$1200ish full build

W

Wizardhawk

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 11, 2005
Messages
257
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming mostly, online college work, etc.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1150-1300 anywhere in that range.
3) Where do you live?
Florida
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Everything, complete build. Have no parts.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
N/A
6) Will you be overclocking?
Probably not unless it's easy to do.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Was looking at a 21.5" on newegg for a pretty good price, don't want a 23-24", they are too big for me I think.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next week or so unless there is a good reason to wait a little while (no 3 month waits tho)
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Nothing in particular
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
No, will be getting 64bit, probably windows 7.


Just got a nice little chunk of change, so going to build myself a gaming pc. That way me and my brother don't have to argue over play time :D. Don't really want the total after shipping and tax to go over $1300, and if I can keep it closer to $1200 even better. Will also need to buy a desk, chair, keyboard and mouse, so I can't put together the awesome pc that I'd love, but o well.

I can't figure out how to change the name into a link to the item as well, so please bear with me.

These are some of the pieces I was considering, altho I haven't done too much hardcore reading on what is better and why:

Monitor: Asus MS226H - $180, got good reviews on newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236071

Case: Anything that's less than $100

Motherboard: This is one of the pieces I don't know anything about what makes them good or not.

CPU: i7 920 bloomfield 2.66 - $290
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

Ram: corsair XMS3 6GB - $175
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145286

Power Supply: Corsair CMPSU 650TX - $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

Hard drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM - $90
This says it's a bare drive, I have no idea what that means.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

Video card: Radeon HD 5850 or 5830 - $320/$250
Any recommendations on this would be nice.

OS: Windows 7 home premium 64bit - $105

Total: About $1260 + motherboard + case for the 5850
$1190 + motherboard + case for the 5830

Puts me a tad over budget, but if it's really worth it to go slightly over then I can. Any tips on where I can cut a few bucks, a good mobo and a good case would be great.

Thanks in advance for the help.
 
Bare drive just means that it doesn't come with a box, SATA cable, diagnostics CD, or manual.

However the hard drive will be packed relatively well, a new mobo these days will come with all of the SATA cables you need, you can download and burn the diagnositc CD ISO from the HDD's manufacturer site, and do you honestly need a manual to install a hard drive?

RAM wise, I'd go with this $10 cheaper set:
$165 - G.Skill F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM

Don't worry about the higher timings. They honestly do not matter in real world performance and games.

Definitely go with the mobo+CPu combo as well as the video card that Shadowssong recommended. The HD 5830 is not worth buying IMO right now considering the performance it offers.

Case wise, here's a list of my personal favorites:
$70 - Cooler Master RC-590-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$80 - Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$90 - Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
 
With the mobo + cpu combo and a 5850 that puts me at like $1440 + case. If it's 100% worth it to go for that vs cutting $200 and downgrading a bunch of stuff, I can do that I think.

Yeah as long as i'd end up having all the connectors and stuff, I don't need a manual to install a harddrive ;).

Thanks for all the tips! Will probably check back in the next day or two and see if there are any other comments, then go ahead and order.
 
Wizardhawk said:
With the mobo + cpu combo and a 5850 that puts me at like $1440 + case. If it's 100% worth it to go for that vs cutting $200 and downgrading a bunch of stuff, I can do that I think.
Click to expand...

Hmmm. What games are you planning to play? You might be better off with an AMD based setup then if this system is just for gaming
 
League of Legends, Warhammer online, Supreme commander 2, Starcraft 2 when it's out, others if they catch my attention (league of legends + supcom 2 take all my time at the moment).
 
I agree with Danny; you don't need an i7 rig to play games on a 21.5" monitor. The other alternative would be an LGA1156 build (change cpu/mobo/ram to i5 750, P55 board, and 4GB of DDR3 1600).
 
Yeah I just put together a full thing for an i7 build and with everything I need it came out to $1550, which is too much.

What is better between the phenom's and the i5's? Will 4gb of ram and a phenom or i5 setup be enough to play top end games at 1920x1080 (21.5" monitor default that i'm looking at) at high settings?

Does a dvd-rw drive still work for all the games out there or are there games that require me to have one of those $100 blu-ray drives?

I'll head over to newegg and do some swappin around to phenom / i5 and see how the price looks.
 
Wizardhawk said:
What is better between the phenom's and the i5's? Will 4gb of ram and a phenom or i5 setup be enough to play top end games at 1920x1080 (21.5" monitor default that i'm looking at) at high settings?

Does a dvd-rw drive still work for all the games out there or are there games that require me to have one of those $100 blu-ray drives?
.
Click to expand...

The i5 750 (BTW no other i5 CPU is worth buying) is slightly faster than Phenom II CPUs. However both would be more than enough to play games at 1920x1080, especially for the games you've mentioned so far. In addition, going with a Phenom II CPU would free up enough cash in your budget to get a HD 5850, the minimum you'd need for a 1920x1080 gaming IMO.

DVD-RW still works. No PC game in the world requires a Blu-ray drive.
 
New cheaper i5 build:

OS: windows 7 64bit - $105
mouse + keyboard + speakers + dvd-rw drive - $100
Case: Centurion 590 RC-590-KKN1 - $70
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 - $125
CPU: i5 750 - $200
Ram: G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB - $105
PSU: Corsair CMPSU 650-TX - $100
Harddrive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB - $55
Monitor: ASUS MS226H - $180
Video card: XFX Radeon HD5850 - $330

Total after shipping (does newegg include tax in this total they give you, if you'd have to pay it?):
$1380.89

Probably will buy this tomorrow unless there is something I should change. If there are better options for any of the parts i'd appreciate the heads up.

Also one other question, am I going to end up having all the cables/etc I need or am I going to have to end up buying some?
 
For a Phenom2 build, go with an X4 955, 770T, and 4GB ripjaws DDR3-1600.
 
Sounds good. This will be my first monitor that runs in a higher resolution than 1280x1024. Is 1920x1080 on a 21.5" monitor going to make it hard as crap to see stuff on? Would a 19x12 be better than 19x10?
 
Combo deal for the setup that Enginurd mentiond:
$238 - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition CPU + GIGABYTE GA-770TA-UD3 AM3 AMD 770 Motherboard combo

Going with the above AMD setup will shave off $90.

1920x1080 or 1920x1200 is a tad small on a 21.5" monitor IMO. I'd rather have those resolutions with a 23" or 24" monitor. With that said, If you have a computer store nearby, I'd head over there and look at monitor sizes and resolutions. What's small to me could be just right for you.
 
Yeah that's what I was figuring, it might be a tad tiny. 23/24" monitors just seem so enormous to me, lol. Altho, the 23/24" monitors are not that much more expensive than the 21.5 I was looking at.

If I did the amd combo with the 5850 and put the extra $90 into a 23/24" monitor that was 1920x1080 or 1200, would I still be able to play most games at good fps on high settings, or would I run into issues without a crossfire/sli setup?
 
Wizardhawk said:
would I still be able to play most games at good fps on high settings, or would I run into issues without a crossfire/sli setup?
Click to expand...

You'll definitely get great FPS on high settings with that AMD setup.

With that said, if you plan on using Crossfire or SLI, it's been shown in the past that in a multi-GPU setups, Intel's Core i7 CPU/X58 setup provides a pretty decent performance over AMD CPUs. Even when there was little to no difference between a Phenom II 965 and Core i7 920 CPU with just a single video card, there was a big increase in performance with the Core i7 920 over the AMD once a second card was added for Crossfire/SLI

Doesn't sound like you're gonna use Crossfire or SLI.
 
Will not be using crossfire or sli, atleast not for a good 6 months or more.

For 24" monitors they have:

ASUS VW246H Glossy Black 24"
or
Asus VE246H

The VE is unavailable on newegg at the moment, but I don't even really know what the difference is. I'm assuming one is just a newer model of the same monitor.

Is there a better monitor that comes in at $230 range ($250 tops)?
 
Just ordered it, went with the phenom build. I'll post an update with my feelings once I get it put together.

Thanks for all the help.
 
Welp everything arrived today and after spending 6 hours setting it up/trying to make it work, it won't power on. Not sure what the problem is. I checked all the connections, they are all set up right as far as I can tell. My monitor will turn on but nothing on the computer will (the power on LED flashed for like half a second when I tried to turn it on. Then it cuts off, the fans/etc never start up.

Gave the troubleshooting thread a quick scan but didn't see anything about this. If anyone has an idea on what might be wrong, i'd really appreciate the help.
 
Double check all the connections. It sounds like you missed something.
 
Been over them all like 5 times, unless i'm completely not thinking of one of them. At first I had the front panel power connector plugged into the wrong slot, and nothing happened. Then I realized what I did and swapped it to the right place. This is what led to me getting the brief LED light from pressing the power button.

The 24 pin connector is plugged into mobo from PSU, so is the 8pin one (2 4pin connectors side by side).
The 2 PCI slots from the PSU are plugged into my video card.
One of the Sata plugs connects my hard drive and dvd drive to the PSU, and they both have their SATA cables to the mobo.
The hd audio plug, IEEE 1394 or whatever, and the USB from the front panel are all plugged in at their proper slots.
CPU fan is connected to the CPU fan slot on mobo.
Only thing i'm not really sure of is that I have my 2 case fans connected to my peripheral plug from the PSU. Nothing from the fans goes to the mobo, but none of the connectors fit to the SysFan1/2 and PowerFan slots on the mobo.
 
Try jumping the two power pins on the motherboard with a screwdriver to start the PC.

Also, double check the Troubleshooting Guide. There's a few things that describes exactly what to do in your situation.
 
Sounds like a short or faulty PSU. Do a barebone benchtest (details in sticky) and also try the paperclip trick beforehand.
 
Well, thanks guys! It must have been a short in the motherboard somehow. I took it out, and then put it back in with 2 less screws and it worked. Posting this from my sweet new pc as I set up all the drivers etc. :D

No camera or i'd post some pics, the monitor is amazing. Got so used to 17-19" over the years.
 
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