My < $1000 Complete Gaming Package

[seancwatson]

This is what I have so far for a less than $1000 gaming rig, including router and monitor.
http://goo.gl/ttNZO

I'm open to suggestions and opinions. My minimum requirement is that it be able to play the newest shooters (ie Crysis 2) without lagging. My maximum price is $1000 before shipping and junk

[llcjay1]

Looks good to me. I am by no means an expert but it looks like a good balance of performance and price.

[Mischiefpwns]

I would invest a bit more on your monitor. I highly recommend an LED monitor about 24" seems to be perfect (have tried bigger monitors and its just too much for being so close to it).

[Drunkenvalley]

AMD seems like a waste far as I'm concerned. Also, won't the shipping from the many sites make it worthwhile to instead order from a single site? (I wouldn't know about it, though. The US has a lot different shipping practices apparently.)

[Aminozuur]

Well playing crysis without lagging also works on my i5 430M laptop + 5850M but on low settings :P. It will run it but the grapic card is rly weak.

You should atleast have a gtx 460 or higher to play with 30fps at 1080p settings + the 1100T loses against a i5 2500k yes it cost abit more (about 50$ more on newegg) but i will gief you a big overall boost. You would save 9$ on the motherboard if you buy a asus p8p67-m Pro.

The 775Watt PSU is abit overkill for this setup with 1 low end grapic card and 1100t a 500watt PSU would fit way better

About the sound card do you rly need it? The onboard Sound is oke if you need it for a proffessional part get a sound card.

Speakers: the Logitech Z313 Speaker System would fit abit better into your budget

With a 1155 setup you can save alot on some spots like the RAM. It will only cost you 47$ for 2x2 G.Skill 1333mhz. Same goes for the aftermarket cooler if you dont plan to overclock on the i5 2500k you can keep the stock one. Thermal past on the 2500k is also not needed it brings some good one pre applied

[seancwatson]

AMD seems like a waste far as I'm concerned. Also, won't the shipping from the many sites make it worthwhile to instead order from a single site? (I wouldn't know about it, though. The US has a lot different shipping practices apparently.)

I like AMD because they are usually lower priced than their Intel brethren. They may not be top of the line or bleeding edge, but they offer a great value for the average consumer.As for shipping, Newegg offers free shipping on alot of their products. Same with Ebay. There's a CompUSA store (TigerDirect) near my parents house so I can most likely get the stuff shipped there if they don't have it in stock and pick it from the store.

I'm going with the 775 watt PSU because I have the intention of either upgrading the graphics card or adding a second one. This PSU seems to be the best value for performance.

Also I'm splurging on the Sound Card and speakers because this computer will likely double as my TV/Entertainment center. I watch alot of movies and listen to alot of music.

[Havermeyer]

Start with the $700 build here: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...pot-quot-Build

You don't need a NIC (unless you want max throughput on a gigabit LAN, but you didn't pick a gigabit router) or sound card (unless you really care about sound quality, then I'd get an Asus Xonar DG for less than $30, except if you NEED current EAX support). The Asus N12 is a decent router that'll run tomato: http://tomatousb.org/, which is nice. SATA cables are included with most any retail motherboard. Do you need 5.1 speakers? A Swan M10 is much better sound quality for $120 if you're ok with 2.1.

[seancwatson]

Start with the $700 build here: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...pot-quot-Build

You don't need a NIC (unless you want max throughput on a gigabit LAN, but you didn't pick a gigabit router) or sound card (unless you really care about sound quality, then I'd get an Asus Xonar DG for less than $30, except if you NEED current EAX support). The Asus N12 is a decent router that'll run tomato: http://tomatousb.org/, which is nice. SATA cables are included with most any retail motherboard. Do you need 5.1 speakers? A Swan M10 is much better sound quality for $120 if you're ok with 2.1.

Thanks for the link, the only problem is that video card is no longer available on NewEgg, but I can definitely use some of the stuff as inspiration.
I'll be running DD-WRT on the Asus instead of Tomato, I'm more familiar with it's features. Also the router is unbrickable which is a nice bonus. Like I said above, I watch alot of movies so 5.1 is necessary for me. For a sound card with those specs, I think being in the $20-25 range is not a bad deal at all.

[Aminozuur]

You watch those movies on your 22inch pc screen? or are you planning to hook tv to the speakers?

[seancwatson]

Well actually currently I watch those movies on my 17-inch laptop screen. I might at some point get a real flat screen tv and hook the computer up to that.

Would any of these video cards be a better option than the one I currently have listed? http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...58_65363_65363

[Aminozuur]

well those are about the same lvl as the other one if you rly want to play the latest games at 1080p you need atleast a gtx 460 (get the 1024mb one). About the 5.1 thats your choice its always nice to have one but in my eyes not needed(running my 40" with a soundbar herp derp)

[Cantii]

AMD right now is indeed a waste. Are you wanting that hex-core CPU because you're doing some heavily CPU intensive tasks? If it's just for gaming (as the title implies) then moving to a low-end Intel CPU would be a much better idea and would also out-perform that in gaming.

MSI P67A-C43 Intel LGA 1155 Motherboard
Intel Core i3 2100 LGA 1155 Dual-Core 3.1GHz CPU with Hyper Threading

That CPU will run circles around any AMD CPU when it comes to gaming, and it's only a dual-core. The thing is, it has Hyper Threading, so it actually has four threads instead of just two, so games like WoW will just flat-out run better.

Also, get rid of the sound card - discrete sound cards are not worth it unless you're willing to spend ~$75 for a good one (such as the ASUS Zonar). On-board sound will be just as good as that cheap-o sound card. The video card is also a little on the weak side, especially since it's low-profile and doesn't support DirectX 11, my recommendation is the HIS Radeon HD5770 - it's inexpensive and has a decent rebate on it, too.

Last, but certainly not least: the memory. There's no use in having 6GB ESPECIALLY since only Intel socket LGA 1366 supports Triple Channel memory. G.SKILL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz will be more than enough for any game.

With these changes I've made, you actually SAVE money. Total: 920.96. Your prices are actually a little off on some of the items, the power supply especially: TD has it for 99.99, unless there's some $30 off sale on it.

Furthermore, I did up a wishlist on Newegg, and while they don't have the same monitor on your list or the speakers, I took the liberty of upgrading the monitor:

Thermaltake V3 Black Edition
MSI P67A-C43 Motherboard
Intel Core i3 2100 3.1 GHz CPU
HIS Radeon HD5770
Corsair TX650 V2 650W PSU
G.SKILL 4GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM
Hitachi Deskstar 5k3000 2TB HDD
Acer S211HLbd 21.5" LED LCD Monitor
Sony Optaric DVD-Burner combo drive
Zonet ZEW1642S Wireless PCI Adapter
ASUS RT-N12 802.11n/g/b Wireless Residential Gateway
Zalman CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2ball CPU fan
Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Paste

Total: 882.87 before shipping. Newegg also gives shipping discounts when you buy in bulk. Add in speakers and mouse/keyboard and you're still under $1000. Removed cheap sound card and wired NIC because both are needless redundancies.

[seancwatson]

well those are about the same lvl as the other one if you rly want to play the latest games at 1080p you need atleast a gtx 460 (get the 1024mb one). About the 5.1 thats your choice its always nice to have one but in my eyes not needed(running my 40" with a soundbar herp derp)

Is this the one you were talking about? http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...BBTkwCjCECjCE\
If so, that definitely sounds really nice and I think I might spend the extra money and get it. It would only put me $10 over budget. If I remove the NIC then I'd be back below $1000

---------- Post added 2011-06-04 at 03:42 PM ----------

AMD right now is indeed a waste. Are you wanting that hex-core CPU because you're doing some heavily CPU intensive tasks? If it's just for gaming (as the title implies) then moving to a low-end Intel CPU would be a much better idea and would also out-perform that in gaming.

MSI P67A-C43 Intel LGA 1155 Motherboard
Intel Core i3 2100 LGA 1155 Dual-Core 3.1GHz CPU with Hyper Threading

That CPU will run circles around any AMD CPU when it comes to gaming, and it's only a dual-core. The thing is, it has Hyper Threading, so it actually has four threads instead of just two, so games like WoW will just flat-out run better.

Also, get rid of the sound card - discrete sound cards are not worth it unless you're willing to spend ~$75 for a good one (such as the ASUS Zonar). On-board sound will be just as good as that cheap-o sound card. The video card is also a little on the weak side, especially since it's low-profile and doesn't support DirectX 11, my recommendation is the HIS Radeon HD5770 - it's inexpensive and has a decent rebate on it, too.

Last, but certainly not least: the memory. There's no use in having 6GB ESPECIALLY since only Intel socket LGA 1366 supports Triple Channel memory. G.SKILL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz will be more than enough for any game.

With these changes I've made, you actually SAVE money. Total: 920.96. Your prices are actually a little off on some of the items, the power supply especially: TD has it for 99.99, unless there's some $30 off sale on it.

Furthermore, I did up a wishlist on Newegg, and while they don't have the same monitor on your list or the speakers, I took the liberty of upgrading the monitor:

Thermaltake V3 Black Edition
MSI P67A-C43 Motherboard
Intel Core i3 2100 3.1 GHz CPU
HIS Radeon HD5770
Corsair TX650 V2 650W PSU
G.SKILL 4GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM
Hitachi Deskstar 5k3000 2TB HDD
Acer S211HLbd 21.5" LED LCD Monitor
Sony Optaric DVD-Burner combo drive
Zonet ZEW1642S Wireless PCI Adapter
ASUS RT-N12 802.11n/g/b Wireless Residential Gateway
Zalman CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2ball CPU fan
Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Paste

Total: 882.87 before shipping. Newegg also gives shipping discounts when you buy in bulk. Add in speakers and mouse/keyboard and you're still under $1000. Removed cheap sound card and wired NIC because both are needless redundancies.

Wow thanks for this. Being able to get everything from one site will definitely be nice. I'm digging the graphics card. When I first started the list that PSU was on sale. Apparently it's not anymore.

Is the performance difference between the i3 and i5 worth the price difference.

---------- Post added 2011-06-04 at 12:36 PM ----------

With your suggestions the computer is $963.57 including shipping, speakers and mouse/keyboard. Also included is $50 worth of mail in rebates that I will probably never get back. It's a good thing I brought this up here, thank you everyone for your help. Now I just gotta wait for my Pell Grant =P

[lockblock]

save your money a 50$ heatsink for an i3 2100 is completely overkill unless you plan to run your computer in a boiler room

[TanAxys]

the new build looks really good.

I do have a couple suggestions tho.

#1 If you're running an i-3, then you don't need to spend $50 on a cpu cooler, the stock cooler is more than enough.

#2 You can add storage space at any time very easily. You don't really need to start out with a 2TB HDD. You could do a 500GB Caviar blue for $45 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136769. Then later on down the road buy some TB drives.


With the money you save, you could upgrade the video card. Maybe get a hot 460 gfx card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127534
or a baseline 560 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127592,
or a 6870 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125357

also, depending on which video card you go with, you might also want to upgrade your case.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811208037 is probably the best case for under $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119233 the HAF 912 is a beast for only $60

[seancwatson]

the new build looks really good.

I do have a couple suggestions tho.

#1 If you're running an i-3, then you don't need to spend $50 on a cpu cooler, the stock cooler is more than enough.

#2 You can add storage space at any time very easily. You don't really need to start out with a 2TB HDD. You could do a 500GB Caviar blue for $45 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136769. Then later on down the road buy some TB drives.


With the money you save, you could upgrade the video card. Maybe get a hot 460 gfx card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127534
or a baseline 560 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127592,
or a 6870 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125357

also, depending on which video card you go with, you might also want to upgrade your case.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811208037 is probably the best case for under $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119233 the HAF 912 is a beast for only $60

Took a few of your suggestions and did it here: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...umber=20436527
Under budget and really nice, so I'm happy

[Cantii]

Eh, for $20 more, you can get the Samsung Spinpoint F3 which is the absolute bang for buck drive right now. I'd get it and sit on storage for a while until you really need it.

Concerning the i3 2100, it's a dual-core processor with hyper threading, giving it an effective four threads, which simulates quad-core processing, of course. It can't be overclocked, but at 3.1GHz, it's pretty beastly in its own right.

And the HAF 912 is legit, I really like it. Get some more fans for it if you feel you need the cooling after it's all put together.

[Drunkenvalley]

I figured OP was going to be using Fuzzy's $700 build. Hmm. Will go dig around when I'm bored.

[Deleted]

Current cpu and motherboard doesn't match?

[Drunkenvalley]

That is certainly the case; 1156 CPU on an 1155 socket? Eeeeh.