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$1100-1200 gaming pc

McRackin

McRackin

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
284
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1200 max after tax
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Vancouver, Canada
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.
MOBO,CPU,RAM,VCARD,CASE,PS,SSD,HDD,DVD,FAN,WINDOWS
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Monitor, KB/M, speakers
6) Will you be overclocking?
If it's advised
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920x1200 24"
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
next week
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
no pref
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
have vista 64, but want 7



I am only willing to buy my parts at http://www.a-power.com/ since its right outside my house and I have a good relationship with them. Their prices aren't horrible either, and I'll save on shipping/time/worry/impatience so please don't refer me to newegg. I'll be using the PC for gaming, notably BF3, and some financial apps I use for school/work that will work on any PC so it doesn't matter. I want a small SSD (40-75GB) to run windows and some primary apps and a game or 2.
 
Figured I'd start a fresh one because I want help on a full build at a different prices without any of the parts I mentioned. I should have just edited the opening post :0
 
Great to have folks north of the border here on the [H]. Never heard of A-Power so I'll take this as a small challenge.

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V LX http://www.a-power.com/product-22684-874-3 $135
CPU: Intel i5 2500k http://www.a-power.com/product-19997-0-1-Weeklyspecial $210
HSF: CM Hyper 212+ http://www.a-power.com/product-8798 $30
RAM: Patriot 8GB http://www.a-power.com/product-19921-594-3 $54
GPU: Gigabyte GTX560Ti http://www.a-power.com/product-20125-361-2 $267
Case: NZXT Gamma http://www.a-power.com/product-14596-676-1 $55
Case fan: Thermalright X-Silent http://www.a-power.com/product-22671-740-1 $12
PSU: Antec EarthWatts 650 http://www.a-power.com/product-22752-342-3 $65
SSD: OCZ Vertex Plus 120GB http://www.a-power.com/product-23472-635-2 $152
HDD: WD Caviar Green 1.5TB http://www.a-power.com/product-15762-288-2 $69
ODD: Lite-On 24X DVD Burner http://www.a-power.com/product-19712-394-1 $25
OS: Windows 7 x64 SP1 OEM http://www.a-power.com/product-13270-429-1 $120

Total: $1,194.82

I doubt that's taking tax into account, so that may technically be over budget by more than $15. No shipping there either. Notes & more options follow: cheapest total with 1 case fan, 6870, 60GB SSD, and Win7 was $1,079.83 after rebate.

Notes
Additional case fan is optional, but highly recommended - I'd personally order 3 extra, only one is included - 4 total would be 1 front/side/rear/top. The additional HSF is optional but highly recommended for overclocking, and there's a deal w/ an Kuhler H2O 620 for $20 more (http://www.a-power.com/product-20894-696-1). No comparable/good options for case or RAM than what I gave you. That PSU is fugly, but a great deal. Also, consider omitting Windows 7 for this build. An upgrade would obviously be welcome, but I ran Vista x64 for two years no problem, and it will run the latest games unlike XP. Near future upgrade perhaps? Or if you're very, very patient, wait for Windows 8. You'll be better served long term putting the cash into hardware now.

Motherboard
Obviously lots to choose from here, mostly just added USB 3.0 & SATA3 as you go up in price. The P8Z68-V LX I gave you has 2x USB 3.0 on back, the LE model adds another 2 via internal header, but the case I gave you doesn't support it, so I saved you $16. The Gigabyte is $20 cheaper, but no USB 3.0.
* Gigabyte Z68P-DS3 http://www.a-power.com/product-23662-874-2 $115
* P8Z68-V LE: http://www.a-power.com/product-22600-874-3 $151

GPU
At 1920x1200 I'd like to give you as much as possible here. The 6870 is about $70 cheaper but substantially slower, while the 6950 would be recommended if you can afford it. If you need to trim the price further, I'd rather you skip overclocking and get a cheaper CPU (and use the box cooler) than go lower than these.
* Gigabyte 6870 http://www.a-power.com/product-20582 $194 after rebate
* Sapphire 6950 http://www.a-power.com/product-19731-615-1 $296

PSU
Other good options:
http://www.a-power.com/product-19472-342-1
http://www.a-power.com/product-10502-342-1

SSD & HD
The next drive lower worth considering is the 60GB Vertex 2, and while obviously faster, 120GB for $150 is damn cheap in the world of SSDs, so I couldn't pass that up - you'll thank me for the space later. The A-Data is a newer Sandforce drive, for $20 more you get a much faster and probably more reliable drive. For $18 more, you can upgrade the HDD to 2TB!
* OCZ 60GB http://www.a-power.com/product-17572-635-1 $110
* A-Data 128GB http://www.a-power.com/product-22813-635-1 $173
* Seagate 2GB http://www.a-power.com/product-19505-288-2 $86
 
Last edited:
I recommend this setup:
$210 - Intel Core i5-2500K CPU
$115 - Gigabyte GA-Z68P-DS3 Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard
$54 - Kingston ValueRAM KVR1333D3N9K2/8G 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$267 - Gigabyte GV-N560OC-1GI GTX 560 TI 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$131 - Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SSD
$70 - Western Digital Caviar WD10EALX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$25 - LG iHAS224-06 DVD Burner
$65 - Antec Earthwatts EA650 Green 650W PSU
$120 - Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit OEM
$96 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance nVidia Edition ATX Case
---
Total: $1153 plus tax and shipping

Key advantages over matt9669's build:
- The case is larger, provides better cooling, has two extra fans, and better cable management.
- The Kingston RAM is rated at 1.5V which helps with longevity, cooling, and avoids any potential warranty issues.
- The Crucial SSD is of significantly better quality, performance, and reliability than the recommended OCZ SSD. I don't recommend any current Sandforce SSD since they have that random BSOD issue.
- The Western Digital 1TB drive is faster than that Green drive.
 
Would you like to rebuttal that Matt? ;)

Danny, I like the build. What kind of upgrades could I be looking at in the future, say a year down the road, with that mobo?
 
McRackin said:
Would you like to rebuttal that Matt? ;)

Danny, I like the build. What kind of upgrades could I be looking at in the future, say a year down the road, with that mobo?
Click to expand...

Sure. For starters I gave you options! ;) And most of his picks are identical or very similar to mine. The rest:

Mobo: I listed that one as an option, but be aware you're not getting USB 3.0. That's worth $20 to me, may not be to you.

CPU: Could not find the $210 price on the 2500k again last night, good to save that cash. But no aftermarket cooler? Why go 2500k if you're not going to overclock?

RAM: Good find, was striking out last night. Though people do get a little goofy worried about 1.65V RAM on SB, I'd go with his pick.

SSD: You're paying more than $2/GB for the Crucial, and you'll be amazed how limiting 64GB is. I keep all my data backed up so as long as the warranty is long enough, reliability is not a big concern to me, so I'd jump on one of the 128GB options. The Vertex Plus is actually Indilinx, so no Sandforce worries - slower, but only $1.25/GB! And plenty of peeps run Sandforce drives just fine, the A-Data is an older model anyway so I HIGHLY doubt you'd see issues like a few of the current drives.

HDD: In the day of the SSD, IMHO capacity > speed on hard drives. If you're using the HDD for loading a lot of games/apps it might make a difference, but with a 128GB SSD that's far less likely.

Case: I was going bargain basement here to save cash, but the Gamma is still a good case. Personal pref - I much prefer the look of the NZXT. Note that the linked model is not the nV edition, which I consider a plus. The CM690 comes with 3 fans, but costs $40 more - add two fans to the NZXT and you're ahead about $20, and cooling will be more or less identical. Plus you don't get the annoying/gawdy blue LED fans. I like a few of the features on the CM690 though, if you think you'll use the top dock I'd go with it.
 
McRackin said:
Would you like to rebuttal that Matt? ;)

Danny, I like the build. What kind of upgrades could I be looking at in the future, say a year down the road, with that mobo?
Click to expand...

You shuold be able to drop in a 22nm Ivy Bridge when they come out, and whatever next generation video card you wanted - but the 2500K is probably going to have some longevity, as it is a very solid processor.

Edit: I've got the 64GB version of that ADATA SSD, and I've had a lot of problems with it dropping out (causing crashes and then not being found by the BIOS on reboot - requiring a hard power reset to fix it), so I wouldn't recommend it.
 
McRackin said:
Danny, I like the build. What kind of upgrades could I be looking at in the future, say a year down the road, with that mobo?
Click to expand...
In terms of CPU ugprades, dunno. No one knows for sure which motherboards will actually support Intel's new Ivy Bridge CPUs.
matt9669 said:
And most of his picks are identical or very similar to mine.
Click to expand...
Yeah some of those parts choices are the same as yours since they were often the cheapest but still decent choices I could find.
matt9669 said:
CPU: Could not find the $210 price on the 2500k again last night, good to save that cash. But no aftermarket cooler? Why go 2500k if you're not going to overclock?
Click to expand...
Because the 2500K is cheaper than the Core i5 2500 and only $10 more than the Core i5 2400. If the OP wants to OC, there's plenty of room in the budget to fit the Coolermaster HSF that you recommended.

matt9669 said:
SSD: You're paying more than $2/GB for the Crucial, and you'll be amazed how limiting 64GB is. I keep all my data backed up so as long as the warranty is long enough, reliability is not a big concern to me, so I'd jump on one of the 128GB options. The Vertex Plus is actually Indilinx, so no Sandforce worries - slower, but only $1.25/GB! And plenty of peeps run Sandforce drives just fine, the A-Data is an older model anyway so I HIGHLY doubt you'd see issues like a few of the current drives.
Click to expand...
To me, reliability, good customer support, and good performance is well worth it to me. OCZ has a history of crappy customer support. That OCZ Vertex Plus SSD based on an old Indilinx controller that is very slow compared to the Crucial. Yes the A-Data and Vertex 2 are based on the older Sandforce SF-1200 controllers. However despite what the specs said/say, their real world performance was significantly lower than stated specs to the point that one could honestly tell the difference between an SF-1200 based SSD and an old Intel G1 80GB SSD right away in real world performance despite the Intel being "slower" in the stated specs. Then there were the issues of reliability with that line.

So I don't think sub-par reliability (maybe not the Vertex Plus), crappy customer support, and significantly lower performance is worth an increase in storage space. 64GB is plenty for the OS, small and/or well used apps, and 1-2 games.

matt9669 said:
Case: I was going bargain basement here to save cash, but the Gamma is still a good case. Personal pref - I much prefer the look of the NZXT. Note that the linked model is not the nV edition, which I consider a plus. The CM690 comes with 3 fans, but costs $40 more - add two fans to the NZXT and you're ahead about $20, and cooling will be more or less identical. Plus you don't get the annoying/gawdy blue LED fans. I like a few of the features on the CM690 though, if you think you'll use the top dock I'd go with it.
Click to expand...
That extra $20 however also gets you significantly better cable management as well as more room to work and fit parts in. The annoying/gawdy blue LED fans are a personal aesthetic choice so not debating you there.
 
The 690ii advanced case has one blue led fan up front, but the light can be turned off, while still using the fan.
 
Thanks everyone, I've ordered all of my parts with parts from both Matt and Danny's builds. Came in at $1100 before tax since many of the parts have come down in price since last week. They offered to build it for me too for free since one of the guys working there just did an almost identical build for himself. Should have it early next week.

Waiting on BF3 now :D
 
Your build with a diff PS (OCZ Z-SERIES 650W) and CASE (they gave me a shitty little antec 300 for free) and added a cpu fan (Antec Kuhler)
 
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