Gaming Computer on the Black Friday

[Shephard]

I have Q6600 Quad core, 4gb ram, 9800 gt graphics card. I need to upgrade. Everyone says wait for the Black Friday and the Cyber Monday.

I just found this sticky so now I will copy it.

===

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Gaming and rendering 1080p videos for the youtube.

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

$1000 after taxes

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

Canada

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

My current is Intel Q6600 and would like to stay Intel because they are the best. No other preference for other parts.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

No.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

CPU overclock. I never overclock ram or GPU before.

8. What resolution will you be using?

1680x1050. But I will be upgrading to a 1920x1080 - BUT NOT part of my budget. I just want to let you know because as you know I will lose framerate going to higher resolution.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Note that it is usually not cost or time effective to choose your build more than a month before you actually plan to be using it.

Order parts on the Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

X. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software?

No.

Only things I have heard good about are Asrock Extreme 4 Z77 and the Samsung 8gb low voltage ram.

 

[DSF]

mfenn's suggested mid-range build can be found here:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2192841

It's almost an exact fit for your budget and stated usage. You may have to make slight adjustments for the price difference of parts in Canada, but the framework of the design would work well for you.

I would start there and riff on it as you see fit.

 

[mfenn]

mfenn's suggested mid-range build can be found here:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2192841

It's almost an exact fit for your budget and stated usage. You may have to make slight adjustments for the price difference of parts in Canada, but the framework of the design would work well for you.

I would start there and riff on it as you see fit.

:thumbsup: You will probably have to drop the GPU from a GTX 670 to a 7950 to account for higher prices in Canada. Beyond that, you can just take all the Newegg links and change the .com to .ca and be done.

Also, it's pretty much impossible to predict what the good BF sales will be, but they're usually limited to a few loss leaders.. I'm sure that you would be able to get those, but don't be fooling into thinking that you're going to get the whole PC for a 50% off or something like that.

 

[Shephard]

ok I forgot to respond but I have read your post now.

I have never heard of Asrock Pro4, what makes it better than Extreme4? Does it still have all the features? Extreme4 is best known motherboard right now I think.

For ram I was thinking Samsung 8 gigabytes of ram. What do you think? It is cheap and low voltage ddr3 1600 ram. It has perfect reviews on newegg.

Maybe I can save money and not get a solid state hard drive. I heard many of them have problems and die out early. also drive issues.

I spent the most time looking at hard drives. It seems like today even the most known brand like Western Digital and Seagate release a lot of duds. I see many complaints about dead on arrival and second hard drive from RMA dead as well.

So I think I should go with best warranty, which I think is Black Western Digital. I want 1 terabyte minimum also. I don't want to get a dead hard drive and go back and fourth with shipping costs for rma.

I really like that case you look. But most important thing for me on the case is.

- build quality
- cable managnement. every case I owned had no cable managment so power supply wires everywhere!
- I like cases with lights like the zalman z9, but a closed case is ok too.
- at least 1 usb 3.0 in the front is a must for external hard drive backup.

power supply I heard Seasonic is the best brand because they make their own.

I did not decide gpu yet I have heard 7850, 7870, or 7950 because of good price and high vram. I heard 7850 is good for one 1080p monitor and plays games on ultra. 7870 can do 3 monitor with medium graphics, and 7950 3 monitor on high but not ultra. i heard 7870 is the best bang for buck.

thanks

 

[ultimatebob]

1680x1050 to 1080p doesn't seem like an upgrade to me. I actually prefer the 16:9 aspect ratio over 16:10.

 

[Shephard]

like I say the monitor will come later so it does not need to be included in budget.

I only mention 1080p because I think it's about 20% more than 1050 for the GPU. I want to be prepared for it.

 

[mfenn]

I have never heard of Asrock Pro4, what makes it better than Extreme4? Does it still have all the features? Extreme4 is best known motherboard right now I think.

The question you should be asking is "will I ever use any of the extra features that the Extreme4 has over the Pro4?" The main draw of the Extreme4 is multi-GPU support, which you do not need for 1080p and below. Thus, for your uses the Extreme4 is a waste of money compared to the Pro4.

For ram I was thinking Samsung 8 gigabytes of ram. What do you think? It is cheap and low voltage ddr3 1600 ram. It has perfect reviews on newegg.

The Samsung kit is fine (I link to it after all) but it's not going to be measurably different than the less expensive GeIL.

Maybe I can save money and not get a solid state hard drive. I heard many of them have problems and die out early. also drive issues.

With a $1000 budget, you are doing yourself a huge disservice if you don't get an SSD. Sure, there are some bad ones out there, but the M4 that I am recommending is rock solid.

I spent the most time looking at hard drives. It seems like today even the most known brand like Western Digital and Seagate release a lot of duds. I see many complaints about dead on arrival and second hard drive from RMA dead as well.

So I think I should go with best warranty, which I think is Black Western Digital. I want 1 terabyte minimum also. I don't want to get a dead hard drive and go back and fourth with shipping costs for rma.

A long warranty isn't going to protect you from DOA. Generally speaking the extra money spent on the WD Black isn't worth it over the less expensive drives when the failures rates are all about the same.

I really like that case you look. But most important thing for me on the case is.

- build quality
- cable managnement. every case I owned had no cable managment so power supply wires everywhere!
- I like cases with lights like the zalman z9, but a closed case is ok too.
- at least 1 usb 3.0 in the front is a must for external hard drive backup.

The Source 210 has behind the side panel cable management and a front USB 3.0 port. It definitely does not have fancy lights though.

power supply I heard Seasonic is the best brand because they make their own.

The XFX I recommend is a Seasonic.

I did not decide gpu yet I have heard 7850, 7870, or 7950 because of good price and high vram. I heard 7850 is good for one 1080p monitor and plays games on ultra. 7870 can do 3 monitor with medium graphics, and 7950 3 monitor on high but not ultra. i heard 7870 is the best bang for buck.

More GPU is always better in a gaming machine. At $1000, you have the budget for a 7950 3GB, so definitely go for that.

 

[Shephard]

well with the hard drives I heard people buy a Seagate and then it dies after 3 years. By then warranty is expired so your out money.

Right now I have a Western Digital Blue 500gb and still going strong 5 years. Maybe I got lucky because I see more complaints about hard drives now then 5 years ago.

Mfenn I have a link for you ncix Canada is having a sale. there are a few 3570k combo with motherboard up to $80-$90 off.

Maybe one of these is better than Asrock?

http://ncix.com/promo/promosale.php?webid=ActionPacked2012

 

[mfenn]

well with the hard drives I heard people buy a Seagate and then it dies after 3 years. By then warranty is expired so your out money.

Right now I have a Western Digital Blue 500gb and still going strong 5 years. Maybe I got lucky because I see more complaints about hard drives now then 5 years ago.

The thing about anecdotes is that they are not evidence. Just because you heard of something happening to somebody somewhere doesn't mean that it is common. Google did a study of tens of thousands of hard drives and found that they were not more likely to fail after 5 years than they were after 3 years, no matter the brand.

Mfenn I have a link for you ncix Canada is having a sale. there are a few 3570k combo with motherboard up to $80-$90 off.

Maybe one of these is better than Asrock?

http://ncix.com/promo/promosale.php?webid=ActionPacked2012

The i5 3570K + GA-Z77-D3H for $300 AR is a good deal, the rest include motherboards that are way too expensive to being with. The Gigabyte is not a better board than the ASRock, but it is equivalent and is priced better.

 

[Shephard]

well does that board have all the features like Intel Quick Sync and the other important Intel CPU technologies?

do you think it's worth it or maybe just wait another few weeks.

 

[mfenn]

Yes, all the boards of the same chipset (Z77 in this case) will have the same core features.

As for when to buy, I'm of the mind that there's no time like the present. Sure you might get a better deal on a couple of parts if you wait, but it's just as likely that different parts will have their price increased.

 

[DSF]

Here's how I would look at it. Let's say for argument's sake that by waiting until Black Friday you have a reasonable expectation of saving $100. These are the possible outcomes:

1) You wait until Black Friday and save $100 or more.
2) You wait until Black Friday and save less than $100.
3) You do not wait, but if you had waited you'd have saved $100 or more.
4) You do not wait, and if you had waited you would've saved less than $100 anyway.

$100 is an arbitrary number I came up with based on saving, say, 10-20% here and there on parts. Even in the event that there are crazy deals, supplies are always limited so there are no guarantees. If you go into Black Friday expecting to save more than that I think you're going to be disappointed.

So options 1 and 4 above are essentially "successes." The question then becomes which of options 2 and 3 is least attractive? If time is more important and you would rather have the machine now and you're willing to risk overpaying somewhat, go for that. If you would rather take your chances to save money, and you're willing to risk finding out that you saved almost nothing for a 2-3 week wait, then go with that.

The bottom line is, you're building a computer that will be a solid gaming machine for years to come whether you build now or in a few weeks. By December or January the whole issue of when you should have built will be ancient history, so don't make it any bigger of an issue now than it really is.

 

[Shephard]

well for me it's about being in the budget and meeting my goal. any money is saved.

I am not as fortunate as most people who can upgrade every 2 or 3 years. that seems to be the norm.

I also have never had a computer which can play all the current games on the highest possible settings. monitor dependant of course.

$100 saved would be awesome.

I never bought on the Black Friday or Cyber Monday before so it could be good or just average.

I am decided on quite a few good parts now.

Still not sure on the case and hard drive. SSD maybe, mfenn says I should get one. Motherboard will be one of the Asrock whatever is cheaper.