Custom Build $1000 Gaming PC advice

August 24, 2012 5:00:08 PM

Hey all,

I'm new to Tom's Hardware and computer building, my apologies if any of this post is just blatantly noobish

I've been looking for a decent ($1000) gaming PC, and have decided after reading numerous posts here that building it myself is the way to go. I've done some research on parts I think would suit my needs. I also plan on overclocking to around 4.2-4.5 GHz.

Please let me know what you think, your opinion is most certainly better than mine since I have no experience at building computers...thanks so much!

Approximate Purchase Date: Mid-September - October

Budget Range: $900-$1100 (w/o rebate, shipping)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming

Are you buying a monitor: No

Do you need to buy OS: No.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Location: Pittsburgh, PA, US

Parts Preferences: Intel, Nvidia

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1200

Additional Comments: Don't really care what the inside looks like, quiet operation would be a plus

Parts:

COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E168...
$69.99

Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 Quad-Core Desktop Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E168...
$229.99

CORSAIR H70 Core High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E168...
$89.99

EVGA GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) DS SSC 01G-P3-1466-KR Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E168...
$189.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E168...
$45.99

Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E168...
$109.99

ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E168...
$134.99

SONY Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1681S-0B
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E168...
$18.99

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W High Performance Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E168...
$119.99

Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E168...
$11.99

Grand Total: $949.91

More about : custom build 1000 gaming advice

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sephirothkh7

August 24, 2012 5:34:01 PM

g-unit1111 said:

You can do way better for $1K. There's no point in purchasing a reference 560, the extra thermal compound isn't needed (the Hyper 212 includes stuff that's way better than Silver 5), and drop the H70 - closed liquid loops are the very low end of the liquid cooling spectrum.

Try something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($142.86 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($43.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($307.86 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 650W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($20.29 @ Newegg)
Total: $1023.94
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-08-24 13:05 EDT-0400)

I don't really know anything about the different kinds of coolers, thanks for the tip!
In general, is there any reason to choose Nvidia or AMD over the other? Coming from integrated graphics on my laptop, my only preference is fast for $200-$300.

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g-unit1111

August 24, 2012 5:39:45 PM

sephirothkh7 said:

I don't really know anything about the different kinds of coolers, thanks for the tip!
In general, is there any reason to choose Nvidia or AMD over the other? Coming from integrated graphics on my laptop, my only preference is fast for $200-$300.

The 7950 is one of the best you can get in that range and the price drop is going to happen next week bringing the higher end models around the $300 - $350 range. The 560 has been replaced by the new 660TI which is based on NVIDIA's excellent Keppler platform and is way more energy efficient.

As far as the coolers go I've never seen anything that says that a low end liquid cooler like the H70 is better than a strong air fan like a 212 Evo. Searching for benchmarks the other day I found other forums where the majority of posters were saying that they were returning their H70/H80s for something else. That was pretty telling.

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sephirothkh7

August 24, 2012 6:01:08 PM

g-unit1111 said:

The 7950 is one of the best you can get in that range and the price drop is going to happen next week bringing the higher end models around the $300 - $350 range. The 560 has been replaced by the new 660TI which is based on NVIDIA's excellent Keppler platform and is way more energy efficient.

As far as the coolers go I've never seen anything that says that a low end liquid cooler like the H70 is better than a strong air fan like a 212 Evo. Searching for benchmarks the other day I found other forums where the majority of posters were saying that they were returning their H70/H80s for something else. That was pretty telling.

Thanks for all the info!

Related questions: how much can i push the 3570K? I've read people getting it to 5GHz, but that seems ridiculously high. Is there a noticeable (gaming-wise) difference between 4.2 and 4.5?

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g-unit1111

August 24, 2012 6:14:20 PM

sephirothkh7 said:

Thanks for all the info!

Related questions: how much can i push the 3570K? I've read people getting it to 5GHz, but that seems ridiculously high. Is there a noticeable (gaming-wise) difference between 4.2 and 4.5?

Anything over 4.5GHz is pretty much overkill and most people try to push their CPUs that far simply for bragging rights. If it's your first time I wouldn't try to clock the CPU higher than 4.5.