Medium gaming PC build, 650$ maximum

[tosshs]

Hi guys,
Let's assist a friend of mine, living in US, in building his Desktop PC.
As I am far away from US, I am asking you for help in finding the best seller in the region, who would give best component price over service (RMA, etc).
And here are the requirements:
1. Desktop PC - no monitor or other peripheral included
2. OS installed is not required
3. OCing is not required
4. Medium gaming PC - as gaming usually requires more resources
5. Total cost - 600$, maximum 650$ if performance/$ realy worth it.
6. The PC will be shipped to Chicago, if there are shipping cost, they should be included in .5
7. Pre-assembled configuration

Here is what we have so far for total cost of 645$:

Computer Case : Thermaltake Versa I Mid Tower ATX
Power Supply Upgrade : 550W Heavy Duty TOUGH Series SATA Power Supply
Motherboard : GIGABYTE GA-H77M Intel H77 CrossFireX SATA3 Audio Video GB LAN
DDR3 Memory : 4GB (2X2GB) DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 Hyper-X
Processor : Intel Core i5 3330 3.0GHz Quad Core 6MB
CPU Cooling Fan : Original Factory Cooling Fan and Heatsink
Hard Drive : 500GB Seagate 7200RPM SATA-3 16MB Cache
Video Card : ATI Radeon HD6670 2GB DDR VGA/DVI/HDMI PCI-Express Video Card
DVD Recorder : Samsung 22X DVD+/-RW
Sound Card : 8-Channel Digital Sound Card (onboard)
Network Card : 10/100/1000 Gigabit Network Card (onboard)
Warranty : Assembled and tested, 3 years parts and 3 Year labor warranty

Have this configuration as a base and comment where we could get a better deal.

 

[mopman411]

For that price rang you can get more performance. I would dial it back on the CPU and beef up the video card.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KXtu

 

[mopman411]

This would also be a good build. Again, dialed back on CPU.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KXUA

This is one with an i5.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KXWj

 

[markiz]

This would also be a good build. Again, dialed back on CPU.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KXUA

This is one with an i5.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KXWj

Why use such an expensive Z77 mobo, when he's not going to overclock or use RAID or anything?
This should suffice:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-b75mdgs

 

[mopman411]

Why use such an expensive Z77 mobo, when he's not going to overclock or use RAID or anything?
This should suffice:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-b75mdgs

Good point.

Each paper build is redone.

Med build - CPU i3-2130 GPU 7850 - $589
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KYAj

Med build - CPU i3-2130 GPU 7750 - $502
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KYy9

Med build - CPU i5-2310 GPU 7750 - $584
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KXWj

 

[tosshs]

Thanks for your responses !
The mentioned website (http://pcpartpicker.com/) looks nice, but the components will have to be assembled once they are delivered, right ?
btw, h77 is prefered over b75 for the extra RAM/sata6 slots and the SRT technology.

 

[markiz]

Thanks for your responses !
The mentioned website (http://pcpartpicker.com/) looks nice, but the components will have to be assembled once they are delivered, right ?
btw, h77 is prefered over b75 for the extra RAM/sata6 slots and the SRT technology.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H77-DS3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($98.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($30.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.08 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB Video Card ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($16.97 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $593.98
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-21 12:38 EDT-0400)

- Pcpartpicker is just an aggregator, for every part you can see how much does it cost in every shop.
- prebuilt computers are always more expensive than the sum of their parts, obviously, and it's hard to fine tune them.
- where I live (Croatia) every computer shop offers the services of assembly. You bring the parts to them, and they put it together. It costs ~30-40$. Maybe that's an option for your friend?
- you should see if microcenter offers such services. Especially if you buy in-store, because they offer 50$ discount on i5+Z77 boards.
- if microcenter is not available, than you can step down to i3-3220 CPU. It should be fine at medium-high gaming.
- there is a Radeon 7790 coming out in april. It should be only ~10% slower than 7850 and consume less energy, and be faster than Nvidia 650Ti for the same price.

 

[tosshs]

Thanks for your responses !
The mentioned website (http://pcpartpicker.com/) looks nice, but the components will have to be assembled once they are delivered, right ?
btw, h77 is prefered over b75 for the extra RAM/sata6 slots and the SRT technology.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H77-DS3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($98.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($30.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.08 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB Video Card ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($16.97 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $593.98
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-21 12:38 EDT-0400)

- Pcpartpicker is just an aggregator, for every part you can see how much does it cost in every shop.
- prebuilt computers are always more expensive than the sum of their parts, obviously, and it's hard to fine tune them.
- where I live (Croatia) every computer shop offers the services of assembly. You bring the parts to them, and they put it together. It costs ~30-40$. Maybe that's an option for your friend?
- you should see if microcenter offers such services. Especially if you buy in-store, because they offer 50$ discount on i5+Z77 boards.
- if microcenter is not available, than you can step down to i3-3220 CPU. It should be fine at medium-high gaming.
- there is a Radeon 7790 coming out in april. It should be only ~10% slower than 7850 and consume less energy, and be faster than Nvidia 650Ti for the same price.

Thanks markiz, that will work juuuuust fine