"Sweet Spot" Build

[Fuzzykins]

I'm sorta' annoyed that people keep getting the same build recommended over and over again. It's incredibly redundant. So I figure I'll keep this up to date with the most Price/Performance build. If you feel inclined to dispute something, feel free to mention it, provide a sound explanation, and I'll consider changing the OP.

A word of warning. Before posting, all of these WILL RUN WORLD OF WARCRAFT. The $1000, $1500, and "Performance" build can run it on Ultra no problem, the $500 build can run ultra without shadows.

Last edited 5/29/2011. Prices confirmed accurate up to this date.
New policy. I'll no longer be updating this every week, as I just don't have the time. If you see something that's been deactivated, experienced a price change, or is out of stock, please notify via this thread or PM.

$500 Build
Case: Thermaltake V3 Black $39.99
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts EA-380D 380W $44.99
Motherboard: AsRock H61M-VS $59.99
Processor: Intel Core i3 2100 $124.99
CPU Cooler: Stock - Free
RAM: G.Skill 4GB (2x2GB) $34.99
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB $44.99
Optical Disc Drive: Sony Optiarc SATA DVD/CD Burner $19.99
Graphics Card: Galaxy GTS 450 $124.99
Total: 519.92 USD

$700 Build
Case: Antec 200 $49.99
Power Supply: Corsair CX500 $59.99
Motherboard: AsRock Z68 Pro3-M $114.99
Processor: Intel i5 2500k $219.99
CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper 212 $49.99 == OVER BUDGET
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB $38.99
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 $64.99
Optical Disc Drive: Sony Optiarc SATA DVD/CD Burner $19.99
Graphics Card: Asus ENGTX 460 768 MB $144.99
Total: 731.92 USD == 771.91

$1000 Build
Case: CoolerMaster Haf 912 $59.99
Power Supply: Corsair TX650 $89.99
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68X UD-3 $169.99
Processor: Intel i5 2500k $219.99
CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper 212 $49.99
RAM: G.Skill Sniper Low Voltage 8GB $84.99
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 $64.99
Optical Disc Drive: Sony Optiarc SATA DVD/CD Burner $19.99
Graphics Card: MSI GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr $249.99
Total: 1009.91 USD

$1500 Build
Case: Antec 900 $99.99
Power Supply: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W $89.99
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68 UD-4 $189.99
Processor: Intel i7 2600k $314.99
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 $89.99
RAM: G.Skill Sniper Low Voltage 8GB $84.99
SSD: OCZ Vertex 90GB $168.99
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 64MB Cache 1TB $89.99
Optical Disc Drive: Sony Optiarc SATA DVD/CD Burner $19.99
Graphics Card: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6970 $349.99
Total: 1502.90 USD

High Performance
Case: CoolerMaster HAF X $189.99
Power Supply: Corsair AX1200 $279.99
Motherboard: Asus Maximus IV $349.99
Processor: Intel i7 2600k $314.99
CPU Cooler: Corsair H70 $104.81
RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) $174.99
SSD: OCZ Agility 3 120GB $224.99
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 64MB Cache 1TB $89.99
Optical Disc Drive: Sony Optiarc SATA DVD/CD Burner $19.99
Graphics Card: MSI N580GTX Lightning GeForce GTX 580 $525.99
Graphics Card: MSI N580GTX Lightning GeForce GTX 580 $525.99
Total: 2796.71 USD

Peripherals:

Disclaimer: These parts are my own opinion. While the above parts have statistical basis, these are based personally on my own feelings towards the products. I recommend you go to a local Electronics store and sample the products if possible before purchase to decide which mouse and keyboard satisfies you the most.

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium OEM $99.99
Mouse: Razer Abyssus $39.99
Keyboard: Orange KBC2408SB $6.99
Monitor: Acer S231HLbid Black 23" 5 MS HDMI LED-Backlit 1920x1080 $149.99
Total: 296.96 USD





This IS different from the "Build of the Month". Me and Chaud are two different people. I respect Chaud's builds and have actually used several of them. However, that being said, some of them aren't the best price/performance choices.

• Converting these directly into Euros to figure out how much your system will cost is unwise. Prices are higher in European countries.
• I appreciate any feedback you're willing to give in order to make this the BEST Price/Performance build to date.
• I will need assistance when the new Bulldozer platform comes from AMD later this year. (Maybe.) When it is released, please PM any benchmarks you find or create yourself.

Prices may vary based on location, Mail in Rebate, Discounts, Offers, Combos, and Promotional deals.
Parts will be linked exclusively to NewEgg, regardless of availability. This is for simple ease of thread creation. (That and I don't want to hunt all over Tim Berners-Lee's creation to find the lowest possible price. You're free to do your own hunting and use this as a simple parts list.)

[Plasmon]

The above post has been updated/changed so much that my post is no longer relevant...
so don't bother reading it.

Pretty solid list and similar to my new computer.

The motherboard you linked is the micro version, not the regular P8P67 Pro. Also for most regular people, the P8P67 board is probably better value than the PRO version (lower price, barely any difference). I think the MSI Sandy Bridge boards are great value too. I went with the PRO, mostly for the Intel LAN, but it wasn't really a necessary extra $30 over the standard board.

That system, even considering future upgrades like SLI doesn't really need a 750W PSU. I went for one myself, but I think it's a bit more than needed. It could shave off a few bucks with a 650W.

The G.Skill RAM you linked is the older model. The ones you want are Ripjaws-X. They look slightly different... here, these ones:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-428-_-Product
I'm not sure there's any real difference because the old ones are also 1.5V, but I know these are newer and they say "designed for Sandy Bridge".

I've found that the MSI GTX 560 Twin Frozr regular goes for $250 and lately has dropped in price more. In your link there are rebates that you didn't take into account. Considering instant and mail-in, it's actually only $230, not $260.

That CPU cooler (hyper 212) can regularly be found for less money. More like $25-30.... just not this week at newegg.

Personally I'd go for a hard drive with a 64Mb Cache like the WD Caviar Black, but that one is pretty good too.

Even more into personal preference, maybe not really needed but I'll say it anyways... I would much rather add a small SSD to that build and cut a few corners in other places like avoiding an expensive "gamer" company keyboard, mouse, and maybe a few other places.

If you're really emphasizing price/performance, I'd definitely trim the keyboard and mouse down, even without adding an SSD.

[Saithes]

I Love this RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231461

1.25v ftw

[Fuzzykins]

Pretty solid list and similar to my new computer.

The motherboard you linked is the micro version, not the regular P8P67 Pro. Also for most regular people, the P8P67 board is probably better value than the PRO version (lower price, barely any difference). I think the MSI Sandy Bridge boards are great value too. I went with the PRO, mostly for the Intel LAN, but it wasn't really a necessary extra $30 over the standard board.

That system, even considering future upgrades like SLI doesn't really need a 750W PSU. I went for one myself, but I think it's a bit more than needed. It could shave off a few bucks with a 650W.

The G.Skill RAM you linked is the older model. The ones you want are Ripjaws-X. They look slightly different... here, these ones:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-428-_-Product
I'm not sure there's any real difference because the old ones are also 1.5V, but I know these are newer and they say "designed for Sandy Bridge".

I've found that the MSI GTX 560 Twin Frozr regular goes for $250 and lately has dropped in price more. In your link there are rebates that you didn't take into account. Considering instant and mail-in, it's actually only $230, not $260.

That CPU cooler (hyper 212) can regularly be found for less money. More like $25-30.... just not this week at newegg.

Personally I'd go for a hard drive with a 64Mb Cache like the WD Caviar Black, but that one is pretty good too.

Even more into personal preference, maybe not really needed but I'll say it anyways... I would much rather add a small SSD to that build and cut a few corners in other places like avoiding an expensive "gamer" company keyboard, mouse, and maybe a few other places.

If you're really emphasizing price/performance, I'd definitely trim the keyboard and mouse down, even without adding an SSD.

All links are purely from NewEgg, for simplicity.

I didn't mean to link the Micro version, I'll fix that. I picked the Pro version for the second PCI-E slot for future upgrade. Sorry for linking the old ram, I thought there was something fishy going on. I'll link the new ones. (Actually, I like Saithes' more, so we'll go with those.)

I'm using the prices directly from the NewEgg page. Prices may vary based on location, Mail in Rebate, Discounts, Offers, Combos, and Promotional deals.

The Samsung Spinpoint, until we see a price drop on SSDs, will be one of the best price->performances, despite it's low cache size.

Oh blast it all. Give me a second here to see if we can drop the price a little. The peripherals are purely my opinion. Obviously, people are going to argue until their blue in the face about which is the best gaming mouse and so on.

I'm satisfied with the price of the base build. I'd pay $1,500 for a nice system that can handle what that can. I do feel like that's a little high...

[Eruu]

Looks great. How often do you recommend upgrading systems? I've heard every new CPU socket, every other?

Also, I keep meaning to find a couple of SSDs to buy, but it seems like there's a new interface coming out for them every week. I've seen PCIe ones, sata 3, USB, etc. When will be a good time to buy?

On the build, I would recommend spending a bit more on the CPU h/f. The Hyper 212 is an incredible value, but the i5 2500k can pull some serious OCs

[Fuzzykins]

Looks great. How often do you recommend upgrading systems? I've heard every new CPU socket, every other?

Also, I keep meaning to find a couple of SSDs to buy, but it seems like there's a new interface coming out for them every week. I've seen PCIe ones, sata 3, USB, etc. When will be a good time to buy?

On the build, I would recommend spending a bit more on the CPU h/f. The Hyper 212 is an incredible value, but the i5 2500k can pull some serious OCs

First questions tough. There's always new technology coming out. A year from now, my amazing i5 2500k build will be on the verge of being outdated, if not already. I'd say the trick to a healthy PC is upgrading parts every 1 to 1.5 years. Even if it's something minor like a PSU or a graphics card, if you can afford to upgrade at least one piece ever year ($400 dollars ish a year.) on your computer, you'll keep it up to date rather easily..

The PCIe SSD's will be the fastest. Followed by Sata 3 6Gb/s, Sata 3 3Gb/s, and finally USB 3.0, USB, 2.0.
Don't let that deter you though, the OCZ Vertex is an amazing SSD.

The Hyper 212 is currently an excellent heatsink. The i5 is getting serious OC's on air already. The next best option would be to put it on water so it could overclock higher, but that would break the bank. There's expensive air coolers that would be better, but price->performance, the Hyper 212 wins.

[Eruu]

First questions tough. There's always new technology coming out. A year from now, my amazing i5 2500k build will be on the verge of being outdated, if not already. I'd say the trick to a healthy PC is upgrading parts every 1 to 1.5 years. Even if it's something minor like a PSU or a graphics card, if you can afford to upgrade at least one piece ever year ($400 dollars ish a year.) on your computer, you'll keep it up to date rather easily..

The PCIe SSD's will be the fastest. Followed by Sata 3 6Gb/s, Sata 3 3Gb/s, and finally USB 3.0, USB, 2.0.
Don't let that deter you though, the OCZ Vertex is an amazing SSD.

The Hyper 212 is currently an excellent heatsink. The i5 is getting serious OC's on air already. The next best option would be to put it on water so it could overclock higher, but that would break the bank. There's expensive air coolers that would be better, but price->performance, the Hyper 212 wins.

Hmm, I only have one free PCIe slot. Does raid0 work between two different interfaces?

[Cantii]

Looks great. How often do you recommend upgrading systems? I've heard every new CPU socket, every other?

Also, I keep meaning to find a couple of SSDs to buy, but it seems like there's a new interface coming out for them every week. I've seen PCIe ones, sata 3, USB, etc. When will be a good time to buy?

On the build, I would recommend spending a bit more on the CPU h/f. The Hyper 212 is an incredible value, but the i5 2500k can pull some serious OCs

You can easily get that CPU up to 4.8GHz with the CM Hyper 212 Plus if you slap another fan on for push/pull and use some decent TIM. Hell, the TIM that comes with it is pretty damn good.

Right now, the absolute fastest SSD is the OCZ RevoDrive, it's pretty much tied with the new Intel SSD model (510 or something like that), but will cost an arm and a leg and maybe your first born. Right now, it's a good idea to just wait on the SSD because the new SandForce chips are being rolled out, so the previous generation SSDs will be dropping in price.

On upgrading systems, that's up to you. I personally like to upgrade when I find a few games that I can't run very well. That could be a year or five years down the road and six CPU generations later. If it's the video card that needs upgrading, that's a different story and can be upgraded as long as it won't bottleneck the CPU (i.e. running a GTX 570 or HD 6970 or higher on a three-six year old CPU or something similar).

Hmm, I only have one free PCIe slot. Does raid0 work between two different interfaces?

No need for raid 0 with the RevoDrive, as it's actually two 120GB SSDs in raid 0 already.

[Fuzzykins]

Hmm, I only have one free PCIe slot. Does raid0 work between two different interfaces?

You don't raid your Data Drive and your SSD. If you want to raid SSD's, someone linked a PCI-E SSD awhile back. Lemme dig it up.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-665-_-Product
Got 3k dollars laying around anywhere?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-597-_-Product
That's just big enough to hold Windows 'n WoW. And maybe another game if you're smart about it.

[ispano]

Software RAID can, but you really shouldn't, SSDs are plenty fast as is.

[Eruu]

You don't raid your Data Drive and your SSD. If you want to raid SSD's, someone linked a PCI-E SSD awhile back. Lemme dig it up.

By interfaces I meant between say a sata3 SSD and a PCIe one =)

Is raid0 literally a 2x performance increase from a single drive? That's what the explanation I heard made it sound like

[Fuzzykins]

By interfaces I meant between say a sata3 SSD and a PCIe one =)

Is raid0 literally a 2x performance increase from a single drive? That's what the explanation I heard made it sound like

Technically speaking, yes.
Since 1/2 of file A goes to Hard Drive 1, and 1/2 of File A goes to Hard Drive 2, it SHOULD be twice as fast. However, it doesn't always work out like that.

[ispano]

You'd only notice it on straight up sequential data transfers, and that's only if you have something else fast enough to read/write to it. Random read/write will vary based on the application and the drives in raid.

[dinokaze]

The computer I'm using now I built about 5 years ago and pretty much every piece in it has been replaced, but I'm long overdue for a completely new system and I've been looking around recently at different parts to get a feel for the prices for everything again. I'm curious though (as I say, it's been a while since I've dabbled in a completely new build) I looked at the motherboard and the pictures where it details the memory slots, I notice it says:

"DDR3 2200
O.C./2133
O.C./1866
O.C./1600
1333/1066"

I'm assuming it's saying that all those are compatible and not that each slot is different right? I know it sounds like a dumb question, but I wanted to be sure.

[Adappy]

I'm assuming it's saying that all those are compatible and not that each slot is different right? I know it sounds like a dumb question, but I wanted to be sure.

Correct, all the slots are the same, and can accept ram with any of those speeds

[Alan1187]

I agree with the list, but I wouldn't bother posting hard drives. Id just put "any 7200rpm hdd" and leave size up for the buyer.

[Crispy]

i don't understand why people always go so wild on the PSU's. while i definately agree with the antec truepower series, i was wondering what made you pick the 750W over the 650W one?

edit: nevermind, for 10 bucks difference i would have done the same, i'm just used to the completely different (much higher) prices in Europe.

[Kiniun]

Nobrainer going for the 560 when you can get the 6950 for 14 USD more.

Especially if you plan on adding another card later.

[BicycleMafioso]

That case, while seemingly designed by a space-horny 14-year-old actually isn't that ugly, but still too flashy for my taste. But it isn't painted on the inside, so I wouldn't recommend it, it makes it look cheap.
I'd also go for a 500-550w PSU.
And a Noctua NH-D14 with AP-15fans. Possibly (or rather, likely) a slower DVD as well, to reduce sound.

[Asera]

I like this thread. I don't know about everyone else, but I'm getting tired at how many threads are popping up lately that are either

Build me a system followed by 30 posts containint '2500K'
Rate my system, most of which being 2500K systems, and the rest having everyone go 'get a 2500K'
Need a cheap upgrade, where most recommend a 955BE (if it's someone with an AM2+ board) followed by a few people going 'save and get a 2500K'

Maybe we should sticky it and build it up to include a few other hardware options (ie: non Asus boards), or a couple other builds like a sweet spot budget Core i3 2100 system?

Then put a nice big READ THIS BEFORE POSTING BUILD ME A COMPUTER xD

Then we can have more discussion threads instead of posting 2500K all day!