdmiral

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I wouldn't bother with the "K" series chips. Sure, they're unlocked, but that's only supported by H67 chipsets, which restrict the other overclocking options, which greatly limits the overclocking ceiling. Save the money and get the regular version.

 
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jasonh8806

jasonh8806

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That isn't true. You can overclock the turbo mode of the K series chips. So under load you get your overclocked frequency to boost performance.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TimeToLiveCustoms#p/u/7/achL4hIAvpo
http://www.youtube.com/user/TimeToLiveCustoms#p/u/6/PSET4P6EZ30

These are two references that show how this is done. He gets 5 Ghz from the 2500k and 2600k
 
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blackjellognomes

blackjellognomes

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I'm liking Why_Me's list (although 8GB of RAM should be a standard recommendation atm).

The only significant feature that is supported by H67 but not P67 is SB's integrated graphics; MadAdmiral seems misinformed in regard to P67. But like MadAdmiral mentioned, H67 cannot take advantage of the K series OC-ability. Future LGA 1155 chipsets will support both, but they're at least 6 months away. From a gamer's perspective, P67 is the only option for SB atm.
 
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Subidoo

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MadAdmiral

MadAdmiral

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^True, but I don't like the GTX 570. It's in an odd budget range. I'd really lean towards the 6950, simply because of the fact that with a simple BIOS flash, it becomes a 6970. That's a lot of GPU muscle for not a whole lot of money.

@OP: To be completely honest, if your budget is $1,200 (as the thread title suggests), your best performance build would be my original build, with the GTX 580. Since you're not an overclocker, the "K" series of the new Sandy Bridge CPUs won't do anything for you, so you might as well save your money. If your budget is $1,300 (like your first posts says), then stick in the i7-2600 with my original build, with the GTX 580.

To recap:

$1,200 build:

CPU: i5-2500 $210
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4 $190
RAM: Corsair XMS3 2x2 GB DDR3 1600 mhz CAS Latency 9 $50 after rebate
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB $55 with promo code
GPU: GTX 580 $500
PSU: XFX 750W $100 after rebate
Case: HAF 922 $90 with promo code. Other good options: Rosewill Challenger, HAF 912, Antec 300 Illusion, Coolermaster 690, Antec 900, or anything from Lian Li.
Optical: Cheapest SATA DVD burner you can find. Under $20.

Total: $1,215 (might be some combos to get it under $1,200)

$1,300 build:

CPU: i7-2600 $300
Rest is the same

Total: $1,305
 
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Solution
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Subidoo

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Another question, since i know nothing about building it. Would i need a Network card or does that come included somewhere in one of the Products? As well as the sound audio. Still a Newbie here lol.
 
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MadAdmiral

MadAdmiral

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Network and audio are both onboard. That means it runs through the motherboard. You could buy a discrete network card and sound card, but it's pretty much a waste of money. Really, everything you need will come with the parts you're buying. The only thing you'd need is a screwdriver.
 
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MadAdmiral

MadAdmiral

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The nVidia card is a lot more powerful. It's also a lot more expensive. Right now, I'd say the HD 6950 is the best value. It's already fairly cheap, and offers good performance. However, it has a "feature" that allows you to flash (i.e. update ro change) the card's BIOS to turn it into an HD 6970. Since flashing the BIOS is free, you get another $100 worth of performance out the card without paying anything additional.

Let me clear something up first on the CPU. The CPU has nothing to do with graphics if you have a discrete video card and aren't using an H67 board. They're completely unrelated. A better CPU will typically improve gaming performance, but not because of any added graphics muscle.

The difference between the i5 and i7 is mainly hyperthreading. Hyperthreading allows two processing threads to run on each core of the CPU instead of one. This doesn't really affect gaming too much, as games aren't generally well threaded (they don't use multiple threads well). The i7 is also going to be faster in general than the i5, which will help a little in gaming. I expect the i7 to hold up a lot better over time than the i5 too.

If you were overclocking significantly, the i5-2500K *might* be a better choice because hyperthreading causes the i7 to run hotter. What that means is that it has a lower maximum overclock. Since hyperthreading (which by far is the main advantage of the i7s) doesn't help you play games, you'd probably be better off with the non-threaded i5 with a higher overclock. I can't say if that's the case for certain, as there haven't been a lot of tests done on the i5 and i7 and overclocking yet. They've only been out for 11 days...
 
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Subidoo

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I'm pretty sure i wont be Overclocking. Just because i would have no idea where to start lol. Just mainly to play WoW, ScII and watching some netflix every now and than. Sorry if i'm being newbish, i don't know much except what i want to play and do :)
 
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MadAdmiral

MadAdmiral

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Well, you don't need to overclock to do those things. Of course, you also don't need to spen $1,000+ to do them either. You could get amazing performance in WoW, SC2 and most games by only spending around $700-800. Of course, the added $300-400 buys you the ability to do anything you'd ever want with the machine...
 
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n_scheffel

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To the OP...

I strongly recommend getting the K series and a motherboard with a P67 chipset (which allows OCing via the unlocked multiplier).

You may not think you will be OCing the CPU now, but once you see how simple it is to OC these Sandy Bridge CPUs you will change your mind. You literally change a single value (CPU multiplier) in the bios and you are done.

Also, if you know you are not going SLI (which is a wise move on a $1200 budget), then don't waste your money on a more expensive motherboard that supports SLI.

Something like this will do everything you need:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128460
 
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Subidoo

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Well i have my Ps3 for My other gaming, i have a Laptop to do my Itunes and Fb stuff, and whatnot. I just needed a Great gaming computer that will last for at least 3 years before upgrading. SAving money is always a good thing too, lol. If i could play Ultra Setting in Wow ScII and Other games, and still be able to play some music in the backround and download something at the same time, that would make me a Happy Guy :)
 
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Subidoo

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I would Def like to upgrade in the near future, so the SLI would be a good feature to have. I'm thinking about going for the Nvidia Card might as well cough up the $$ for a good card now than wait.
 
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