Build for SW:TOR gaming

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[BU] d'Artagnan

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 6, 2001
Messages
1,181
I'm helping a friend put together a list for a new SW:TOR machine, and realize I haven't kept up with stuff for a year or two, so I'm useless.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Playing SW:TOR. Some surfing, email. No other games.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$700. Tax and shipping included.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
St. Louis, MO.

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.
Case
Power Supply
Hard Drive
DVD Burner / CD Burner
CPU
RAM
Graphics Card
Motherboard

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Monitor, keyboard, mouse.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Not a chance.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
21" Samsung. 1680x1050.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP.

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)? etc.
Nothing special. More concerned with stability than extra features or overclockability.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes. 64 bit Windows 7.


Right now I'm looking at the following, based on a few reviews and price:

CPU: i3-2100 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115078
Video: Sapphire 5770 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102873
Mobo: Asus - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131773
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042
Power supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026&Tpk=N82E16817139026
HDD: meh, whatever in 1 tb or so
burner: meh, whatever, Liteon, Asus, etc., is on sale
Memory: meh, whatever is on sale and has good reviews.
 
$120 - Intel Core i3-2120
$115 - MSI P67A-G43 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard
$35 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$180 - XFX HD-687A-ZHFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$126 - Hitachi Desktar 7K1000.D HDS721010DLE630 1TB SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$17 - LG GH22NS90B DVD Burner
$48 - Antec NEO ECO 400C 400W PSU
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case
---
Total: $691 shipped.

Key advantages over your planned setup:
- Faster CPU and GPU
- Better quality PSU
- Roomier and easier to cable manage case
 
well i think you can do a bit better than what you have listed.

cpu i3-2100 - 124.99
gpu xfx hd6870 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150561 179.99 -20 MIR
mobo asus p8h61-m http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131716 79.99 no reason to go with the z68 mobo when he wont be doing any overclocking at all. this one gives you asus quality at a cheaper price point and its smaller.
case fractal design core 1000 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352009 39.99 the antec 300 is pretty out of date. the core 1000 should be considerably easier to work in and takes advantage of the mobos smaller form factor while still being able to utilize full size video cards.
PSU seasonic 520w http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151094 59.99 decided to go with a bit more wattage just in case he decides to upgrade, still well within budget. seasonic makes good psus.
HDD hitachi 1tb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145304 99.99 yes i know its only sata II, but its HALF the price of a good sata III drive. honestly i would even consider getting a smaller cheaper drive and waiting until HDD prices stabilize to buy a nice 1tb.
optical drive asus http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204 20.99
mem <insert cheaper memory of your choice> ~20.

total $624 - 20 MIR before shipping, which at least calculating to where i live is about $20 for the whole shebang.

this would leave you with about $80 to play with, you could even cut the GPU back a little to a 6850 and save another $20. with that extra $100 you might want to consider an SSD for a boot drive. you could get a small one (60gb) for around $100 if you look around, just make sure its sata III. this would be a gigantic performance increase in swtor (mostly loading screens as well as textures in game) and the operating system will feel a ton smoother. you may even want to consider a 128gb ssd (which costs around $200) instead of the HDD and just waiting. 128gb is plenty of space for the os, swtor and web browsing stuff.

edit* doh posted at the same time as danni, his build is probably better, i totally didnt see that hitachi 6gbs for 126.99.
 
herfalerf said:
edit* doh posted at the same time as danni, his build is probably better, i totally didnt see that hitachi 6gbs for 126.99.
Click to expand...
Yeah it is in some respects. With that said, you did get me thinking about alternatives to the parts I recommended earlier.

herfalerf said:
cpu i3-2100 - 124.99
Click to expand...
The Core i3 2120 is clocked slightly faster and is $5 cheaper.

herfalerf said:
mobo asus p8h61-m http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131716 79.99 no reason to go with the z68 mobo when he wont be doing any overclocking at all. this one gives you asus quality at a cheaper price point and its smaller.
Click to expand...
The big problems with that Asus mobo is its price and two RAM slots. At $88 shipped for only two RAM slots, that's a big waste of money IMO. However you are correct in that he doesn't really need a Z68 or even a P67 motherboard. As such, [BU] d'Artagnan, go with this Intel mobo instead of the MSI mobo I listed:
$90 - Intel BOXDH67BLB3 Intel H67 mATX Motherboard

herfalerf said:
case fractal design core 1000 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352009 39.99 the antec 300 is pretty out of date. the core 1000 should be considerably easier to work in and takes advantage of the mobos smaller form factor while still being able to utilize full size video cards.
Click to expand...
IMO, that Core 1000 case isn't worth the money unless the need for a small case completely outweighs the cons for that case. Once you factor in shipping, that case comes out to the same price as the larger/roomier, significantly easier to cable manage, and better cooling (on account of the extra 140mm fan) Source 210 elite case.
herfalerf said:
PSU seasonic 520w http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151094 59.99 decided to go with a bit more wattage just in case he decides to upgrade, still well within budget. seasonic makes good psus.
Click to expand...

Seasonic does. However the shipped price of that Seasonic PSU makes it $66 shipped. $6 more than this larger yet similar quality Seasonic built Antec PSU
$60 - Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W PSU

[BU] d'Artagnan, if you want a larger PSU to cover your ass for future upgrades, go with the above Antec 620W PSU.
herfalerf said:
HDD hitachi 1tb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145304 99.99 yes i know its only sata II, but its HALF the price of a good sata III drive. honestly i would even consider getting a smaller cheaper drive and waiting until HDD prices stabilize to buy a nice 1tb.
Click to expand...
As you already noticied, I linked a significantly faster Hitachi 1TB drive for only $20 more. Totally worth the extra cash IMO.
 
Thanks guys. I'll poke through and get him something ordered tomorrow. This will be his first ever real computer, so I'm all about stability as I don't want to be tech support.
 
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