$1000-$1200 for General purpose/gaming rig

[Fjive]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
I'll be using this as my main rig, mostly Internet/Mp3/Movies/Casual gaming (1080p) plus VMware workstation.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
$1000-1200

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
Malaysia

4. IF YOU have a brand preference.
I'm going to stick with Intel CPU, Gigabyte from my good experience for past 2 mobo.
No preference for GPU, for hdd I'm going to stick with WD for its reliability. For Case, prefer to get Cooler master or Corsair since its available locally.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Re-using WD Blue 640gb, Dell 2311h 1080p

6. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
No O/C.

7. What resolution will you be using?
1920x1080.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
In 1 to 2 weeks.


Here's what I have in mind so far,

Intel Core i5 3570 (Non K version, don't intend to O/C)
Gigabyte Z77X-D3H
Kingston HyperX PC1600 4GB x 2
SAPPHIRE HD7870 OC (Because 7950/670 exceeds my budget)
Crucial M4 128gb SSD (Purchased)
WD Blue 1 TB (Plus another WD Blue 640gb from current rig)
DVD-RW
Corsair Carbide 500R (Initial choice was 400r or CM 690 II advance B&W but they have been OOS from the shop I'm getting it)
Seasonic S12ii 620w (I hope this has plenty of head room, just in case I add another hdd or upgrade to a high end GPU.)

I will be using this for the next 4-5 years, just as I have with my current C2D rig.
What do you think? Comments are welcome 🙂

 

[Ken g6]

Do you really think a 7870 is worth $100 more than a 7850? Especially for "casual" gaming. The Seasonic's great, but you might consider the M12ii modular version. And beware 1.65V Hyper-X RAM; you should get 1.5V, but the brand doesn't matter all that much.

We can give you more help, such as local, current deals, if you answer [thread=80121]some questions[/thread] for us.

 

[Fjive]

Do you really think a 7870 is worth $100 more than a 7850? Especially for "casual" gaming. The Seasonic's great, but you might consider the M12ii modular version. And beware 1.65V Hyper-X RAM; you should get 1.5V, but the brand doesn't matter all that much.

We can give you more help, such as local, current deals, if you answer [thread=80121]some questions[/thread] for us.

hey, thanks for the quick reply. I think the RAMs are 1.5V, check this out.

http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/KHX1600C9D3K2_8GX.pdf

As for the 7870, well that's the best I could get unless I top up another $40-50 for a 7950.
I was thinking not to spend too much since I'm not a hardcore gamer.

 

[mfenn]

I agree with Ken overall. Another point is that you can get an i5 3550 instead of 3570. It's only 100Mhz slower and saves about $30 US.

 

[mfenn]

As for the 7870, well that's the best I could get unless I top up another $40-50 for a 7950.
I was thinking not to spend too much since I'm not a hardcore gamer.

Yes, that's why Ken is saying that you should look at the 7850.

 

[lehtv]

No overclocking, and casual gaming?

CPU i5-3450 or 3550... also, wouldn't hyperthreading benefit VM? If so -> i7-2600
Mobo H77 or B75 chipset
RAM You may need 16GB for VMware
GPU 7850 tops, 6870 would probably be fine
HDD WD Caviar Black > Blue (especially the warranty)
Case Corsair 400R or similar (even cheaper cases that do the job can be found, e.g. Corsair 300R, Antec 302); 500R only has an extra 200mm fan which is not needed for your setup
PSU 500W (Seasonic, Antec, Corsair or similar)

 

[Fjive]

I picked the fastest i5 (only $10 more than 3550) hoping it will be good for 4-5 years, and it has VT-d. I'll be running 1 or 2 VMs concurrently most of the time..so the i7 could be overkill IMO.

Since I already have a M4, wont be needing a WD Black, its too much to pay over a Blue.
The cheapest and good PSU I could get is, Corsair GS600 & S12 II 620. They both cost the same, so I picked the latter.

The 400r is a good idea, I hope they will be in stock soon. I could save $30 from the 500r and perhaps get a 7950 ($50 more than 7870 OC) instead. Since I would probably be playing some games in the next 4 years.

My current rig (E8400+8800GT) has serve me very well, I expect the new rig to do the same 🙂

 

[lehtv]

Since I already have a M4, wont be needing a WD Black, its too much to pay over a Blue.

What about Green drives? Can get a Caviar Green 2TB or Samsung F4 2TB for $120

The 400r is a good idea, I hope they will be in stock soon. I could save $30 from the 500r and perhaps get a 7950 ($50 more than 7870 OC) instead. Since I would probably be playing some games in the next 4 years.

I'm still not following your logic here. You're a casual gamer, yes? Why does a casual gamer want to spend $350-400 on a video card? The 7850 is no slouch, it's fast enough for most midrange gamers. Casual gamers should be more than fine with a 7850.

Also four years is a long time, you'll get better performance over time if you buy a midrange card now and upgrade it in two years. Why? Because midrange cards offer better performance for the money, and tech evolves fast.

 

[bononos]

hey, thanks for the quick reply. I think the RAMs are 1.5V, check this out.

http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/KHX1600C9D3K2_8GX.pdf

As for the 7870, well that's the best I could get unless I top up another $40-50 for a 7950.
I was thinking not to spend too much since I'm not a hardcore gamer.

The memory isn't 1.5v, its 1.65v for DDR3 1600 according to the doc unless you are going to run it at DDR3 1333.
7850 is the sweet spot especially so if you aren't hardcore.
500W for a psu is plenty for non-sli non-overclocked builds like yours with cpu/gpu that aren't top of the line power hungry components.
Do you need all of the features particular model Z77X-D3H or could you do with something like the Z77-D3H.

 

[lehtv]

^ Why would he need Z77 in the first place?

 

[Fjive]

Thanks for highlighting on the 1.65V ram, guess i will have to pick a different one. I need PC1600 DDR3 ram to go with IVB right?

I picked the Z77X-D3H for the extra USB 3.0 ports. I have a few external USB 3 devices that I occasionally hook up to. I know Z77 is for overclocking 🙂

Will the 7850 OC be as good as my 8800GT 4 years down the road on 1080p?

Hmm, I usually just get a new rig and won't spend much on upgrading it few years down the road, unless I run out of disk space. So I'm getting 'the best' my budget allows and settle for those.

Thanks again for all the feedback guys!

btw, I only need a new 1TB drive since I will be re-using the 640gb.

 

[lehtv]

Will the 7850 OC be as good as my 8800GT 4 years down the road on 1080p?

Let me just consult my crystal ball...

Well, some strange fog obscures the Crysis 4 benchmarks, so I'll just have to guess. 8800GT cost $200-250 on release, 7850 costs $250, so I'm going to guess yes. 🙂

 

[riversend]

Any reason not to reuse the Corsair HX520? Does not have the right power connectors or something else (just old, for instance)? Curious because I am about to upgrade a similar system and was planning on reusing that power supply.

 

[azeem40]

It looks good honestly.

 

[mfenn]

I picked the fastest i5 (only $10 more than 3550) hoping it will be good for 4-5 years, and it has VT-d. I'll be running 1 or 2 VMs concurrently most of the time..so the i7 could be overkill IMO.

100 MHz isn't going to make a CPU last another year. By the time the 3550 is slow, the 3570 will be as well. VT-d is also completely irrelevant in a desktop scenario, you have no hypervisor, NIC, or RAID controller capable of using it. Short answer, save the money for a decent lunch, you'll get more value.

 

[mfenn]

Any reason not to reuse the Corsair HX520? Does not have the right power connectors or something else (just old, for instance)? Curious because I am about to upgrade a similar system and was planning on reusing that power supply.

Not really, the HX520 is a good unit.

 

[Fjive]

Any reason not to reuse the Corsair HX520? Does not have the right power connectors or something else (just old, for instance)? Curious because I am about to upgrade a similar system and was planning on reusing that power supply.

Not really, the HX520 is a good unit.

its a good unit indeed, I intend to keep it in my current rig. Though i have yet to decide what i can do with the E8400..

100 MHz isn't going to make a CPU last another year. By the time the 3550 is slow, the 3570 will be as well. VT-d is also completely irrelevant in a desktop scenario, you have no hypervisor, NIC, or RAID controller capable of using it. Short answer, save the money for a decent lunch, you'll get more value.

so Intel included a feature into a desktop CPU but its useless 🙁

 

[thelastjuju]

Well thanks to the unusually beefy cache, the e8400 is still an extremely capable chip.

I still can't believe I haven't had to upgrade mine yet in my HTPC/Media only PC. Still runs every single modern game I throw at it. Maybe not maxed, but close enough for me.

Also, forget trying to futureproof for more than about a year.. maybe two, tops. Once the next generations of consoles roll out, it could be a total game changer, since PC gaming has been almost entirely reduced to console ports. However the next consoles are designed is going to determine the type of hardware we will need to match or exceed, and its still too early to say.

And useless features are inevitable these days.. they just insist on loading us up with nonsense left and right.. like DUAL lan ports popping up on motherboards .. lol, nuff said. :awe:

 

[mfenn]

so Intel included a feature into a desktop CPU but its useless 🙁

It's not "useless" per se, just very unlikely to be used. 😀