Building first gaming rig $1500

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ehanger

ehanger

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If you need a monitor then spend around $1300 for the PC itself. I'd shoot for dual Nvidia 560 Ti's, a 2500k or 3570k, 8/16GB ddr3 ram, 750-850w psu, a low cost but good sli motherboard, <$60 cpu cooler, not too expensive of a case maybe around $100 or slightly less, a 1TB hdd, and if you have anything left over get an SSD.
 
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G

Guest

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Hello everyone, I'm new to the community and new to building computers. I've never actually built one but I've taken apart, replaced, and resembled my old one a few times. (old Alienware area 51) I recently sold that and I'm looking to build my own for experience, fun, and school.

Approximate Purchase Date: Within three months

Budget Range: don't really want to spend over $1,500, but if it saves money in the long run due to the fact I won't have to upgrade as soon I'll consider spending a few more dollars.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Movies, Graphic Design

Parts Not Required: OS

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: open to anything that is trusted with a good return policy if needed(if broken parts come in and so on)

Country: Unites States

Parts Preferences: Open to all suggestions, I'm a fan of NVIDIA GPUs and I'm looking at the HAF X case.

Overclocking: Maybe in the future, not a fan of it but I might end up doing it.

SLI or Crossfire: Yes, if it's worth the extra few bucks then I'll consider it.

Monitor Resolution: Higher the better, not too picky though.

Additional Comments: I'll be using this mainly for gaming, mostly online some offline. I am also going to be messing around with some graphic design, and probably watching a *** load of movies. I'm open to all part suggestions. Also, not looking for liquid cooling. Not a fan of it, I'm not planning to be overclocking too much. Thanks!

P.S. at work on my phone, sorry if there are any typos!
 
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z_4

z_4

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Here's a build suggestion which includes a great GPU, CPU, SSD and a 27" monitor. Have a look:

Case: $55- Antec 300 Black (or,Any other of your choice)

HDD: $100- Seagate Barracuda 1TB (Has $10 off with promo)

Monitor: $280- Acer 27" FullHD LED

GPU: $500- Zotac GTX 680(Most powerful single GPU, you won't be needing another one for a long time)

PSU & RAM: $110- Corsair CX500 & Corsair Vengeance 8GB(PSU is more than powerful to handle the load of GPU+CPU)

Motherboard & SSD: $240- Asrock Z77 Extreme4 & Crucial M4 128 GB (goodSLI/Crossfire Capable motherboad,get an SSD if you feel the need to , otherwise skip it)

CPU & Optical Drive: $226- i5-2500K & Samsung

Total(Excluding Rebates, promos): 1510 USD

Rebates: 20 USD
 
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G

Guest

Guest


This seems like a nice build. I'm not too worried about a monitor right now, and 27" is a little big for me. If i cut that $280 off would I be able to upgrade that mobo and CPU? Just not too familiar with Asrock.

EDIT: sorry didn't mean PSU, meant CPU :p
 
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inzone

inzone

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Mar 12, 2011
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COOLER MASTER CM Storm Series Trooper (SGC-5000-KKN1) Black Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case
$149.99 and a $20 rebate makes the final price $129.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119245

Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770K
$349.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116501

ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-R 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler Red LED
$70.99 and a $10 rebate makes the final price $60.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118075

LITE-ON Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Internal 12X Blu-ray Combo Model ihes112-04 - OEM
$59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106374

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX 600GB 10000 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$215.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136555

CORSAIR Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CML16GX3M2A1600C10
$116.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233280

ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
$134.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293

SeaSonic M12II 850 SS-850AM 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Semi-modular Power Supply
$149.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151108

EVGA 02G-P4-2670-KR GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
$399.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130782

Hanns-G HZ281HPB 27.5'' 3ms Full HD 1080P HDMI WideScreen LCD Monitor 400cd/m2 X-Contrast 15,000:1(800:1)Built-in Speakers
$269.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254052

This total comes to $1750 and would be without question a great system to do what ever you wanted to. The only probelm is that it's over your budget amount and if you wanted to stay on budget then there will have the be cuts and the list below will replace those above.

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K
$239.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

COOLER MASTER Storm Enforcer SGC-1000-KWN1 Black SECC / ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ATX PS2 / EPS 12V (optional ) Power Supply
$79.99 and a $10 rebate makes the final price %69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119240

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$119.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CML16GX3M4A1600C9
$97.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233197

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
$109.99 and a $20 rebate makes the final price $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021

HANNspree HF Series HF235DPB Black 23" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 X-Contrast: 50,000:1 (1000:1) Built-in Speakers
$149.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824262021

By switching out the parts for these lower priced parts the total would come to $1425 , so the option to change some or all would be up to you to get to where you want to be.
 
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G

Guest

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That first build looks perfect! I'd be willing to spend the extra because it includes a monitor. Few questions though. Is the 850w PSU needed or should I get a nice 750w? Also, I was looking at SSD's, how much more would I have to spend to take away that HDD an get an SSD? But also I didn't even though HDDs went up to 10k.. So that might be fine.
 
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z_4

z_4

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Asrock is a reputable company, that makes good motherboards. So you need not worry about it. Regarding getting a better motherboard you can do so, but going higher up will give better motherboards but will have almost the same features as this one. Don't overspend too much on motherboard though $110-$160 is the sweet spot.
Regarding the CPU, i5-2500K is a good overclockable, and powerful CPU. It may not be as power efficient as the latest 3rd gen CPU of Intel like i5-3570K, but it still is great.
Read this review of i5 3570K , where you will get a rough idea of the performance difference between i5-2500K & i5-3570K
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2012/05/01/intel-core-i5-3570k-cpu-review/1
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-benchmark-core-i7-3770k,3181.html
 
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J_E_D_70

J_E_D_70

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- 3570K (insanely easy to OC to 4.2GHz and safe)
- ASRock Extreme4 (can SLI/CF)
- 2x4GB low profile ram
- corsair, seasonic, or xfx core 750W *modular* psu
- stock clock 670 GTX (all come w/ easy OC software)
- hyper212 evo cooler
- 128GB SSD and HDD to suit
 
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G

Guest

Guest


That seems like a great deal! I'm very unfamiliar with SSDs, never used one. Do the tiers matter, or would it be worth it to spend a little extra for a better one?

This is what I'm leaning towards as of now..

COOLER MASTER CM Storm Series Trooper (SGC-5000-KKN1) Black Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case
$150

Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770K
$349.99

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Compatible with latest Intel 2011/1366/1155 and AMD FM1/AM3+
$35

LITE-ON Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Internal 12X Blu-ray Combo Model ihes112-04 - OEM
$59.99

CORSAIR Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CML16GX3M2A1600C10
$116.99

ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
$134.99

SeaSonic M12II 750 SS-750AM 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Semi-modular Power Supply
$130

OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
$115

ZOTAC ZT-60101-10P GeForce GTX 680 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
$500

With a total between $1,600-$1,700 slightly over budget but worth it in my opinion. Any other recommendations?

Also, are there any OSs that are more reliable, and or faster, for gaming and other multi tasking purposes other than Windows 7? That's what I'm working with now for this.
 
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inzone

inzone

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The benchmarks that I have seen showed that the GTX 670 Is pretty close to the GTX 680 and it makes more sense to get the 670 because for some reason when you put two 670's in SLI they get the same performance as two HTX 680's.
Then you can take the $100 that you saved and get the Samsung 830 SSD for $249 .99 , I don't know where you can get the 240gb Sandisk dor $140. Plus if you go with a SSD then you can get a regulay HDD for around $100 for storage.
The 750w SeaSonic is a good choice and if you go with the GTX 670 it will power two of them.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-670-2-and-3way-sli-review/13

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-670-2-and-3way-sli-review/14

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-670-2-and-3way-sli-review/15

These charts show the difference between 2 way and 3 way SLI 670 and 2 way and 3 way SLI 680 and single card so judging by these results the 680 is not worth $100 more.
 
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G

Guest

Guest


I will read those when I get a chance, thanks for the find! Saved money is good money :p

And the 240gb SanDisk for $140 on amazon about 6 hours ago, $140 sold out and now they are $180.

EDIT: Never mind just read the reviews. Ah, answering my own questions as I click "submit" :p

I will look into getting the 670, save some money then could eventually upgrade to two 670s if needed.
Which manufacturer should I look into getting them? ASUS, EVGA, etc.
 
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G

Guest

Guest


Thanks a lot for all the info! I'm finally zeroing in on a build.
 
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inzone

inzone

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That's good and it's great to have a place where you can get feedback on your ideas and end up with a good build instead of mistakes and headaches. Don't forget to list the final build just to make sure everything is good and if other choices are suggested make sure they are reasonable and make sense , because sometimes people will suggest things just to be different and that's not to say they aren't good suggestions but just be careful because you are getting very close to the right build.
 
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G

Guest

Guest


Thanks for the input! And yes, I'm glad I found a place of nice enough people to go so far into depth and help others out.

I found a link on the main page of this website of a $2,000 gaming computer from the System Builder Marathon. I think I'm going to take the basis of that, swap the ram for 16gb Corsair Vengeance(+$50), the GPU with the GTX670 instead of the GTX680(-$100), replace the SSD they have with a 240g Corsair Force series SSD(+$100), take off their HDD because I have on to use(-$120) and the LITE Blueray burner(+$50). It's around $1,700, and seems to be a great rig!
 
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J

jacknhut

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Of all the non reference GTX 670, only EVGA GTX 670 FTW and ASUS TOP GTX 670 are worth the price premium. You can't go wrong with either one. Keep in mind the ASUS TOP is a 3 slot video card, but as a result it stays extremely cool. Both cards come preoverclocked and exceeds the stock GTX 680 performance. Both cards have room to overclock even further if you need to since EVGA and ASUS binned the highest overclockable GPU on those cards.

If you want to save some money, the Gigabyte OC Windforce 3 GTX 670 and regular ASUS GTX 670 are good cards, its just a matter of luck whether you can get high overclockable GPU out of them or not. Gigabyte Windforce 3 GTX 670 is also a non reference GTX 670 with a full length PCB and custom cooling, but Gigabyte doesn't bin GPU so if you are in luck, you may end up with a very high overclockable one without having to pay extra 20 bucks.
 
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jacknhut

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Why would you want to use 240 GB Corsair Force SSD instead of That Scandisk Extreme 240 GB? Corsair Force SSD is a Tier 6 SSD and uses Async Nand, which is slowest of the 3 Nand type while Scandisk Extreme is a Tier 1 SSD and uses Toggle nand, which is the fastest?

Toogle Nand > Sync Nand > Async Nand

 
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G

Guest

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I was unaware of that, thanks for the info! Never read up on SSD's, maybe I should.

And as for ASUS TOP Vs EVGA FTW, would ASUS be a better option due to it staying more cool? Don't want a GPU burning up on me! I won't be adding too much stress too it anyway, but better safe than sorry. And I think spending an extra $20 is worth the reliability.
 
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J

jacknhut

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In terms of performance, they are about the same. In terms of heat, the ASUS stays cooler due to the 3 slots heatsink but it dumps heat inside the case while the EVGA FTW dumps heat outside the case. Not a big deal if your case has good airflow.

Only thing that people are concerned with the 3 slot video cards such as ASUS is that they cannot do 3 way SLI due to space, or if they have to do 2 way SLI, the space between the 2 cards will be small due to the extra slot being occupied by the ASUS heatsink. With the normal 2 slots heatsink the EVGA FTW, they don't run into the space issue mentioned above.

Other than that, both cards are very good so if you don't run 3 way SLI or if you have enough space on the motherboard (the distance between the 2 PCI-E slots on the motherboard are far enough), getting the ASUS TOP wouldn't be a problem.

 
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G

Guest

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I see. I don't believe I will ever be running a 3-way SLI, but quite possible 2-way in the future when I could use an upgrade. I am looking at the antec 900 case, which seems to have good airflow to cover everything well. Heat is one of the main concerns for me, and don't want to get involved with liquid cooling.

Thanks a lot for the help! I should be posting my final build for recommendations sometime tomorrow.
 
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Why_Me

Why_Me

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+1 Best advice on this thread yet.
 
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