~800 Gaming PC

C

Conflict

n00b
Joined
Sep 23, 2011
Messages
20
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?
$750-800 USD. Total including shipping and tax and after rebates

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Grand Rapids, Michigan Zip: 49503

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc.
CPU
Mobo
SSD or HDD (or a combo)
GPU
DVD
PSU
Case
keyboard

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


6) Will you be overclocking?
In the future

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
I plan on purchasing a 24" LCD monitor

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

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.
Crossfire/SLI support
If AMD then support for bulldozer

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

I've been looking at various builds on the web and this seems to be the most specific way of asking for an opinion.
Now I was thinking about getting a single more powerful card with the intention of adding a second one down the road, but how long do I have before they are no longer sold? A year? 2?
 
Last edited:
If possible, I recommend coming back in October to ask for build advice. With your budget, we're gonna have to use a lot of Newegg combo deals to get everything under budget. Unfortunately, Newegg's monthly combo deals reset every month. So any combo deals we use will be invalid next month. So please come back in the latter part of the first week of October. By then we'll know what October combo deals are available.

To answer your question however: It can be anywhere from as little as two months to as long as 12 months. It's highly dependent on what is still available in the supply chain and demand for it.
 
I'll leave it open and you can just bump up this thread when the time comes.
 
October has arrived. Opinions anyone?

I was thinking about the Phenom II X4 955/965, GeForce GTX 570, and an AM3+ SLI compatable mobo as a starting point.
 
Conflict said:
October has arrived. Opinions anyone?

I was thinking about the Phenom II X4 955/965, GeForce GTX 570, and an AM3+ SLI compatable mobo as a starting point.
Click to expand...

Not a good starting point. Every part you just mentioned is overpriced.

Please wait a few more days for Newegg's October combo deals to sort out and come up. For some reason, the combo deals from the previous month tend to bleed into the next month yet will sometimes come up as expired. So we usually wait a few days to a week or two for all of the previous month's combo deals to fully expire and for the current month's combo deals to fully show up.
 
Ok, what about Tiger Direct?

I prefer Nvidia as others I know are having issues with ATi cards in the games I play.
 
Conflict said:
Ok, what about Tiger Direct?
Click to expand...

I generally don't bother with Tigerdirect since if the part has a rebate, TD factors in that rebate, and lists the part at its after rebate price. That bugs the shit out of me as rebates aren't guaranteed at all. And then I'd have to click through multiple parts links just to find the actual price of the part and then decide whether or not that parts is a good buy.
 
Will the 24" monitor be part of your budget or is that separate?
 
$353 - Coe i5 2500K - Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 Intel Motherboard Combo
$48 - G.Skill Ripjaws Series F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$190 - MSI N560GTX-M2D1GD5 GeForce GTX 560 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$135 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive + Corsair 650TX V2 650W PSU
$22 - Sony AD-7261S-0B SATA DVD Burner
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case
----
Total: $798 shipped.

A little over budget once you choose the keyboard but the above would be fairly solid for your needs.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
At the very least jump on that F3 deal now before it ends 10/6.
 
I actually just picked up 4GB of G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) from a buddy so that takes 48 off that build for keyboard/Coolermaster TX3 costs and keeps me on target.

Would it be beneficial to drop cost and use a AMD Phenom with an AM3+ compatible board (for future upgrade?) and boost the GPU?
 
IMHO, saving money on the CPU/MB combo and going with a GPU might only provide immediate increase in FPS for games that are GPU intensive, but games that are highly CPU intensive might see a loss of performance which will probably be greater than the performance increase in the GPU intensive games. Also with the faster Intel CPU/MB you'll be capable of getting much faster video cards in the future, where as the AMD setup might bottleneck sooner.
 
Skillz said:
IMHO, saving money on the CPU/MB combo and going with a GPU might only provide immediate increase in FPS for games that are GPU intensive, but games that are highly CPU intensive might see a loss of performance which will probably be greater than the performance increase in the GPU intensive games. Also with the faster Intel CPU/MB you'll be capable of getting much faster video cards in the future, where as the AMD setup might bottleneck sooner.
Click to expand...

Right that's why I was looking at the AM3+ motherboards for bulldozer support for later upgrades to CPU. Thoughts?
 
Conflict said:
Right that's why I was looking at the AM3+ motherboards for bulldozer support for later upgrades to CPU. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Basically taking a gamble with Bulldozer. Wont be the first time AMD promised so much and didn't deliver. I would suggest waiting until Bulldozer is released to the public before planning on it. Just my honest opinion.

If Bulldozer turns out to be not so great, then you made a bad choice if you went with the AMD setup; but if you went with the Intel setup you simply can't go wrong. It's already proven so even if Bulldozer turns out good, you still have a very capable platform.
 
Skillz said:
Basically taking a gamble with Bulldozer. Wont be the first time AMD promised so much and didn't deliver. I would suggest waiting until Bulldozer is released to the public before planning on it. Just my honest opinion.

If Bulldozer turns out to be not so great, then you made a bad choice if you went with the AMD setup; but if you went with the Intel setup you simply can't go wrong. It's already proven so even if Bulldozer turns out good, you still have a very capable platform.
Click to expand...

Makes sense.
 
Skillz is pretty much right on the money.

With that said, if rumors are true, AMD Bulldozer might be released on October 12. So if you can wait and see how BD performs, then do so. But if you need/want to buy before October 12, the sure bet is Intel.
 
Anytime during October is fine so I'll go ahead and get the Samsung HD and the PSU now while the $10 off codes are valid and wait for the bulldozer benchmarks.
 
So I waited and now that 2500k + gigabyte combo is a bit cheaper.

What about a PSU that can handle a GTX 570?
 
Done and built. Cables look messy but most of them are tucked in behind the mobo so it's not too horrible.

Pic:
321157_10150363409759799_500559798_7903957_673060915_n.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top