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What I would like is the build you would go with for around $1200. Around meaning if there is a part that would be more beneficial but would make the cost $50 to $100 more then let in be known.
No OCing, No SLI and stock cooling.
Built for gaming more than anything.
Thanks
Comments
He is going to ask if you need a monitor, keyboard, mouse ect. You also might want to tell him if you need to purchase an operating system or if you own one, what one you own.
--John Ruskin
Do you need new peripherals (keyboard, mouse, speakers, monitor, surge protector), or are you keeping what you already have for those?
For Sandy Bridge, even at stock speeds, I'd still get a cheap aftermarket cooler rather than the stock cooler. The stock cooler is awful.
Also:
1) Are you in the United States? If not, then what country? This affects where to buy parts.
2) Are you able to assemble a computer from parts? From your initial post, it sounds like you can and will. It gets you a much better deal if you'll assemble it yourself.
I almost had all of the questions. Maybe next time.
--John Ruskin
If ya got a few PS3's laying around you might try.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-air-playstation-3s-supercomputer.html
The following statement is false
The previous statement is true
I will get all the peripherals.
I will also build it and yes i'm in the USA.
I have the OS also.
Just the box is what I want you to build.
I guess I should have said standard cooling. Not very many times has stock cooling been worth a damn.
Thanks again.
Case: $70, before a $20 mail-in rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129079
Note the promo code. Plenty of space for a gaming build, and a great deal on a nice case.
Motherboard: $155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131705
Now with a lower price tag. I'd have still picked it if it were $170 with shipping, as the Gigabyte equivalent is still more than that.
Processor/heatsink combo deal: $232
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.625363
The processor choice is obvious, and the heatsink is the cheapest "good" one available in a combo deal.
Video card: $349, before a $25 rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127554
If you happen to prefer Nvidia, then this one is $338 before a $40 rebate:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162075
I debated between those two cards a bit, so you can go either way and they're both good cards. Obviously, get one video card, not both.
Solid state drive: $200, before a $30 rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227551
That's probably one of OCZ's deceptively labeled drives with 25 nm NAND flash, so ti's not quite as good as what you'll see in reviews. But it's still a very good SSD, and a great value even if you accept that you only get 107 GB of usable capacity.
Hard drive: $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136514
This depends tremendously on how much capacity you need. Personally, I don't have a hard drive at all. The WD Caviar Green will be slow, but you put programs where speed matters on the SSD, anyway.
Power supply: $89, before a $30 rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207007
Optical drive: $19
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151192
Note the promo code, which gets you free shipping.
Memory: $48
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193
Rated at 1600 MHz, which would mean overclocking the memory controller, but that's completely safe, especially with only two memory modules.
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Let's see here: that comes to $1242, before $105 in rebates. I'll call that close enough to $1200. That gets you essentially the best gaming processor on the market, AMD's top of the line video card, a very nice SSD with 107 GB of usable capacity, and high quality components all around that should be very reliable.
If you're inclined to spend more than that, then one possible upgrade would be 8 GB of system memory rather than 4 GB:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231424
That adds $32 to the price tag. Note that it's clocked at 1333 MHz rather than 1600 MHz, so it is a little slower. The lower clock speed won't often make a meaningful difference in performance.
Another option would be to go with a really high end power supply, instead of the one I linked above:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121078
That adds $23 to the base price tag, and also means you miss a $30 rebate.
I'm not saying that you should do these last two upgrades; I'm just saying they're something you could consider. Basically, this is what would be different in the build above if you had said a $1300 budget instead of $1200.
A third possible change is a different hard drive. If you've only got 100 GB in use on your current computer, then you don't need a 2 TB hard drive, and can save some money by getting something smaller. Personally, I skip the hard drive entirely and only have an SSD.
I'll probably go ahead with the suggested upgrades.
Thanks again Quizzical you never fail to bring your "A" game when it comes to pc builds.
For what it's worth, I avoided some deals that expire today, in case you didn't pick them up on time, but there are some deals there that expire on 4/13 or 4/15 or so.
Recently I basically made this build for someone. Works well. I prefered the MSI Twin Frozr 3 over the standard model. The cooling was amazing! Absolutely silent and well worth the few extra bucks. Were talking WAY LESS noise.