$1000 Gaming PC

[Hamidxa]

Im in the process of putting together a PC for an uncle of mine, and have configured the following system thus far (can't shop at Newegg by the way, the tax alone would be $100 on $1000).
Im also trying to keep the cost around $1000 total (give or take $50 or so).

This is what I have come up with (via Mwave):

Id really prefer to get him the GTX 260, but fitting that into the budget as the system currently stands would be...well, unfeasible. But then again, there are $50 worth of rebates there. Nevertheless, I'd like to see what you guys can come up with.

Oh, and don't worry about factoring in the cost of the OS.

 

[tiraides]

A few questions....

- What is this build for? Gaming? Multimedia? Encoding? What?
- Which games/programs will be used on this system?
- Are you going to overclock?
- Do you have to have any particular component?

 

[MaStaFLaSH]

That build actually seems fine, you might be able to shave a few dollars off by shopping at other places. The only thing is you're going to want a better HSF than stock for that Q6600, I recommend the S1283

 

[Hamidxa]

A few questions....

- What is this build for? Gaming? Multimedia? Encoding? What?
- Which games/programs will be used on this system?
- Are you going to overclock?
- Do you have to have any particular component?

As the name of the thread implies...Gaming.

He mostly likes to play RTS games, so RAM and CPU are crucial (think Supreme Commander), but also shooters such as Crysis, COD4.

I would love to be able to overclock this for him, as that mobo and CPU combo go together very well. As such, Id like to slap an aftermarket cooler on there, namely the TRU120 Extreme (same one as in my rig) but then cost would go up by another $50-$80 (with the addition of a 120mm fan).
Any other recommendations?
I havent kept up with the aftermarket cooler market (sounds redundant) in about a year or so.

I dont have to have particular components, but I basically picked what I felt were mostly reliable brands and well-performing components.

 

[MaStaFLaSH]

The S1283 can be had for around $25 AR, with stock cooler you aren't going to be able to OC at all with the Q6600.

 

[Hamidxa]

The S1283 can be had for around $25 AR, with stock cooler you aren't going to be able to OC at all with the Q6600.

Yeah I know
Thanks for the tip on the S1283, Ill have to give that one a look.

Edit:
Just looked it up on Newegg.
Seems like a popular choice indeed, and it comes with a fan to boot.

 

[MaStaFLaSH]

Be sure to buy the retention bracket sucks that it's another $14 but it's worth it.

 

[tiraides]

For now, ignore the rebate amounts, as you won't see any rebate checks until weeks after you complete your build. To offset costs a bit, getting certain parts from different stores and/or buying more parts with free shipping would help you a bit.

For example, a couple of cheaper (yet still good quality) cases are the Antec Three Hundred (from either Provantage or Buy.com) and the Cooler Master RC-690 (from Amazon). (I'm not saying that the P180 isn't a good case -- it is -- but there are cheaper options available.)

Likewise, you could find a different power supply and not worry about limiting future upgrades. For example, you could find the Antec Earthwatts 650W PSU for under $70 at Buy.com (with no rebate needed). (Yes, Corsair is the better quality brand, but the Antec Earthwatts models are certified to the 80 Plus energy efficiency standard.)

An alternative to the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 is the virtually identical OCZ Vendetta 2. It performs as well as the HDT-S1283 and cost much less than the TRUE 120.

If you can, I suggest spending a bit more money for the following components:

- Get the Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L instead of the GA-EP35-DS3L. The EP43-DS3L offers PCI Express 2.0 support, which may benefit you in the future should newer video cards that are PCI-E 2.0-only arrive. (The EP43-DS3L also has two more SATA ports than the EP35-DS3L.)

- Consider the Western Digital WD6400AAKS HDD over the WD5000AAKS. The WD6400AAKS is much faster than the WD5000AAKS, as it uses two 320GB drive platters (versus the three-or-four drive platters that the WD5000AAKS uses). It's arguably the fastest non-VelociRaptor/non-SCSI hard drive in the market today.