$2000 budget build

Bradtech519

Senior member
Jul 6, 2010
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friend of mine just retired, and is wanting a new PC for gaming mainly. Here are a couple of builds I've fooled around with.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/bradtech519/saved/3e0C

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/bradtech519/saved/3e0i


He said he wanted 32 GB of RAM but I might can get him down to 16GB to use the rest on a faster GPU. Outside of my rig below I've been out of the loop outside of Distributed Computing research. Any ideas on how to make the $2000 stretch/better parts etc.. Won't be overclocking
 

Torn Mind

Lifer
Nov 25, 2012
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1245 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($289.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87M Extreme4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: PNY XLR8 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($127.58 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($144.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.48 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($499.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Silverstone SST-PS07B MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($80.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit) ($112.13 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: Dell U2412M 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($276.11 @ Amazon)
Total: $1836.21
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-24 02:01 EST-0500)

Note that I included a monitor and OS because Windows 8.1 is nothing to be afraid of and a new monitor would enhance the gaming experience.

I selected the motherboard for the sake of extra PCIe x1 slots. You very well could just an H87 board instead and save about $20-$30.

The Xeon/i7 is also not necessarily necessary, but I don't know what games your friend plans on playing, so I chose them just in case if they do BF4, Crysis, etc.
 

Termie

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2005
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Just a few comments:
(1) He doesn't need 32GB. In fact, he doesn't even need 16GB, but you can include it just to appease him
(2) the microATX build above is nice, but I'd use the reference GTX 780 with that case. I have a very similar one, and my open-air 780 runs pretty hot.
(3) for gaming, I'd MUCH rather have an overclockable 4670K than a locked Xeon. You can set him up with a very mild OC with no trouble at all. Just dial in a 40 multiplier in the UEFI.
(4) That 850W power supply is totally unnecessary for this build. Want to set him up with something really nice? How about a 660W platinum unit for $80AR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151121
(5) That Corsair SSD you picked is not a good value. Take this Crucial 480GB for $10 more: http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-2-5-I...8&qid=1387893002&sr=8-2&keywords=crucial+m500
 
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Meghan54

Lifer
Oct 18, 2009
11,684
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Just a few comments:
(1) He doesn't need 32GB. In fact, he doesn't even need 16GB, but you can include it just to appease him

So much a fact it hurts.



(3) for gaming, I'd MUCH rather have an overclockable 4670K than a locked Xeon. You can set him up with a very mild OC with no trouble at all. Just dial in a 40 multiplier in the UEFI.
Again, a fact that cannot really be disputed. The 4670k is simply the better choice, by far.


(4) That 850W power supply is totally unnecessary for this build. Want to set him up with something really nice? How about a 660W platinum unit for $80AR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151121
That's the ps in my wife's pc. Cannot believe the price on it now. Get it!!


(5) That Corsair SSD you picked is not a good value. Take this Crucial 480GB for $10 more: http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-2-5-In...s=crucial+m500
I'd just throw this into the mix, if I may.....the Samsung 840 EVO 500GB SSD. Priced forty-five cents higher than the Crucial.

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electr...amsung+evo+840
 

Bradtech519

Senior member
Jul 6, 2010
520
47
91
Thanks for the help guys. I've made some revisions. He's always went with Full ATX cases in the past so I went with the highest rated one on newegg. I plan on putting Windows 8.1 Pro on it. I can get it for 69.99 currently. I'm asking him what games he plans on playing on it. Going to tell him SLI isn't necessary really, 32GB is a waste, etc.. At first he said he wanted dual video cards because he wanted two monitors. One that displays weather information, and the other for general usage like gaming. I know he loves world of tanks, and in the past was into Battlefield series but don't think so anymore. He might just want to stick Windows 7 back on it. I don't think he is a big fan of 8/8.1 but I'll tell him I can make it boot to desktop, and restore start button with classic shell. It's what a I do.


http://pcpartpicker.com/user/bradtech519/saved/3ebM
 

Termie

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2005
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Thanks for the help guys. I've made some revisions. He's always went with Full ATX cases in the past so I went with the highest rated one on newegg. I plan on putting Windows 8.1 Pro on it. I can get it for 69.99 currently. I'm asking him what games he plans on playing on it. Going to tell him SLI isn't necessary really, 32GB is a waste, etc.. At first he said he wanted dual video cards because he wanted two monitors. One that displays weather information, and the other for general usage like gaming. I know he loves world of tanks, and in the past was into Battlefield series but don't think so anymore. He might just want to stick Windows 7 back on it. I don't think he is a big fan of 8/8.1 but I'll tell him I can make it boot to desktop, and restore start button with classic shell. It's what a I do.


http://pcpartpicker.com/user/bradtech519/saved/3ebM

That looks good. Just two more comments:
(1) I wouldn't go just by reviews on Newegg. the Haf X is an old case, and that means it's received a lot of reviews. It's overpriced for the features, though. Consider something more up to date like the Corsair Obsidian 750D, if you're seriously in the price range, but other good ones closer to $100 are the Corsair 400R/500R, Fractal R4, and Antec 1100. These are all mid-towers, but frankly, buying a full tower for the equipment you're talking about is not ideal. Way too big, hard to work with, and with compromised airflow due to distances the air needs to travel.

(2) the memory is far too expensive. If he's not overclocking, why are you getting him 2133 RAM? That is strictly for tweakers. DDR3-1600 would be fine for this build for about $50 less - and get 2x8GB sticks for sure, rather that 4x4.
 

Torn Mind

Lifer
Nov 25, 2012
11,898
2,716
136
Thanks for the help guys. I've made some revisions. He's always went with Full ATX cases in the past so I went with the highest rated one on newegg. I plan on putting Windows 8.1 Pro on it. I can get it for 69.99 currently. I'm asking him what games he plans on playing on it. Going to tell him SLI isn't necessary really, 32GB is a waste, etc.. At first he said he wanted dual video cards because he wanted two monitors. One that displays weather information, and the other for general usage like gaming. I know he loves world of tanks, and in the past was into Battlefield series but don't think so anymore. He might just want to stick Windows 7 back on it. I don't think he is a big fan of 8/8.1 but I'll tell him I can make it boot to desktop, and restore start button with classic shell. It's what a I do.


http://pcpartpicker.com/user/bradtech519/saved/3ebM
Lol, dual monitors can be done on an IGP, although normally not with both DVI and HDMI at the same time, but that was with the 2nd and 3rd Gen i-series and their Celeron and Pentiums. I think Haswell can support up to three at the same time.

In addition, the IGP and graphics card can be used simultaneously. I did some mining recently, and I attached my monitor to the mobo DVI port while mining because the mining program was hammering the graphics card to the point of the mouse stuttering across the screen if the monitor was attached to the graphics card.

And gaming really doesn't gobble over 8GB RAM these days, although I suppose 16 is okay in case future games actually do start becoming guzzlers.

You have room for an i7-4770K, and you'll need an aftermarket cooler. Since Haswell tends to have a wall around 4.4 GHz, and you're more focused on stability, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo is a good choice.

Also, what monitor resolution does he plan on using? 1440p is more demanding than 1080p, for example.

Newegg reviews are more of a "I'm happy or unhappy" sort of review while "pro" reviews at websites do more thorough analysis of features such as noise, cooling performance, layout, layout, cable management features, etc.
 
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mfenn

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Jan 17, 2010
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Lol, dual monitors can be done on an IGP, although normally not with both DVI and HDMI at the same time, but that was with the 2nd and 3rd Gen i-series and their Celeron and Pentiums. I think Haswell can support up to three at the same time.

In addition, the IGP and graphics card can be used simultaneously. I did some mining recently, and I attached my monitor to the mobo DVI port while mining because the mining program was hammering the graphics card to the point of the mouse stuttering across the screen if the monitor was attached to the graphics card.

This is true, but it is less complicated to run two monitors off the discrete GPU. The GTX 780 is certainly up to that task.
 
Sep 23, 2013
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if you striktly don´t want to overclock, go with xeon e3,
i have an e3 1230 v3, it´s really fast
if you consider a little oc, go with 4770k on a budget like that over 4670k
more games are very likely to support up to 8 threads with the new consoles out, some do as is
(battlefield, crysis 3)
 

mfenn

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Jan 17, 2010
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more games are very likely to support up to 8 threads with the new consoles out, some do as is
(battlefield, crysis 3)

This is a false equivalence. The new consoles have AMD's equivalent to the Atom in terms of cores and they're clocked quite low to boot. Any fast Intel core is worth 4 of them. So don't expect consoles to drive games towards CPU dependence.
 
Sep 23, 2013
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sure, but still they (developers) should extra carefully be trying to use every thread they can put into their code, as the jaguar-like cores of the consoles are so weak
so if the threads are there, performance will scale with the use of them

i´m just repeating, what several hardware papers and e-zines have been speculating

i´m not saying intel quad core won´t be enough, but i think quad + smt will be shining ever more as more threads are going to be used
 
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mfenn

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Jan 17, 2010
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sure, but still they (developers) should extra carefully be trying to use every thread they can put into their code, as the jaguar-like cores of the consoles are so weak
so if the threads are there, performance will scale with the use of them

i´m just repeating, what several hardware papers and e-zines have been speculating

i´m not saying intel quad core won´t be enough, but i think quad + smt will be shining ever more as more threads are going to be used

They will also be carefully keeping the overall CPU needs at or below what an 8-core Jaguar can provide. CPU requirements tend to be baked into the game at a much deeper level than GPU requirements (i.e. the AI is always going to take up what it takes), so I wouldn't expect to see massive CPU scaling out of console ports.

Games that are developed with the PC in mind are obviously different, but there the developers are going to target the biggest market segment: Intel Core i3 (dual core with HT) and Core i5 (quad core, no HT).