Advice On This Budget 600-750 Build

Jbraves

Junior Member
Mar 31, 2012
3
0
0
1. Gaming, Music, Web surfing

2. $600-750

3. USA

4. AMD or Intel

5. Monitor Mouse, Keyboard, OS, Monitor

7. No overclocking.

8. 1680x1050

9. 1 week

I've been reading a lot on this site and tomshardware regarding the best bang for your buck in gaming hardware. It seems like the Intel might be the way to go. I threw these components together, and hoping I can get some advice from some of the guru's out there....if this build will be suffice and work well together.


Want something quiet, and something that will allow me to play future games (MMORPG, FPS) efficiently. Building this to mainly play D3, BF3, and upcoming games. Also want a clean build w/good cable management.



COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic [COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important][COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important]ATX [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=inherit !important][COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important]Mid [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important]Tower[/FONT][/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119233


ASRock Z68 PRO3 GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157279


Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous [COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important][COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important]Power[/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371016


Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115074


G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin [COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important][COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important]DDR3[/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231314


SAPPHIRE AMD Radeon HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 PCIE Graphics Card by Sapphire Technology
http://www.amazon.com/SAPPHIRE-Rad [...] 210&sr=8-1


Samsung by Seagate Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ/ST500DM005 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822152181


[COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important][COLOR=blue !important][FONT=inherit !important]ASUS[/FONT][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827135204
 

p_monks33

Golden Member
May 22, 2011
1,292
5
81
I think you could get a 6850 for about $50.00 cheaper and it barely trails the 6870. Use the extra 50 dollars to get the i5 2500k its $219.00 - 15.00 instant off so roughly 15 more dollars, and if in the future it starts to lag in some games you can overclock the processor very easily. JMHO though.
 

Jbraves

Junior Member
Mar 31, 2012
3
0
0
Thanks for the replies. I tried to find a 6850, but everywhere is out of stock.
 

lehtv

Elite Member
Dec 8, 2010
11,897
74
91
OK, looking at the build as a whole now. Well, first off you're on a limited budget. You'll want to be as cheap as you possibly can without losing anything essential - apart from the CPU and GPU. These are the two most important things because they determine the overall performance of the rig. Your original rig comes at $737 AR. Let's see what we can do:

Mobo Too expensive and Z68 not needed. Asrock H61ICafe $70
CPU Good, $185 on ncix
RAM Too expensive. G.Skill Value 1333 $38
GPU Sapphire 7850 2GB $260
ODD Good (Asus $20)
HDD Seagate 500GB $75 (newer and cheaper)
PSU Way too expensive. Antec Neo Eco 400C $28 AR AP
Case Good (haf 912 $55 AR)

That's $731 AR AP. Less than your original list of components but with a graphics card that's 20-30% faster than 6870, has twice as much VRAM, consumes a bit less power and stays cooler and quieter than a single fan 6870.

You can of course swap back to 6870 or 6850 for better bang for buck. With the 6870 you would have to use an adapter for the second 6-pin PCIe power slot as 400C has only one 6-pin by default. Doing this would allow you to pick up a 64 gig SSD and stay within your $750 budget.
 
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Jbraves

Junior Member
Mar 31, 2012
3
0
0
Thanks for the recommendation lehtv. My only concern is with the 7850. I was reading the review/benchmarks over at Tom's. The card seemed to have difficulty with Blizzard games. They tested it under 3 different Sandybridge platforms, and were getting crash after crash in World of Warcraft and Starcraft II

The first game I will be playing with this new build is Diablo 3. So, I'm a little hesitant to go with a card that seems to have issues with Blizzard games.

I wasn't able to find anymore recent info regarding these issues and if they have been fixed or not.
 

lehtv

Elite Member
Dec 8, 2010
11,897
74
91
They tested it under 3 different Sandybridge platforms, and were getting crash after crash in World of Warcraft and Starcraft II
Sounds like an issue that will be fixed soon with driver updates.

6850/6870 would play DIII, WOW and SCII with zero issues, I just picked the 7850 as it fits the budget and this is primarily a gaming rig.
 

T_Yamamoto

Lifer
Jul 6, 2011
15,007
795
126
Sounds like an issue that will be fixed soon with driver updates.

6850/6870 would play DIII, WOW and SCII with zero issues, I just picked the 7850 as it fits the budget and this is primarily a gaming rig.
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