Best Price to Performance Computer

[airforcerules]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming (BF3 is very important), MATLAB, CAD
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
I want to be at the best place for price/performance. Based on my lurking $1200 looks like it.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Dayton, OH. There's a microcenter about 50 mins south I dont mind driving to.
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.
The case and everything that goes in it.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, 2.0 speakers
6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
24" 1920x1200 Dell U2412M
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
I think once the GTX 670 is in stock
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Nothing special
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, Windows 7 x64


Building a new computer to replace my E8400, 4GB, HD4850 rig I got 4 years ago. My main concerns are price to performance and being able to max out games (BF3) for a little while.

I've been lurking similarly budgeted systems for a while now and have come up with this list.

All prices include shipping, rebates, tax (for Microcenter).

Already bought (cause the price looked really good):
$72 Lian Li PC-9F
$60 Corsair TX650 V2
$20 Cooler Master 212 Plus

And I'm thinking about:
$200 Core i5 3570K
$122 Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H
$93 GSkill 16GB DDR3 1600
$400 Gigabyte GTX 670 OC
$125 Crucial M4 128GB SSD
$132 Samsung F4 2TB Hard Drive
$0 ASUS DVD Burner (included in hard drive bundle
$2 Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound

This gives a total of $1225.

Some thought:
-I saw you recommend this RAM as an alternative to 2 sets of a 2x4GB DDR3 1333 set for like $40 each. I picked this one because its only $10 more and looks WAY cooler.
-How does the SSD mount in the case? It's 2.5in right and the case only has 3.5in bays? How do people do this.
-I like the Gigabyte GTX 670 because its overclocked, has a sexy cooler, and is still the same $399 (even though its out of stock)

Thanks guys!

 

[airforcerules]

I just noticed the ASUS GTX 670 and it looks like it'll go for $420. I'll definitely snatch that up if I can before it goes out of stock.

Asus Link
Review and Price

 

[Dangman]

RAM wise, it's a solid choice. Wouldn't have recommended it if it wasn't.
SSD wise, some people just tape the SSD to the 3.5" HDD bays, to the bottom of the case, on side of the HDD bay, or even on the case's side somewhere. Others who don't want such a ghetto method just buy 2.5" to 3.5" adapters/trays for their case. Or they just buy cases that supports SSDs from the get-go.

The GTX 670 is a solid choice. The setup you've listed should do the job well.

 

[computersmakemeQQ]

I dont like the board. $1200 is a pretty decent budget; might as well throw in a better board, such as the Z77 Sabertooth, the UD5H, or the P8Z77-V

I hear Gigaytes been having quality issues.

For best price/performance I would suggest 8 gb of ram. The Sniper sticks are good stuff. Everything else looks good.

 

[Dangman]

I dont like the board. $1200 is a pretty decent budget; might as well throw in a better board, such as the Z77 Sabertooth, the UD5H, or the P8Z77-V

Two things:
- If you look at his total so far, he's already past the $1200 mark. So going with a more expensive mobo is going to push him further over budget for relatively little gains.
- Asus' customer support has been pretty crappy lately. As such, if you have an issue with an Asus mobo, you may be SOL.

I hear Gigaytes been having quality issues.

Some of them but they appear mainly to be UEFI related issues that should be resolvable with a firmware update.

 

[airforcerules]

Yeah I went with the Gigabyte Mobo because it was one of the few that microcenter had the $50 off with purchase of IB.

Another question, I just saw that the Samsung 830 128GB is $110 with promo code EMCNEJB27. Is this as good as the Crucial M4? Better?

 

[Dangman]

Another question, I just saw that the Samsung 830 128GB is $110 with promo code EMCNEJB27. Is this as good as the Crucial M4? Better?

For the most part, they're about the same. So a solid choice.

 

[DirtyB]

Get either that samsung deal or Tigerdirect has the m4 256gb on sale for $200 shipped if you don't mind spending a little extra and play a vast array of games.

 

[airforcerules]

Ha, yeah I saw that but I already ordered the 830 and it looks like Newegg has only returns for replacements on the 830. Oh well, $110 for 128GB and $200 for 256GB are about the same value.

I should be able to do Windows, Office, BF3, SC2, MATLAB, Steam+several games, easily on 128GB right? 30+1+15+10+10+50ish=right about 128GB I guess. Oh well.

 

[Dangman]

Actually remember that Windows and HDD manufacturers state GB differently. As such, in Windows, you're actually looking at 119 to 120GB of space. With SSDs, you really don't want them to be full for optimal performance.