First mid range gaming build

[llLeonll]

Hey guys, I'm planning on building a mid-range gaming pc, mostly for playing games like Skyrim, Battlefield 3, Arma II and other games like them.
Since this is my first build, I'm not too sure what to pick, I have around $1,500 NZD that I can spend, and I'm sure I can go a little bit over that if it's necessary, however, this is for my setup, including a monitor keyboard and mouse etc, I've already got a case, which my brother bought for me.
I'll probably be buying the parts over the next few months, finishing around the end of August.
I don't plan on overclocking, and will be buying all of my parts from New Zealand stores.

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Budget - Around $1,500 NZD
Overclocking - Not planning on it
Buying everything from New Zealand
No brand preference
Pc will be mostly for gaming and photo editing, maybe video/sound editing.
Not sure of resolution.
Building in August.

I've chosen these parts, at the moment, I haven't bought them yet because I want to know if they're compatible or not.

Motherboard
CPU
GPU
Power Supply
Ram
Hard drive
DVD Drive

Old Total cost = 1114.35 NZD

New tweaked build

Motherboard
CPU
GPU
Power Supply
Ram
Hard drive
DVD Drive

New Total = 1245.45 NZD
( With Z77 mobo + i5-3570K + HD6850 )

Second tweaked build

Motherboard
CPU
GPU
Power Supply
Ram
Hard drive
DVD Drive

New Total = 1141.95 NZD( With H77 + i5-3450 + HD6850 )

Third tweaked build

Motherboard
CPU
GPU
Power Supply
Ram
Hard drive
DVD Drive

New Total = 1210.95 NZD

Sorry if these are obviously not compatible for any reason, this is my first build.

Thanks in advance.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Well you answered all the questions in the sticky, however you could have organized your responses a bit better

Anyways while the parts are compatible you'll find that most people recommend avoiding AMD for a gaming system, as they are great values for some HTPCs and super-budget gaming systems, but with your budget you should be basing it off an Intel CPU.

Are you going for bang for buck, aka going for the most cost effective set-up at the time and then upgrading it after a year or two; or are you going for a system that you just build now and don't touch for upwards of 3 years, just slowly lowering settings as games become more demanding?

 

[llLeonll]

Well you answered all the questions in the sticky, however you could have organized your responses a bit better

Anyways while the parts are compatible you'll find that most people recommend avoiding AMD for a gaming system, as they are great values for some HTPCs and super-budget gaming systems, but with your budget you should be basing it off an Intel CPU.

Are you going for bang for buck, aka going for the most cost effective set-up at the time and then upgrading it after a year or two; or are you going for a system that you just build now and don't touch for upwards of 3 years, just slowly lowering settings as games become more demanding?

Sorry about the organization of the post, haha.

I was just hoping for a computer that could run fairy high demanding games on above average graphics, really, I don't mind upgrading any parts in the near future, since I was eventually going to save up for a better graphics card and a SSD. For now, this is going to be something to get me going, but also something that runs better than my current laptop.

How about this Intel i5 processor?

 

[Ken g6]

Mobo/CPU: AMD FX and gaming really don't go well together. There could be an argument to be made for a hex-core Phenom II on BF3; but for Skyrim and just about everything else you want the fastest 2-4 Intel cores you can get.

Cheap option: B75 mobo/i3-2120.
Expensive option: Z77 mobo/i5-3570K


GPU: If you have a choice between a 7770 and a 6850 at the same price, get the 6850. If you can scrimp the money together, aim for a 7850.

PSU: Prices at that place are awfully high. But this Seasonic is better than the Cooler Master you picked out.

RAM is fine, but if you need to save money someplace, you could just get 4GB generic RAM in a single module and call it a day.

HDD : At last, something for a decent (near what we pay in the US) price. And a good drive.

DVD : Fine.

 

[krnmastersgt]

A decent processor for running at stock, and that was one of the main reasons why I asked if you wanted to slowly upgrade or are you more the type to do 1 big change and then leave it till it's unsatisfactory.

In terms of most games, getting the i3-2120 for ~$100 less is the smart move as many games won't benefit from additional cores, that being said I believe all the titles you listed scale moderately well on quad-cores, though I don't think they need it for the most part.

Those are some seriously steep feeling prices, even if in terms of cost ratios they're the same as the parts available in the US, just seeing the cheapest Z77 board available to you for $200 is a bit strange for me to see

Edit: What Ken has labelled out is roughly how I felt. For gaming right now, I think you're best off with the i3 + a 7850, the total build should come in well under your budget. You should revisit the idea of a platform upgrade if and when your CPU seems to be holding you back, or within a year when Haswell comes out.

 

[llLeonll]

Mobo/CPU: AMD FX and gaming really don't go well together. There could be an argument to be made for a hex-core Phenom II on BF3; but for Skyrim and just about everything else you want the fastest 2-4 Intel cores you can get.

Cheap option: B75 mobo/i3-2120.
Expensive option: Z77 mobo/i5-3570K


GPU: If you have a choice between a 7770 and a 6850 at the same price, get the 6850. If you can scrimp the money together, aim for a 7850.

PSU: Prices at that place are awfully high. But this Seasonic is better than the Cooler Master you picked out.

RAM is fine, but if you need to save money someplace, you could just get 4GB generic RAM in a single module and call it a day.

HDD : At last, something for a decent (near what we pay in the US) price. And a good drive.

DVD : Fine.

Is this 6850 really better than this 7770?
They're both exactly the same price, so which ever is better I'll most likely be getting.

I'm not too sure about this, but I've heard that having additional cores can make Battlefield 3 run smoother, would a i3 run it as good as an i5?

 

[krnmastersgt]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/539?vs=536

See for yourself, they're arguably close to each other with 1 card excelling in different areas than the other but overall the 6850 is typically the stronger card, not by huge margins but enough to matter for most titles.

And I've heard BF3 can be pretty taxing but I've also seen reports that decent speed dual cores can run it adequately. If you want to be safe, the i5 you chose earlier would be the cheapest way of getting a quad into your system, its a middle-of-the-road option between the cheaper and more expensive builds that Ken linked. If money isn't a big issue I'd advocate for the 3570K + a Z77 board on the basis that it will run every game on the market right now without issue, and if it feels slow in the future you could just overclock it. Or just overclock it because you can like many owners, including myself, do just because we can and the bonus speed is nice (even if not noticeable for most tasks)

 

[llLeonll]

Okay I updated the OP, is that build fine? Also, any way I could take out 100/200 off of that with minimal differences?

 

[krnmastersgt]

That system seems pretty good, just because your prices highlight the differences more I still find myself wondering if you're not just better off with an H61 motherboard + i3 2120 for like $200+ less. And I can't see any way for you to shave off much money without it impacting performance at least somewhat significantly, although primarily theoretically.

 

[lehtv]

Since you're not planning on OC, buy i5-3450 for $50 less and a H77 motherboard for $40 less.

Don't buy a Cooler Master GX, not a very good PSU. 750W is also waaaay overkill, as a system with 6850 and a non-overclockable i5 will run fine on a quality 400W unit.

If you must buy only from pbtech, get the much better quality though still overkill Seasonic S12II 620W for $160. But if you can order from elsewhere, you could save up to $70 or so if you settled for a Seasonic-built Antec Neo Eco 450C.

Your original budget was $1500 - why are you looking to save another $100-200 when your current proposed build is only $1250...? You could add an SSD or a faster video card and still be under your budget. E.g. 7850 2GB would be a lot faster than 6850 but not consume any more power.

Finally... you're building this in August. Come back about a week before you're ready to buy for final parts recommendations

 

[mfenn]

Since you're not planning on OC, buy i5-3450 for $50 less and a H77 motherboard for $40 less.

Don't buy a Cooler Master GX, not a very good PSU. 750W is also waaaay overkill, as a system with 6850 and a non-overclockable i5 will run fine on a quality 400W unit.

If you must buy only from pbtech, get the much better quality though still overkill Seasonic S12II 620W for $160. But if you can order from elsewhere, you could save up to $70 or so if you settled for a Seasonic-built Antec Neo Eco 450C.

Your original budget was $1500 - why are you looking to save another $100-200 when your current proposed build is only $1250...? You could add an SSD or a faster video card and still be under your budget. E.g. 7850 2GB would be a lot faster than 6850 but not consume any more power.

Finally... you're building this in August. Come back about a week before you're ready to buy for final parts recommendations

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[llLeonll]

Since you're not planning on OC, buy i5-3450 for $50 less and a H77 motherboard for $40 less.

Don't buy a Cooler Master GX, not a very good PSU. 750W is also waaaay overkill, as a system with 6850 and a non-overclockable i5 will run fine on a quality 400W unit.

If you must buy only from pbtech, get the much better quality though still overkill Seasonic S12II 620W for $160. But if you can order from elsewhere, you could save up to $70 or so if you settled for a Seasonic-built Antec Neo Eco 450C.

Your original budget was $1500 - why are you looking to save another $100-200 when your current proposed build is only $1250...? You could add an SSD or a faster video card and still be under your budget. E.g. 7850 2GB would be a lot faster than 6850 but not consume any more power.

Finally... you're building this in August. Come back about a week before you're ready to buy for final parts recommendations

I wanted to shave off 100-200 so I could buy a decent keyboard, mouse and monitor and stay fairly close to my budget.
I'm asking now because I'm actually going to my the parts fairly soon, but I'll be building it in August.
Would those parts that you suggested, be fairly good at running games like Skyrim and Battlefield with the HD 6850?

 

[lehtv]

The i5 will not bottleneck, so that's covered. 6850 will run Skyrim and BF3 on medium settings. 7850 2GB would run on high settings, ultra with OC.

 

[llLeonll]

How about I get a GTX560? It's only $70 more, and it looks like it does much better than the 7770 and the 6850. And adding the Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor together, the total's only $100 off from my budget.

Only thing is, can the Motherboard run a nVidia graphics card?

 

[lehtv]

GTX 560 is definitely faster, and it's good bang for buck too. It does require 2x 6-pin PCIe connectors though so you should get a 500W unit minimum. I recommend Antec Neo Eco 520C, it's still a lot less expensive than S12II 620W but it's also built by Seasonic (in fact, it's based on the S12II 520W platform). It doesn't come with a power cord so unless you have one lying about, that'll set you back another $5.

As long as the motherboard has a PCI express x16 slot - which pretty much all consumer desktop boards do - it is compatible with PCI express graphics cards. Doesn't matter if it's AMD or NVIDIA.

 

[DSF]

Why buy now if you're not building until August? In the event that you end up with a defective part the return process becomes that much more of a hassle if you didn't know about it for two months and then have to go through an RMA with the manufacturer.

 

[mfenn]

Why buy now if you're not building until August? In the event that you end up with a defective part the return process becomes that much more of a hassle if you didn't know about it for two months and then have to go through an RMA with the manufacturer.

Agree, this is what I came in here to say.

Not only that, but money doesn't lose value nearly as quickly as computer parts. All else being equal, your $1500 will buy a better machine in August than it will right now.