building my friend a gaming pc for under 1000$ usd suggestions

getgreens · Jan 25, 2012

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.770959
this combo hits hard
gtx570 8gb of low voltage ram

the only problem is the bulldozer cpu i am fully aware of its gaming capabilities i was wondering if i should find a modest 2500k setup along the lines of

a z68/p67 single graphics mobo that can OC
8gb 1600mhz of <50$ 1.5v ram either corsair vengeance, or mushkin
most likely a ssd bc of bogus hdd market, theirs no way im paying any amt of $ on a hdd for with 3gb/s 16gb cache sata 1 specs; when i got my sata2 wd black 1tb's with 64mb cache for 99$ a piece.......thinkin z68 w/a ssd cache setup getting the hdd later when the market calms.
and a 6870/gtx560 depending on what rebate deal, price point i can scavenge
most likely corsair tx500w psu.

im asking this bc im looking to make a gaming pc that can play most of the games at max and dx11 graphic intensive games at according settings. but does not need a major upgrade 3-5 years in to the future eg a new mb/cpu/ddr4possibly who knows. with modest future upgradability along the lines of doubling the ram, ssd, new psu/for sli/if not using a whole new generation graphics single card solution(3-5 years down the road/ as needed)

getgreens · Jan 25, 2012

i am a smart person i do know that some of the things i typed can be taken as confusing, some clarification
if i do go with a modest 2500k build with say a 500w psu then i am obviously not getting a sli capable mobo///rrrrr or im going to get an sli ready mobo, he can upgrade the psu later if hes planning on going duel.
also the argument that i had about the ssd option, i am fully aware that the ssd choice that i make will obviously be a % cheaper when the regular hdd market goes down, due to time and future products lowering the prices of current ones. but currently 1tb hard drives cost as much as say a crucial m4 64mb/corsair force3/or an ocz agility 3 so that is the opertunity cost to me/my friend

RGone · Jan 27, 2012

With prices jammed up where they are that 981.00 dollar kit even with a high dollar hard drive it, is pretty complete.

You go with a Z68 chipset board which is the later model Intel chipset for later Ivy Bridge, you might get a fair board for $139.00 and save five dollars on the board price. Then the 2500K is $40.00 more than the FX-8120 in the kit so you are back up $35.00. You get about 120gigs SSD space for the price of the hard drive in the combo deal but then he only has 120gigs.

So by the time you play swap in and out of the individual pieces at retail and not wanting to buy a hard drive, then you still have at least $950.00 and not much hard drive space. When you finish out at that rate the combo deal at NewEgg does not really seem so bad for quality stuff from the get go.

The only real difference in the equation is that to really push an FX-8120 at least a H80 close-loop cooler is a better idea and the 2500K can do fair with the stock intel cooler. Not great but fair anyway.

I would look thru every combo kit around since they right now are giving the most bang for the buck.

One last thing that I remember seeing was that there were $80.00 in rebates still to come on the individual parts in the combo...that might be considered.

Markanthony · Feb 1, 2012

getgreens said:
i am a smart person i do know that some of the things i typed can be taken as confusing, some clarification
if i do go with a modest 2500k build with say a 500w psu then i am obviously not getting a sli capable mobo///rrrrr or im going to get an sli ready mobo, he can upgrade the psu later if hes planning on going duel.
also the argument that i had about the ssd option, i am fully aware that the ssd choice that i make will obviously be a % cheaper when the regular hdd market goes down, due to time and future products lowering the prices of current ones. but currently 1tb hard drives cost as much as say a crucial m4 64mb/corsair force3/or an ocz agility 3 so that is the opertunity cost to me/my friend

Ask your freind what games they are going to play and at which resolution,
because these days it is better to get the best Graphics card you can afford rather than the fastest cpu.
3 cores minimum, lots of cheap memory and a quality brand psu.
Black edition llano chips with the right motherboard clocked to 3.5++++ will give you a great gaming experience with low power consumption so you do not need a huge psu.
For example, the new 7950 plus A6-3670k.
Another option is the cheapest quad intel i5, no need for a 2500k unless it is for benching or bragging rights.

screen name · Feb 5, 2012

LZ_Xray · Feb 6, 2012

A lot of pc building price depends on how fast you want it. If you want it now, you're going to pay what they're asking. If you're willing to give it a month or so and hit all the parts when they're on sale you'll easily save 10-20% from buying it all today.

You can easily have a 2500k + GTX580 rig for about $1k if you're willing to wait for the good deals and minimize cost on other things.

The only sig rigs below that were over 1k were (3), which was $1090 total, and (5) which was about $1300 three years ago with a GTX285. #2 was $550 including a 23" LCD monitor (that was when you could still get a 7200 rpm 160GB SATA platter for $35 though). All new parts.

CPUs: NCIX will sometimes pricematch Microcenters CPU deals. I got the 2600ks in #3 and #4 for $279 months ago when they were averaging $325. 2500k $189

Motherboards: Keep in mind you really don't need a very expensive motherboard unless you're really going to OC the crap out of it and leave it that way. For a 4.5GHz or under 24/7 OC there's plenty of <$150 motherboards that will serve you just fine. People who want tri+ SLi/Xfire or our resident benching lunatics are the only people who really need a $200+ motherboard

GPUs: 6870 is really the bang for the buck right now unless you're playing at higher than 1920x1080, desire really high (>60fps) framerates at all times, or want to play something like BF3 in Ultra. Regularly found in the $120-130 price range.

Cases: Highly personal choice. There's tons of <$50 cases out there that will be great for what you want. Just depends on if you like the styling or not. My xigmatek asgards were $20 black boxes but they're hidden so looks were irrelevant.

Optical drives: DVD burners are practically a throwaway piece these days. If you pay over $20 you probably paid too much. BDs ~$60

SSD: Tons of SSD deals now for ~$1 gig. I think you're on the right track bagging the platter drive. I think platter drives as a technology are on their last leg.

RAM: Cheap!

PSU: Check out the Corsair builders series when you can catch them on sale. Best super inexpensive PSUs you can find. Kyle Bennett said so!

I build daily driver PCs for (nongamer) friends and family all the time with CX430s in them that were $18. If you'd have told me four years ago that I could buy a solid power supply for $18, I'd have just slapped you.

You're going to need to upgrade 3-5 years in the future no matter what unless you spend huge amounts of money now and completely overkill it. Not a good way to go since the an equivalent upgrade 3-5 years from now will be a fraction of the cost it will be to get to that level of performance today.

building my friend a gaming pc for under 1000$ usd suggestions

getgreens

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