SOLVED $1500 Budget Computer

The revised list is a few post below this one
The revised list is a few post below this one
The revised list is a few post below this one
The revised list is a few post below this one



I found myself with some extra money and figured it was about time for a complete upgrade on my computer. I orginally set $1400 as my budget, but I figured I could go as high as $1500(all I could convince my wife of... at the moment ). The lower the better, but I'm pretty happy with what I picked for how much I had.

I will be using it for mostly gaming, HD downloads and streaming, web surfing, and the occasional school work, lol.

As far as the gaming part of it, I will be playing a few older games, as well as new and upcoming games (WOW, Crysis 2, and BF3 to name a few) at 1920x1080. I might upgrade to an eyefinity setup in the future *have to do some convincing with the wife *. That would be a resolution of 5760x1080.

Cpu-$219.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.746888

Ram-$34.99 (bundled with Cpu)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.746888

Mother Board-$169.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131759

Video Card-$264.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102945

HDD-$59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

SSD(used with intel SRT for HDD cache)-$64.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227393

Power Supply(larger then needed for future builds)-$104.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021

Monitor (Going to look around at local stores, see what I can get for same price)-$169.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236079

Case(What's the point of an upgrade if it's ugly )-$154.97 (bundled with OS)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119213

Operating System-$100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

Optical Drive-$18.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

Web Cam/Mic(because I needed a new one)-$29.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104354

After Market Cpu Cooler-$38.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181011

Thermal Paste-$8.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186020

Wireless Adapter(Until I can run some cable to where I need it)-$18.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704045

Total: $1460.83

Shipping: $31.09

Mail in Rebates: $45

Grand Total: $1491.92 ($1446.92 with mail in rebate)

I personally don't like to include mail in rebates when figuring up my budget because I don't like to be disappointed when/if I don't get it (even good companies can suck at mail in rebates)

So, what is everyone's opinion on what I have? good? bad?

One thing I wanted to ask, if anyone knows, is how compatible are the HDD and the SSD for Intel SRT. I more so like it for the better read times, but the better write times would be nice too. I saw the slow write times on the SSD I had picked and the ones with a better write time were twice as much putting me over my budget. Just would like some info/suggestions anyone might have on that. How much of an effect that might have if any.

Also, if anyone knows if I would be enough of a performance increase with the 60 gig SSD for caching over the 30 gig to put out the extra money and put me over my budget. (I think 30 is good for me, because I usually stick with one game for several days, instead of switching between several games every few days, where the 60 would most likely be better for caching.)

Some people might suggest getting a smaller power supply, but I got a larger one for plenty of room for upgrades (crossfire 6950 or single upgraded card) as well as use in future builds, if I so choose, and a lower watt PSU by companies I like(as well as good reviews) wasn't really enough of a price difference to change my mind.

I know that if I bought a cheaper case I could probably afford an upgrade on something, but I've pretty much fallen in love with this case. It has all the features I want and looks great (Wife likes it too). So if you are intending on trying to get me to choose a different one, you are going to have to have a very good argument, lol.

A power supply and a case are one of the most future proof things you can get. If you spend the extra money on them they can last you several builds. That is another reason why I am pretty much going to stick with the ones I have unless someone has a great suggestion.

Well, I posted this a few hours ago and no one has commented on it. So either I did a good job of picking parts or no one has looked at it, lol.

mATX mobo in a ATX case is kinda odd tbh, PSU is fine, i have that monitor it's good, GPU is fine, proc and mem r good, all in all it's a solid build...

Wow, I can't believe I didn't notice that it was a mATX motherboard. It had all the features I wanted, good price, great reviews, and a fairly well known company. I'll have too look around again and see what I can find in ATX and if they don't benefit me then I'll have to see if there are any major disadvantages to the micro I already have. Thanks, because I didn't notice the mATX, been switching between so many, lol.

Motherboard: It's mATX. Yeah, ASUS ROG looks sweet and all, but there's no reason to get that over a normal sized motherboard around the same price. It's probably slightly better quality, but Sandy Bridge overclocking barely stresses the motherboard compared to past generations
Case: $10 more shipping and no $20MIR just to change the color of the fans?
Video Card: Basically the same card, but it was in the combo.
SSD: The one you got was rather old, this is one from the latest generation. Also upped to a 60GB.
TIM: MX-2 is great. MX-4 is the update.
Monitor: Don't know much about them, so I just threw in whatever seemed good. At $170 though, you're pretty much exactly hit $1500.

When you go Eyefinity, you basically have to Crossfire if you want decent performance at high settings.

I looked over the suggestions, thought for a while, and what I have come up with is this:

Cpu-$219.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.749747

Ram-$34.99 (bundled with Mother Board)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.742501

Mother Board-$209.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.742501

Video Card(bundled with Cpu)-$250.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.749747

HDD-$59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

SSD(used with intel SRT for HDD caching)-$109.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441

Power Supply(larger then needed for future builds)-$104.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021

Monitor (Going to look around at local stores, see what I can get for same price)-$169.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236079

Case (hate to give up the better looking one, lol)-$154.99 (bundled)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.722409.11-119-160

Operating System-$99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.722409.11-119-160

Optical Drive-$18.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

After market cpu cooler-$25.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

Thermal Paste (tried and true, lol; as well as cheaper)-$8.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186020

Wireless Adapter(Until I can run some cable to where I need it)-$18.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704045

Total: $1488.85

Shipping: $11.89

Mail in rebates: $45

Grand Total: $1500.74 (1455.74 with mail in rebates)


The only reason I picked the TP-Link adapter over the zonet one is because it had a lot better reviews and from what a lot of people say you can sometimes get a better range with a usb then a pci because of placement, again it is only a temporary thing, but I do need it for now.

Yeah solid build. The SSD upgrade to the M4 is a good choice. Noticeable speed difference between SATA II vs SATA III drives.

Yeah, think I'm probably going to look around local stores for similar monitors (hate getting them without ever seeing them). May save a little that way. Seems like a good build to me though, would like some more opinions on it, if anyone has any

Looks like you've done some good research!

Solid build.

Yeah, I had to take out some of the accessories that I really wanted, but I guess I can live without them for a little while until I can afford them. I can always buy them later, can't just upgrade the main components after a few weeks, lol.

looks like a solid build, let us know how it all works out.

It will probably be around a month or more from now that I post anything about the build, to give me time to get it all bought, delivered, set up, and tested for a few weeks (unless I run into a RMA or some unforeseen problems.

I'm going to leave this thread as unsolved for a little while longer, just incase someone wants to make some more suggestions or comments before I make my final purchase.

I really don't see why you're getting MX-2 instead of MX-4...MX-4 is just as tried as MX-2 and it's proved to be a couple C better.

And again, $30 to change the color of the case fans, but some people just like blue better.

Nothing wrong with uATX in a ATX case. In fact ATX format for a 16x pcie limited CPU is what is actually odd

That said if you live near a Microcenter.

I believe the 2500Ks are $150 right now, or if you want hyperthreading you can go with a 2600K+Z68 and get $80 off.


M4Gene-Z is a nice board, only played around with it a little bit, going to do more indepth testing a in a few. More expensive boards (and at $170 its not a really expensive Z68 board) for P67/Z68 is all about hte features and the ASUS has them in spades. Lots of extra free software, software licensing for Xfi, Intel Nic etc etc.

I wouldnt sweat the thermal paste though.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/printpage/Thermal-Compound-Roundup-May-2011/1249

Difference between best and worst? 5C at load. Which a CPU usually isn't. There is a hell of a lot other things you can do to improve cooling then spending more money on one brand of paste over another.

I would go with whatever is easiest to apply. Because, if its easy to apply you are more likely to get it right. Menaing better performance. IF you have better paste that is harder to apply and apply it wrong, you are not reaping the benefits.

Just my 1.5 cents

Yeah, I would Have loved to go the microcenter route but the closest ones are about 2 states away in any direction, lol

And this build is intended for near future upgrades, so the ATX mobo would be the better one. I didn't mean to originally put a mATX mobo up, but it is still a very nice one.

Knufire said:

I really don't see why you're getting MX-2 instead of MX-4...MX-4 is just as tried as MX-2 and it's proved to be a couple C better.

And again, $30 to change the color of the case fans, but some people just like blue better.

Click to expand...

I'm sure the mx-4 is great like the mx-2, it's mostly because the mx-2 is cheaper and the little colder the mx-4 keeps it really isn't going to make or break me.

The blue one goes out of stock atleast every other day, lol.

This my all be subjective, but going with the blue one, there might be benefits that some people get over others. If you can't stand red, then the blue on wins in that, lol. If you buy the red one intending on replacing the stock fans with blue ones (red one only has one led fan), they just saved you the trouble(for $9 shipping and no rebate).

I can't wait to start building this thing, really interested in the intel SRT see just how good it is.

any comments are still appreciated.

Finished everything with this build. I put it in a new thread. For anyone that is interested here is the link.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7009521#post7009521