$800 Intel build - Looking for final thoughts before I order

[tj_124]

Hi everyone,

I'm putting together my 2nd system and I had great luck getting advice last time on this forum. I've done lots of research and just want to bounce this off the other members so I don't make a mistake here.

Mostly a gaming rig - running Windows 7 64 bit.

This is my parts list...
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/MbJb

I want to stay with Intel - I'm comfortable with them.
I'm not going to overclock - can I stick with the stock cooler?
16 Gig - may be more memory than I need, but I'm ok with it.

I'm really not sure about the optical drive. Is Lite-On ok???

Any advice would be much appreciated.
I don't have a hard budget, but I don't want to waste money either

Thank you for you time and any thoughts.

 

[twelve25]

You aren't overclocking, so the Z77 board is a waste of dough. Also, while you may be "fine" with more RAM than you need, it's using up $50 of your budget that could be getting you a better graphics card.



See if you like the build below. It's going to get you a MUCH better graphics card without sacrificing anything, really.

I dropped to an i5-3470 because it benches the same in games as a 3570. I also dropped to 8GB of RAM, an H77 board, which freed up enough to go to a 7870 XT and still come out quite a bit cheaper.



PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/McRd
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/McRd/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/McRd/benchmarks/



CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($82.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($61.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($234.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($21.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $761.48
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-25 19:31 EDT-0400)

 

[marshallbradley]

+1 to the above build, exactly what I would have done, just didn't have the time to write a response when I first saw your post! No point sinking that $50 into RAM, when you could get like 20-25 better fps but upgrading the graphics.

All the best,

M

 

[boulbox]

You aren't overclocking, so the Z77 board is a waste of dough. Also, while you may be "fine" with more RAM than you need, it's using up $50 of your budget that could be getting you a better graphics card.



See if you like the build below. It's going to get you a MUCH better graphics card without sacrificing anything, really.

I dropped to an i5-3470 because it benches the same in games as a 3570. I also dropped to 8GB of RAM, an H77 board, which freed up enough to go to a 7870 XT and still come out quite a bit cheaper.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/McRd
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/McRd/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/McRd/benchmarks/



CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($82.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($61.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($234.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($21.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $761.48
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-25 19:31 EDT-0400)

You can reduce some of the cost and put it in much better places like;
Tower(good tower though just saying you can get a nice looking one if he would so want)
PSU CX series isnt the best even if it is from corsair
Ram is overpriced

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z75 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($47.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Galaxy GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card ($260.91 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Tempest 210 ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $729.82
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-25 20:07 EDT-0400)

i would lower the ram because most games don't even go over 4GB of ram usage(meaning you will be good for quite a while with 8GB of ram)
With the extra money i would use it for;
SSD - making the system more responsive and have faster boot times
Case - everyone has a case preference left some room to get a case that you can be happy with
GPU - you can opt for a 7950

 

[burritobob]

You will find this is cheaper with the same performance as the one above:


CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-GL Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($66.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($234.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case ($57.12 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($16.97 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $699.01
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

 

[burritobob]

You aren't overclocking, so the Z77 board is a waste of dough. Also, while you may be "fine" with more RAM than you need, it's using up $50 of your budget that could be getting you a better graphics card.



See if you like the build below. It's going to get you a MUCH better graphics card without sacrificing anything, really.

I dropped to an i5-3470 because it benches the same in games as a 3570. I also dropped to 8GB of RAM, an H77 board, which freed up enough to go to a 7870 XT and still come out quite a bit cheaper.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/McRd
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/McRd/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/McRd/benchmarks/



CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($82.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($61.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($234.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($21.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $761.48
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-25 19:31 EDT-0400)

You can reduce some of the cost and put it in much better places like;
Tower(good tower though just saying you can get a nice looking one if he would so want)
PSU CX series isnt the best even if it is from corsair
Ram is overpriced

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z75 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($47.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Galaxy GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card ($260.91 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Tempest 210 ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $729.82
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-25 20:07 EDT-0400)

i would lower the ram because most games don't even go over 4GB of ram usage(meaning you will be good for quite a while with 8GB of ram)
With the extra money i would use it for;
SSD - making the system more responsive and have faster boot times
Case - everyone has a case preference left some room to get a case that you can be happy with
GPU - you can opt for a 7950

7870XT performs better than the 660ti...

Pro3 is overpriced

3550p is not as strong as the i5 3470

 

[marshallbradley]

I'd stick with a 500W PSU. The 7870 XT is a very hungry video card, and in some reviews, the total system has drawn 415W under load. I wouldn't personally want to run a system within 15W of the power supply's rated maximum. Otherwise Burritobob's build is good, and saves you some nice $.

M

 

[boulbox]

the 3550p is just as strong as the 3470, it is only .1ghz lower and doesn't have an iGPU.

7870XT does not perform better than the 660 Ti but it does perform around the same give or take which game prefers it.

As for the Pro3, not really overpriced, it lets him have the option for upgrading ram in the future and lets him turbo OC his CPU

Also for your build, that i5 is in store buy only so your build would roughly be just as much as my build while your's only has the advantage of 2TB to 1TB(i seriously don't think he needs this much space) and while mine build would have a efficient GPU, a better PSU, and the ability to upgrade ram.

 

[CarolKarine]

my 7870 outperforms my friend's 660 ti. a 7870 XT is better than a 660 ti. it competes more with a 670 (especially it you're overclocking the 7870 XT) It's basically the cheap version of the 7950.

although if you go with one of the builds that puts you at about 700 USD, might as well get a 7950 instead of a 7870 XT. the XT is good, but a gigabyte OC 7950 is even better. link it gets you crysis 3 and bioshock infinite as well, and unless you want tomb raider....

 

[marshallbradley]

@boulbox Well actually under turbo-boost (which the CPU will always be during gaming) the difference is 0.3 Ghz. Personally I think having an iGPU is sometimes important if you want to diagnose graphics issues or have to RMA the graphics for some reason.

The fact is that the 7870 XT and 660 Ti perform basically in the same league, the thing is, even the cheapest 660 Ti is $30 or so more than the 7870 XT, and that $25 becomes more like $40 if you want a more well known/trusted brand than Galaxy. You don't really gain much from that $40 though, since the performance really is basically the same across the board, with a few games favouring nVidia and vice-versa. It doesn't really seem worth the 15-20% price premium to me.

M

 

[boulbox]

I am just saying that it is an option for him, it all depends on what he plays in and that is why i left a good margin of space for him to add a better card inside.

I do agree that the LE is the best price-performance based card but updates do come and go battling for who is at the top.

Also it is not always about who has the higher FPS because these cards vary, the 660 Ti compares to the 7950/7870 LE by being much more stable than them and have a more stable framerate as for the 7950/7870 LE, they have a much more fluctuation in games but it is the stronger card(which is why they can get higher FPS than Nvidia but does not stay there for to long)

 

[marshallbradley]

This is true, but at the same time the 13.2 Beta drivers have fixed a lot of the frame latency problems that were causing the issues of a more variable frame-rate. I think the majority of people would agree that currently the 7870 XT is better than the 660 Ti for the price point. It's not biased (I have a nVidia card myself) it's just that AMD have undercut nVidia currently. Their bundled items are much more valuable to most people as well (I believe Never Settle is available for the 7870 XT, might be wrong).

In the end though its up to him, and as you say it's just about giving him advice and options for him to choose from, since it's his money. Both are good options and have their advantages/disadvantages (CUDA cores on the nVidia for example if you ever think you might make use of them).

M

 

[Greatatlantic]

Hi everyone,

I'm putting together my 2nd system and I had great luck getting advice last time on this forum. I've done lots of research and just want to bounce this off the other members so I don't make a mistake here.

Mostly a gaming rig - running Windows 7 64 bit.

This is my parts list...
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/MbJb

I want to stay with Intel - I'm comfortable with them.
I'm not going to overclock - can I stick with the stock cooler?
16 Gig - may be more memory than I need, but I'm ok with it.

I'm really not sure about the optical drive. Is Lite-On ok???

Any advice would be much appreciated.
I don't have a hard budget, but I don't want to waste money either

Thank you for you time and any thoughts.

Lets save you some money. If you have no plans on over clocking, the i5 3350P is almost as good as the 3570K. Plus, $40 in your pocket.

You also don't need an expensive motherboard, the H77 chipset should be fine if you don't plan on overclocking:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157302

$55 in your pocket.

RAM, no gaming needs 16 gigabytes of RAM. Actually, it doesn't really need 8 gigs of RAM. Its just 8 gigs is so cheap right now that you might as well get it. I honestly don't think it will help load times, either, the bottleneck is somewhere else in the machine. So, lets save you $50 there.

Hey, guess what is in your budget now? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147192 .

 

[tj_124]

You people are AWESOME!!

ok, 8 Gig of memory it is and I'll go with the i5-3470 to save a bit as well.

I'll check out the 7870XT graphics card and look at all the motherboard options people suggested.
Yes, SSD is nice, but I'm not sure I "need" it. (Like any of us "need" a gaming rig

No-one answered my question about whether using the stock cooler is a good
idea or not. I assume that if I don't overclock it should be fine.

You guys gave me exactly what I was looking for - good advice on my situation.

Thank you very much.

 

[Greatatlantic]

You people are AWESOME!!

ok, 8 Gig of memory it is and I'll go with the i5-3470 to save a bit as well.

I'll check out the 7870XT graphics card and look at all the motherboard options people suggested.
Yes, SSD is nice, but I'm not sure I "need" it. (Like any of us "need" a gaming rig

No-one answered my question about whether using the stock cooler is a good
idea or not. I assume that if I don't overclock it should be fine.

You guys gave me exactly what I was looking for - good advice on my situation.

Thank you very much.

Oh, yeah, stock coolers are fine provided you aren't using an unusual case, aren't overclocking, and aren't gaming in a really, really hot environment. Long story short, Intel does not want their CPUs to fail because they weren't adequately cooled. Its bad for business.

 

[boulbox]

Stock coolers can be a bit loud at times, if you are going for a quiet rig i recommend changing with with a couple of dollars.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/zalman-cpu-cooler-cnps5xperforma
i would usually go with this one, but it is priced pretty high right now, you usually find these around the $10 mark.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233082&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
this is like $5 more than the last one and is pretty dam quiet, rivials the hyper 212 evo but you are not really OCing. Just something to mention

 

[Outlander_04]

You can get a much better gamer for that price if you use an AMD 8 core processor .

In newer games that can use all 8 cores they are hammering the intels too , so its a win/win

 

[twelve25]

3350p was only $165 with a newegg $15 credit, so not even a real rebate. It's $180 so I'd gt the 3470 for that reason.

 

[Greatatlantic]

3350p was only $165 with a newegg $15 credit, so not even a real rebate. It's $180 so I'd gt the 3470 for that reason.

From personal experience, I'd prefer the store credit. If you ever buy anything from Newegg again, its as good as cash. However, rebates involve filling out a hefty amount of paper work, mailing (yes, mail, not email) it in, and then waiting several months hoping you did everything right. And that they do everything right. I don't even both counting rebates in my purchase price anymore, just as nice, eventual bonus if there is a price tie to break.

 

[marshallbradley]

@Outlander_04 The only game I've seen where an FX-8350 can compete with an i5 is Crysis 3. Even then they are no better than the i5s, and the hexa-core Intels are destroying the FX-8350s. I'd stick with a powerful quad-cores until it's not just one game that can use more than 3-4 threads.

M

 

[twelve25]

3350p was only $165 with a newegg $15 credit, so not even a real rebate. It's $180 so I'd gt the 3470 for that reason.

From personal experience, I'd prefer the store credit. If you ever buy anything from Newegg again, its as good as cash. However, rebates involve filling out a hefty amount of paper work, mailing (yes, mail, not email) it in, and then waiting several months hoping you did everything right. And that they do everything right. I don't even both counting rebates in my purchase price anymore, just as nice, eventual bonus if there is a price tie to break.

Logistics aside, it is not cash back in your pocket. It's an invitation to spend more. That's my only point. It ends up being "virtually" cheaper, but not actually much cheaper than the 3450/3470 (which have noticeably higher turbo boost).