Need advice, building a gaming rig for 1200€

[BladeDH]

Hi everyone!

I've decided to give my old rig a much deserved rest (actually, it died on me) and get a new one. And after A LOT of reading here in Tom's Hardware I'm starting to feel dizzy, so I thought maybe I could ask for your help (many thanks in advance).

So, what I need:
I will be using it for gaming and work, but I'm a programmer so work does not require anything special... maybe I'll need it to run a mac os x VM, and thats pretty much the only thing that my old rig couldn't handle.

My budget is 1200€ , but I might be able to stretch it to 1400€ if those extra 200 make a huge difference.
(component prices in the US in dollars are pretty similar to prices here in Spain in euros. So you can assume 1 euro = 1 dollar)

This is what I have liked so far (does not mean it has to be these parts):

CPU: Intel Core i5 3350P

GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 4GB Superclocked (will this be too noisy? I do like my machines to be silent when not gaming). Also please no ATI's, I have had enough of their multi monitor handling... never again.

And that is about it (sorry).

So I'm lacking a MB, a PSU, RAM (8 gigs is more than enough for me), an SSD, an HDD and a case. I already have a 300GB 7 years old HDD and a 5 year old 1TB, they are probably pretty slow, but good for storage, so no need for a big new HDD, if I can get faster although smaller it's fine by me.

Also I wont OC anything, at least not in the near future (don't have the required knowledge).

And thats all, please help! thanks!!!

 

[EpicOtis13]

This is a crazy fast rig for a very small price. Unfortunately you cannot SLI it but I think that a 780 is good enough.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/EpicOtis13/saved/1Va3

 

[sophiebeth100]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($78.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.39 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($136.97 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($409.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1226.28
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-10 12:14 EDT-0400)

With this cooler you should get a beast of an overclock, in Haswell terms, at least. 😛
I managed to keep it around $1200 but if you do want to spend the extra you could double that SSD's capacity for another $100 (or 100 euro? 😛 )
This card will handle anything you throw at it, and this PSU will handle all overclocks you decide to make and any extra drives you may wish to add in the future. The case of course depends on the person, but this one is a great case for silence and looks, too.

 

[BladeDH]

Thanks guys, I finally made my mind and this is what I will be getting, but that will be on monday probably so there is time to make adjustments if needed:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P (as recommended by tom's hardware, cause I'm not going to overclock, and I will use a dedicated PCI-e GPU)

MB: ASROCK Z77 Extreme3 (folks seem to like ASROCK a lot around here, specially the Z77s, and this has got SLI support which is very important for me, 'cause I'll probably SLI in the nearish future. Also it's got a pci-e 1x bay where I need it for my SoundBlaster, where it wont be interfering with the GPU's air intake).

RAM: G.SKILL DDR3 1600 CL7 8GB (F3-12800CL7Q-8GBRM). 8 Gigs is more than enough, I don't do video editing or anything like that, and I cannot seem to be able to run out of memory in my actual rig (which has got 4 gigs in a Windows 7 64bit platform), even when running several VMs at a time, a MySQL server and a lot of other stuff. Also 1600 CL7 sounds good enough for a gaming rig.

GPU: ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II (a nice 670, which will work like a charm until a twin brother comes, and then it'll just rocket out of my bedroom to the moon and back 😛). I really don't want to spend 100 bucks more now on a 770 and another 100 when I decide to SLI. Also the 670 has got excelent reviews and is great value for the money. Furthermore my monitor is native 1680x1050, and even if I get a new monitor it wont probably go higher than 1900 so an 670 is excelent for me.

SSD: Samsung 840 256GB (MZ-7TD250KW) Everyone likes the 840 series. I dont think 128GB is going to be enough, I really want the programs and games to be in the SSD, because my other hard drives are 5400RPM, really slow.

PSU: OCZ ZT 750Watts (Fully modular, great price and nice warranty. Great reviews everywhere) This one will be enough when I finally SLI in terms of wattage and amps. Now is way too much, I know.

CASE: ZALMAN MS800 Plus (another tom's hardware's favorite)

And that's that, I really dont need anything else (monitors, HDDs, DVD writer, fans... I have plenty of those).

Total 1067,38 € with shipping, I'll save those 130€ for the second 670.

So, what do you think?

cheers!