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~$900 Gaming PC First Build

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I've never built my own PC before, and I like the idea of the customization options available when you do. That said, I don't really know what the best options are for each part of the PC. I'll be purchasing soon as this computer is on its last legs.

Approximate Purchase Date: Within the next month or so

Budget Range: ~$900 - can go over, but meeting budget is preferred

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Watching movies, Schoolwork

Parts Not Required:

Monitor w/ speakers
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

keyboard and mouse

psu (Corsair Enthusiast TX750)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: Intel processor, but other items yet to be purchased are open to change

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Can if necessary, current plan is not to

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: I have a wishlist on newegg (ID is 27060988).

It contains:

ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR 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=N82E168...

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Team Elite 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

My main questions are regarding the processor (stick with i5 2500k or upgrade to ivy bridge or something else?) and the gpu (is the GTX 570 (Fermi) good enough for good frame rate at high quality settings?). Any assistance and/or advice you are willing to provide is appreciated.

More about : 900 gaming build

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You have a fine build. You could drop a 212 cpu cooler, get a cheaper mobo, and/or get a Radeon HD 7850 then get a SSD for OS. Or just add an SSD.

Otherwise it looks fine.
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niknovacain said:
I have never really seen that ram before. I would go with this which is $2 more... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

GTX 570 is good. I will sit back and wait for all of the amd recommendations to come in though. Any second now...

Until the Nvidia 670 and 660 are released along with the 680's being in stock, of course people are going to recommend the AMD 7xxx cards. I mean let's be realistic here. The new generation cards use way less juice, run cooler, and are PCI-E 3.0 compatible when their used with an Ivy Bridge cpu and correct board.

@ the OP.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $134.99
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z77%20Extre... <----- A better look at that Asrock board

http://www.guru3d.com/news/intel-ivy-bridge-gets-prelau... $212
Intel Ivy Bridge i5 3570K 3.4Ghz

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $44.99 FREE SHIPPING
G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C9D-8GAB

http://www.amazon.com/HD7870-DC2-2GD5-DisplayPort-Utili... $349.99 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping
ASUS HD7870-DC2-2GD5 Radeon 2GB DDR5 VGA/DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort GPU Tweak Utilities PCI-Express 3.0 Graphics Card HD7870-DC2-2GD5

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/HD_7870_Direct_... <----- Review w/benchmarks of that Asus card

Best solution

I think that you have a really solid build here. The 212 Plus is nice for overclocking and generally lower CPU temperatures (I have one, myself), but you could definitely get rid of it to buy a better component.

You could also look into getting yourself an Ivy Bridge processor once the Ivy Bridge version of the 2500K comes out. Should work with the same motherboard as your existing configuration (or you could replace it with an Ivy Bridge motherboard), but gain a wee bit of performance here and there, particularly for encoding movies (I don't know if your watching of movies includes this). If "watching movies" doesn't include encoding them, the only thing really strenuous for your system will be gaming, and the 570 in combination with the 2500K will blow most games away.

I also don't see a hard drive listed.

However, I think even if you take none of the advice here, you're going to end up with a really solid system. I've got a similar system myself (560Ti instead of 570, and P67 instead of Z68), and it rocks, even a year after I bought it. Enjoy it!

brownmm said:
I've never built my own PC before, and I like the idea of the customization options available when you do. That said, I don't really know what the best options are for each part of the PC. I'll be purchasing soon as this computer is on its last legs.

My main questions are regarding the processor (stick with i5 2500k or upgrade to ivy bridge or something else?) and the gpu (is the GTX 570 (Fermi) good enough for good frame rate at high quality settings?). Any assistance and/or advice you are willing to provide is appreciated.


This is your first build. Would you like to over-clock?

The chosen processor is good as SB is the best for over clocking, while IB does not offer any decent advantages except it has an integral HD4000 graphics. It is a 22nm CPU and therefore supposed to be efficient but has heat issues. The temp is relatively higher on the IB processors than the SB CPUs. Mobos from Asus and ASRock usually provide a one-click stable overclocking, which is good. Your mobo will support Ivy Bridge. The price difference is negligible.

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8Z6...

With Asus Mobo, you may be ok with a stable over clocking but with a higher temperature (IB) than SB. If you are taking SB, why not i7 2600k?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168.... You would be able to easily achieve 4.5 - 4.8 with a suitable mobo!

SSri said:
This is your first build. Would you like to over-clock?

The chosen processor is good as SB is the best for over clocking, while IB does not offer any decent advantages except it has an integral HD4000 graphics. It is a 22nm CPU and therefore supposed to be efficient but has heat issues. The temp is relatively higher on the IB processors than the SB CPUs. Mobos from Asus and ASRock usually provide a one-click stable overclocking, which is good. Your mobo will support Ivy Bridge. The price difference is negligible.

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8Z6...

With Asus Mobo, you may be ok with a stable over clocking but with a higher temperature (IB) than SB. If you are taking SB, why not i7 2600k?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168.... You would be able to easily achieve 4.5 - 4.8 with a suitable mobo!

What a lot of gamers on here fail to realize is that even though the SB cpu o/c a little bit higher, it makes no difference seeing how the gains of a SB cpu past 4.4 - 4.5Ghz in regards to FPS are little if any. The IB out performs the SB in gaming hands down. Take the IB up to 4.4Ghz and the SB isn't going to touch it. Throw in PCI-E 3.0 for the new tech and it's the IB hands down.

Why_Me said:
What a lot of gamers on here fail to realize is that even though the SB cpu o/c a little bit higher, it makes no difference seeing how the gains of a SB cpu past 4.4 - 4.5Ghz in regards to FPS are little if any. The IB out performs the SB in gaming hands down. Take the IB up to 4.4Ghz and the SB isn't going to touch it. Throw in PCI-E 3.0 for the new tech and it's the IB hands down.


While IB is efficient, the problem is how stable is the overclocking? Is it going to be warmer than the SB? Tom's and Anandtech's initial reviews suggest that way.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/ivy-bridge-benchmark-core...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5763/undervolting-and-ove...

If some one is building a first PC and upgrading from a dual core or dual quad, IB makes sense. I think that IB is great for a non-overclocker. It may not however excite an over clocker, unless more reviews (solid and reputed ones) suggest it is doing fine.

Thanks for all the advice. I do have a hard drive, just forgot to put it on there, and right now I plan on figuring out how to overclock because it seems like the best thing to do with a sandy bridge processor. Based on your comments and advice I think this PC is going to turn out well. Thanks again
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