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Sanity Check + MB Question on budget build

H

heavysnatches

Junior Member
- PC will be used for gaming, office/internet, some coding, and that's about it. I'm more of an RPG/strategy game guy, so super maxed eye candy isn't priority #1.
- I'd like to keep the budget from 450-500
- Buying parts from USA
- No brand loyalty
- I'll be using my old 2001FP monitor (upgrading later), an antec p182 case (so no mATX MBs, right?), a WD 400gb HD (with win7 on it), dvd drive and keyboard/mouse
- I'll overclock if I can but it isn't a requirement or anything
- 1600x1200 is the res on my current monitor, so I guess 1600x1050. I'd imagine I'll move to a 1900x1200 one within the next year
- I'll be buying as soon as I get the parts list finalized

Here's what I have so far:

CPU: i5 2400 - $140 @ MC in-store http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354590
RAM: 8g gskill http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231422 $38
GPU: Radeon 6870 $150 with MIR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102948
PSU: OCZ zs series 650 W $55 with MIR http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0367316 (link is to 750w version, sorry)
MB: ????

Total is $383 before the MB. My questions:
- Do I have my priorities straight? Seems like 140 for CPU and 150 for GPU is off relative to what I'll be using the machine for, and I should lean more towards GPU if I can. I can get an i3 2100 for 90, would pairing that with card in the ~200 range make more sense?
- There are seemingly a billion MBs out there for these chips - any suggestions on a no-frills option that's easy to use? Like I said, overclocking isn't a huge issue.
- Do I have any compatibility issues I screwed up? I look at computer parts once every few years when I build a new system and basically never again, so sometimes I screw up the compatibility.

Anything else I'm missing? Thanks in advance for your help.
 
I'd say your priorities are right, strategy games tend to have hundreds if not thousands of AIs running in the background so you need a strong CPU to keep up (provided they even have quad-core optimization). As far as RPGs go, perhaps more on the video card and less on the CPU would be better as you can turn up a bit more of the eye candy but I'd say for a mixture of the 2 genres, what you have is just fine.

I wouldn't spend the extra money on an Z series motherboard (the ones for overclocking) as the 2400 is barely even allowed to overclock. If you were thinking of a decent overclockable chip you could grab a 2500k or 3570k and get $50 off the motherboard at MicroCenter, which puts the board at roughly the same price as an H series with the only increase coming from what you put down for the CPU. That's what I did since I decided to not listen to my own sense of reason and upgrade my computer 😛
 
What strategy games do you play? I know some that would benefit even from 3570k. But for 98% of the games, 2400 is more than enough.
 
Kristijonas said:
What strategy games do you play? I know some that would benefit even from 3570k. But for 98% of the games, 2400 is more than enough.
Click to expand...

stuff like sc2, anno, civ, homm series, etc.

From what I've been reading here and elsewhere, if I'm going to get a non-OC MB, I may as well get an H61 (like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...813157246)over an H67, yes? None of the features in a H67 appear to be particularly useful for me.
 
Locked build:

i5-2400 $140 @ MC
Asrock H61iCafe $65 @ newegg (ATX, USB3, Sata 6gb/s)
2x4GB Kingston $35 @ MC
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=62756&vpn=HD687AZHFC&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1069XFX 6870 DD $160 AR @ newegg
PCP&C MK III 500W $48 AR AP @ newegg

= $448 AR AP

Optional: OCZ Agility 3 60GB $55 AR

Unlocked build:

i5-3570K $190 @ MC
Asrock Z77 Extreme4 $90 @ MC (if you get a mobo discount with 2500K+Z68 Extreme3 that's a good idea too)
2x4GB Kingston $35 @ MC
XFX 6870 $140 AR @ NCIX
PCP&C MK III 500W $48 AR AP @ newegg

= $503 AR AP

Optional: add Hyper 212+ $20 AR @ MC or newegg.
 
Last edited:
Official offer? No I don't think they offer any special discounts with the 2500k atm. But I do remember some members picking up the 2500k and getting the same discount on the Z77 boards as the 3570k but that might have been select cases and not something every location/cashier will let you do.

Also which MC are you buying from? Are either of these boards in stock?
1: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0387627
2: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0387326
There were some other boards for around that price I think as well.
 
lehtv said:
Locked build:

i5-2400 $140 @ MC
Asrock H61iCafe $65 @ newegg (ATX, USB3, Sata 6gb/s)
2x4GB Kingston $35 @ MC
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=62756&vpn=HD687AZHFC&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1069XFX 6870 DD $160 AR @ newegg
PCP&C MK III 500W $48 AR AP @ newegg

= $448 AR AP

Optional: OCZ Agility 3 60GB $55 AR
Click to expand...

This is what I ended up going with - cool to save a few extra $$ on equivalents of some of the things I was looking at. Thanks so much for your help! Now let's hope I'm still capable of putting these things together. 🙂
 
heavysnatches said:
This is what I ended up going with - cool to save a few extra $$ on equivalents of some of the things I was looking at. Thanks so much for your help! Now let's hope I'm still capable of putting these things together. 🙂
Click to expand...

Glad to help! 🙂 Let us know if you run into any problems during the build or just want to post pics.
 
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