~$700 gaming build- advice & any holiday sales?

UnlimitedVicktory

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Jun 25, 2012
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My co-worker wants to get parts for his son to build a gaming setup. He already has a monitor, keyboard, mouse and case. (although the case is just a wide dell case, so may need more fans or maybe just get a new case, I haven't seen it yet ).
Also Looking for any deals or sales that are on around the holidays for any of the recommended components so keep that in mind if you know about anything good.


His budget is around $700.

Here is what I am thinking, although most of this is from experience building my first gaming rig last summer with a $1200 budget.


Processor: Intel i5 2500k (what I have on my build, too much for a ~$700 one?)

MOBO: AS Rock Z77 Extreme.

OS: Win. 7 Home (Or student if he can get a copy from his sons school).

*Note: will probably bundle MOBO, prosessor and OS at Microcenter for the deal as there is one just down the street.

PSU: I have a 700 watt one on mine but I hear about 500 or maybe less is good for a lower end build so this?: Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W ($55) -Although a modular one would be nice.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371030

GPU: this is where I'm not sure. Thinking an HD 7770, but would like to do better. I have a 7870 GHz edition on mine.

HDD: 1TB SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 ($79)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152379

Optical drive: any thing for ~$15-$25 at Microcenter.

Maybe a CPU cooler, but not probably not necessary. Would be a nice treat though.

Same for any extras like lights or fans/controllers or card slots if anything is a great deal right now.

I guess that about it.

-Thanks for any input.



 
If you're going to purchase from microcenter, be flexible for the board/cpu. Your choices are fine, but their deals vary. I haven't seen that many good deals there on black friday or near xmas. I saw a 2500k and z77 board unopened for $240 on craigslist yesterday, and that seller might come down if you wait a couple of days. Your antec power supply is a good choice, and you don't need a separate cpu cooler unless you overclock the cpu, which I don't recommend.
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($61.97 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Intel Extreme Master, Limited Ed 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($31.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 400W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($45.98 @ Outlet PC)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.89 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $642.77
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-19 10:37 EST-0500)
 

camohanna

Distinguished



Very good build for the price. If you can go without the OS you can get a 7870.