Custom Build PC?

kon x · **Posted:** August 19th, 2012, 4:20 am

Hey guys,
I'm building a custom PC soon, and was wondering what I could probably get within a spending range of $1000-$1500? I need pretty much everything planned out as to what I want to get, so if you could reply to this with what internals I should get , that would be greatly appreciated (Don't worry about a case though:P ) :mrgreen:

Thank you.

Adbot · **Posted:** August 19th, 2012, 4:20 am

morumska · **Posted:** August 19th, 2012, 5:48 am

if u game get a decent graphics card =)
two hdd, 8 gb ram just because. mm liquid cooling if u arent getting a beast of a machine (just so it can be silent)

KefkaticFanatic · **Posted:** August 19th, 2012, 7:46 am

CPU: Intel i7 3770K - $310 (You could drop it down to $210 with the i5 3550 which is a really nice chip as well, if you aren't considering doing anything really CPU intensive like video processing then you might as well)
Mobo: Asus Maximus V Gene - $200 (There are tons that will work and for cheaper too... just look for the ports and features you want along with good reviews and price and you could go down to $130ish easily)
RAM: 8GB - $45 (As said in my other thread it's all basically the same price and doesn't matter much, guess you could go for 16gb but you really wouldn't need it so why spend extra)
GPU: GTX 660 Ti - $300 (Card is brand new and at a great price for performance, plus you'll get the annoying exclusive PhysX feature with an Nvidia card.
HDD: Intel 520 series 120GB SSD - $130
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB - $90

Total: $1075

You could add a bit extra with another 500GB or 1TB hard drive for backups, or save money by not investing in an SSD. With that budget I would recommend it as there is a significant performance increase in general use. As stated before, you could also cut down by going to the high end i5 instead as you really only get the benefit of an i7 if you're doing serious CPU work (just games won't really take advantage of it), and a cheaper motherboard depending on what you want is always an option. You *could* spend less on a GPU also, but again with that budget you might as well go for something real nice that will last a while. 16GB of RAM would only cost about $40 more, but it's very unlikely you'll need the extra memory for a long time, and by that time it will be crazy cheap like 8GB is now.

Good Mobo brands: ASUS (ASRock is just rebranded), Intel, GIGABYTE

Ranging God · **Posted:** August 19th, 2012, 8:51 am

KefkaticFanatic wrote:

CPU: Intel i7 3770K - $310 (You could drop it down to $210 with the i5 3550 which is a really nice chip as well, if you aren't considering doing anything really CPU intensive like video processing then you might as well)
Mobo: Asus Maximus V Gene - $200 (There are tons that will work and for cheaper too... just look for the ports and features you want along with good reviews and price and you could go down to $130ish easily)
RAM: 8GB - $45 (As said in my other thread it's all basically the same price and doesn't matter much, guess you could go for 16gb but you really wouldn't need it so why spend extra)
GPU: GTX 660 Ti - $300 (Card is brand new and at a great price for performance, plus you'll get the annoying exclusive PhysX feature with an Nvidia card.
HDD: Intel 520 series 120GB SSD - $130
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB - $90

Total: $1075

You could add a bit extra with another 500GB or 1TB hard drive for backups, or save money by not investing in an SSD. With that budget I would recommend it as there is a significant performance increase in general use. As stated before, you could also cut down by going to the high end i5 instead as you really only get the benefit of an i7 if you're doing serious CPU work (just games won't really take advantage of it), and a cheaper motherboard depending on what you want is always an option. You *could* spend less on a GPU also, but again with that budget you might as well go for something real nice that will last a while. 16GB of RAM would only cost about $40 more, but it's very unlikely you'll need the extra memory for a long time, and by that time it will be crazy cheap like 8GB is now.

Good Mobo brands: ASUS (ASRock is just rebranded), Intel, GIGABYTE

I like the setup! If you have the money, get two 21" Asus monitors. They are like $150 ea, and totally worth it.

KefkaticFanatic · **Posted:** August 19th, 2012, 9:15 am

If you have access to Costco I would recommend the Samsung 21.5 instead, as you can get them for about $130 each there with the godly Costco return policy, plus Samsung is a better brand.

kon x · **Posted:** August 19th, 2012, 10:09 pm

KefkaticFanatic wrote:

CPU: Intel i7 3770K - $310 (You could drop it down to $210 with the i5 3550 which is a really nice chip as well, if you aren't considering doing anything really CPU intensive like video processing then you might as well)
Mobo: Asus Maximus V Gene - $200 (There are tons that will work and for cheaper too... just look for the ports and features you want along with good reviews and price and you could go down to $130ish easily)
RAM: 8GB - $45 (As said in my other thread it's all basically the same price and doesn't matter much, guess you could go for 16gb but you really wouldn't need it so why spend extra)
GPU: GTX 660 Ti - $300 (Card is brand new and at a great price for performance, plus you'll get the annoying exclusive PhysX feature with an Nvidia card.
HDD: Intel 520 series 120GB SSD - $130
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB - $90

Total: $1075

You could add a bit extra with another 500GB or 1TB hard drive for backups, or save money by not investing in an SSD. With that budget I would recommend it as there is a significant performance increase in general use. As stated before, you could also cut down by going to the high end i5 instead as you really only get the benefit of an i7 if you're doing serious CPU work (just games won't really take advantage of it), and a cheaper motherboard depending on what you want is always an option. You *could* spend less on a GPU also, but again with that budget you might as well go for something real nice that will last a while. 16GB of RAM would only cost about $40 more, but it's very unlikely you'll need the extra memory for a long time, and by that time it will be crazy cheap like 8GB is now.

Good Mobo brands: ASUS (ASRock is just rebranded), Intel, GIGABYTE

Thanks for the ideas, and the reply!

The only question I have is if the ASUS GT630-2GD3 is a good alternate for a GPU? I've seen videos of it running BF3 on max Graphics with about 50fps. It is a fair bit cheaper, and my friend keeps talking about it. Thanks :mrgreen:

Adbot · **Posted:** August 19th, 2012, 10:09 pm

KefkaticFanatic · **Posted:** August 21st, 2012, 1:25 am

That's a budget mainstream card, not really meant for serious modern gaming. You would probably get 20-30fps on low at best.

The GT 630 is actually just a rebranded and slightly overclocked GT 430, which as you can see from plenty of reviews performs very poorly.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gt-430-review/9
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3973/nvidias-geforce-gt-430/14
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/ha ... 0-1gb-review-11.html

Whatever you are seeing in videos or are hearing is either fraudulent or misleading.

EDIT: l0l I forgot about the PSU

Antec BP550 - $65

I've used these in three separate desktops for the last few years and they've worked fantastically.

kon x · **Posted:** August 21st, 2012, 1:26 am

KefkaticFanatic wrote:

That's a budget mainstream card, not really meant for serious modern gaming. You would probably get 20-30fps on low at best.

The GT 630 is actually just a rebranded and slightly overclocked GT 430, which as you can see from plenty of reviews performs very poorly.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gt-430-review/9
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3973/nvidias-geforce-gt-430/14
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/ha ... 0-1gb-review-11.html

Whatever you are seeing in videos or are hearing is either fraudulent or misleading.

Alright, thanks

Pfkninenines · Global Moderator 12/4/08

So what exactly are you intending to do with this $1000-1500 computer? Gaming? Render video? Browse Facebook?

Regarding gaming, are you planning on a single-monitor, or more (gaming wise, not in general usage)? What kind of games are you primarily going to be playing? Something like Hello Kitty Island Adventure, RuneScape, or the latest and greatest that comes out for the next couple years?

You say to not worry about a case, but what can that case hold? ATX, m-ATX, (probably not ITX, but still), a single PCIe slot card? I would assume it can fit a standard ATX sized PSU, but I'd like to know before specing out parts.

Would you also like a monitor, mouse, and keyboard, or are you reusing old peripherals? If the monitor is 4+ years old, I'd probably consider something newer. You might not think it, but upgrading a monitor is instantly noticeable by anyone who uses the machine. Higher resolutions, better lighting, and better technology overall can make a substantial difference in day-to-day use.