Building a new gaming PC ~$800

[phomatic]

Hi guys. I am in the process of putting a new PC together.

I plan on mainly gaming with this PC, but would of course want it to support things such as being able to Photoshop and do video work with it.

Anyways, my budget is ~$800-$900 for a reason. I have already purchased a new GPU and PSU for my old computer which I will be putting into my new PC.

(Note: the 800-900 range does include my GPU and PSU which was ~$350).

I am clueless on a few things to buy as I have no knowledge in their departments, so any help there is appreciated.

So far:

[CPU] I want an Intel i5, but am clueless otherwise. It needs to be able to be to the standards of my GPU, but I do not want to overkill it as I am trying to save as much as I can on this.

[GPU] EVGA 012-P3-1571-AR GeForce GTX 570 HD w/Display-Port (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

[PSU] CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

[RAM] I am going to be using the RAM from my old PC; 8gb.

[Case] One of these two..not sure which. I don't think it matter which I get as they are big enough to support any motherboard, cpu, psu, etc..correct?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156250
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119240

[Coolers] I know nothing about.

[HDD] I know nothing about.

[Motherboard] I know nothing about except that it needs to fit with my CPU.


Also, am I forgetting anything else that I would need to buy or could salvage from my old PC that would work perfectly fine? I have 1tb of storage on my old PC, but am unsure of how that works with building a new PC.

Thanks for all help.

EDIT: I plan on playing mainly Guild Wars 2 and wish for it to be Flawless on high settings, at least.

 

[jmsellars1]

You could probably get away with an i3-2120 for the CPU but since you can afford it, I'd get the i5-3570K. Especially if you plan on overclocking. With that i5, any Z77 motherboard will be great, since you're looking at mid tower cases, I'd get an ATX board. For the cooler, the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo is fantastic value. It's easily one of the best selling CPU coolers and for good reason. Any SATA hard drive is fine for you, get a 3.5'' 7200RPM though otherwise it might feel a bit slow. SATA 2 vs SATA 3 doesn't matter on normal hard drives, if you plan on getting a SSD I'd get SATA 3 though. Even with SSD's it doesn't make a big difference though. Also, both of those cases are big enough for almost any standard PC component.

Here are some popular suggestions:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Sorry about the wall of text but I hope it helped.

 

[_Shadow_]

Are you going to plan to overclock your cpu?

 

[phomatic]

@JMSellars1 - Thanks for the suggestions. I will see what others have to say as well.

@Shadow - I've heard the term to overclock it, but am not 100% sure of its means. I have friends who have built their PCs, so I am sure they could help me do so if it will benefit me.

 

[jmsellars1]

Overclocking is running your CPU/GPU at a higher frequency than is intended. It will create more heat but so long as you have adequate cooling, you can get decent performance boosts. Generally anywhere up to +50% more performance if you have a particularly good overclocker on your hands.

 

[phomatic]

Well if I buy a good enough cooler with it, then yes I suppose I will overclock.

 

[_Shadow_]

Also for the motherboard if you want to spend $10+ you could get:

ASUS P8Z77-V LK
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837&Tpk=asus%20p8z77-lk

I have it and its really great but the Asrock is really good too.

 

[_Shadow_]

For good cooling I would recommend the corsair H60. Its a water cooler and works really well with overclocking. If you don't want that then you could get the 212 evo which is air cooling and still really good but not as good as the H60.

H60 ($50 after MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181015

212 evo ($30)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

 

[bigcyco1]

Here what i suggest any of these three motherboards take your pick all are solid and offer lots of future expandability it's best not to skimp on your motherboard trust me you will thank yourself in the long run MOBO:ASUS P8Z77-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131819#top

mobo:GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128545#top

mobo:ASRock Z77 Extreme6 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157295&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-Motherboards%20-%20Intel-_-ASRock-_-13157295&AID=10440897&PID=3938566&SID=#top

 

[bigcyco1]

-> ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 read the last page of review source http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/asrock_z77_extreme4_review,1.html
The only negative I have for this motherboard is that it slips outside of typical ATX specifications. It’s 3cm thinner than a standard ATX motherboard and as a result may lack secure mounting on the far side since this isn’t a common size, which also means you should be very careful when plugging in the 24-pin ATX motherboard power – as the motherboard may flex. P.S. on a side note i personally think it's a solid budget board.

 

[phomatic]

@Shadow - I may go with the water cooler you linked.

@Bigcyco1 - Which of the three would you consider to be the best bet on lasting for a long time and suiting my needs?


Also can anyone provide me with a list of things i need to complete a PC so I know I have it all?

 

[jmsellars1]

I don't understand why anyone would buy the Corsair H60. The whole point of water cooling is to move the heat to a place where you can fit a larger heatsink, why get a water cooler with a 120mm radiator?

 

[_Shadow_]

Do you want a list of all the parts you already have and what you still need to get?

 

[phomatic]

Basically what I know that I have so far:

GPU
PSU
RAM
Case
Cooling

 

[_Shadow_]

Ok so this is what you still need:

HDD-(If you can afford it then you should go for a ssd/hdd combo but in your budget range you'll probabbly just want to go with a single hdd.)
Seagate Barracuda 1tb HDD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697

(If you can afford it) OCZ Agility 3 60gb SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227725

MOBO-(Probabbly go with one of @bigcyco1 suggestions)

DVD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

 

[phomatic]

I do want an SSD.

Is there anything I can just take from my old PC and use?

Also, how does space work with this? Is that what an HDD/SSD is? By space..I mean I have 1tb on my old PC now.

 

[_Shadow_]

Ya you can take a the 1tb from your old computer that should work fine.

 

[phomatic]

Is that was an SSD/HDD is though?

 

[_Shadow_]

No if you want you can add a separate ssd for your OS so that it will boot faster and overall perform smoother and faster. Then you have your HDD to store your music/documents etc.

If you a hard drive that is both a SSD and HDD you can look at the Seagate Momentus XT.

 

[azeem40]

An SSD/HDD combo is cheaper and is cheaper.

 

[phomatic]

I'm still confused as to what an SSD does and it's importance and what I do with my 1tb of storage.

If I didn't take my storage from my old PC would I need to buy some?

 

[azeem40]

Yes, because SSDs aren't really meant as storage. They are mainly for system stability and opening programs and loading them faster.

 

[phomatic]

Okay so could I use my old HDD I have in my old PC and buy an SSD for faster operating?

Any other suggestions for an SSD?

 

[_Shadow_]

Okay so could I use my old HDD I have in my old PC and buy an SSD for faster operating?

Any other suggestions for an SSD?

If you are looking for just OS and few programs then go with the OCZ Agility 3 60gb it's like $60 on newegg.

If you can afford it go with a Corsair Force 3 120gb ssd for $125.

 

[azeem40]

For $120, you can get a Mushkin Chronos Deluxe, which is faster and more reliable.