Cost cutting on new gaming PC

[Octohexite]

Hello,
This build is for a family member who just sucked the last bit of life out of their older gaming computer. I offered to help them build a new one, and this is what I have come up with so far:


Approximate Purchase Date: Before the 8th of August

Budget Range: Hopefully less than $900 before rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, playing movies, Photoshop...

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: CPU, motherboard, RAM, PSU, GPU, case, possibly hard drive

Do you need to buy OS: Yes, but he is getting it separate from this purchase

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: ncix.com

Location: Ontario, Canada

Parts Preferences: None in particular

Overclocking: Likely in the future to extend the computer's performance

SLI or Crossfire: Very unlikely

Your Monitor Resolution: 1440x900

Additional Comments: Ontario has a 13% sales tax

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Original computer is no longer capable of playing any newer games on even the lowest settings.



Here are the parts I have found so far:

NCIX Gaming Bundle Deal Intel Core i5 3570K Unlocked CPU & MSI Z77A-G45 DDR3 SLI Motherboard
http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=71291&promoid=1145
$369.99 ($349.99 with MIR)

G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Memory
http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=57953&promoid=1145
$42.99

Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo Direct Touch 4 Heatpipe Heatsink AM2 AM3 LGA1366/1155/1156/2011 120MM
http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=64385&promoid=1145
$29.99

Antec One Mid-Tower Gaming ATX Case Black 3X5.25 5X3.5 2X2.5 Front USB3.0 Top Rear 120MM Fans No PSU
http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=67322&promoid=1145
$47.99 ($42.99 with MIR)

XFX 750W PRO750W Core Edition Single Rail ATX 12V 62A 24PIN ATX Power Supply 80PLUS Bronze PSU
http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=59617&promoid=1145
$89.99 ($64.99 with MIR)

Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM 64MB SATA 6Gbps 3.5IN Internal Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=65701&promoid=1145
$74.99

ASUS Radeon HD 7870 1000MHZ 2GB 4.8GHZ GDDR5 DVI HDMI 2XMINIDP PCI-E Video Card
http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=69863
$269.99 ($249.99 with MIR)

Total (with tax): $1046.30
MIR value: $100.00
Shipping: $25.43


The only reason why I picked the 7870 was because it seemed like such a good deal at it's current price, but I am thinking now that it may be overkill for his resolution. Some of the games he would like to play include Arma 2, Skyrim (with graphics mods), Starcraft 2, possibly BF3, and the Total War series of games. At 1440x900 though, would I even need the 7870 or could I go lower than that without compromising the longevity of the system?

Otherwise, my goal is to try and reduce the cost of this build as much as possible. I could forgo the hard drive altogether as he already has a 120 gb drive, but if costs could be reduced elsewhere it would be preferred.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Outlander_04]

This is a ridiculous build given the monitors resolution

A Radeon 6870 would be more than enough
So would a 500 watt psu

 

[jk47_99]

7850 is more than enough to max out any game at the moment on 1080p, even Max Payne 3. The best GPU for you sounds like the GTX 660, if it sells around the $200 mark and you can wait for one more week.

And you will need that 1 TB hard drive, modern games are getting bigger and bigger and that 120 gb will be used up really quickly.

If your brother does not want to overclock, you can also drop to a i5 3450 and a H77 motherboard.

And a 500w PSU will be good enough for this setup, I recommend the Antec HGC 520w.

 

[kajabla]

^Sorry, but that's just wrong. It takes a 670 to max games like Crysis 2 and BF3 on 1080p, with maxing defined as 60fps on maximum settings.
You should get the best possible graphics card within your budget. If that's a 7870, great. A decent 650W PSU will be enough for two later.

 

[aznshinobi]

^+1

The 7850 OC'd to 1GHZ+ Maybe able to max out most games at 1680x1050 or run high settings @ 1080P but not max out. The 7870 or higher is what you want for 1080P.

 

[jk47_99]

No it isn't, my OC 7850 gets close to 60 fps with every single setting on max on both Crysis 2 and BF3. I'm going on my own user experience rather than internet benchmarks.

The OP has a monitor res of 1440x900, a 7870 is really overkill considering that he wants to cut costs.

 

[aznshinobi]

You did notice you added OC now. You first stated 7850 which would imply stock and it doesn't perform that well before OC. Performs at about a 6950/6970 range at stock. http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1863/14/

But yes, the 7850 is a beast overclocker.

 

[kajabla]

It's true, it's way overkill for 1440x900. It won't be in a year or two, though.

 

[jk47_99]

Sorry, I'll try to be more clear in future.

I still think the best GPU for the OP is a GTX 660, it cuts his budget and with the lower res of his monitor it will give the best bang for buck performance with a ivy bridge setup for a few years.