Building Moderate Priced Rig

B

Bananadog

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 20, 2003
Messages
293
*Updated to reflect current recommendations from posters*

Been out of the game for a long time (my old desktop had 2 gb ram and that was high..)

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Looking for a PC that will run Diablo 3 at very high quality and some games that are older (Civ 5, Age of Empires 3..) Nothing else very hard core.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
1200 max, shipping included
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Louisville, KY
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word
"Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
PSU, CPU, RAM, Motherboard, Video Card and Hard Drives
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Reusing an old Lian-Li Full tower and Monitor
6) Will you be overclocking?
Some, small amount
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1080p 21in
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
As soon as possible, before June.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Fastest transfer speeds but nothing too fancy, basic setup.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7 32bit

I am looking to build this rig for around 1200 bucks, but cheaper is always better keeping in mind my goal is not high end gaming or video editing. I am reusing case but everything inside is new.

Currently my build is looking like...

Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$99

GIGABYTE GA-Z77-D3H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
$119

MSI R7770-2PMD1GD5/OC Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16
$119

Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
$59.99

G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT
$39

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
$185 (combo rebate)

ASUS Black Blu-ray Drive SATA Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM
$57.99

Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
$79

That brings the total (with shipping) to $798 (seems like a bargain)
Wondering: thoughts, ideas to change etc.

There are currently nearly 200 dollars in saving / rebates on this purchase so now seems like a good time to make my move (end on 5/10 or 5/15 for some)

Thanks for your help from a wonderful community.

p.s. Getting an upgrade to windows 7 pro 64 bit for 20 bucks through my work. I have a windows 7 key on my work computer so I can use that as the upgrade license.
-Stilpon
 
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for one thing, you can't use an Intel chip with a gigabyte ga-990fxa-ud3 mother board. It's an AMD cpu only motherboard
 
You have a 32bit OS but want to waste $120 on 16gb of ram? And you really don't need to spend the extra cash on 1866 DDR3 when 1600 or even 1333 is perfectly fine.
 
As others have noted, unless your Windows 7 copy is the retail version, not the OEM/system builders version, you're gonna have to get a new Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit key if you want to use more than 4GB of RAM.

As for the RAM, that RAM is completely unncessary since Intel platforms do not benefit that much from higher speed RAM. So go for this RAM isntead to save ~$30:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231497&Tpk=F3-12800CL9Q-16GBZL

The video card is also a bad choice since it's actually slower than cheaper or similarily priced AMD GPUs. Go for the HD 7770 if you want to stay on the low to mid-range category or as high as the HD 6870.

Case wise, what case will you be reusing?

Motherboard wise, yeah that AMD mobo won't work with an Intel CPU. Go for the Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128543
 
Might upgrade to 64 bit OS, was just reading on windows website.. i did not know that the limit for 32bit is 4gig whereas 64 bit can go up to 128gig.... this is news to me.
 
The case I am reusing is a Lian-Li PC70... 6x 5.25 3x 3.5 bays.. 6 fans slots, it's a behemoth.
 
Considering the games you play you might just be better off with 32bit and 4gb. Civ 5 is probably the more memory intensive game of that group but 4gb should be plenty. There are a few good options under $30 which is a nice reduction.

Throw some of that towards getting a GTX 560 (non-ti) at $170 and you'll get far more longevity from your card.
 
Bananadog said:
Might upgrade to 64 bit OS, was just reading on windows website.. i did not know that the limit for 32bit is 4gig whereas 64 bit can go up to 128gig.... this is news to me.
Click to expand...

I highly recommend going 64bit now as RAM is fairly cheap at this point in time. You may not need it now but if you can afford it, get it as RAM prices have been steadily climbing in the past few months.

EDIT: Just saw your edits:
Don't bother with a Z68 mobo when a good Z77 mobo costs about the same or less. Go for the mobo I recommended earlier or its more high-end brother, the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H.

Again, the GTX 550 TI is still a piss poor choice for a gaming system since the $120 HD 6770 and the $140 HD 7770 outperforms it. Only good reason to get the GTX 550 TI for a gaming only PC is if you absolutely hate AMD and don't mind paying more money for significantly less performance.

Again, Intel DOES NOT benefit from higher speed RAM. You wouldn't notice a difference between DDR3 1333 and DDR3 2133 RAM. So ZERO reason to get the DDR3 1866 RAM besides e-peen.
 
You still have that overpriced RAM. Go for this RAM:
$39 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
 
Adjusted, ending up at 957. Wondering how much a lower model processor would change the performance. Now that i'm seeing the price drop I'd like to lower my cost under 900 (Penny-Pinching is a good thing right?) or if keeping this processor will really help this computer perform. Thanks for your help danny.
 
Bananadog said:
Adjusted, ending up at 957. Wondering how much a lower model processor would change the performance. Now that i'm seeing the price drop I'd like to lower my cost under 900 (Penny-Pinching is a good thing right?) or if keeping this processor will really help this computer perform. Thanks for your help danny.
Click to expand...
Well the next cheapest CPUs will be the $190 Core i5 2400 and $200 Core i5 3450. At stock speeds, you probably won't notice a big difference between the three CPUs. It's only when you OC is when you'll notice a difference. The Core i5 2400 and Core i5 3450 are limited to a 3.6Ghz OC. However the 2500K has an average OC of about 4.2Ghz to 4.5Ghz with really lucky users getting 4.7Ghz and above. So it's largely dependent on how high of OC you want to reach. And yes a Core i5 2500K at 4.2Ghz to 4.5Ghz will outperform

However a few things to note about the CPUs:
- The Core i5 3450 is roughly 5% faster than the 2400 and comes with a significantly faster integrated video chip. So not bad for $10 more
- You will need a 3rd party HSF if you want to reach past the 4Ghz mark with the Core i5 2500K. Something like this will do:
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
- There's a combo deal for the Core i5 3450 and the Gigabyte mobo you chose that knocks off $15:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.909520

Video card wise, at $125 shipped, that XFX card isn't really worth it. $10 more gets you the significantly faster HD 7770:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102967

PSU wise, since the HD 7770 is a fairly low power video card, you'll be fine with this PSU if you want to save $12:
$63 - Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W PSU

Also, will you be getting that 64bit OS?
 
1 - I'd drop the HDD and find one for sale here on the forums. And 2TB really is a shit load of storage, you can save a little by dropping to 1TB. Here's a thread with 1tb drives for $50
2 - Same thing for the 2500k. You can find them on the forums here for $160 or if you must have something new the i5 2400 can usually be found for $30-40 less than the 2500k. You can still overclock it, just not to the same level
3 - Blu ray burner sounds cool but will you actually use it? Just a reader and not a burner can shave off a bit there too, with the Asus Blu Ray coming in at $57.
 
Made final updates, planning on ordering today... last chance for critique or opinions / conflicts, anything anyone might notice.
 
Not hardware related, but so many of your selections have shipping that now might be a good time to buy a month of Shoprunner or use a free trial if you haven't already.
 
Yeah besides not going for the 128GB SSD, that setup looks ok. But I highly recommend getting that 128GB SSD. You're making a big mistake by not doing so.

EDIT: Also, are you getting 64bit Windows 7 or not? If not, drop the RAM down to a 4GB set like this:
$20 - G.Skill F3-10666CL9S-2GBNT 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
 
Yup, stated in original post (after edits) I found that through my work I can get 64 bit for $20
 
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