help tweak my diablo 3 computer!

[khusang]

Hi everyone, I'm building a computer for my friend. This computer needs to run D3 easily at max settings and 1080P. No overclocking necessary. Budget is around $1000. We need everything except keyboard and mouse. I've done some research, but I end up being a couple hundred over budget. I'd appreciate any help making any tweaks to my build. We need to buy soon to have everything set up early May.

I5-2400 - $190
Radeon HD 7850 - ~$300
Crucial M4 128 - $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131781
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Enthus...5145875&sr=8-4
http://www.amazon.com/Viewsonic-VX24...5153028&sr=1-1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231314
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129042
Windows 7 - $99
And I figure it'll be ~$30 for speakers and DVD burner.

I don't know if the Solid state drive is necessary, but I left it in there b/c I have one myself and it rocks

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Check out the mid builders thread

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Ssd isn't necessary to play maxed out. It will help loading times though and perhaps smoothness if the game is installed on it

 

[khusang]

Hmm.. don't know how I missed that. Thanks Yamamoto, I'll take a look.

 

[lehtv]

Since you're not planning to OC, you shouldn't buy 2500K and Z77 which are recommended in the standard midrange build thread. Let's see if we can fit in the monitor and SSD while keeping it a respectably good gaming build around $1000.

i5-2400 $190
Asrock H61M/U3S3 $65
2x4GB G.Skill $38
560 Ti $200 AR
Seagate 1TB $90 AP
Samsung 830 128GB SSD $159
OCZ ZS550 $45 AR, OCZ ZT550 modular $60 AR with $20 gift card, Antec EA650 $55 AR
DVD burner $17
HAF 912 $50 AR
Asus VH238H $150 AR AP

$1004 AR AP before shipping

 

[khusang]

thanks for the suggestions. is there a big difference between the hd7850 and the 560ti? would it be better if I don't get the Seagate hard drive and spend the extra money to upgrade the video card? I know a 7850 is probably overkill for D3, but I'm thinking it may be a good way to futureproof the pc on the chance that my friend may decide to play other games in the future.

Since you're not planning to OC, you shouldn't buy 2500K and Z77 which are recommended in the standard midrange build thread. Let's see if we can fit in the monitor and SSD while keeping it a respectably good gaming build around $1000.

i5-2400 $190
Asrock H61M/U3S3 $65
2x4GB G.Skill $38
560 Ti $200 AR
Seagate 1TB $90 AP
Samsung 830 128GB SSD $159
OCZ ZS550 $45 AR, OCZ ZT550 modular $60 AR with $20 gift card, Antec EA650 $55 AR
DVD burner $17
HAF 912 $50 AR
Asus VH238H $150 AR AP

$1004 AR AP before shipping

 

[lehtv]

is there a big difference between the hd7850 and the 560ti?

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=547 shows the performance difference as well as power consumption if you scroll down a bit

Additionally, the extra VRAM itself is also worth paying some extra for on 1080p. When running new games on high/ultra you often see over 1GB of VRAM use and there the 560 Ti falls a bit short.

would it be better if I don't get the Seagate hard drive and spend the extra money to upgrade the video card?

Does your friend not need a hard drive?

I know a 7850 is probably overkill for D3, but I'm thinking it may be a good way to futureproof the pc on the chance that my friend may decide to play other games in the future.

There's no such thing as futureproof.

7850 will be good enough to play any game on high settings. It will cough a bit on ultra in the most demanding games. I recommend against spending extra just in case a game pops up, in the near future, that your friend wants to play and that 7850 can't handle respectably well. When the 7850 isn't good enough anymore, simply sell it away and upgrade.

 

[khusang]

Does your friend not need a hard drive?

He says it doesn't really matter how much space he has. I think his primary concern is playing D3. Now that you mention it though, I think going the ssd & hdd route might be better because it gives him more versatility and options if he does need more than 120GB in the future.

 

[mfenn]

Since you're not planning to OC, you shouldn't buy 2500K and Z77 which are recommended in the standard midrange build thread. Let's see if we can fit in the monitor and SSD while keeping it a respectably good gaming build around $1000.

i5-2400 $190
Asrock H61M/U3S3 $65
2x4GB G.Skill $38
560 Ti $200 AR
Seagate 1TB $90 AP
Samsung 830 128GB SSD $159
OCZ ZS550 $45 AR, OCZ ZT550 modular $60 AR with $20 gift card, Antec EA650 $55 AR
DVD burner $17
HAF 912 $50 AR
Asus VH238H $150 AR AP

$1004 AR AP before shipping

:thumbsup::thumbsup: Good points and build. The Crucial M4 128GB instead of the 830 will get the build below $1000 if that is a hard cap.

 

[lehtv]

Wow, that drive has dropped in price so much. Good catch

 

[khusang]

I think I may go for:

I5-2400
geforce 560ti
crucial m4 128
seagate 1TB
the asrock H61
Antec EarthWatts 650
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...scrollFullInfo
and also the dvd, ram, and case lehtv recommended.


I'll probably buy in a couple days. I appreciate the help guys. Please chime in if you have any more advice.

 

[khusang]

hi lehtv, is there noticeable differences between the $200 gtx 560 ti you linked and the other ~$200 560 tis on newegg? Or are they all more or less the same? I noticed this one has 2 fans, but a few of the others have higher clock speeds.

 

[mfenn]

hi lehtv, is there noticeable differences between the $200 gtx 560 ti you linked and the other ~$200 560 tis on newegg? Or are they all more or less the same? I noticed this one has 2 fans, but a few of the others have higher clock speeds.

A dual-fan cooler is nice because they are generally lower noise than single fan coolers. Stock clock speeds don't matter too much and rarely vary more than 10%. If it bothers you, you can always OC a lower clocked card yourself.

 

[khusang]

A dual-fan cooler is nice because they are generally lower noise than single fan coolers. Stock clock speeds don't matter too much and rarely vary more than 10%. If it bothers you, you can always OC a lower clocked card yourself.

If I want to OC the card a bit, do I need to look into getting a different motherboard?

 

[lehtv]

hi lehtv, is there noticeable differences between the $200 gtx 560 ti you linked and the other ~$200 560 tis on newegg? Or are they all more or less the same? I noticed this one has 2 fans, but a few of the others have higher clock speeds.

As mfenn said, the other $200 560 Tis have single fan coolers. Dual fan cards stay cooler (or make less noise to achieve the same temperatures). Other dual fan cards are more expensive, hence I picked MSI.

If I want to OC the card a bit, do I need to look into getting a different motherboard?

No, motherboards have absolutely nothing to do with graphics card overclocking. It's dependent on the graphics card only. I think the MSI card should do 900MHz core.

There's also MSI 560 Ti Hawk for $220 AR, it's factory overclocked to 950MHz making it nearly as fast as a GTX 570, and with a voltage bump it could reach 1GHz. But for just $30 more you'd get a 7850 2GB... so I recommend either a $200 560 ti or $250 7850 2gb.