<$1000 Gaming PC - Australia

[Jabbajabba]

I haven't built a PC in just over 3 years, so I'm a tad rusty and behind the times when it comes to new hardware. I reckon it's about time for an upgrade.

I was aiming for a PC that could max today's games, or at least come close to it.

Anyway, after looking around and asking for advice all over the place, this is what I have:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Hxsw

That would be:

HDD Western Digital WD Black 1TB WD1002FAEX $99
SSD Samsung 840 Series 120GB SSD Retail Box $99
RAM Kingston ValueRAM KVR1333D3N9K2/8G 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 $49
CASE Silverstone SST-RL01B-USB 3.0 (Black) ATX Mid Tower $55
PSU Seasonic M12II 520W Modular PSU $109
GPU Gigabyte Radeon HD7870 2GB Overclocked $249
CPU AMD FX-6300 6 Core Processor $145
COOLER CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler $35
MOBO ASRock 970 Extreme4 Motherboard $104
DVDRW Samsung SH-224BB/BEBS SATA DVDRW Drive OEM $22

TOTAL $966

All those products and prices are from the PC Case Gear website (if you have any other good sites/stores that are in or ship to Aus, excellent!).

I was wondering if the above is fully compatible, if anything could be changed to make it more effective without adding too much price. If anything could be changed/dropped to make it cheaper without losing too much performance, that would be great too (probably the SSD; I don't really care about boot times).

Any information whatsoever would help a lot, and I will appreciate it. Thanks in advance, guys.

 

[properbuilds]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($195.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H77M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($84.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($55.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($75.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($329.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case ($65.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($89.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($22.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Total: $914.00
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

With ssd

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($195.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H77M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($84.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.00 @ Foxcomp)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($75.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Storage: Sandisk Extreme 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($115.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($229.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case ($65.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($89.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($22.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Total: $928.00
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

 

[Jabbajabba]

Oh wow, thanks properbuilds. Those look more reliable than my build. Is a CPU Cooler necessary? I guess it's not all that expensive to add on if need be.

Also, is powercolor a reliable alternative to the more expensive brands? I've heard their quality can be iffy.

 

[properbuilds]

Hi, the stock cooler is sufficient for the i5-3470, you don't need to buy aftermarket cooler.

 

[Jabbajabba]

Best answer selected by Jabbajabba.