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Gaming build advice needed.

R

rstm88

n00b
Joined
Aug 25, 2009
Messages
24
Hello, I'm building a gaming PC for a friend of mine from work. He isn't much of a tech guy so he asked for a solid gaming pc without the need for upgrades or overclocks down the line. So after doing some research I came up with this build. Now I was trying to get everything with high performance and cheap price but with good build quality.

My budget is around 1000-1050euro max but it has to include monitor, kb, mouse etc. Here are the parts so please go ahead and check it out and see if you have any advice or suggestions.

CASE: Cooler Master Midi Tower HAF 912 Plus eATX - 68 euro
http://www.mycom.nl/Product/Componenten-Behuizing/Cooler-Master-HAF-912-PLUS/293860
read some reviews and seems pretty popular on discussion boards. looks decent too.

MOBO: ASRock P67 Pro iP67 - 78 euro
https://www.4launch.nl/shop/get/p-18#p-4-productid-104491
it seems even some versions of h61 would be fine since i wont be overclocking the CPU and will be using single card. but for a 1k system putting extra cheap mobo like h61 might be a bit lame? need some extra advice with this.

CPU: 169-200 euro
https://www.4launch.nl/shop/get/p-18#p-4-productid-102488
It seems i5 is a good pick in this price range, so I went with the cheapest one.
I could go for z68 ASrock pro + I5 2500K, but I'm not sure if it's worth it price/performance wise, I could better spent that extra 50 or so euros and go for a better graphics card for example?

RAM: Corsair 2x4GB, DDR3, PC10666, CL9, XMS3 - 34 euro
https://www.4launch.nl/shop/get/p-18#p-4-productid-093114
1333mhz seem to fit mobo and the cpu well, didn't spend much time on picking this so if I missed something please let me know.

GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD6950 Dual Fan 2GB - 247 euro
https://www.4launch.nl/shop/get/p-18#p-4-productid-113130
I hear you can unlock it to 6970(at least in some cases), if that's true and if mobo I picked fits, I figured it'd be an appropriate choice.

PSU: Seasonic M12II-520 520W - 72 euro
https://www.4launch.nl/shop/get/p-18#p-4-productid-108240
Basically heard a lot of good things and very few bad things about it and decided to follow the general advice - don't skimp on PSU and go for a reliable one, that's my pick.

Monitor: LG LED Monitor IPS236V-PN 23 - 170 euro
https://www.4launch.nl/shop/get/p-18#p-4-productid-108797
Read a couple of reviews and it seems to be good overall, mostly on par with widely recommended Viewsonic(a couple of different models) I was going for or NEC(it's con is lack of color vividness, since it's office oriented solution), but it's not available on these sites(Viewsonic), only from amazon, so I figured this one should be good enough since it's an ips panel, and he's not a hardcore fps gamer at all, image quality in this case is more needed than 2ms response time. But I'm of course totally open for recommendations.

Speakers: Logitech Speakerset Z523 2.1 - 64 euro
https://www.4launch.nl/shop/get/p-18#p-4-productid-078019

Also very probably getting Logitech mouse&keyboard, webcam, and some dvd-burner.

Any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

edit: answers
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
-gaming, movies, music, browsing..

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
1050euro all included

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
I live in belgium but I buy hardware in holland cause its cheaper and i live near the border with maastricht.

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.
listed above.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
none, want to build a solid rig to last as long as possible.

6) Will you be overclocking?
only gpu

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
planing to get 23" or 24. 1080p should be just fine.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
next week hopefully

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.
nothing special, just need it to be a good combo with rest of hardware.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit
I got home premium 64bit.
 
Last edited:
For MoBo, ASRock only offers 2 years warranty, and honestly for only a bit more you can get ASUS or MSI, both of which are much better in terms of both quality and customer service.

That processor is fine, maybe get the i5-2400 if anything. Since he has no plans on overclocking, the i5-2500k would be pointless unless you got an amazing deal on it.

For the monitor, do you have access to Samsung LEDs for a decent price? Over here it's like $140 or so for a 23'' LED, and they have amazing picture quality/color vividness.

Rest looks pretty good, though I'm sure someone might come along with better recommendations for the case.
 
Tsuyoi said:
For MoBo, ASRock only offers 2 years warranty, and honestly for only a bit more you can get ASUS or MSI, both of which are much better in terms of both quality and customer service.
Click to expand...

Check the ASRock warranty before you buy, but I think it is different (longer) for Europe than the US.
 
You should consider getting a video card from a more reputable manufacturer such as XFX, Gigabyte, ASUS, etc.. as they all have 3+ year warranties compared to the 2 year warranty on that Sapphire.

Could you please answer the sticky questions so we can better recommend a system for your friend?
 
Skillz said:
You should consider getting a video card from a more reputable manufacturer such as XFX, Gigabyte, ASUS, etc.. as they all have 3+ year warranties compared to the 2 year warranty on that Sapphire.

Could you please answer the sticky questions so we can better recommend a system for your friend?
Click to expand...

just added the questions.
 
If you aren't overclocking, don't bother with the 2500K. The other i5s are not noticeable slower at stock clocks, so use the money to improve some other component.
 
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