karls gaming pc build thread :-)

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karlgaming

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ok guys, I have no idea what im doing but will be doing it anyways lol. Im going to build a gaming pc and would like to spend around 1,200 on it. My wife is going to buy me the case for fathersday so lets start their, what is a giod case for around 100 bucks and what do i need for a case in specs? all i know right now is im going with an i7 and also what is a good motherboard to go with the i7?
 
If your going with an intel processor get the newest one which is the Haswell Bridge.

 
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I'll be following this as I'm going to be building my first gaming rig this summer, hopefully we can get some good replies here. 

 
skiy said:
If your going with an intel processor get the newest one which is the Haswell Bridge.
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Is there a reason to go with Haswell? I was researching this but it seems like Haswell's performance is just slightly better (and uses less power), but costs much more than Ivy Bridge. I guess Haswell doesn't cost that much more... Newegg has the 4770 for only $30 more than the 3770 (both are non-K models).

FYI, Anandtech has a really good comparison tool to compare PC components. Here's a comparison of the 3770K (Ivy) vs 4770K (Haswell).

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/551?vs=836

 
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I just spent about $1200 on a new rig a few weeks ago, here's what I got:

Tower: Coolermaster HAF 912.  It's cheap but you get a quality case that stays cool, is very sturdy, and lots of room.

Processor:Intel i5 3570k   It's about as powerful a gaming CPU as you need at this point, and overclockable.Toms Hardware recommended it.

Processor Cooler: Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO.  I don't believe in water cooling, it's never been reliable enough for me.  While this thing is big, it works very well.

Mobo: Asrock Z77 Extreme 4.  This thing has been a dream so far.  Also saw on Toms.

Memory: 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport came w/ mobo free at Newegg

Video Card: Powercolor Radeon HD 7870 Myst Ed.  Haven't found anything I can't max at 1920x1080 yet.  This was also a Toms winner.

Hard Drive: Samsung 840 Pro 128GB SSD.  Very fast and reliable which is what I was going for.

Power Supply: Corsair 500W CX500M Modular

Monitors: 2 ASUS VH238 LEDs w/ speakers.  These things are excellent for the price.

Optical: LG DVD burner.

So far this has been a very solid rig and I'm right at about $1200.

As far as the new 4th generation Haswell Intel processors, I haven't seen any articles saying anything positive about them yet from a gaming perspective.  The power is lower, they have better integrated graphics (still a joke), but not much else and they're quite expensive as they're new.

 
I built last September and have been very pleased, here's mine:

Case: Coolermaster elite 430

CPU: AMD FX8120, Not the best gamng cpu from what I've been told but it was easy to OC to 4ghz and its been great for me so far

GPU: Asus 7870 

Memory: 8gb Corsair Vengeance

CPU Cooler: Hyper 212 plus

Mobo: Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3

Power supply: Corsair GS700

HDD/SSD: Seagate 1.5tb HDD, Sandisk 120gb SSD

Optical: LG DVD burner

Mouse/KB/Monitor: Logitech G700, Rosewill gaming keyboard/ Sony 24" 3D monitor

So far this has eaten up just about everything I've thrown at it.  I cant say enough about the 7870, and I;ve seen it as low at like $170 after rebates lately (with Tomb Raider, Blood Dragon, and Bioshock)

 
My graduation is next week..Graduation Present + 4 weeks of works pay = New Gaming rig..im going to follow this thread.

 
Collaborator said:
I just spent about $1200 on a new rig a few weeks ago, here's what I got:

Tower: Coolermaster HAF 912. It's cheap but you get a quality case that stays cool, is very sturdy, and lots of room.

Processor:Intel i5 3570k It's about as powerful a gaming CPU as you need at this point, and overclockable.Toms Hardware recommended it.

Processor Cooler: Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO. I don't believe in water cooling, it's never been reliable enough for me. While this thing is big, it works very well.

Mobo: Asrock Z77 Extreme 4. This thing has been a dream so far. Also saw on Toms.

Memory: 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport came w/ mobo free at Newegg

Video Card: Powercolor Radeon HD 7870 Myst Ed. Haven't found anything I can't max at 1920x1080 yet. This was also a Toms winner.

Hard Drive: Samsung 840 Pro 128GB SSD. Very fast and reliable which is what I was going for.

Power Supply: Corsair 500W CX500M Modular

Monitors: 2 ASUS VH238 LEDs w/ speakers. These things are excellent for the price.

Optical: LG DVD burner.

So far this has been a very solid rig and I'm right at about $1200.

As far as the new 4th generation Haswell Intel processors, I haven't seen any articles saying anything positive about them yet from a gaming perspective. The power is lower, they have better integrated graphics (still a joke), but not much else and they're quite expensive as they're new.
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I just got a 7870 myself. But I got the XFX DD Black Edition. So far I too have been able to play everything maxed. I did notice Crysis 3 dropped framerate slightly on the highest settings, but not much.

 
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My only comment to add here is to skip the aftermarket CPU cooler unless you are going to overclock as the money can be better spent elsewhere.  Before anyone gets all bent out of shape, please re-read what I said as I am not saying they suck, simply they are not worth the additional money if you are not going to OC.  Personally I would rather spend the cash and add a bit more and go from the 7870 to the 7950.

 
jmbreci said:
My only comment to add here is to skip the aftermarket CPU cooler unless you are going to overclock as the money can be better spent elsewhere. Before anyone gets all bent out of shape, please re-read what I said as I am not saying they suck, simply they are not worth the additional money if you are not going to OC. Personally I would rather spend the cash and add a bit more and go from the 7870 to the 7950.
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2nd this. If your not gonna overclock you dont need much cooling. I'm running the stock CPU cooler and like 3 case fans and my rig stays around 45C. Hell my video card only hits like 54C when playing things like Crysis 3 on max settings. Just make sure your case has descent air flow.

 
Waughoo said:
Collaborator said:
Video Card: Powercolor Radeon HD 7870 Myst Ed. Haven't found anything I can't max at 1920x1080 yet. This was also a Toms winner.
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I just got a 7870 myself. But I got the XFX DD Black Edition. So far I too have been able to play everything maxed. I did notice Crysis 3 dropped framerate slightly on the highest settings, but not much.
Click to expand...

These are 2 completely different GPU's just so everyone knows. The "Myst" or Tahiti Edition is the same architecture as a 7950 with slightly less "stream processors. And is only made by power color and Sapphire. Normal 7870's are still very good, But the Myst/Tahiti 7870 are the some of the best value in GPU's right now.

Also any new build should be going Haswell whether it's 4670 or 4770, Unless you can find ivy for a lot cheaper( right now it's only $20 on Newegg). Haswell offers a lot more native Sata 3(6 ports), USB 3(8 ports) support for example. And still cranks out more IPC than Ivy. Plus not to mention is a new socket type likely to be more upgraded in the future.

 
IDK about going with Haswell...you can stick with 1 Gen behind and put more money into components.

I really like my i5 3570K with a Gigabyte Z77 board.  Been able to overclock Stable to 4.7 GHz.

Also you should check out some sales on the Nvidia Video Cards this summer.  Some great sells going on with the 660 TI, 670 FTW (around 300 now), which is the card I own.  I ended up getting another to go SLI and now nothing seems to bottleneck.  

I build my PC last year, used to have a blog here on about it, and spent around $1000 for everything.  

I had gone with a reference 7970 ATI card from Asus but it was way too loud.  The stock fan on that card, when maxing out game settings, I could barely hear anything besides the cyclone in my PC.  Stock coolers on ATI cards are pretty bad this Gen.  Friend had the same problem with a 7950 and he stepped down to one of those Powercolor 7870's.  Much quieter.

Anyway, you should not spend too much on SSD drive, get a small one 128 GB or less for your OS then max out storage for your games and whatever else on 7200 RPM drives.

 
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