First Gaming Build for about $800-900 - Need help!

[Aremi]

Approx. Purchase Date: Sometime this month (June 2012)

Budget Range: About $800-$900, lower if possible

System Usage: Gaming (Skyrim, GW2, Diablo 3, FPS), Internet, Streaming Video and other Media (not major editing)

Parts not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor (will buy separately), speakers

Preferred Website: Newegg, does anybody know any good locations for cheaper parts?

Country: USA

Parts Preference: Intel

Overclocking: Maybe SLI/Crossfire: Probably Not (requires multiple graphics cards?)

Other: I hope for this build to be able to last a good 5 years of gaming, doesn't have to be too hardcore either.

I've looked at:

CPU:
Intel Core i5-3450 Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.5GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
or
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor

I would like recommendations for:
mobo
GPU
PSU
Case
Good HDD (No ssd for me)
Good memory, but not too pricey

Thanks for reading, at least!

 

[Thrin]

Are you near to a Micro Center?

 

[venur]

For sucha low budget go for i5-2500k over the i5-3570k the 40$ save will be bether spent on a bether GPU. Ill post you a build in a few mins

 

[Merueth]

A tad bit above budget, but if you have to, get a cheaper motherboard in place of the ASRock Z68.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($46.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($52.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair 600W ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($98.99 @ B&H)
Total: $911.91
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-06-14 09:01 EDT-0400)

 

[Aremi]

@Thrin: Yeah, I'm near a microcenter, is that a lot cheaper?

For the build above: That is cool, thanks!
But, the mobo looks like it has compatibility issues with ivy bridge, so is it actually better to go with sandy bridge for now? Also, would it be better worth it to go for a 1TB hdd instead of just 500GB? Or does 500GB work faster?

Thanks again!

 

[venur]

For mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128547 109$
-You can save 5$ going for Asrock: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157297
-You can save even more going for na old mobo (that one is only 55$): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128527

Just look for the feature you do need for your info I've just bought the first one (109$) for a build in your price range last week for a friend. The z77 tend to be a little pricy for the featur they gice over the old one for a budget orianted PC

PSU: get something like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151096 87$ You could go for a corsair one from 600-650w but just don,t go for some cheap PSU you will regret it as it will probably end damaging your mobo.

case bought 4 of that one for friends: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153
And it is amazing for the price, so much cooling for a 50$ case (tomshardware voted that one as the best case at the 50$ price tag.

HHD: go for seagate barracuda 7200rpm of the size that you want.

For memory on a low price budget go for 2x4gb I've bought these 2 times for friends and theya re happy with:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233192
But these ones are probably as good and 2$less: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231424
Both are a trusted brand for memory. 16gb would be useless for gaming so only goes for that if you do realy intend to do a lot of editing. Myself I have the 1600Hz ram but I run them at 1333Hz speed since its just useless for gaming and 1600Hz run hotter.

As for your GPU go for either a 560ti or a hd7870 I,d say. Any cheaper is well pretty weak, the 560ti will probably make you happy at your price range.

Again for your CPU the i5-3570k perform so little bether compared to an i5-2500k that I wouldn't reccomand it on a budget build. You just won,t see the difference since the i5-2500k will easely bottleneck your GPU.

 

[venur]

A tad bit above budget, but if you have to, get a cheaper motherboard in place of the ASRock Z68.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($46.99 @ Newegg)


Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($249.99 @ Amazon)

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($52.99 @ SuperBiiz)

I'll comment these only as the rest is pretty good:

1) ram, 1600Hz ram are a little more pricy and void the i5-2500k warranty and wont provid any benefit for gaming only some to rendering and editing (but then your bether with 16gram at 1333hz then 8gram at 1600hz)

2) The 560ti is a little bit faster on most game, the 7850 is a little faster on very few but well the 560ti is cheaper and Nvidia driver beat AMD drivers.

3) not a bad case, larger then the one I've listed but have only two 120mm fan. You might want to add another one if you pick that case.

Also I just want to add. That http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099 35$

It will do wounder to your CPU temp. You will be able to overclock your CPU if you ever want too and you can be sure to not fryed your CPU with that low priced beauty.

 

[venur]

But, the mobo looks like it has compatibility issues with ivy bridge, so is it actually better to go with sandy bridge for now? Also, would it be better worth it to go for a 1TB hdd instead of just 500GB? Or does 500GB work faster?

Thanks again!

500gb or 1tb will have the same speed (assuming the same brand and quality) The difference is only your storage space.

And no his mobo won,t have any issue with an i5 2500k.

but well over 100$ for a z68 seems a little pricy for a cheap build IMO. At that price go for a cheap z77 I'd say and well gigabyte beat Asrock.

 

[Merueth]

No, the 7850 beats the GTX 560 Ti in pretty much every game; the only games it beats the 7850 in are ones that are optimized for Nvidia cards. For example, the 560 Ti beats the 7850 by roughly 10% in BF3, but is 50% slower in Skyrim at 1920x1080. In addition, the 7850 is easier to overclock and also OCs much better than the 560 Ti. It is pretty much undisputed that the 7850 is better than the 560 Ti as far as I know.

 

[Thrin]

At Micro Center you can get an Intel i5-3570k for $189 USD in-store.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0388577

Yes, Micro Center is a lot cheaper for getting a CPU.

They had a great deal where you could buy a motherboard with the chip and save an extra $50. You -might- be able to ask about it in-store and see if they will swing it for you.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0387554

That way you'd be able to get this motherboard for $89.

If you can't get the deal you could go with a GA-Z77-DS3H LGA 1155 Z77 for $109.99:

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0388327

I'd go with the i5-3570k at $189 USD and look for a great deal on a motherboard.

There may be better priced motherboards on sale somewhere at the moment. I'm not 100% familiar with American sites.

Good luck! If you take the time and check out all the different sites / stores for great deals any maybe find some price matching opportunities you can really get huge performance for dollar.

Sites worth checking:

Micro Center
Amazon.com (surprisingly they often have great deals)
newegg.com
tigerdirect.com

I'm not sure what other great American sites exist.

 

[Merueth]

MC still has the deal; they just don't advertise it anymore.

 

[Aremi]

Thanks guys!
CPU:I think I'll pick the 3570k with mobo if I can get it cheaper at Micro Center, if not, then I'll go with the 2500k.
For the GPU, the 7850 sounds good, but will the CPU limit it too much?
If I can do the deal that Thrin mentioned (getting the z77 Extreme4 for less than $100) then i'll go with that for the mobo, otherwise I think the ASRock z68 is good enough.
PSU should be 600W and Case I think I'll pick the bigger one.

So, I think I'm going to go with this build for now:
CPU: Core i5 3570K 3.4GHz LGA 1155 Processor
Mobo: Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Z77 ATX Intel Motherboard
PSU: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2 GB DDR5
HD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM
Case: The Cooler Master Mid-Tower, I think

Do you notice any compatibility issues?
My main concern that I've seen would be the BIOS between the mobo and the ivy bridge cpu...will that be a problem?