17 replies to this topic

[kendellrt]

I always could count on Verran to give me excellent advice for a new build. I haven't even really been around the forums much since he passed. Now I am looking to a new build, completely from scratch, and I would like advice. I've been using a Mac for a couple of years and am out of the game. I am usually the guy who over buys, but I don't really need it to do much. We are not planning on serious gaming titles, not much more than Minecraft or WoW. I don't really game anymore, but my boy does. I will encode DVD with it. I am not opposed to either Intel or AMD. I would just like bang for buck. I would love recommendations from all of you, including all parts needed for a new build.

Edited by kendellrt, 02 January 2013 - 11:27 AM.

[Stonerboy779]

Any sort of price range you had in mind?

[kendellrt]

Not really, but I do have a family and need to be conservative. No more $1500 towers for me.

[El_Capitan]

These days fast computers can be built pretty cheap. For the games you're looking at, and encoding you can do well with AMD's Trinity CPU. Saves you money on not needing a graphics card, and encoding times are pretty good. Some cheap $30 2x4GB Memory, a 128GB SSD and a 1TB HDD with a simple but good $30 case (been a lot of good ones over the holidays), a Corsair CX500 or so PSU, you're looking at a $400 build.

[ComputerEd]

El is not far off, an AMD A10 can deliver a solid build for a budget system. If you live near a Microcenter I would go the Intel route with an i5 3450. While Minecraft can get by pretty well with no discrete card paying WoW will require a bit more horsepower. I would grab a 7850 and that should easily meet any gaming demands up to a 1080 resolution. Unless you plan to store a lot on the HD in the way of data, music, pics, movies and such, I would forgo the big spindle drive and bump the SSD 240 gig and not look back.

 

Stick on 8 gigs of RAM and a solid case and PSU and you should be all set. You can build the kind of system I mentioned for under about $800.

Edited by ComputerEd, 02 January 2013 - 12:53 PM.

[RedFury77]

How does this look? I didn't go the cheapest route every time and added the blu-ray player/ dvd burner too.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vwpQ

 

[ComputerEd]

Looks like a solid build, not sure about the case, but at a similar price you could look at the Corsair Carbide 200.

[kendellrt]

I could actually go a bit higher end than all this. I'm amazed that you can build something good for these prices. One point of building though, is that I'd like to be able to tinker and tweak it. Aesthetics of a case matter, as well as room to move around and manage cables. So not the highest end AMD or i5/7 k series, but overclockable. I would like discreet graphics for the possibility of gaming again. I've got the itch, just don't know if I'm going to scratch it. I've read good things about the 660ti and 7750/7770 cards. I need to shop mobo and chip sets, too. I guess I'm thinking of something midrange, so it can play games and handle video at decent rates with a monitor no bigger than 23".

[ComputerEd]

I would look at the i5 3450 and a Z77 motherboard based on your comments. You can get to 3.9 on an overclock with next to zero effort so you have some nice headroom and even at stock speeds can handle any game on the market.

 

Video cards depend on how much you want to spend, at 1080 the sweet spot for bang for the buck is the 7850 and the GTX 660 (none ti) Both deliver great 1080 game play and come in around the $200 mark. The next level up to consider is the 660ti and the 7950, both in the same price range. The 7950 is a sweet deal right now with the game bundle and has better raw performance but the 660ti in my opinion has better game support, something NVidia is really starting to pull away from AMD with. Anything past these two cards for 1080 gaming is in my opinion a waste of money.

 

Again since we are looking at 1080 for the gaming resolution we can worry less about multi-card solutions and this means we can save some money at the motherboard level. With that in mind you can find some great boards around the $130 to $140 price range from Gigabyte and Asus.

 

As for case aesthetics, do you want aggressive in your face or subtle and subdued? Bang for the buck the Thermaltake Overseer is a tough case to beat if you like the looks. At $130 it is a true full tower case with some great stock cooling and way over the top cooling potential for the tweaker. The same price range or a little less offers the NZXT Phantom which is still an aggressive styling, though less so than the Overseer and great to build in. Something even more subdued is the Carbide 500R, these are mid towers but still great cases to build in.

[El_Capitan]

I disagree with ComputerEd. Don't go with an i5 3450 and Z77 motherboard. There really isn't much need to go for Ivy Bridge when Sandy Bridge can be cheaper and faster. Ivy Bridge CPU's are slightly faster clock for clock than Sandy Bridge (an i5-2500K Sandy Bridge at 4.5GHz is equivalent to an i5 3570K Ivy Bridge at 4.3GHz), but the IHS of the Ivy Bridge CPU's weren't soldered, and instead a bad TIM was between the CPU and IHS, meaning higher temps at certain voltages.

 

At any rate, an i5 3450 and Z77 motherboard would cost, say, $320. While you could find a good used i5 2500K for $140 and a good Z68 m-ATX motherboard for $75m is $215 instead of $320, and it will be much faster. When you overclock, your minimum framerates will get boosted, particularly in games that has a good amount of physics. You can overclock an i5 2500K to 4.9GHz pretty easily, though most often hitting 4.5GHz with something like a CM Hyper 212+. Whereas the i5 3450 you'll most likely never get past 4.0GHz. To note, Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge that have a "K" at the end, means it has unlocked multipliers for overclocking.

 

I did a lot of my own testing, and a HD 7850, like the MSI HD 7850 Power Edition, could overclock like mad, and is near silent and cool. I bought mine for $153 open box. It beat out a good overclocking GTX 580, and comes close to that of a HD 7950 at stock, but cards like the HD 7950 and GTX 660 Ti and higher type cards will play at higher graphics settings and higher resolutions. I'd say the HD 7850 is the best bang for the buck for gaming today.

 

I really like the Corsair Carbide 500R, which ended up being something as little as $43 or less after MIR during the holidays (I can't remember), but these days, you don't need to spend a lot on a good solid case.

[vandreadstriker]

Why not look for combo deals..?

 

Here's one that I like:

http://www.newegg.co...t=Combo.1134267

 

-Intel Core i5 3570K

-ASUS P8Z77-V

-Mushkin Silverline 2x4GB 1333MHz CL9

-Samsung 840 Series SSD 250GB

-CoolerMaster Strom Scout 2

-CoolerMaster Silent Pro 700W

___________________________________ $773.99 (Save $89.95)

 

Then add the other parts.

 

Seagate Barracuda 1TB - $79.99

EVGA GTX660 (Free ACIII) - $219.99 ($209.99 after $10 MIR)

NZXT Havik 140 - $61.00

 

Total: $1134.97

 

I'm aware that it crosses the $1k mark, but think about it.

-You get a 3570K + P8Z77-V which is a really great pair

-700W PSU which is plenty for this system (Although personally I'd get Corsair/Seasonic PSUs instead of CM)

-Samsung 840 250GB SSD. Might not be the 840 Pro series, but still..

-CM Storm Scout 2 gaming case.

 

The only downside is that Mushkin RAM. OP could try overclock it to 1600MHz but I doubt it'd work.. But RAMs are cheap today so..

 

Or this other deal:

http://www.newegg.co...t=Combo.1047786

 

- Same CPU & MB

-2x Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1600Mhz CL9

-Crucial M4 128GB SSD

-CoolerMaster Silent Pro 850W

-CoolerMaster Strom Stryker

________________________________________________________ $829.99 (Save $89.94)

 

But this one IMO is an overkill for the OP.

-The Strom Stryker provides HUGE space which I doubt most people would use or need.

-850W PSU is nice, but even a 650W would be able to handle this system just fine.

-Decrease in SSD Capacity to 128GB (Although the Crucial M4 is one very solid SSD)

 

The upside is an upgrade to 16GB 1600MHz RAM but it's 2 separate dual channel kit which means it might not run in rated specs if all 4 DIMMs are used...

 

Some food for thought

[kendellrt]

I put a wishlist together on Newegg.  How does this look, and what am I missing, if anything?

 

https://secure.neweg...spx?ID=21998886