Need Help on New Gaming Rig

L

lasthero

n00b
Joined
Jan 11, 2007
Messages
29
Hey guys, I posted this earlier in the year and was told to post closing to buy date, and I believe the date is now here. I want to try to use whatever blackfriday/cyber monday deals are going on now to try to score a nice build. If not that's okay I still plan on buying this within 1-2 wks.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Mainly gaming, web browsing and general use

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Budget I'd like to keep somewhere around 1300$ CAD with tax included

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Toronto, Ontario Canada

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
The whole shebang, I'll need CPU, RAM, GPU, PSU, Case, Motherboard, Storage (maybe SSD for OS), dvd read/write, monitor

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
none

6) Will you be overclocking?
No I won't be overclocking.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920x1080

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

1-2 wks, want to try to use whatever black friday/cyber monday deals there are

I'd prefer to pick things up from the following places:
http://www.canadacomputers.com/
http://www.ncix.ca/

My preference to be to buy and build all from same place. However I'd be open to other places as well.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Don't think I need anything special.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes win 7 64 bit.
 
Too tired from the turkey and prime rib to do links:
Core i5 3450 or Core i5 3470, whichever is cheaper.
MSI Z77A-G43
8GB of DDR3 1333 or DDR3 1600 RAM rated at 1.5V or lower
GTX 660 TI or GTX 670, whichever is in budget
Crucial M4 128GB or Samsung 830 128GB
1TB Hard drive
cheapest DVD burner you can find.
Antec or Seasonic 520W PSUs. Corsair's TX PSUs are also good choices. You don't need more than 650W.

Case wise, I recommend any of these cases:
$75 - Corsair Carbide Series 300R ATX Case
$80 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$100 - Antec 1100 ATX Case
$100 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$110 - Antec P280 ATX Case
$120 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black ATX Case
$120 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-002OR Black Finish w/Orange Trim Full Tower ATX Case
$120 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-002OR Black Finish w/Green Trim Full Tower ATX Case
$120 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White ATX Case
$120 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-002OR White Finish w/Red Trim Full Tower ATX Case
$123 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Gunmetal Black ATX Case
$125 - Fractal Design Define R4 Arctic White ATX Case
$135 - Fractal Design Define R4 with Window Black Pearl ATX Case
$135 - Fractal Design Define R4 with Window Arctic White ATX Case
$135 - Fractal Design Define R4 with Window Titanium Grey ATX Case
$130 - Lian Li PC-7HX Black Aluminum ATX Case
$135 - Corsair Obsidian Series 550D ATX Case
$140 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Arctic White ATX Case
$144 - Silverstone RV03B-WA ATX case
$145 - Thermaltake VN300M1W2N Chase MK-1 ATX Case
$160 - Silverstone TJ04B-EW ATX Case
$160 - Corsair Graphite Series 600TM ATX Case
$175 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$180 - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT02S ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B ATX Case
$240 - Silverstone FT02S-W-USB3.0 ATX Case
$245 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW ATX Case
 
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Thanks for the input Danny.

What do you think of this powersupply?
Antec HCG-620M High Current Gamer 620W 80PLUS Certified Modular Power Supply

I know you only mentioned the 520W ones in your post, just wondering if the above is okay.

From these parts
i5-3450
MSI Z77A-G43
16GB of DDR3 1600 RAM
GTX 670,
Crucial M4 128GB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB Hard drive
LG DVD burner
Antec HCG-620M High Current Gamer 620W 80PLUS Certified Modular Power Supply
Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case

After mail in rebates Im around 1030 and 270$ under budget

Are there any parts listed above that could be upgraded with the remaining 270$ that would provide a noticeable performance difference?

Thanks
 
I'd say definitely go with a 650W PSU just to give yourself some headroom for future upgrades.

Corsair PSUs are good.

You're not into overclocking, but you're into gaming... its only a matter of time :D

Since you're under budget you could spend the extra $30 and get the 3750K... 300mhz faster and the potential to O/C if you get an itch.
 
lasthero said:
What do you think of this powersupply?
Antec HCG-620M High Current Gamer 620W 80PLUS Certified Modular Power Supply

I know you only mentioned the 520W ones in your post, just wondering if the above is okay.

From these parts
i5-3450
MSI Z77A-G43
16GB of DDR3 1600 RAM
GTX 670,
Crucial M4 128GB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB Hard drive
LG DVD burner
Antec HCG-620M High Current Gamer 620W 80PLUS Certified Modular Power Supply
Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
Click to expand...

The HCG-620M is more than enough for your setup. You would only need a bigger power supply if you were going with a dual-GPU setup.

lasthero said:
After mail in rebates Im around 1030 and 270$ under budget
Click to expand...

What's the before-rebate price (including shipping and VAT)? Use that number as your final figure.

lasthero said:
Are there any parts listed above that could be upgraded with the remaining 270$ that would provide a noticeable performance difference?
Click to expand...

I recommend using your extra money to double the SSD capacity to 256GB. 256GB SSDs generally perform better than their 64GB or 128GB siblings.

Do you have any deals on 2TB or 3TB hard drives (versus the normal prices for 1TB drives)? If so, you should consider looking at increasing your storage capacity while the price-per-GB of the larger drives are pretty low. (If push came to shove, I personally believe that one extra terabyte of storage space is more important than 8GB more of memory. You're not going to see much of a performance boost from 16GB of RAM versus 8GB.)
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys.

The i5 3450 is the only one on sale, so if I get a 3570K for example id have to spend an additonal 80$ in comparison...however i do have money left over...

As for final figure without MIR after Taxes, no shipping as I would be going to these places locally and picking them up. It would be around 1100

Interesting thing to note about the HD space. Yes there is a 3TB seagate for 89.99 on sale. For SSDS, i see a Adata SX900 256gb on sale.
 
Try to see if the 256GB version of either the Samsung 830 or the Crucial M4 is on sale. We generally recommend those drives for their good performance and the fact that they don't use SandForce controllers, which seemingly causes a higher rate of BSOD issues than other controllers. I say "seemingly" as most of the "bad news" I've found came from these forums. However, many people swear by SandForce and have used SandForce-based drives for years with no issue. (I personally have a Crucial M4, so what do I know?)

Is that Seagate 3TB drive a 5400RPM model or a 7200RPM model? If it's the latter, grab it.
 
I see the Crucial M4 256, however it isnt on sale and is 100$ more than the 128gb one. Hmm okay didnt know there was such an issue with the sandforce controllers.

The 3TB seagate is the 7200 model, so I guess this would be a good buy, not quite sure about getting the 256gb SSD though if its such a big price diff for another 128GB..
 
newegg usa has the I5 3570 $220 with $20 gift card, maybe you can get a price match?
no real idea.
 
lasthero said:
not quite sure about getting the 256gb SSD though if its such a big price diff for another 128GB..
Click to expand...
Do note that with SSDs, the larger in size you go, you'll get slightly more performance. So you're not only getting 128GB more storage with that 256GB SSD. IMO, the 256GB is worth it if you can afford it.
 
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