$700 - $800 build

[fatherhudson]

My friend is going building a comp for his brother and i wanted to get some ideas to give him. It's going to be used for gaming and he already has all the peripherals (including a monitor) and the OS. He wants to spend around $700 with $800 being the absolute max. Heres the catch . . assume the processor costs 1/2 the price it normally would on newegg (no combo deals or sales on the processor).

Price range: $700

Primary usage: gaming

Parts not needed: OS, monitor, peripherals


Any build advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[g-unit1111]

Here ya go:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($48.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($195.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($24.97 @ Newegg)
Total: $818.88
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-09-17 00:26 EDT-0400)

A little bit over but that will be a very powerful system.

 

[rex000]

Here is something I built for my brother at the beginning of the summer; the prices have dropped ALOT since then with the release of Ivy-Bridge and the new graphics cards so you should be able to hit the same price-points as I did, if not, then even cheaper. Cheers

Intel i3-2120 CPU - $115
http://ark.intel.com/products/53426/Intel-Core-i3-2120-Processor-%283M-Cache-3_30-GHz%29

GIGABYTE GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 - $70 (after $20 rebate)
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3975

ZOTAC GeForce GTX 560 Ti [ZT-50301-10M] - $135 (after $30 rebate)
http://www.zotacusa.com/geforce-gtx-560-ti-zt-50301-10m.html

WESTERN DIGITAL CAVIAR BLUE 500GB HARD DRIVE - $40
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=110

OCZ VERTEX 3 120GB SATA III 2.5" SSD - $65 (after $10 rebate)
http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-vertex-3-sata-iii-2-5-ssd.html

SAMSUNG 22x ODD - $20
http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/office/optical-disk-drives/optical-disk-drives/SH-222AB/BEBE/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail&returnurl=

CORSAIR VENGEANCE 1600MHz DDR3 8GB RAM - $55
http://www.corsair.com/memory-by-product-family/vengeance/vengeance-8gb-dual-channel-ddr3-memory-kit-cmz8gx3m2a1600c9.html

OCZ MODXSTREAM PRO 700W MODULAR 80PLUS POWER SUPPLY - $45 (after $30 rebate)
http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-500w-700w-modxstream-pro-power-supply.html

nGear Flash Card Reader 3.5IN Internal USB Black - $5
http://www.ngear.ca/productlisting_cardreaders.html

APEVIA X-Trooper Jr Case w/ Side Window - $40 (after $10 rebate)
http://apevia.com/ProductsInfo.asp?KEY=X-TRPJR-BK/450

 

[g-unit1111]

Here is something I built for my brother at the beginning of the summer; the prices have dropped ALOT since then with the release of Ivy-Bridge and the new graphics cards so you should be able to hit the same price-points as I did, if not, then even cheaper. Cheers

Intel i3-2120 CPU - $115
http://ark.intel.com/products/53426/Intel-Core-i3-2120-Processor-%283M-Cache-3_30-GHz%29

GIGABYTE GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 - $70 (after $20 rebate)
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3975

ZOTAC GeForce GTX 560 Ti [ZT-50301-10M] - $135 (after $30 rebate)
http://www.zotacusa.com/geforce-gtx-560-ti-zt-50301-10m.html

WESTERN DIGITAL CAVIAR BLUE 500GB HARD DRIVE - $40
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=110

OCZ VERTEX 3 120GB SATA III 2.5" SSD - $65 (after $10 rebate)
http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-vertex-3-sata-iii-2-5-ssd.html

SAMSUNG 22x ODD - $20
http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/office/optical-disk-drives/optical-disk-drives/SH-222AB/BEBE/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail&returnurl=

CORSAIR VENGEANCE 1600MHz DDR3 8GB RAM - $55
http://www.corsair.com/memory-by-product-family/vengeance/vengeance-8gb-dual-channel-ddr3-memory-kit-cmz8gx3m2a1600c9.html

OCZ MODXSTREAM PRO 700W MODULAR 80PLUS POWER SUPPLY - $45 (after $30 rebate)
http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-500w-700w-modxstream-pro-power-supply.html

nGear Flash Card Reader 3.5IN Internal USB Black - $5
http://www.ngear.ca/productlisting_cardreaders.html

APEVIA X-Trooper Jr Case w/ Side Window - $40 (after $10 rebate)
http://apevia.com/ProductsInfo.asp?KEY=X-TRPJR-BK/450

A lot of the stuff in that system is very outdated now - and Apevia cases are garbage, I would not purchase one on a new system.

 

[rex000]

A lot of the stuff in that system is very outdated now - and Apevia cases are garbage, I would not purchase one on a new system.

I realize that some of the stuff is from a previous generation, as I had already mentioned in my original post. As for being "very outdated", I don't think I can fully agree with that statement; for that same reason.

Apevia cases are not the best out there, but not the worst either... I would say mediocre (a little on the flimsy side). I purchased it out of impulse for it's aggressive styling and price-point back then. Cases are mostly for aesthetics if you're on a budget (most already have decent airflow, bottom mounted PSU, cable management, numerous drive bays, 2.5" mounts, multiple fan mounts, etc.). The only thing you might have to look carefully for would be USB3.0, hot swap bays, fan controllers... which will usually be reflected in the cost of the case.. In short, spend whatever you feel is necessary on a case.


For my brother, the Apevia does just about everything he needs; no more no less. Quite a powerful gaming and everyday PC for under $600. (Stress Test: Playing Crysis 2 Maxed Out Ultra @ 1920x1080 w/ DX11 & Hi-Res Textures --somewhere in between 30-60FPS -- very playable.)

EDIT: If your budget is $800, that leaves an extra $200ish for you to spend on top of my build. I would recommend upgrading the CPU to an i5-2500k ($200), and upgrading the GPU to a 660Ti ($250). I don't think you're going to get much better than that...

 

[Astralman]

Case/PSU:Rosewill Challenger/Rosewill Capstone 550W

CPU/Optical Drive:I5-2400/LG DVD Burner

GPU:EVGA GTX 660

MotherBoard/Memory:ASRock H77 Pro4 MVP/Team Xtreem Dark Series 8gb (2x4gb) 1600

Storage:Western Digital Cavair Blue 500gb 7200rpm

Total: 701.92

I thought I would give you something on the cheaper end of the spectrum that will still give you everything you need. I know you said something about no combos, but I thought I would put it up there for you anyway. Also if you want to throw in a SSD I will leave that up for your own judgement, you could put one in for an extra 70 or 80 bucks if you want.

EDIT: I would also love to add that when someone puts up a budget on this site that everyone always wants to test that budget by going over by 20 bucks or so everytime when people are saying $800 is the max. Which means nothing about $800. Why can't anyone just go the middle ground with these builds for god sakes. lol. It just makes me laugh.

 

[kanoobie]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hO5s
If he can get the processor for half the price of newegg, then knock about $90 dollars off the price and it will come out to about $700.

If you want to save more money you can downgrade the card to a 7850. If you need extra storage you can add a HDD and still stay within budget.

 

[rex000]

EDIT: I would also love to add that when someone puts up a budget on this site that everyone always wants to test that budget by going over by 20 bucks or so everytime when people are saying $800 is the max. Which means nothing about $800. Why can't anyone just go the middle ground with these builds for god sakes. lol. It just makes me laugh.

I noticed that too, but I think that's fine. There are instances where the extra $20 will yield massively noticeable improvements. However, I also noticed that people (sometimes) arbitrarily pick budgets based off __????__, which is actually over-compensating for their intended uses and purposes, so I think it's also worthwhile to inform the OP of a few alternatives that may make more sense...

 

[Astralman]

I mean, there isn't a huge jump from the sandy to Ivy bridge processors right now. Mainly because there is no real challenge from AMD right now. So sticking with sandy to save an extra 20 bucks isn't going to hurt you at all. Me personally I could afford the Ivy but going to get Sandy just so I can get a good case and PSU. This budget is actually my exact same budget though I went a tad cheaper with his on the case. With my first case I wanted to spend a little extra for future proofing.

Everything is personal preference, I just like to try to save other money. Right now the 660, which is a new release by Nvedia, is $230. It's just 20 to 30 bucks more than a 7850 and does as good as a 7870. So I would get this instead.