Under $1,000 first time build

[jburd20]

Hello everyone,
This will be my first time building a computer from the ground up. I’d rather not spend the $1,000 if possible. All help is very much appreciated.

Approximate Purchase Date: In the next couple of weeks


Budget Range: 700-1000 Before Rebates (if you can get it lower for what I need, I’m fine with that too)


System Usage from Most to Least Important: Casual gaming (Rift, Shogun II, Sims 3, Portal 2 and future games like; BF3 and Elder Scrolls V) and the Internet


Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, speakers


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg.com/Tigerdirect.com/Amazon.com (not opposed to other places if I end up getting a better deal)


Country of Origin: USA


Parts Preferences: Leaning towards Intel’s i5 2500k (unless its overkill for what I need). I'm open to suggestions on this and anything else). I’m not sure on a case yet, so suggestion would be great. I like the look of blue LED’s, but I’d rather have functionality if I can’t have both.


Overclocking: Maybe, not a big deal to me tho. It's one of the things I'm not really concerned about.


SLI or Crossfire: No


Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 When I buy a new one, not included in the budget (any suggestions are welcome though - at least 20" no bigger than 24")


Additional Comments:

- The longevity of the parts is a big factor for me, as I don't plan to upgrade for a while.

1. I'd like to know how/and on what settings you think I could run the above mentioned games?

2. Are the parts I listed under/overkill?

3. On the case, will I need to buy something that shows the internal temperature and has fan controls?

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Case -

I'm not sure (I'd like LED's to show and still have good airflow)

Motherboard -

MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130574

Processor -

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9115072&cm_re=i5_2500k-_-19-115-072-_-Product

CPU Fan -

COOLERMASTER HYPER 212 PLUS UNIVERSAL COOLER
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4951798

Power Supply -

COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M700 RS-700-AMBA-D3 700W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...oolermaster_silent_pro-_-17-171-037-_-Product

Video Card -

HIS H685F1GD Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161348&cm_re=6850-_-14-161-348-_-Product

Memory -

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...(2_x_2gb)_240-pin_ddr3-_-20-231-277-_-Product

Hard drive -

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073

Optical drive -

SONY Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1681S-0B
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118031


Operating System -

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64BIT Operating System Software
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5213932

 

[mjmjpfaff]

change the psu to this it will handle 6850's in crossfire with ease:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020&Tpk=tx%20650
and the mobo to asrock p67 extreme4 for 160$ at newegg it is better that that msi

 

[striker410]

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072 $225

Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131703 $180

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005 $90 before rebate

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233 $60

Hard drive: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Spinpoint-3-5-Inch-Internal-HD103SJ/dp/B002MQC0P8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1305418160&sr=8-2 $60

ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277 $40

Graphics card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565 $250 before rebate (or this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102914&cm_re=6950-_-14-102-914-_-Product if in stock )

DVD drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136216&cm_re=dvd_drive-_-27-136-216-_-Product

Windows 7: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116983&cm_re=win7_oem-_-32-116-983-_-Product

Disk drive:
Total price? $1018 before shipping and rebates

P.S. This system will max anything pretty much, and you can add another 560 or 6950 for even more GPU power down the road if needed.

 

[jburd20]

Thanks for the replies, very helpful. How long do you think it"ll be till I need to upgrade the major parts of this build?

If I was looking to spend less than a thousand what do you think could be changed from striker410's build? Just want to see what my options are.

 

[aznshinobi]

^ You could check out my build guide.
The $600 build would fit you, spend an extra $50 more and pickup an i5 2400 and you're good to go. If you're worried about the 5850 you can always just get the 6950 instead (Highly recommended at your resolution) or an Overclocked 560 Ti. That would add $100 bringing you to a final total of $750 w/o Windows. Pretty good if you ask me.

 

[striker410]

Like Shinobi said, you could drop to a i5-2400 and h61/67 board and save an easy $120 bucks or so. This will eliminate the ability to SLI and overclock, but it's significantly cheaper.

 

[aznshinobi]

I actually would go the cheaper route as overclocking is unneeded only for prestige. While SLI/CF is unneeded for casual gaming. So I think the cheaper route is better, just me though.

 

[jburd20]

Thanks for the advice you've all been very helpful.