Hey, guys. A buddy of mine asked me for some advice on building a gaming PC for the first time. His budget is around $1700 but he'd like it to be around $1500.
He says he will do some light video editing/rendering and be mainly used for gaming and watching Blu-Rays, so an optical drive will be needed.
He lives in the US.
So he will need:
A PC
Mouse and Keyboard
OS
He will be running everything at 1080p and he has speakers already.
Any help will be welcome.
I'll give you a good starting point. Lots of things can be changed such as a 7950 or gtx670 for example. Didn't include case, mouse or keyboard as I have no idea what appeals to him.
[url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Kdew]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Kdew/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url] / [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Kdew/benchmarks/]Benchmarks[/url]
[b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80637i53570k]Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor[/url] ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
[b]CPU Cooler:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2]Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler[/url] ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
[b]Motherboard:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-z77extreme4]ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard[/url] ($134.99 @ Amazon)
[b]Memory:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f317000cl11d8gbxl]G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory[/url] ($59.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wdbaaz0020hncnrsn]Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive[/url] ($177.95 @ Amazon)
[b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/ocz-internal-hard-drive-vtx425sat3128g]OCZ Vertex 4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk[/url] ($119.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Video Card:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/diamond-video-card-7970pe53g]Diamond Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card[/url] ($399.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Power Supply:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cmpsu750hx]Corsair Professional 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply[/url] ($119.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Operating System:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-gfc02050]Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)[/url] ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
[b]Total:[/b] $1322.85
[i](Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)[/i]
[i](Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-17 00:23 EDT-0400)[/i]
[QUOTE=100 cotton;39941427]I'll give you a good starting point. Lots of things can be changed such as a 7950 or gtx670 for example. Didn't include case, mouse or keyboard as I have no idea what appeals to him.
[url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Kdew]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Kdew/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url] / [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Kdew/benchmarks/]Benchmarks[/url]
[b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80637i53570k]Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor[/url] ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
[b]CPU Cooler:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2]Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler[/url] ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
[b]Motherboard:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-z77extreme4]ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard[/url] ($134.99 @ Amazon)
[b]Memory:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f317000cl11d8gbxl]G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory[/url] ($59.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wdbaaz0020hncnrsn]Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive[/url] ($177.95 @ Amazon)
[b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/ocz-internal-hard-drive-vtx425sat3128g]OCZ Vertex 4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk[/url] ($119.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Video Card:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/diamond-video-card-7970pe53g]Diamond Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card[/url] ($399.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Power Supply:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cmpsu750hx]Corsair Professional 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply[/url] ($119.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Operating System:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-gfc02050]Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)[/url] ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
[b]Total:[/b] $1322.85
[i](Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)[/i]
[i](Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-17 00:23 EDT-0400)[/i][/QUOTE]
You're forgetting a keyboard, mouse, and Blu-Ray drive.
Also, OCZ's SSDs aren't of the best quality. I'd replace it with something from Samsung or Intel.
How's this?
[URL]http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=27031547[/URL]
I left the mouse and case out simply to let him choose what he would like best :v:
[QUOTE=Owscar8;39942478]How's this?
[URL]http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=27031547[/URL]
I left the mouse and case out simply to let him choose what he would like best :v:[/QUOTE]
It's a bit on the expensive side, especially for not yet having a case, and there's no real reason to get a 680 over a 670, unless you really want a tiny bit of performance increase for like $100 more.
edit: Is there a specific reason for Win7 Pro?
I wouldn't get the build you linked, I'd wait for someone else to properly go through and select the parts in the next couple days, it's getting late for me but if holycrapawalrus or another member hasn't suggested a good build for you within a day or so I'll spend some time putting one together.
[QUOTE=Owscar8;39942478]How's this?
[URL]http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=27031547[/URL]
I left the mouse and case out simply to let him choose what he would like best :v:[/QUOTE]
-There are cheaper Corsair PSU's that will do the job. Also 700W should do the job just fine.
-The astock z77 extreme 4 is concidered a bit better and is cheaper than that gigabyte mobo.
-I would get the cheaper 7970 instead of the 680. (make sure its at least a dual fan)
-Get windows 8
[QUOTE=taipan;39943817]-There are cheaper Corsair PSU's that will do the job. Also 700W should do the job just fine.
-The asrock z77 extreme 4 is considered a bit better and is cheaper than that gigabyte mobo.
-I would get the cheaper 7970 instead of the 680. (make sure its at least a dual fan)
-Get windows 7[/QUOTE]
Fixed.
[QUOTE=sheridanm;39944112]Fixed.[/QUOTE]
Fool! Windows 8 is a lot faster and people are solely complaining on the Start menu and the fact it has options build for tablets. Shame on you!
You should also grow up. If anyone are against your opinions you start rating them dumb on EVERY FREAKING POST. You're just ashamed over the AMD thing aren't ya?
[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/59389727/Computer%20Builds/261.PNG[/img]
[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/59389727/Computer%20Builds/262.PNG[/img]
[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/59389727/Computer%20Builds/263.PNG[/img]
don't know why it split into 2 sections in my cart but whatever, total w/ shipping comes out to $1566.47. There are 5 promo codes, however.
USMRCHMD6 - $10 off case
EMCYTZT3105 - $10 off keyboard
USMRCHMD17 - $15 off PSU
EMCXTWS66 - $10 off mouse
EMCXTWV72 - $10 off Blu Ray burner
Those all bring it down to $1511.47, and after the $95 in rebates it's all the way down to $1416.47. Couple things you can change if you want to, obviously the OS being one of them but I strongly recommend your friend getting Windows 8 and taking a week to get used to it because it really improves on everything about Windows 7. The graphics card is another thing, if he wants an Nvidia card then [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127685[/url]. The 7970 is a far better value card however, and with Crysis 3 and Bioshock Infinite being included it's even more of a deal. The case also is up to him I guess, along with mouse/keyboard. The keyboard I chose is mechanical and will last him far longer than any rubberdome while still feeling like the day he got it. If you don't already know about mechanical boards then you can read about them here [url]http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1250222[/url].
I just realized going over this that I forgot to put in RAM so that's not included in the total, sorry about that. Just add $60 to the total because for some reason that's how much 8gb of 1600MHz RAM seems to be going for now.
[QUOTE=HolyCrapAWalrus;39945015][img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/59389727/Computer%20Builds/261.PNG[/img]
[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/59389727/Computer%20Builds/262.PNG[/img]
[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/59389727/Computer%20Builds/263.PNG[/img]
don't know why it split into 2 sections in my cart but whatever, total w/ shipping comes out to $1566.47. There are 5 promo codes, however.
USMRCHMD6 - $10 off case
EMCYTZT3105 - $10 off keyboard
USMRCHMD17 - $15 off PSU
EMCXTWS66 - $10 off mouse
EMCXTWV72 - $10 off Blu Ray burner
Those all bring it down to $1511.47, and after the $95 in rebates it's all the way down to $1416.47. Couple things you can change if you want to, obviously the OS being one of them but I strongly recommend your friend getting Windows 8 and taking a week to get used to it because it really improves on everything about Windows 7. The graphics card is another thing, if he wants an Nvidia card then [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127685[/url]. The 7970 is a far better value card however, and with Crysis 3 and Bioshock Infinite being included it's even more of a deal. The case also is up to him I guess, along with mouse/keyboard. The keyboard I chose is mechanical and will last him far longer than any rubberdome while still feeling like the day he got it. If you don't already know about mechanical boards then you can read about them here [url]http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1250222[/url].
I just realized going over this that I forgot to put in RAM so that's not included in the total, sorry about that. Just add $60 to the total because for some reason that's how much 8gb of 1600MHz RAM seems to be going for now.[/QUOTE]
What's with the GPS thing? (Rosewill)
[QUOTE=Killervalon;39945576]What's with the GPS thing? (Rosewill)[/QUOTE]
I don't know, I guess like a mounting thing for your dash? It comes free with the hard drive for some odd reason.
I personally hate Windows (Especially since vista came out) You should be ashamed of yourself for not suggesting Linux my good friend.
And the whole AMD thing is about the fact that most of you on the forums are fanboys (or suspected to be).
You should never make someone choose something over the other so easily, you should put it more like this: Both are fine and are leveled in terms of performance for the most part, but if you can go the extra mile for performance the Intel will do fine.
I have no problem with either AMD or Intel it's just when you try and put performance over the fact that people have a defined budget, it really leaves the whole point of budgeting going towards a sour point.
Also Windows 7 and 8 are pretty much the same in terms of performance! Only difference being write speeds (by a tiny margin) and other junk which has NOTHING to do with gaming at all.
Hell even Windows 7 has support for DirectX 11.1, I call this false marketing.
Ask yourself: Do you want to argue which is "best" (Expensive), or do you want to have it in the middle ground where people have their own choices and are not forced into things or rushed?
Either way: Windows 8 is a gimmick, everyone knows that. Wiping your cheeto fingers on a monitor is not innovative.
I'm not here to argue I assure you, but you need to give the AMD vs Intel a rest as it doesn't help anyone ;)
[QUOTE=sheridanm;39949634]I personally hate Windows (Especially since vista came out) You should be ashamed of yourself for not suggesting Linux my good friend.
And the whole AMD thing is about the fact that most of you on the forums are fanboys (or suspected to be).
You should never make someone choose something over the other so easily, you should put it more like this: Both are fine and are leveled in terms of performance for the most part, but if you can go the extra mile for performance the Intel will do fine.
I have no problem with either AMD or Intel it's just when you try and put performance over the fact that people have a defined budget, it really leaves the whole point of budgeting going towards a sour point.
Also Windows 7 and 8 are pretty much the same in terms of performance! Only difference being write speeds (by a tiny margin) and other junk which has NOTHING to do with gaming at all.
Hell even Windows 7 has support for DirectX 11.1, I call this false marketing.
Ask yourself: Do you want to argue which is "best" (Expensive), or do you want to have it in the middle ground where people have their own choices and are not forced into things or rushed?
Either way: Windows 8 is a gimmick, everyone knows that. Wiping your cheeto fingers on a monitor is not innovative.
I'm not here to argue I assure you, but you need to give the AMD vs Intel a rest as it doesn't help anyone ;)[/QUOTE]
Yeah, Linux is great for gaming.
But seriously this is a gaming setup, it's a utilitarian not "I hate Windows go Linux!". It's bad advice.
The AMD counter-parts use much more power, which means more heat and subsequently more noise. At the same time the single-thread performance is pretty bad, and that's pretty much why I don't recommend them. On a budget like this, yeah, get Intel if you can. I'd really like for AMD to come up with something great, but that shouldn't influence my advice at all.
Windows 8 is faster in general and has few changes under and over the hood. They're the same price, so there's really no reason not to get 8 unless you have a very, [I]very[/I] hard time conforming to the new UI and are reluctant to try one of the alternatives: [url]http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/01/help-ive-got-windows-8-and-i-miss-my-start-menu/[/url]
-Snip-
:suicide:
After some talks, he is going to be ditching 1080p and going 2560x1440 or 2560x1600 pretty soon separate from this budget.
[QUOTE=sheridanm;39944112]Fixed.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Killervalon;39944165]Fool! Windows 8 is a lot faster and people are solely complaining on the Start menu and the fact it has options build for tablets. Shame on you!
You should also grow up. If anyone are against your opinions you start rating them dumb on EVERY FREAKING POST. You're just ashamed over the AMD thing aren't ya?[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=sheridanm;39949634]:words:[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=GoDong-DK;39949964]:words:[/QUOTE]
Do we really need to start yet another OS debate? At the end of the day, the OP's friend has the final say in what he wants.
[QUOTE=wickedplayer494;39951741]Do we really need to start yet another OS debate? At the end of the day, the OP's friend has the final say in what he wants.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=sheridanm;39949634]or do you want to have it in the middle ground where people have their own choices and are not forced into things or rushed?[/QUOTE]
Exactly what I said. :wink:
[QUOTE=Owscar8;39951708]After some talks, he is going to be ditching 1080p and going 2560x1440 or 2560x1600 pretty soon separate from this budget.[/QUOTE]
Then you'll definitely want to be going AMD for the graphics card, they perform better at higher resolutions than Nvidia cards by a fair amount.
[QUOTE=HolyCrapAWalrus;39955269]Then you'll definitely want to be going AMD for the graphics card, they perform better at higher resolutions than Nvidia cards by a fair amount.[/QUOTE]
I can attest this, my 7950 is great at 2560x1440.
[QUOTE=sheridanm;39949634]And the whole AMD thing is about the fact that most of you on the forums are fanboys (or suspected to be).
You should never make someone choose something over the other so easily, you should put it more like this: Both are fine and are leveled in terms of performance for the most part, but if you can go the extra mile for performance the Intel will do fine.[/QUOTE]
Bulldozer is a disaster. AMD bet their future on things becoming more oriented towards parallelism on the x86, and designed their processor as such. Things didn't move the way they thought and as a result, they have the mess they're in right now. The fastest quad core FX 8x00 can only keep up with Intel from the Lynnfield generation in single threaded applications, but in highly threaded and highly optimized applications (ie. hardly anything) it can keep up with the fastest Ivy Bridge i7.
Saying that both AMD and Intel are on an equal playing field is ignorant.
If you want to build cheap media PCs or office PCs, the Vishera APUs are great. But stay away from the FX series if you want to build a gaming rig. They're inefficient furnaces.
Also, according to the Toms preview of Haswell, one of the biggest improvements has been in threaded tasks over single thread, thus making Intel (haswell) an even stronger proposition over AMD even with threaded workloads in the mix.
We aren't given money by Intel to recommend it here, we just want people to get what's best for them and for this guy an Intel processor would be better.
[QUOTE=sheridanm;39949634
And the whole AMD thing is about the fact that most of you on the forums are fanboys (or suspected to be).
[/QUOTE]
Yeah and you are the special one yada yada.
Everyone here would rather have seen AMD being able to compete with intel in gaming CPU's.
The current intel monopoly on gaming cpu's isnt exactly good for the consumer.
But well it is as it is.
[QUOTE=taipan;39970037]Yeah and you are the special one yada yada.
Everyone here would rather have seen AMD being able to compete with intel in gaming CPU's.
The current intel monopoly on gaming cpu's isnt exactly good for the consumer.
But well it is as it is.[/QUOTE]
True dat.
Although it was nice to get something like Piledriver to patch up Bulldozer and yet people still think they're way behind.
[QUOTE=sheridanm;39972796]True dat.
Although it was nice to get something like Piledriver to patch up Bulldozer and yet people still think they're way behind.[/QUOTE]
They are way behind until they ditch their current architecture.
[img]http://imageshack.us/a/img213/215/lulik.jpg[/img]
Are you butthurt or something? I don't get it.
[QUOTE=sheridanm;39972796]True dat.
Although it was nice to get something like Piledriver to patch up Bulldozer and yet people still think they're way behind.[/QUOTE]
Do you even read hardware reviews, or are you content with just blathering nonsense?
Piledriver didn't "patch up" the Bulldozer architecture. The only thing AMD really did with the Piledriver refresh was to work on some of the power logic to make the chips draw less power. They then used the TDP headroom to bump the clock up, so while it has a higher clock speed, it stays in the 125W thermal envelope as the previous Bulldozer chips.
Nearly all of the 10% improvement that Piledriver brought was solely from the clock speed increase, everything else is the same. Piledriver still has the abysmal single threaded performance, and that isn't going to change due to how the core is laid out. AMD needs to abandon the Bulldozer architecture if it ever plans on being competitive again.
-snip-
This thread should be closed.
well well we went through both AMD vs Intel and Window 7 vs 8 in one thread thats bloody amazing
[QUOTE=striker453;39977290]well well we went through both AMD vs Intel and Window 7 vs 8 in one thread thats bloody amazing[/QUOTE]
We need to go the extra mile and mac vs pc.
Oh and sheriwhatever your name is, stop sending me hilariously dumb PMs. Like trying to correlate a relationship that Bulldozer processors aren't furnaces because your system temperature isn't high :v:
[thumb]http://imageshack.us/a/img221/5402/61212433.jpg[/thumb]
[thumb]http://imageshack.us/a/img829/9980/44654096.jpg[/thumb]
[thumb]http://imageshack.us/a/img841/6913/49623008.jpg[/thumb]
[QUOTE=bohb;39977365]We need to go the extra mile and mac vs pc.[/QUOTE]
Fuck sake.
[QUOTE=100 cotton;39941427]I'll give you a good starting point. Lots of things can be changed such as a 7950 or gtx670 for example. Didn't include case, mouse or keyboard as I have no idea what appeals to him.
[URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Kdew"]PCPartPicker part list[/URL] / [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Kdew/by_merchant/"]Price breakdown by merchant[/URL] / [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Kdew/benchmarks/"]Benchmarks[/URL]
[B]CPU:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80637i53570k"]Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor[/URL] ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
[B]CPU Cooler:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2"]Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler[/URL] ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
[B]Motherboard:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-z77extreme4"]ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard[/URL] ($134.99 @ Amazon)
[B]Memory:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f317000cl11d8gbxl"]G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory[/URL] ($59.99 @ Newegg)
[B]Storage:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wdbaaz0020hncnrsn"]Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive[/URL] ($177.95 @ Amazon)
[B]Storage:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/ocz-internal-hard-drive-vtx425sat3128g"]OCZ Vertex 4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk[/URL] ($119.99 @ Newegg)
[B]Video Card:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/diamond-video-card-7970pe53g"]Diamond Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card[/URL] ($399.99 @ Newegg)
[B]Power Supply:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cmpsu750hx"]Corsair Professional 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply[/URL] ($119.99 @ Newegg)
[B]Operating System:[/B] [URL="http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-gfc02050"]Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)[/URL] ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
[B]Total:[/B] $1322.85
[I](Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)[/I]
[I](Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-17 00:23 EDT-0400)[/I][/QUOTE]
Isn't the difference between the 7950/70 negligible?
I can vouch for the PSU though, I got the 850 watt version, thing kicks ass.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
