Gaming Rig Build $900-$1000 // Tower

[vi3tshiiet]

Hey guys, I need your help finding me a gaming rig under one grand. I used to be up to date with hardware until beginning of this year where I stopped researching. I want this rig purely for gaming, so I'd like the best I could get with my price range! I live in Australia but I'm sure the stuff they have in US is similar, it might be a little more expensive but I will look into it!

Also, if possible, while keeping the specs good, if an i7 can fit in there that would be awesome. The tower doesn't have to be fancy.

- All comments will be appreciated!

 

[Noodles :)]

I'm on the job! Shall edit this post with a picture.
Parts will be from pccasegear.com

CPU is overclockable(will do 4GHz minimum, i5s usually do 4.5ish on air)

 

[vi3tshiiet]

BIG EDIT:

So I put together most of what you said, took some stuff out and changed a little bit (price efficiency and whatnot). Anyways, check this out and tell me what you think.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us
I managed to save money by changing PSU, and i KNOW coolermaster does a good job, doesnt it? :/
I also took out the extra fan, but I might put it back in, however I've never bought an extra fan before is it necessary?

 

[Noodles :)]

PSU is still fine, Could drop back to my MOBO(save $20) and the heatsink I had in is so you can overclock & keep your CPU cooler, IMO it's worth it.

Besides that I'd wait to see if anyone else has an opinion on the build.

 

[vi3tshiiet]

With my current build should I stick with your MOBO or upgrade to an extreme3 (same price as my current motherboard). I'm not good with MOBOs so I don't know what kind of advantage differences they have :/

 

[Jeff]

If you live in Australia then the best place is to purchase PC parts from an MSY branch.

They are purely cheap and simple, and if needed can build the PC for a small fee.

Here's their extensive price list: http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf

They do also sell built computer packages and towers: http://www.msy.com.au/default.jsp

PC Systems -> Intel System Package -> (Drop down menu)

-Intel Upgrade Value Pack
-Intel Power Value Pack
-Intel Professional 1
-Intel Professional 2
-Intel Professional 3
-Intel Professional 4

And two other tabs which you can also browse which include AMD System Package and Extreme Gamer Package, both with drop down menus and extra options.

However, here's my suggested build:

CPU : Core i7-960 : $325
Motherboard : Asus P8P67-LE-V3 : $117
Hard Disk Drive : Seagate SATA3 1T : $59
RAM : 8G Kit 1333 Kingston : $56
VGA : 1G GTX560 Gigabyte : $209
Disk Drive : 100” 16x DVD -R Xcopy : $18
Case : Thermaltake Wing RS301 : $70
PSU : SHAW Gaming Viper-1500(Tri-Fan) : $52

Total : $906

Looking back, I paid double that price for me PC a year or two ago and mines not even half that good, haha.

Back on topic, the other suggested build by Noodles did not include RAM or an i7 CPU.

Have fun.

 

[Noodles :)]

My build is better, MSY is pickup only.

SHAW PSU are fucking HORRIBLE, you'd be lucky if that PSU put out 600w.
never EVER EVER EVER put a shaw PSU into your computer.
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=964020&highlight=SHAW+powersupply
For reference.

the 2500k WHOOPs the 960 in gaming. And it's $80 cheaper.

That motherboard is for socket 1155, you chose a 1366 processor aswell.


And shit I only noticed I forgot ram, fuck I'm stupid. I must have accidently clicked outta it. D:
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_538_913&products_id=13931
^RAM.

 

[vi3tshiiet]

If you live in Australia then the best place is to purchase PC parts from an MSY branch.

They are purely cheap and simple, and if needed can build the PC for a small fee.

Here's their extensive price list: http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf

They do also sell built computer packages and towers: http://www.msy.com.au/default.jsp

PC Systems -> Intel System Package -> (Drop down menu)

-Intel Upgrade Value Pack
-Intel Power Value Pack
-Intel Professional 1
-Intel Professional 2
-Intel Professional 3
-Intel Professional 4

And two other tabs which you can also browse which include AMD System Package and Extreme Gamer Package, both with drop down menus and extra options.

However, here's my suggested build:

CPU : Core i7-960 : $325
Motherboard : Asus P8P67-LE-V3 : $117
Hard Disk Drive : Seagate SATA3 1T : $59
RAM : 8G Kit 1333 Kingston : $56
VGA : 1G GTX560 Gigabyte : $209
Disk Drive : 100” 16x DVD -R Xcopy : $18
Case : Thermaltake Wing RS301 : $70
PSU : SHAW Gaming Viper-1500(Tri-Fan) : $52

Total : $906

Looking back, I paid double that price for me PC a year or two ago and mines not even half that good, haha.

Back on topic, the other suggested build by Noodles did not include RAM or an i7 CPU.

Have fun.

Yeah i'm actually having half the stuff bought from MSY for a little price drop, however their prices aren't that much different. I agree with noodles though, I purchased a SHAW PSU once and it didn't even have enough wiring (how does that work).

My build is better, MSY is pickup only.

SHAW PSU are fucking HORRIBLE, you'd be lucky if that PSU put out 600w.
never EVER EVER EVER put a shaw PSU into your computer.
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=964020&highlight=SHAW+powersupply
For reference.

the 2500k WHOOPs the 960 in gaming. And it's $80 cheaper.

That motherboard is for socket 1155, you chose a 1366 processor aswell.


And shit I only noticed I forgot ram, fuck I'm stupid. I must have accidently clicked outta it. D:
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_538_913&products_id=13931
^RAM.

Thanks mate. I re-did the list, its pretty much the same gear, but if theres something wrong there point it out for me.

MSY:
Intel Core i5 2500K $227
Coolermaster GX 750W $109
Corsair Carbide CC400R $136
SATA Pioneer-219L $24
8GB (4Gx2) 1600 G.Skill Ripjaws-X $64
ASRock Extreme3 Gen 3 Motherboard $136

PCCASEGEAR - Shipping $23

CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ CPU Cooler $33
HD6950 VTX3D Radeon 1GB $229

Total: $981

I'm planning on getting a SSD afterwards, as well as reading a youtube guide on how to put on the heatsinker haha.

 

[Noodles :)]

Looks good, and will play games pretty nicely too.

The heatsink is just like putting on the one that comes with the CPU, just bigger.

Once you get an SSD will be a boss build, and I hope you can overclock, or plan on learning cos you'll be able to do 4GHz minimum on the i5, I'd be seeing 4.3-4.5GHz.

 

[vi3tshiiet]

Looks good, and will play games pretty nicely too.

The heatsink is just like putting on the one that comes with the CPU, just bigger.

Once you get an SSD will be a boss build, and I hope you can overclock, or plan on learning cos you'll be able to do 4GHz minimum on the i5, I'd be seeing 4.3-4.5GHz.

Thanks for all the help buddy. I'll try to grab the rig within the following week if I can save up enough money haha. And yeah I'll try to learn, maybe theres a specific guide on how to overclock this certain CPU .

Just a little side note, with lets say an upgrade in the future, will I be looking at upgrading the CPU to an i7?

 

[Noodles :)]

No probs man. And there is guides, just google around.

And yes, intels next line of CPUs will be using socket 1155 so you can just upgrade to one of those.(going from 2500k to a 2600k is useless) And anyway, the 2500k should last you 2years minimum anyway, by the time you actually need to upgrade there'll be tons of new CPUs.

I mean just look at Core2quads, people still use them today for gaming and thats 4or so years.

 

[kill dank]

I like Noodles build better, even though slightly more expensive.
And he mentioned Overclocking. If you'd like a simple way to OC without having any special knowledge, try a motherboard with OC Genie. They're pretty legit for stably overclocking. I have on on an i5 650 machine that I was able to overclock to 4.5ghz stable on air cooling. I could probably even go higher.

If you live in Australia then the best place is to purchase PC parts from an MSY branch.

They are purely cheap and simple, and if needed can build the PC for a small fee.

Here's their extensive price list: http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf

They do also sell built computer packages and towers: http://www.msy.com.au/default.jsp

PC Systems -> Intel System Package -> (Drop down menu)

-Intel Upgrade Value Pack
-Intel Power Value Pack
-Intel Professional 1
-Intel Professional 2
-Intel Professional 3
-Intel Professional 4

And two other tabs which you can also browse which include AMD System Package and Extreme Gamer Package, both with drop down menus and extra options.

However, here's my suggested build:

CPU : Core i7-960 : $325
Motherboard : Asus P8P67-LE-V3 : $117
Hard Disk Drive : Seagate SATA3 1T : $59
RAM : 8G Kit 1333 Kingston : $56
VGA : 1G GTX560 Gigabyte : $209
Disk Drive : 100” 16x DVD -R Xcopy : $18
Case : Thermaltake Wing RS301 : $70
PSU : SHAW Gaming Viper-1500(Tri-Fan) : $52

Total : $906

Looking back, I paid double that price for me PC a year or two ago and mines not even half that good, haha.

Back on topic, the other suggested build by Noodles did not include RAM or an i7 CPU.

Have fun.

I wouldn't recommend a 1366 as it's a dead socket and there will be no more upgrades. And you will get better performance from a 2600k or 2500k in a lot of scenarios.

 

[Jeff]

My build is better, MSY is pickup only.

SHAW PSU are fucking HORRIBLE, you'd be lucky if that PSU put out 600w.
never EVER EVER EVER put a shaw PSU into your computer.
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=964020&highlight=SHAW+powersupply
For reference.

the 2500k WHOOPs the 960 in gaming. And it's $80 cheaper.

That motherboard is for socket 1155, you chose a 1366 processor aswell.


And shit I only noticed I forgot ram, fuck I'm stupid. I must have accidently clicked outta it. D:
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_538_913&products_id=13931
^RAM.

SHAW is a leading PSU manufacturer, so any unfortunate incidents anyone has had from them were a one off.

However there are many PSU's from MSY that are readily available for a very fair price.

Although they do not yet deliver, considering the amount of branches located across Australia, I'm sure a pickup is not a problem.

That being said, here's what they have said on their site:

We only support pickup at this time, online payment and delivery is still being developed.

 

[Noodles :)]

SHAW is not a leading PSU manufacturer, learn your shit first.
$52 for a 1.5k PSU? yeah that's total quality. They are pieces of shit and don't make any claims they aren't. I can't even find a review on them, I found 10+ threads from Whirlpool, OCAU and other sites saying they're pieces of shit though.

I know MSY is good, but if he doesn't live close to one there's no point suggesting it(he didn't mention where he was, that's why I went with PCCG).

EDIT:
If the PSU isn't on http://www.jonnyguru.com/index.php then it's probably not worth bothering with.

 

[vi3tshiiet]

I'm going to agree with Noodles. Purchased a SHAW PSU and as soon as I did I knew I was buying cheap quality gear. Anyways, I came with a final build,

MSY:
Intel Core i5 2500K $227
Corsair GS-600 Power Supply $103
Corsair Carbide CC400 $136
SATA Pioneer-219L $24
8GB (4Gx2) 1600 G.Skill Ripjaws-X $64
ASRock Extreme3 Gen 3 Motherboard $136


PCCASEGEAR - Shipping $23

CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ CPU Cooler $33
Sapphire Radeon HD6950 2GB $279

Total: $1025

Changed it to a 2GB for high resolution games and newer games that may be coming out, just so I'm sure i wouldn't run out of VRAM. No HDDs because I have a few at home, my next purchase after the initial rig will probably be a 120gb SSD tho, but we'll see. By the way, I live about a 15 minute drive away from MSI, so I'll pick up most of the stuff - however they don't supply everything, so i'm getting the 2 shipped.

What do you think?

 

[Noodles :)]

Looks fine. Will be a good build.
I'm planning on building something similar, but by the time I get the money new shit will be out tho. D:

 

[vi3tshiiet]

Haha yeah thats the sad thing about building PCs, new updated stuff comes out way too often and value keeps dropping.

I'm planning to purchase this at max within half a month.

 

[So.Cal Life]

Just a tip; think Linux

 

[Noodles :)]

Just a tip; think Linux

Windows is better for gaming.