Is this worth $1200

[Ripox]

My brother found this in a shop, he wants to buy it but I was hesitant to tell him its worth it:

Case: Fractal Design Define R3, Arctic White
PSU: Corsair Builder Series CX600 80 PLUS
MoBo: Asus Sabertooth P67
CPU: i5-2500k (Shop will overclock to 4.6Ghz, they're using their own aftermarket heatsink)
RAM: G.Skill 8GB DDR3-1600
GPU: HIS AMD 6770 (My brother will upgrade this himself to something like a GTX 770 or 760 Ti soon)
HDD: WD Caviar Green 2TB 7200RPM
SSD: Ocz Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SSD
Optical drive: LG 22 DVD+RW
Operating System: Windows 7 Professional

Warranty-covered optimization and OC to 4.6Ghz, 1 year warranty on all parts overall

Price: 4,700 AED ($1,200 USD) incl. shipping, its the final cost

My brother's argument on why its worth it: Ordering any parts online will mean lots of shipping costs because we will have to send it from the US to here (UAE) through a third party company which will charge approx 300-400$ on top of any build excluding customs/import costs. Also buying stuff from local shops here is a bit overpriced ($300 for an i5-3570k), also limited availability of many things, they will not offer any warranty/support, either.

What he wants to use it for: 1920x1080 resolution WoW, Call of Duty, Battlefield, future games.

So if you guys use a US site like Amazon or Newegg, can any of you come up with a better build than this for 800-900$ because I will need to add minimum 300-400$ (Maybe goes on to 500-600$ if customs is an ass) to make it equal to the $1200 build the shop is offering.

For any curiosity, the build is new.



Edit: The shop just called and they said they actually have new builds with 3rd gen CPU's and newer GPU's as well as better pricing, but they will have to check on the exact build and call us. If their pricing is good, that make overshadow this. So I'll just leave this thread open on your thoughts about this build out of curiosity, I guess it doesn't hurt to learn more and I've learned quite a bit from reading this forums, I really enjoy it. Thanks guys

[Deleted]

if they come up with a better build for around the same price i doubt it's gonna be beat due to import prices / customs

[Ripox]

So I'm best off actually getting it from them?

[Fluffygong]

The CPU and GPU are both abour 2 years old now. That's a big price for an old PC, I'm confident you could get a current gen PC for $800-$900. Might also be worth waiting until the release of Haswell at this point which isn't far off. Not too sure on the 4.6 guardanteed OC either tbh, sure it's possible, but:

1. Approximately 50% of CPUs can go up to 4.4~4.5 GHz
2. Approximately 40% of CPUs can go up to 4.6~4.7 GHz
3. Approximately 10% of CPUs can go up to 4.8~5 GHz (50+ multipliers are about 2% of this group)

Source

This could of course be outdated information and only relevant to that mobo.

This is what I can throw together, a bit over budget but check shipping costs and see how it is.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($79.12 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($109.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.82 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($224.99 @ Newegg)
Case: BitFenix Merc Beta (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($50.69 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($44.98 @ Outlet PC)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.94 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $924.49
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-27 05:07 EDT-0400)

Some wiggle room to lower the price:
Can change the heatsink to a cm hyper 212
Can change the motherboard to something cheaper
Can change the hard drive for something cheaper
Can change the case for something cheaper
Can change the GPU for something cheape

HOWEVER the only thing I'd skimp out on from my suggested build would be the heatsink if you're not looking to put on a heavy overclock, the motherboard if you don't need all the features and the case if you don't care about the looks/how easy it is to build in. The GPU is a great one for it's price point, you could select a cheaper brand if you wanted to.

[Ripox]

Can't use Outlet PC/Microcenter, etc. Newegg/Amazon only. This will increase the prices you listed.

[solvexx]

Honestly, if you buy parts from shops a lot of the time the shipping price is worked in to their sale price.
In saying that, I have bought stuff from shops for my computer and it has worked out cheaper than online.

As always, shop around. Figure out exactly what you want and then shop around for the best price.
Though.. To be honest with you, that build looks over priced to say the least.

---------- Post added 2013-05-27 at 09:10 AM ----------

Also, you'll barely fit anything on a 60gb SSD, pointless to purchase that.

[Ripox]

Wouldn't the SSD be a boot drive anyways?

I have to pay extra for imports/customs because no site directly ships here

---------- Post added 2013-05-27 at 01:12 PM ----------

Also they GUARANTEE a stable 4.6Ghz OC. They will fix / replace if it isn't 4.6

[Oxyra]

Honestly, if you buy parts from shops a lot of the time the shipping price is worked in to their sale price.
In saying that, I have bought stuff from shops for my computer and it has worked out cheaper than online.

As always, shop around. Figure out exactly what you want and then shop around for the best price.
Though.. To be honest with you, that build looks over priced to say the least.

---------- Post added 2013-05-27 at 09:10 AM ----------

Also, you'll barely fit anything on a 60gb SSD, pointless to purchase that.

60 GB SSD = OS + WoW. If you play anything else, get a 120, then you can fit your 3-4 main games on it.

---------- Post added 2013-05-27 at 05:14 PM ----------

Wouldn't the SSD be a boot drive anyways?

I have to pay extra for imports/customs because no site directly ships here

---------- Post added 2013-05-27 at 01:12 PM ----------

Also they GUARANTEE a stable 4.6Ghz OC. They will fix / replace if it isn't 4.6

Not just boot, you want your things with fast load times on there, ie. your OS AND your games.
If you put your games on a shitty regular HDD, they're still going to load slow as shit.

[vesseblah]

Price is decent all things considered, but what's worrying me more is that everything on that computer is at least year old previous generation stuff. Also tiny SSD isn't really smart use of money, rather take at least 120GB one.

[Oxyra]

Price is decent all things considered, but what's worrying me more is that everything on that computer is at least year old previous generation stuff. Also tiny SSD isn't really smart use of money, rather take at least 120GB one.

What this guy said, 2500k is the step down from what I got, and I bought my CPU new like 2 and a half years ago now or something ridiculous. (Early Cata, during T11 because my GPU died lel).

But yes, if they say they can do better, even if you have to pay an extra $100, get something newer, of course you should compare performance of parts, I'm not really good for websites for part performance so maybe people here can link some but

http://www.tomshardware.com/

Is a good website for searching stuff on your parts. They have reviews and comparisons all over the place. Enjoy reading.

[chazus]

The thing is this...

You can ask us if the 'build is worth it' but there is no way for us to tell, because there is no way to tell what an actual build will cost to ship. When giving a 'range' of 200-400 bucks to build, ship, duty, customs, taxes... We really cant tell you.

[Deleted]

agreed ves

which is what i meant with if they can supply more recent generation stuff for +- the same prices there's no point and ye the hdd is a bit small unless you only insist on putting winblows on it and some side progs ( i got 80gb reserved for my boot drive and around 50-60gb is in use)

[Novx]

The thing is this...

You can ask us if the 'build is worth it' but there is no way for us to tell, because there is no way to tell what an actual build will cost to ship. When giving a 'range' of 200-400 bucks to build, ship, duty, customs, taxes... We really cant tell you.

This. I just pieced together a rig for my friend using CyberPowerPC (which costs a significant bit more then buying off Newegg/Amazon/etc) which had an i7-3770k, an EVGA 670 Superclocked, and an ASROCK Z77 Extreme6 Mobo along with whatever else was in the system and that was only $1350. That being said, I doubt anyone here truly knows the cost to ship a computer or just the parts to your country (which I imagine is a LOT), so unless you save up a bit more and get like $1600 you are going to be stuck with a system that in all honesty isn't worth the money (in my opinion).

My suggestion: Save up a bit more and get a computer that will in the long run last you much longer. That system is already 2 years obsolete, obviously no computer will ever be "the best" because by the time you buy it something new has some out, but that is a few generations behind.

[blargh312]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.74 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($101.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $911.64
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-27 05:36 EDT-0400)

Keep in mind this is without an OS, but you can sacrifice a bit on the CPU and GPU to fit an OS in and it'll still be better than what he's looking at.

[Ripox]

Ok!
They just called and offered their new build, they had one without HDD/OS which is fine because my brother has one!

i5-3570k
MSI OC GTX 670 2GB
HyperX Kingston 2x8GB RAM 1600
MSI Z77 MPOWER MoBo (Has Wi-Fi, which he needs)
CPU Cooler is a Thermaltake one and they will set it up and OC it to 4.6Ghz guaranteed (its an air-cooler)
Thermaltake Overseer case (very nice)

Price: Approx 3,700AED final cost incl shipping and everything ($1,000 USD)

Edit: PSU is 850w 80+ Bronze Thermaltake

Hows that?

[blargh312]

Ok!
They just called and offered their new build, they had one without HDD/OS which is fine because my brother has one!

i5-3570k
MSI OC GTX 670 2GB
HyperX Kingston 2x8GB RAM 1600
MSI Z77 MPOWER MoBo (Has Wi-Fi, which he needs)
CPU Cooler is a Thermaltake one and they will set it up and OC it to 4.6Ghz guaranteed (its an air-cooler)
Thermaltake Overseer case (very nice)
Price: Approx 3,700AED final cost incl shipping and everything ($1,000 USD)

Hows that?

A thousand times better. All things considered that's a really great deal. Spend the extra $ on an SSD and he'll be good to go.

[Ripox]

Sounds good!
They said if we wait until the end of June (which is when he finishes this school year), they will have Haswell and 7XX nvidia GPU's for similar pricing.

Should we wait?

[Deleted]

Sounds good!
They said if we wait until the end of June (which is when he finishes this school year), they will have Haswell and 7XX nvidia GPU's for similar pricing.

Should we wait?

I would wait.

[Ripox]

I guess we'll wait!

How good is the 3570k/4670k (or whatever the haswell equivalent is) for Streaming, if he ever wants to get into that? Should he opt for the i7 version? Also, is 16GB RAM enough for that?

Is the 670/770 overkill for 1080p?

Does SSD affect streaming performance?
Why should he get an SSD? He says he doesn't care about loading screen times or boot up times

[Deleted]

Sounds good!
They said if we wait until the end of June (which is when he finishes this school year), they will have Haswell and 7XX nvidia GPU's for similar pricing.

Should we wait?

That's a first, a store telling you to WAIT to purchase from them! They usually try and sell you anything :P