$1400 gaming rig for my buddies

C

chomnom

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 4, 2004
Messages
107
So, my friend needs a pc and he asked me to build one for him. I have parts in mind, but I need answers to more details.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
gaming (mainly starcraft 2, and most likely FPS games comin out like BF3 and MW3), browsing internet, and watching/listening to media
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1400 after tax, shipping, and monitor
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

los angeles, ca
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, cpu cooler, ram, video card, case, power supply, hard drive, maybe ssd if possible too, windows 7 64-bit, and monitor.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
everything will be brand new
6) Will you be overclocking?
nope
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
looking into a 1920x1080, I'm thinking about a 23". He said he would be happy with a 19" and I said "eew"
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
hopefully be done building by the end of this month.
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.
usb 3.0 and sata 6gb/s would be great. crossfire/sli not necessary, but maybe if it'll help with future games.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
nope, looking to get a win 7 64 bit.


I'm currently shopping at newegg, amazon, and microcenter. Here's my list so far:

$180 i5-2500k
$85 ASUS P8Z68-V LX with the i-5 combo
was thinking about antec three hundred or this $60 LIAN LI Lancool PC-K57
already purchased this, but I can change it if it doesn't fit budget $295 after tax and rebate sapphire toxic 6950
I've owned corsair PSUs and I've been happy with them, was wondering if 750w would be too much for this build? $95 AR Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W
$52 8GB (2x4GB) G.Skill Ripjaws Series DDR3 1600

still need help tweaking those parts, also haven't really looked for a cpu cooler yet. Might also be throwing in some extra case fans. I was looking at the i7-2600k deals, but was reading for gaming and normal use, there really isn't a reason to upgrade from a 2500k.
I'm actually gonna be building another pc for my other buddy, so I might just duplicate this exactly build for him too. I need another pc for myself also, but I'll probably be too lazy and get it prebuilt from digital storm or something lol.
Anyway, any and all suggestions and feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.
 
Well first and foremost, I would order everything from Amazon.com since Newegg charges CA residents tax. Though I would get the CPU/Mobo deal from Microcenter because you'll save money regardless with the combo and how cheap Microcenter sells the 2500k for.

You do not need a 2600k, the 2500k is just as fast as the 2600k for gaming purposes.

I would not go with that Sapphire GPU simply because of it's warranty(only two yeads) and it's out of stock at Newegg anyway. Go with a card from either XFX (lifetime warranty) or ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte (each have 3 year warranties) Alternatively, I would try to squeeze a 6970 into the build, simply because BF3 is more than likely going to be pushing current hardware.

Do not go with either one of those cases, as neither one are good choices. Simply because they either have bad cable management, poor air circulation or are of poor quality.

There is no performance increase with DDR3 1600 over DDR3 1333, so go with a DDR3 1333 kit in a 2x4GB setup as you should be able to save about $10 on it.

You do not need a CPU cooler if you are not over clocking and you get a case with good ventilation. The stock cooler will work just fine, so spend the money else where.

Hard drive, search for the Samsung F3 1TB 7200 RPM drive on Amazon. It's the fastest/cheapest HDD available right now.

If you can fit them in the budget, get a Crucial M4 model SSD, as they are better than the other Sandforce based SSDs which have been having BSOD issues within' Windows.

Sorry that I am being so short and not actually devising a list. On a laptop right now with limited capabilities (all my stuff is saved on my desktop) but this is the information a little bit of research would net you.
 
well, I have two of the 6950s in my garage just waiting for a home. I'm not too concerned about warranty; luckily I haven't had a vid card die on me. But if a 6970 or better would be the way to go for up and coming games, then I might have to jump on that.
I'll add that samsung f3 to my list and change the ram.
you don't have to apologize for anything, thank you for the help.
 
Well.. if he can handle 100 dollars more.. he can have his cake and eat it too.


HITACHI Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723020BLA642 (0f12115) 2TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822145473
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$10.00 Instant
$119.99
$109.99


ASUS ML239H Black 23" IPS Panel Full HD HDMI LED BackLight LCD Monitor
Item #: N82E16824236122
Return Policy: Monitor Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$20.00 Instant
$199.99
$179.99


SAPPHIRE 100311-2SR Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
Item #: N82E16814102918
Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$359.99


G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL
Item #: N82E16820231426
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
$47.99
1



ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813157271
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$5.00 Instant
$129.99
$124.99


Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
Item #: N82E16819115072
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$219.99
1



Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Item #: N82E16820148442
Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$50.00 Instant
$249.99
$199.99


Corsair Graphite Series 600T CC600TM Mid-Tower Gaming Case
Item #: N82E16811139007
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX850M 850W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular High Performance Power ...
Item #: N82E16817139029
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$10.00 Instant
-$35.00 Combo
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$319.98
$274.98
Subtotal: $1,517.91
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Shipping: $25.17

You can also spring for a hyper heatsink for 25 dollars... overclocking does help :)

You can also trim down to a 64gb ssd, and hit the budget... but by getting a 128gb ssd he'll get to have some of his games on the drive too.
 
I do not recommend the above build at all. The HDD is not a good buy as it costs a lot more than the faster Samsung F3 as mentioned before. It has a Sapphire 6970 w/ 2 year warranty when a card from XFX with a lifetime warranty costs just as much,
that AsRock motherboard only has a 1 year warranty making it not worth the money when a better ASUS, Gigabyte or MSI motherboard costs just as much and has a 3 year warranty and the 2500k you can get cheaper at Microcenter.

chomnom said:
well, I have two of the 6950s in my garage just waiting for a home. I'm not too concerned about warranty; luckily I haven't had a vid card die on me. But if a 6970 or better would be the way to go for up and coming games, then I might have to jump on that.
I'll add that samsung f3 to my list and change the ram.
you don't have to apologize for anything, thank you for the help.
Click to expand...

I didn't realize you already bought those 6950s, in which case guess it's not worth talking about now.

However if you do wish to change them (unless you plan on running them in CF then they'll be faster than the 6970, but not really needed in a single monitor setup IMO), then I'd recommend going with this setup; buying the CPU/Mobo combo from MicroCenter.

$339.99 - XFX HD 6970 2 GB
$49.99 - G.Skill Ripjaws-X F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL - Memory - 8 GB : 2 x 4 GB
$59.99 - Samsung Desktop Class Spinpoint F3 1 TB SATA 3.0 Gb-s 16 MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare-OEM Drives, HD103SJ
$104.99 - Corsair Enthusiast Series 750-Watt 80 Plus Bronze Certified Power Supply Compatible with Intel Core i3, i5, i7 and AMD platforms - CMPSU-750TXV2

Here is a premade list of quality cases, most of the links are for Newegg, just search for the model on Amazon, the prices should be very similar. If they cost more, I'd go with a different case then.
$60 - NZXT Source 210 Elite ATX Case
$60 - Cooler Master HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 ATX Case
$60 - NZXT Source 210 Elite ATX Case
$70 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K58W ATX Case
$70 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K56 ATX Case
$90 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$100 - Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$110 - NZXT Whisper WHI - 001BK ATX Full Tower Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-7FN ATX Case
$110 - Lian Li PC-60FN ATX Case
$113 - Velocity Micro GX2-W Silver Classic Aluminum Case with Side Window
$110 - Fractal Design Arc Mini Tower
$120 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$130 - Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Case
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - Lian Li PC-9F ATX Case
$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$140 - Antec Performance One Series P183 V3 ATX Case
$143 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-002OR Black Finish w/Orange Trim Full Tower ATX Case
$150 - Corsair Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$178 - Silverstone RV02B-EW ATX case
$190 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case

Monitors vary by user IMHO, so pick one out you like but let us know. We'll at least let you know if it's a good buy or not. All I will do is find the cheapest monitor that is 24" by a reputable brand and post a link to it.

Here is the SSD recommended above, but from Amazon instead.
$184.99 - Crucial 128 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT128M4SSD2

Quick calculation not including shipping (i think most all the parts are free shipping) nor the taxes on the purchases from Microcenter nor a case (set a $200 budget for a monitor and $100 for W7 Home):
$1304.95

That leaves ~$195 for a case.

So well within' your $1500 budget.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
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holy shit guys, thanks a lot for the help. I'm gonna have to budget this tomorrow, i gotta sleep. But I really appreciate the time and effort you guys put into helping me <3
 
ok, ordering:

$339.99 - XFX HD 6970 2 GB
$49.99 - G.Skill Ripjaws-X F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL - Memory - 8 GB : 2 x 4 GB
$59.99 - Samsung Desktop Class Spinpoint F3 1 TB SATA 3.0 Gb-s 16 MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare-OEM Drives, HD103SJ
$104.99 - Corsair Enthusiast Series 750-Watt 80 Plus Bronze Certified Power Supply Compatible with Intel Core i3, i5, i7 and AMD platforms - CMPSU-750TXV2
$184.99 - Crucial 128 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT128M4SSD2
$100 - Lian Li PC-7FN ATX Case
$180 i5-2500k
$109 GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Z68 with the i-5 combo


monitor:
ASUS VH236H Black 23" 2ms Full HD Widescreen LCD Monitor
 
Last edited:
Skillz said:
I do not recommend the above build at all. The HDD is not a good buy as it costs a lot more than the faster Samsung F3 as mentioned before. It has a Sapphire 6970 w/ 2 year warranty when a card from XFX with a lifetime warranty costs just as much,
that AsRock motherboard only has a 1 year warranty making it not worth the money when a better ASUS, Gigabyte or MSI motherboard costs just as much and has a 3 year warranty and the 2500k you can get cheaper at Microcenter.



I didn't realize you already bought those 6950s, in which case guess it's not worth talking about now.

However if you do wish to change them (unless you plan on running them in CF then they'll be faster than the 6970, but not really needed in a single monitor setup IMO), then I'd recommend going with this setup; buying the CPU/Mobo combo from MicroCenter.

$339.99 - XFX HD 6970 2 GB
$49.99 - G.Skill Ripjaws-X F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL - Memory - 8 GB : 2 x 4 GB
$59.99 - Samsung Desktop Class Spinpoint F3 1 TB SATA 3.0 Gb-s 16 MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare-OEM Drives, HD103SJ
$104.99 - Corsair Enthusiast Series 750-Watt 80 Plus Bronze Certified Power Supply Compatible with Intel Core i3, i5, i7 and AMD platforms - CMPSU-750TXV2

Here is a premade list of quality cases, most of the links are for Newegg, just search for the model on Amazon, the prices should be very similar. If they cost more, I'd go with a different case then.
$60 - NZXT Source 210 Elite ATX Case
$60 - Cooler Master HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 ATX Case
$60 - NZXT Source 210 Elite ATX Case
$70 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K58W ATX Case
$70 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K56 ATX Case
$90 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$100 - Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$110 - NZXT Whisper WHI - 001BK ATX Full Tower Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-7FN ATX Case
$110 - Lian Li PC-60FN ATX Case
$113 - Velocity Micro GX2-W Silver Classic Aluminum Case with Side Window
$110 - Fractal Design Arc Mini Tower
$120 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$130 - Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Case
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - Lian Li PC-9F ATX Case
$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$140 - Antec Performance One Series P183 V3 ATX Case
$143 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-002OR Black Finish w/Orange Trim Full Tower ATX Case
$150 - Corsair Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$178 - Silverstone RV02B-EW ATX case
$190 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case

Monitors vary by user IMHO, so pick one out you like but let us know. We'll at least let you know if it's a good buy or not. All I will do is find the cheapest monitor that is 24" by a reputable brand and post a link to it.

Here is the SSD recommended above, but from Amazon instead.
$184.99 - Crucial 128 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT128M4SSD2

Quick calculation not including shipping (i think most all the parts are free shipping) nor the taxes on the purchases from Microcenter nor a case (set a $200 budget for a monitor and $100 for W7 Home):
$1304.95

That leaves ~$195 for a case.

So well within' your $1500 budget.
Click to expand...

Damn, you think the same as me hehe. I would do pretty much exactly the same thing as what Skillz posted. I was just configuring a build with the same parts for my brothers pc upgrade.
 
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Finished building the comp last night. I am really happy Skillz posted the lian li pc-7FN; case is awesome. It was great to work on, lotta room between PSU and mobo for airflow or wire storage. Cable management was great too, came with some sticky things to slot the wires through. Best and easiest case I've had the pleasure to work with.

Thank you guys again for all the help, really appreciate it. Time to install windows and drivers now
 
Glad everything went smooth for you so far, but you should thank Danny for the the case as it's his list I copied.
 
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