$900 - $1000 New Gaming PC

[Nab15]

Hi everyone,

I am looking to build myself a new gaming pc for the first time ever. My original budget is $850 to $900 but i can afford another $100. Before i write down the rest of the details I wana say that I live in pakistan and all of the components will be bought by my brother who will bring the stuff to me on his visit to pakistan in december.

So i would really appreciate all the help i could get as im no expert in building gaming PC.

Approximate Purchase Date: This week

Budget Range: $900 to $1000 ( including shipping , rebates etc )

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, gaming, gaming and gaming

Are you buying a monitor: No

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Microcenter, Newegg, and any other

Location: Pakistan ( My brother lives in New York, westburry/long island )

Parts Preferences: Intel, nVidia, Corssair, Asus, Gigabyte, and any other quality manufacturer. (No AMD or Ati)

Overclocking: Yes, bt nothing extreme.

Slior Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920 x 1080

Additional Comments: I want a gaming Pc so that I can play most of the games on max or close to max settings. I have a laptop for my school work etc.. I am building a computer for the very first time. I am 14 years old, although i am pretty comfortable with electronic components bt do you people think I should sought a professional help while assembling my PC??

Parts

CPU and Motherboard : Intel i5 3570k + Asrock extreme 4 = $169.99 +94.99 = $287.87 ( combo deal at Microcenter)

http://www.microcenter.com/product/388577/Core_i5_3570K_34GHz_LGA_1155_Processor

http://www.microcenter.com/product/387554/Z77_Extreme4_LGA_1155_Z77_ATX_Intel_Motherboard

Graphic card : MSI N670 PE 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card = $389.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127685

Hard Drive: Western Digital WD Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive = $69.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769

SSD: Not sure. Kindly suggest a good one which will fit within my budget.

Power Supply: SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply= $89.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151095

Case: I will be buying the case from here, initially wanted to buy the CM storm stryker but its not available in Pakistan infact i have a very limited choice. I have selected the CM HAF XM = $156
http://www.shophive.com/shophive/Cooler-Master-HAF-XM-p-12776.pakistan.html

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X 8GB = $39.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428

CPU Cooler: cooler master hyper 212 evo = $34.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Please i would really appreciate if you people could help me out with your valuable suggestions on all the components i have listed. One more thing do you that this memory will cause any issues with my cpu cooler , i mean in terms of height ?? Second is msi power edition worth buying especially after the over volt issue which was mentioned here on TH ??

Thanks in advance. Looking for your feedback at the earliest possible.

 

[excella1221]

Get the Gigabyte 670 instead. MSI PE is a bit controversial.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/MSI-GTX-660-670-overvolting-PowerEdition,18013.html

I'd like to point out as well even though you said no AMD - The 7xxx are better performers in this generation of GPUs. The 7970 is at the same price point as the 670 and it outperforms it, to the point that it's on par with the 680. The 7950 is close to the performance of the 670 and is overall a better overclocker and a more efficient card especially for 1080p or higher resolutions and multi-monitor setups - with the 3gb VRAM and higher bus rate and all.

Get the OCZ Vertex 4 128gb for an SSD.
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=69936&vpn=VTX4-25SAT3-128G&manufacture=OCZ%20Technology&promoid=1401

PSU is great quality, but you don't have to pay that much imo.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182199&Tpk=rosewill%20green%20530w
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=59615&vpn=P1550SXXB9&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1257

Cooler would fit above the RAM, but it's gonna be a bit hard installing it and it'll barely fit. Get the ones without the tall heat spreaders. They do absolutely nothing anyway for anything 1.5v.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231461

 

[manofchalk]

Building a computer is fairly simple. Just make sure to watch a couple of build guides and your set.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84NvDMMrCNU&feature=g-all-u (note, this is not a gaming machine, a better description would be extreme).

You have actually picked out all the right parts, no issues with component selection at all.

A good SSD is the Samsung 830 128GB. $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147163

I would avoid the MSI Power Edition because of said overvolting issues, go with the Gigabyte model. $400 ($20 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125423

You should be fine with heatsink and RAM height, though if you wanted to fill all the RAM slots it may become an issue. The easy solution is Low Profile RAM.
G.Skill Ares 8GB (2x4GB) 1600Mhz Cl9 1.5v. $38
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231544

EDIT: Go with Excella's RAM. That is a very nice find there.

 

[Nab15]

Get the Gigabyte 670 instead. MSI PE is a bit controversial.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/MSI-GTX-660-670-overvolting-PowerEdition,18013.html

I'd like to point out as well even though you said no AMD - The 7xxx are better performers in this generation of GPUs. The 7970 is at the same price point as the 670 and it outperforms it, to the point that it's on par with the 680. The 7950 is close to the performance of the 670 and is overall a better overclocker and a more efficient card especially for 1080p or higher resolutions and multi-monitor setups - with the 3gb VRAM and higher bus rate and all.

Get the OCZ Vertex 4 128gb for an SSD.
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=69936&vpn=VTX4-25SAT3-128G&manufacture=OCZ%20Technology&promoid=1401

PSU is great quality, but you don't have to pay that much imo.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182199&Tpk=rosewill%20green%20530w
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=59615&vpn=P1550SXXB9&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1257

Cooler would fit above the RAM, but it's gonna be a bit hard installing it and it'll barely fit. Get the ones without the tall heat spreaders. They do absolutely nothing anyway for anything 1.5v.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231461

Thanks for a quick response.

As for AMD graphic card, its just that, I am a bit worried going with it coz 2 years back I bought a pre-build system and it worked fine except for the graphic card which was an AMD (Sorry I dnt remember the model name) it had issues with driver n freezes etc. And a couple of my cousins have nvidia and they talk highly abt them. Bt again i respect ur suggestion as ur more experienced than me n my cousins. I would really appreciate if you could direct me to some articles on Amd 7950 n 7970 please n which manufacturer should i go for.

Secondly for the case , i have jst found out that we have Cm storm trooper avaialble in pakistan. Its roughly the same price as CM HAF XM . So Which one is better ??

 

[Nab15]

Building a computer is fairly simple. Just make sure to watch a couple of build guides and your set.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84NvDMMrCNU&feature=g-all-u (note, this is not a gaming machine, a better description would be extreme).

You have actually picked out all the right parts, no issues with component selection at all.

A good SSD is the Samsung 830 128GB. $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147163

I would avoid the MSI Power Edition because of said overvolting issues, go with the Gigabyte model. $400 ($20 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125423

You should be fine with heatsink and RAM height, though if you wanted to fill all the RAM slots it may become an issue. The easy solution is Low Profile RAM.
G.Skill Ares 8GB (2x4GB) 1600Mhz Cl9 1.5v. $38
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231544

EDIT: Go with Excella's RAM. That is a very nice find there.

Thank you or your input.

The gigabyte 670 u mentioned is the windforce edition right ? And is there a huge difference b/w a reference design and a custom ??

Thank you

 

[manofchalk]

Yep.
Reference design cooling runs louder and hotter than custom designs like Windforce, Twin Frozr or DirectCUII. Given the minimal price difference between the two, there isnt much reason to get a reference design unless its in a low airflow environment.

 

[Nab15]

Yep.
Reference design cooling runs louder and hotter than custom designs like Windforce, Twin Frozr or DirectCUII. Given the minimal price difference between the two, there isnt much reason to get a reference design unless its in a low airflow environment.

Hmm ok. One more thing, i was pretty sure i would go for msi gtx 670 bt excella suggestion has derailed me a bit. What is your opinion regarding gtx 670 and 7950 or 7970 ? I have read a few threads here on gtx 670 and 7970 or 7959. Some favor amd and some nvidia. No clear winner..

Thanks..

 

[manofchalk]

I would personally get the 7970 over a 670, Ghz edition is preferable. You also get some free games with the Never Settle deal that's happening right now.

 

[excella1221]

^+1. It's 3 free games before, if I remember correctly(?).

I would really appreciate if you could direct me to some articles on Amd 7950 n 7970 please n which manufacturer should i go for.

Secondly for the case , i have jst found out that we have Cm storm trooper avaialble in pakistan. Its roughly the same price as CM HAF XM . So Which one is better ??

To be fair, I'm gonna link you to a GeForce review. The Conclusion page, I find, thoroughly sums it up pretty well.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-660-ti-benchmark-review,3279.html

Take note though that this was taken way back in August using Catalyst 12.7 for AMD; atm, it's now Catalyst 12.11 and the performance boost is quite relative considering the edge nVIDIA had in games like BF3 are little to none now.

Another thing to point out is AMD released a nice little BIOS boost that gave fairly good performance boost for the 7950.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/HD7950-GTX660_Ti-Radeon-BIOS_Update-amd,16897.html

I believe the HAF XM is better, though more expensive. The Storm Trooper is fairly popular as well.
Really though, you can't go wrong with either.

 

[Nab15]

Hmm.. Yes its 3 free games + 20% off on MOH WF i guess.

Thank you very much both of you for your valuable suggestions. I guess it does make sense to go with AMD especially with the free games they are giving, and it does seem that the catalyst 12.7 has finally nailed it for AMD..

Well I'l stick around for a little while. Any more suggestions from TH family??

 

[thetechnoobguy]

You're on a very short leash for wanting max graphics at $1000 budget. If you didn't already have the OS and monitor it would be impossible.

Have a look at this build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/o34c

Keep in mind that if you add up everything in the OP it comes to roughly $1071

 

[excella1221]

That is one of the most overpriced cards ever.
A 680 is only 5% better in performance from the 670. You'll basically be paying ~$200 for that 5%.

 

[Nab15]

You're on a very short leash for wanting max graphics at $1000 budget. If you didn't already have the OS and monitor it would be impossible.

Have a look at this build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/o34c

Keep in mind that if you add up everything in the OP it comes to roughly $1071

Thank u for the suggestions..

Yes ur absolutely right regarding getting max graphics in $1000. Its touch n go well its difficult... N the total amount of my listed components is around $1071. I would preferably want everything to fit in $1000, coz if u dnt set a limit ul jst keep spending as there are so many cool gadgets out there. Thats y i said max or close to max settings..

Gtx 680 is a good card but i agree with excella , the performance difference b/w 670 and 680 is minimum . Iv read a couple of reviews where they say that an oc'd 670 matches a 680..

Thank u once again.

 

[Nab15]

Best answer selected by Nab15.

 

[Nab15]

Moderator plz close this topic. Thank you.