$880 build suggestions?

1_legged_sheep

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 20, 2010
Messages
397
1) What will you be doing with this PC? = Gaming mainly Skyrim, FC3, Bioshock Inf, and Crysis 3
2) What's your budget? = $880 after MIR Are tax and shipping included? Yes but I have shop runner and Amazon prime. I don't have to pay tax on NewEgg orders, I do on Amazon orders.
3) Which country do you live in? = Wichita, KS
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? = CPU, Ram, MB, Memory, Vid Card, PS, heatsink, HD, & DVD burner
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? = none
6) Will you be overclocking? = Aye, a lot.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? = 1080P What size is it? = 27"
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? = This week
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? = Strong overclock ability and at least two PCI-E 8x lanes so I can add a second vid card later.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? Yes, W7 Pro 64 bit

MB = MSI Z77A-GD55 LGA 1155 = $124.99 -- Best OC for the $$. The pro reviews said this is one of the few non-funky MSI boards out there and they were pretty impressed.
CPU = Intel Core i5-3570K = $219.99
Heatsink = Refurbished: CORSAIR Hydro Series H100 (CWCH100/RF) = $75
Memory = 8GB (2x4gb) of DDR3-1600 or 1866 depends on what's on sale = $60
Vid Card = PowerColor PCS+ AX7870 Radeon HD 7870 MYST. Edition (Tahiti LE) = $208.79 -- Already ordered
HD = Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB = $64.99 -- Not going to be able to afford a SSD on this build
Case = NZXT Crafted Series Tempest 410 = $59.99 + $9.99 shipping = Cheapest case that supports dual 120mm top mounted ratiator
PS = CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 500W = 49.99
DVD Burner = $15

Total after shipping but before MIR = $868.73

Anyone see any glaring mistakes in my plan?
 
RAM wise, stick with DDR3 1600: You won't notice a difference with RAM speeds higher than that. In addition, don't pay more than $50 for any 8GB set of RAM. Any more and you're basically getting a tad ripped off considering that you can find 16GB of RAM for $100 or less.

PSU wise, the CX500 isn't a good fit for your planned setup considering your overclocking and second GPU plans. I'd spend the extra $13 for a significantly higher quality PSU with a lot more amperage on the +12V rail:
$63 - XFX Core Edition PRO550W 550W PSU
 
I recently purchased the same motherboard and processor. I'm happy with both and went with the Seasonic G series 550 power supply at Danny's suggestion.

The auto OC button on the motherboard took the processor to 4.2. Not too shabby for a button click.
 
My concern is that XFX PS still only has two PCI-E connectors. If I'm going to spend some extra $$ on a better PS I'd rather future proof myself with a PS capable of running two 7870's.
 
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That works, after MIR I should have enough $$ left in the budget for the upgraded PS. Plus I split the order into so many pieces I doubt my wife has any idea how much I've spent.

Are all links to Amazon on here the commissioned ones or should I go back to the commissioned link sticky and order it from there?
 
It still should be fine with adapters. Just the quality difference alone between the XFX and Corsair is worth it. With that said, if you're willing to spend the extra cash:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0045L5LGI/?tag=extension-kb-20

Most PSU's only have 1 12V rail, so using adapters should be fine. All the cables will be drawing off the same 12V rail either way. I believe the reason for the multiple plugs has to do with the current capacity of the connecting pins. In my experience, using adapters is fine.

For the system you are buying, 500W should be plenty. If you do plan to go CF/SLI, I would recommend a 600W or 650W PSU. You could probably get away with 500W, but it might be cutting it pretty close.

BTW, the last time I checked the quality of the Corsair PSUs was pretty good. Am I missing something? What makes XFX PSU's so great?
 
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BTW, the last time I checked the quality of the Corsair PSUs was pretty good. Am I missing something? What makes XFX PSU's so great?

You definitely are missing something: The key, in this case, is which company is the actual manufacturer of a given PSU. All XFX-branded PSUs are manufactured by SeaSonic to XFX specifications, while Corsair-branded PSUs have been manufactured by several different companies (in the case of the CX line, most of them are made by CWT using one of CWT's lower-end budget platforms that may be iffy at the upper limit of the claimed wattage range). The currently shipping version of the Corsair CX500, for instance, has only 38A on the +12V rail, which is a tad low for a 500W PSU. (By the way, of the current;y shipping Corsair-branded PSUs, only the non-i AX series PSUs up to 860W are manufactured by SeaSonic - and they are all priced on the high side for such a wattage range. The currently shipping TX and TX-M series PSUs are made by CWT (up to 650W) and Chicony/Hipro (750W and 850W).)
 
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So here's what I ended up ordering:

NZXT Tempest 410

XFX PRO650W Core 650w

Intel Core i5-3570K

MSI Z77A-GD55 LGA 1155

G*Skill Ripjaw X Series DDR3-1866

Seagate Barracude 1TB

Corsair Hydro Series H100

PowerColor PCS+ AX7870 Radeon HD 7870 MYST. Edition (Tahiti LE)

Cooler Master 120mm Silent Blue LED Case Fan 2-in-1 Value Pack

Total before MIR = $935.22
Total after MIR = $900.22
Total after I sell the Tomb Raider code: Below $880 :)

I did not order everything from Amazon, most of it was from NewEgg for combo deals/Promo code reasons.
 
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That RAM is really overpriced even from Newegg. As I said earlier: You won't notice a difference with RAM speeds higher than DDR3 1600.
 
It's poor form to critique what someone already laid down the cash for.
Just because someone spent cash on something does not automatically mean they're immune from criticism for said purchase. Using your logic/moral, every time someone on this forum posts about a purchase they've made, no one else can critique their purchase since that someone spent money. And to further run with your logic: If that person made a bad purchase, like bought a crappy PSU for example, again we can't criticize that person's PSU purchase according to your logic/moral since that would a shameful act.
 
You definitely are missing something: The key, in this case, is which company is the actual manufacturer of a given PSU. All XFX-branded PSUs are manufactured by SeaSonic to XFX specifications, while Corsair-branded PSUs have been manufactured by several different companies (in the case of the CX line, most of them are made by CWT using one of CWT's lower-end budget platforms that may be iffy at the upper limit of the claimed wattage range). The currently shipping version of the Corsair CX500, for instance, has only 38A on the +12V rail, which is a tad low for a 500W PSU. (By the way, of the current;y shipping Corsair-branded PSUs, only the non-i AX series PSUs up to 860W are manufactured by SeaSonic - and they are all priced on the high side for such a wattage range. The currently shipping TX and TX-M series PSUs are made by CWT (up to 650W) and Chicony/Hipro (750W and 850W).)

Thanks for the explanation. I guess I have only looked at their good products, like the 520HX in my current rig.

Good to know that SeaSonic is making the XFX PSU's. I have always been a fan of them.
 
Just because someone spent cash on something does not automatically mean they're immune from criticism for said purchase. Using your logic/moral, every time someone on this forum posts about a purchase they've made, no one else can critique their purchase since that someone spent money. And to further run with your logic: If that person made a bad purchase, like bought a crappy PSU for example, again we can't criticize that person's PSU purchase according to your logic/moral since that would a shameful act.

I guess I am just thinking that getting RAM that is slightly more expensive then he could have gotten is not worthy of critique.

It would be like you telling me you bought a new car, and then I tell you that you could have saved a thousand dollars and got basically the same car. It doesn't do you any good to know that after the fact. If it were me, I would rather live in blissful ignorance that I spent slightly too much.

Now if someone starts running over the forums boasting about their fantastic deal that is actually kind of lousy, that is a different story all together.
 
I ordered the memory off NewEgg. I just did all my links off Amazon because it's really annoying linking to NewEgg on here.

I got the ram as part of a combo deal with the CPU. At the time CPU and Mem were the only things I had not ordered so doing a combo with something else was not an option. I got $14 off with the CPU + mem so the memory came up to around $50 even after the discount.
 
The "wrong" was the 1TB HDD and the Hydro H-100.

You should have gone for a bigger HDD. The cost ratio for jumping to a bigger drive is minimal. Should have gone for a 2TB drive as you know you will need the space at some point. When you tally the diff there is no way you can't justify the few $$ for double the space.
If you were planning to get a SSD at some point, then that should have been the first option. By the time it started to fill up, you should have been able to afford a big HDD for storage.
Either way the 1TB drive was a bad choice.
The $$ for the drive would have been available if you dropped the H100. You would be able to clock somewhat with the stock HSF. The HSF is always an upgrade option, but never should be a must-have on a budget. You will barely notice the O/C when limited by the GPU, but you will notice those $$ if they were spent on GPU/SSD/HDD-space.
My pick would to have gone for a 240GB SSD (same bucks) and scrap the H-100 (and settled for a 500MHz OC with stock/HSF until I could afford exotic cooling) and upgrade to a 7950 (1 more GB RAM, better gaming bundle, and crazy OC room that will really distance from the Tahiti light, especially multi-monitor rez).
Thats is how I would have had it. Better system, with a cost savings when upgrading.
 
Some of these specs are based off what your particular need is, for instance the hard drive. My gamer friends at work can't get by on anything less then 3TB, but for me personally the 1TB drive is actually overkill. I survived for a long, long, time off a 256 SSD with no other drives in the system and never got it beyond 180gb filled. I don't download movies, any music I listen to is streamed, and there's really only about 3-4 core games I play.

As far as the video card goes, that 7870 Tahiti will play any game I own at 1080P at max resolution with all the eye candy turned on. I only own one monitor and don't have the space for a 2nd one. I don't have a super high res monitor and I have no plans to do a multi-monitor setup since I game in my man cave and adding another monitor would block part of my line of sight to my projector. If in the future some crazy ninja game brings my video card to it's knees I have it setup so I can add another 7870 (or a 7950) into a crossfire, but I don't see that happening before I get bored of this system and sell it.

So, like I said, it's all relative. What's great for me may suck for you and vice-versa.
 
if the build is mainly gaming, you could save money on the CPU and drop down a few levels
 
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