New Gaming PC - $650-$800 price range

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TRROBBS1

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Hello Everyone! Long time lurker, first time poster looking for some solid advice and guidance.

I'm going to be building my first gaming PC at the end of the month, and I'm looking for some price comparisons and all-around best bang for my buck with my price range. I, of course, want to be able to be able to game with the least stutter as possible of course, and also allow for an overall great gaming experience, AS WELL AS multi-tasking at the same time.

I did a little bit of digging myself, and I came up with these components and a figure:


Case NZXT GAMMA Classic - $36
Power Supply Corsair CX600 V2 - $64
CPU AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition - $120
Heatsink Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus - $28
Motherboard Asus AM3+ 880G M5A88-V EVO - $130
Memory 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws F3 4GB 12800 DDR3 - $44
Graphics Card XFX 6770 - $129 XFX 6850 or EVGA GTX 460 - $157 / $172
Hard Drive SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB - $60 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB - $60
DVD Lite-On 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $21
Total $660 / $675

I'm interested in running Crysis 2 at High, Max if possible, but not picky. I'm not shooting for Crysis 2, but it's a good benchmark (interested in Star Wars: The Old Republic and Battlefield 3)
I would like to opt for an SSD IF-POSSIBLE, but my price range is set and firm.

Thanks everyone :)
 
g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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Wow, good choices for the most part.

I'm kind of iffy on NZXT cases, you should spend an extra $10 - $15 and get something from Cooler Master or Antec. I really like the HAF 912 from Cooler Master and the Antec 100 is also a good choice.

The Samsung F3s are great hard drives, if you're gonna be setting them up in a RAID configuration it's definitely a good option but you should look at storing your OS on a much smaller drive if you can help it. If you have to wipe the hard drive and do a clean install of the OS, it certainly makes things a hell of a lot easier.

Don't get an 880 or 870 based motherboard, I have not had the best luck with that chipset, I finally gave up and went back to Intel as a result - too many memory issues and it was BSOD'ing on me left and right. Huge, huge pain. If you're going with AMD, you want at least a 990-based motherboard, it'll only cost you an extra $20 - $30. Also since RAM is so cheap right now you can get the 8GB for not that much more, I always think the more RAM the better.

SSDs are surprisingly cheap now, I scored a 64-GB Crucial M4 for $80 off Newegg last week. You don't really need much more than that - store your games and everything else on the second and third drives, and leave the OS for the primary.
 
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TRROBBS1

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Hmm. Duly noted. Aside from the Mobo, what would be considered the weaker part of my set-up; the Processor, or the GPU? I'd be totally willing to drop a little bit more cash in order to of course, get the best bang for my buck. I know at the 800 dollar end of the spectrum It's perfectly possible, just not sure what I should switch up to achieve that.


And of course, I'm totally open to suggestions with re-configurations to come out with the best performance!
 
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ervinelim

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http://www.squidoo.com/electronicandmore

Hey dude, I really think you should check out the $850 and just change the casing to a cheap $50 casing so it'll be at $790 dollars.

The i5-2500k is better at gaming than the Phenom 4. So, it'd be better to get that instead. If you're not planning to overclock( which is a shame) then just get the i5-2500 and save 10 dollars and money for the cooler.
 
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TRROBBS1

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Yeah man, I'm totally down for Overclocking (such a waste of potential if I didn't), but I read that the i5 can't be overclocked.
 
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ervinelim

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It can bro! the i5-2500k can be overclocked! I'm really not up to speed with Intel stuff since I really like AMD (fanboy) lol. Lets hope a great builder comes along and give you an $800 build with the i5-2500k as CPU.

Edit: It's the i5-2500 that can't be overclocked.
 
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TRROBBS1

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I also read that the Phenom is better for all-around multi-tasking, where as the i5 is in fact better for gaming.
 
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TRROBBS1

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I just re-configured my spreadsheet with the Intel i5 and it comes to $772. But what Mobo should I get if I opt for Intel?
 
g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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For $800, check out this build. It's not completely perfect but for this price point, this build will last you a long time to come. Having an SSD or multiple Spinpoints would definitely break your budget.

Case: Antec 300 - $58.99
Power Supply: Corsair Builder Series CX600 - $69.99
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FFX-UD3 - $134.99
CPU: 2.8GHz AMD Phenom II X6 1055T - $159.99
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus - $27.99
RAM: 8GB G.Skill Ripjaw PC 1600 MHz (2 x 4GB) - $54.99
SSD: 64GB Crucial M4 SATA III - $89.99
HD 1: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - $60.99
Optical: Lite-On 24x DVD Burner - $18.99
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 6850 1GB - $159.99

Total: $825 ($735 w/o SSD)
 
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ervinelim

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i5-2500k crushes everything at gaming except the i7 lol. Maybe you should make another thread and request to make an 800 dollar build with the i5-2500k as a core component
 
g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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I got this one, it's been amazing so far:

Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3

Only thing - be careful when you install the drivers because I got some junk software installed that was a huge pain to get rid of.
 
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ervinelim

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A z68 Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3.
 
008Rohit

008Rohit

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Processor: Intel Core i5 2500k $219.99
HSF: CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ $27.99
Mobo: Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ATX $129.99
RAM: Gskill RipjawsX 2x4GB 1.5V CAS9 1600Mhz $54.99
GPU: EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1567-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 - $219.99
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200rpm $59.99
DVD: LG DVD R/W $18.99
Case: Antec 300 Illusion $44.99
PSU: Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Continuous Power - $49.99

Total : $830 after rebates

It can hopefully maxx out Crysis 2 at 1080p. If this is over budget, get an i3 2100 and H61 MoBo combo. That'll reduce barely 5FPS in gaming.
 
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ervinelim

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Wow a GTX 560Ti. He's planning to overclock. It's better if you can shell out for this.

Edit: You can change the harddrive to a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148701 Seagate 500gb though, I doubt you'd be able to fill the capacity of a 1tb. you get 20 less so that brings you to $810 dolllars with the build.
 
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TRROBBS1

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I can actually probably do that. I may have to be a bit more tight on some things, but in the end, I can probably get it done. I don't want to jerk performance if I don't have to.
 
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TRROBBS1

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With the Gskill RipjawsX 2x4GB 1.5V CAS9 1600Mhz, could you link the exact one, as there are quite a few at that price range on the Newegg page, or does anyone matter?
 
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TRROBBS1

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Also, they are out of stock of the Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Continuous Power PSU on Newegg. Any other ones for around that price that's recommended?
 
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