$1200 Gaming Rig - New Build

[apark301]

Hey Everyone,

Creating an ATX Mid-Tower build for my friend for high-performance gaming. The person is tech savvy, so there will be some overclocking done on the processor and the GPU. The main games that will be played are Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, Heroes of Newerth, XCOM Enemy Unknown, and Battlefield 3. Please let me know if there are areas that can be improved, and the budget is a little flexible so a future extra $$$ for future-proofing is not out of the game. In addition, my friend is likely to crossfire the card about 4-5 months out to keep up with the game selection then, so please keep that in mind. Anyways, thanks for reading and commenting!

Approximate Purchase Date: Now till Thanksgiving

Budget Range: $1050-1250

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Video games (as listed above), general computing use (webs, video watching, other basic windows functionality)

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to upgrade: N/A

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred website for parts: Newegg & Amazon

Location: MD

Parts Preference: Intel Processor, Caviar black HDD

Overclocking: Yes (CPU & GPU)

SLI or Crossfire: Yes (in 4-5 months, another Radeon 7870)

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: See intro paragraph above

Why are you upgrading: Friend is sick of playing games on his XPS laptop, time to upgrade to the desktop big leagues.

Current build:
CPU: Intel Core i5 – 3570K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819116504
$230

CPU Fan/paste: Cooler Master Hyper 212+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835103065
$30

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme3 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157330&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&PageSize=10&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&IsFeedbackTab=true#scrollFullInfo
$105

Ram: G. Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2X4GB) DDR3 2133
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231476
$64

GPU: Radeon 7870 Gigabyte 2GB GHz Edition
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125418
$260

SSD: Samsung 830 Series 128GB SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147163
$110

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200RPM
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digi [...] +black+1TB
$90

Optical: ASUS 24X DVD+RW Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827135204
$20

Case: NZXT Phantom 410 Gunmetal Sheet
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146093
$100

Power Supply: Corsair HX Series 750W 80 PLUS GOLD Modular Active PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010
$145

Total: $1164


Thank you all for reading and responding!

Best,
Apark301

 

[giltyler]

Are you near Beltway/Rockville if so hit Microcenter
Intel core I5 3570K socket 1155 quad core processor $189.99
Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Z77 ATX Intel Motherboard $ 84.99 when purchaced with I5
Board is an upgrade over your selection

 

[evilqueens]

saved you some cash and added some improvements

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/llSP
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/llSP/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/llSP/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 ($38.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: OCZ Vertex 4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($86.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($269.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1094.76
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

+1 - This is a very solid build. The higher speed RAM is nice, but not worth double the cost of the same capacity kit! Similarly, your PSU was unnecessarily expensive earlier, this one is great and it will be enough to CFX if you want.

I will mention one thing about the GPU. For the games you have listed (especially Starcraft II and Battlefield 3), nVidia cards tend to do better than their AMD counterparts. You may want to look into the nVidia GeForce GTX 660 card instead. It is about $40-50 cheaper and gives better results than then Radeon HD 7950 for those two games specifically. You can take a look at this benchmark comparing the two cards and some games that are featured on them. Based on this, you (and your friend) can make up your mind!

Just one other thing - keep the Sammy SSD in there!

 

[Hiii]

I think going with a 660 even if it performs better in SC2 and BF3 it means lower performance in other games and upcoming ones too, i think that the jrgong build leaves money for a card like a 7970.

 

[Apropo]

keep the quality so you don't worry about dependability and here is my suggestion:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/lmob

its under $1200 and gives you a reliable durable motherboard, room for upgrades in the future and a graphcis card that run the games you want on ultra settings, BF3 64person maps 75+ FPS. So unless you are planning to use a 120Hz monitor this sysetm I'm suggesting will rock anything now and up coming.

 

[evilqueens]

I think going with a 660 even if it performs better in SC2 and BF3 it means lower performance in other games and upcoming ones too, i think that the jrgong build leaves money for a card like a 7970.

While this is true - a 7970 is excessive for a single monitor at 1920x1080. Anyway, I'm not disagreeing that there are better cards - I just wanted to bring that detail to light.

Depending on the OP's usage, he/she can decide what specific video card to get.