$800 build critique and $600 build help!!

darkestwrath15

Honorable
Jan 25, 2013
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10,530
OK so helping two of my friends build budget gaming PCs. One has a demand for $800 ish, so I designed the following one:
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QyP4
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QyP4/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QyP4/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($32.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.97 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($234.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Zalman Z5 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case ($48.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $809.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-14 01:16 EDT-0400)

My 2nd friend wants a $600 one (No OS or Monitor or Optical Drive). His only request is to keep i5-3570k as his processor. Please help me decide whats best for his budget.

Thanks in advance.
 
First build:
-Unlocked processor with cpu cooler with a h77 board (you can't overclock in h77). If your friend wants to overclock, drop the SSD to grab a Z77 motherboard like the Asus P8Z77-V LK or the ASRock Z77 Extreme4.

Second build:
-AMD will provide a much better gaming experience for him. If he stills insists on the i5, ask if he's going to overclock. No point of i5-3570k if not overclocking.

Edit: Do you guys live near a microcenter?
 
Drop the SSD, 60GB isn't optimal.

It will cost a little over 800 if you want to overclock.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.43 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($234.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.95 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $840.29
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-14 02:05 EDT-0400)
 
Your 500gb HDD is more expensive than a 1tb 7200rpm 64mb cache one.
Wasting too much on PSU, imo. You can get by with cheaper.
Rosewill challenger isn't that great of a case. Horrible cable management and no usb 3.0.

Here's a nice overclockable rig:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($234.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Tempest 210 ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $819.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-14 02:12 EDT-0400)
 


Wattage isn't to much, you should have a little more wattage than you need on a power supply.
Since he is getting no SSD he should go for the best mechanical drive he can get.

 
For a 600 dollar build I could build a cheaper one, but this is just a tiny bit over:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-4100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($69.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M LX PLUS Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($52.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.43 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($191.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.95 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $594.28
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-14 02:15 EDT-0400)
 



Think I will switch from the seasonic to Corsair though on first build.


There:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.43 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($234.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.95 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $819.30
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-14 02:35 EDT-0400)
 
Just another flavor of the 800 dollar build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($104.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($234.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $779.85
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-14 02:31 EDT-0400)

Has the advantage of not using Microcenter because I didn't see an answer if anyone lived near one. Under 800 dollars. Best Cpu for gaming out there(reasonably) and one of the best semi-budget video cards. Most of the parts would be reused for a 600 dollar build in fact. The Case is actually a very good one for under 50 dollars.
 
For a 600 dollar build, you can wait on some parts. Like a cpu heatsink/fan. That 30 dollars can be added later, as the AMD stock coolers seem to do fairly ok. You obviously lose out on an Intel Cpu, and the video card. However, it is still under 600 dollars for a good Pc.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($134.82 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $589.71
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-14 02:37 EDT-0400)
 


This is a pretty good build for 600.
 

darkestwrath15

Honorable
Jan 25, 2013
41
0
10,530
THANK YOU all! ^-^
This info is more than I would have ever expected. Gona add a OCable mobo and change the PSU like you guys suggested.
As for the 600$ build I will have to convince my friend about AMD then. Seems there is no way around it :/
again, really appreciate the time and effort this community puts into helping others.