2 Gaming CPU's for $800-$1000

Shinlocke

Honorable
Jan 25, 2014
5
0
10,510
From work my wife and I have gotten a discount from Dell, along with their normal discounts we've been able to get some good deals. With our current CPU's we play World of Warcraft, Mechwarrior Online, Guild Wars 2, the Secret World, League of Legends, Wild Star beta and Everquest Next beta, do some 3D work, video editing and for work. We play with Max/Ultra settings and haven't had any issues with lag or gameplay.

We ended up getting 2 free video cards: Raedon HD 7850 and Nvidia 560Ti. Originally I was going to swap video cards around so that we had better video. But our children have also wanted to play games with us and they have been needing a new computer. We figured if we could throw a couple computers that are on par with ours for $800 total then we would do that. But if we could build 2 computers that were upgrades to ours for $1000 instead, then they could use our current systems and we would upgrade.

My Current CPU and Wife's Current CPU

Processor: Intel i7-2600 and Intel i7-870
RAM: 16 GB
Video Card: Nvidia 560Ti and Raedon HD 7500
Hard Drive: 1 TB

Approximate Purchase Date: Within the month
Budget Range: $800 for kids computers - $1000 for new gaming computers for us, let them use our old ones
System Usage from MOst to Least Important: Gaming, surfing the internet, video editing
Are you buying a monitor: No
Do you need to buy OS: Yes, prefer Windows 7
Preferred Websites: newegg.com
Location: Portland, OR - USA
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No
Monitor Resolution: Dual monitors - 1920x1080
Additional Notes: Please keep in mind we don't overclock or plan on overclocking. That is why I am coming here for help. Most reviews and tests take over clocking into consideration which makes it hard to determine what we'll get with a base system.

Thank you!
 

zemiak

Distinguished
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-4130 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($89.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master DK9-7E52A-0L-GP CPU Cooler ($8.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI 970A-G46 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.97 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.67 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cougar Solution (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Raidmax 530W Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ TigerDirect)
Total: $499.56
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-26 03:27 EST-0500)


Try 2 of these? You could use these and your children could use your old ones.

One more question...When you list Video editing as the least important usage, does that mean you won't be doing any video editing at all? or you will be doing some, just not much? If it is, are you doing high end stuff or smaller scale stuff?

Edit: I don't think you'll be able to upgrade if you need to buy two Windows 7 disks, as they are $85 a piece. That being said, if I understand correctly, then you would give the newer, slightly less powerful computers to your children? (I will choose out some parts for that right now, since I am guessing you wont respond right away =P. )

Double Edit: I am also from Portland Oregon!
 

zemiak

Distinguished
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 740 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($74.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake CL-P0503 18.6 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler ($6.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($59.79 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($43.20 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.66 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7790 1GB Video Card ($112.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Sentey CS1-1398 PLUS ATX Mid Tower Case ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($19.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ TigerDirect)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $498.57
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-26 03:54 EST-0500)


Get 2 of these and give them to your kids, if you are including two Windows 7 disks's in the $1000.

But I wouldn't plan on running two monitors on these. On either of the builds, 2 monitors probably isn't possible on high end games.
 

Shinlocke

Honorable
Jan 25, 2014
5
0
10,510
We do some video editing. Usually we use Premiere to do some editing and creation, but that is usually once every month or so. We also wouldn't need video cards since we have 2 extra ones we got. One matches one we currently use and the other is an upgrade. We already know our current systems handle it fine.

It is just a matter of if we keep the current then just build 2 new ones for the children. Or if we can get better performance systems then we would probably spend the little extra and give them our current computers.

For the first build, if I removed the video card from the list and the CPU and went with a AMD FX-8350 Vishera 4.0GHz that would put my total at around $469.57. I'm used to Intel builds so I'm not that familiar with AMD but according to base benchmarks it shows it would be a slight upgrade. Although I might have to find a different motherboard. Still doing some more research.
 

zemiak

Distinguished
If you're doing video editing than an i7 Intel CPU would be more ideal, but you don't usually hear the word 'Intel' in a budget build. But you should be able to video edit well on a multicore CPU. So you want 2 computers under $1000 excluding the video cards?

Here is excluding the video cards. You can get 2 of these and you can swap the graphics cards around in all 4 computers to suit your needs. This will be about $940 for your kids. If you want $800 max for both kids I can give you another option to fit that budget.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($114.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Gelid Solutions CC-Siberian-01 51.9 CFM CPU Cooler ($9.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($56.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Mushkin Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.97 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.66 @ OutletPC)
Case: Sentey CS1-1398 PLUS ATX Mid Tower Case ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Microcenter)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $472.53
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-26 17:57 EST-0500)
 

zemiak

Distinguished
Here is 2 for your kids, under $800 both, just throw some GPU's in there and voila.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-4130 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($89.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master DK9-7E52A-0L-GP CPU Cooler ($8.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($56.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($43.20 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Sentey CS1-1398 PLUS ATX Mid Tower Case ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Microcenter)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $397.11
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-26 18:02 EST-0500)
 

Shinlocke

Honorable
Jan 25, 2014
5
0
10,510
I think I might be looking at upgrading myself then just passing my computer to my wife, hers to the kids. I have my other CPU I've been using as my server which will handle their gaming needs for at least a couple years. So I am now leaning towards just getting me something that is an improvement over my i7-2600K and was thinking something like:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($184.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: PNY XLR8 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($75.01 @ Mwave)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.97 @ OutletPC)
Case: Zalman MS800 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Thermaltake SMART 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($77.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $985.93
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-31 20:33 EST-0500)

For the video card I'll either be using the ATI 7870 or 2 Geforce 560TI that I also have.

Any other suggestions or directions I should probably go instead?