Way out of the game build help - $600 Budget

[Riddlinkidstoner]

Been a long time since I've put together a rig. I'm still running a Core 2 Duo based system I'd like to butcher up to a new one. I do play games but nothing high end, mostly SC2. Just wanted a nice upgrade for better performance all around.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Light gaming like Starcraft 2
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$600
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Renton, WA
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.
CPU, RAM, Video Card
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Antec 300, Kingston HyperX 120GB, WD Green 1TB, Antec Earthwatts 430w
6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
23" 1920x1080
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
2-3 weeks
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 specific.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? Windows 8 Pro

Current rig is:

E6600 OC'd to 3ghz w/ dying Arctic Cooling Freezer LP 7
4GB G.Skill
Gigabyte EP43-UD3L
Diamond HD6570

 

[Dangman]

Do note that you will have to get a new mobo if you want to get new worthwhile CPU these days. That cool?

EDIT: In any case, if you do want a new system, get this:
$189 - Intel Core i5-3470 CPU
$73 - Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H Intel B75 mATX Motherboard
$45 - Corsair CMV8GX3M1A1333C9 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$195 - Gigabyte GV-R785OC-2GD Radeon HD 7850 2GB PCI-E Video Card
----
Total: $502 shipped

Yes it is a tad overkill but you do have a $600 budget.

 

[Chime]

$135 - ASRock Z77 Extreme 4
$220 - i5 3570k
$195 - Gigabyte HD 7850 2GB
$50 - 8GB Corsair 1333MHz DDR3

Total comes to $600 before tax/shipping. I'd also recommend you get an aftermarket cooler, something cheap like the Cooler Master Hyper 212 would work fine. You could drop down to a 1GB 7770 instead of the 7850 and save ~$75. Check reviews to see the difference, but for light gaming you probably wouldn't care too much about the difference.

 

[Riddlinkidstoner]

Do note that you will have to get a new mobo if you want to get new worthwhile CPU these days. That cool?

EDIT: In any case, if you do want a new system, get this:
$189 - Intel Core i5-3470 CPU
$73 - Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H Intel B75 mATX Motherboard
$45 - Corsair CMV8GX3M1A1333C9 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$195 - Gigabyte GV-R785OC-2GD Radeon HD 7850 2GB PCI-E Video Card
----
Total: $502 shipped

Yes it is a tad overkill but you do have a $600 budget.

Thanks. Yeah forgot to include that. That 7850 may be overkill. Any reason to go with a mATX over a comparable ATX?

$135 - ASRock Z77 Extreme 4
$220 - i5 3570k
$195 - Gigabyte HD 7850 2GB
$50 - 8GB Corsair 1333MHz DDR3

Total comes to $600 before tax/shipping. I'd also recommend you get an aftermarket cooler, something cheap like the Cooler Master Hyper 212 would work fine. You could drop down to a 1GB 7770 instead of the 7850 and save ~$75. Check reviews to see the difference, but for light gaming you probably wouldn't care too much about the difference.

Sounds good. Preferably something quiet but my last major aftermarket hs/f was the Tuniq Tower . Probably drop down to the 1GB HD7770 but I'll research the differences.

Thanks for the input!

 

[Dangman]

Thanks. Yeah forgot to include that. That 7850 may be overkill.

Not that overkill:
http://anandtech.com/bench/Product/536?vs=549

You'll get roughly ~73 FPS with the HD 7850 with everything maxed out VS ~37FPS with the HD 7770 with SC2 at 1920x1080. That's basically double the performance of the HD 7770.

Any reason to go with a mATX over a comparable ATX?

It's cheaper in price while retaining virtually the same quality as many higher priced ATX mobos.

 

[Chime]

Yeah, the 7850 is a big step up from the 7770 for gaming. If you're not dead set on over clocking Danny's build would be a great gaming rig. The 3470 is a great processor even without the ability to OC.

 

[bbenz33]

Motherboard
$120 Asus P8Z77-M

CPU
$220 Core i5-3570K
(Fry's has it for ~$210)

Memory
$53 Corsair PC3-12800 (1600Mhz) CAS 9

GPU
$170 XFX Radeon HD 7850 1GB (+ $20 MIR)

Total: $563 (before MIR and any taxes)


Thoughts:
- CPU is the "K" edition so it should OC a little better.
- May want to think about getting the 2GB 7850, the 660GC, or a 7870
- If you want to OC ought to consider a custom CPU cooler $50
- May want to think about replacing PSU
- One additional suggestion would be to highly contemplate getting an SSD.

 

[Riddlinkidstoner]

I have an SSD already. Kingston HyperX 120gb. PSU isn't sufficient? Thought it would be being an earth watts.

I'll continue to consider the video card options though.

 

[Vexorg]

If you don't want to wait on Amazon, note that Fry's in Renton will pretty easily pricematch Amazon prices, although they tend to be very hit-or-miss with products being in stock.

 

[Chime]

I have an SSD already. Kingston HyperX 120gb. PSU isn't sufficient? Thought it would be being an earth watts.

I'll continue to consider the video card options though.

I'd only change the PSU if you run into issues. You've got 30 amps available on the 12v rail, which IMO should be fine. If you do decide to go for the 7770 instead of the 7850 it becomes even less of an issue.

 

[bbenz33]

I generally try to stick around the 650 mark just to make sure that as the PSU ages and looses some of its performance that I will have ample room in the future.