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Gaming PC - $1200
So, my buddy said it'd be better to just build a PC piece-by-piece instead of buying one at Best Buy...unfortunately, my skills are used to play the games, not build a PC. Any suggestions on something I could build for $1200? I already have a monitor/keyboard, so that isn't a factor in the budget. 
Comments
Custom building a PC is a lot easier than it appears, plus its cheaper and much better than anything you can purchase pre-built from a store. For $1200 or less you can build a very beefy PC, that will run everything on max settings!
I don't have the time at this moment to select parts for ya, but someone else surely will come along soon enough...
Haha good to know; I was worried the budget was too low.
The only expensive piece of hardware you'll encounter would be the graphics card and CPU. Intel I7 extreme CPU's can run you about $600-$900 already. But it really isnt neccessary to get top of the line hardware.
I built my new rig for around that price, to giv eyou an idea, this is what I have, you can build a rig that will treat you well for around that price. And to be honest, putting them together isn't really all that bad, there are plenty of guides on the internet, Newegg has a video series that gives tips and walks you through putting together a machine. Anyway, here is some of what I have, and what they are priced, from newegg.
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 EXTREME4 GEN3 - $184.99
Powersupply: ENERMAX NAXN 82+ ENM750AWT 750W ATX12V v2.3 - $119.99
GPU: EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1573-AR GeForce GTX 570 HD - $349.99
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz - $229.99 (This is have OC'd to 4.4)
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - $88.99
Case:NZXT Phantom - $129.99
CPU Cooling: CORSAIR H70 Core High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler - $79.00
COOLER MASTER SickleFlow 120 R4-L2R-20AR-R1 120mm Silent operation Red LED case fan - $12.99
(H70 Doesn't come with any fans so used one from the case and the the CM one)
FRONT FAN:XIGMATEK Cooling System Crystal Series CLF-F1452 140mm Red LED Case Fan - $12.99
Now minus tax ands shipping that comes to around $1,208
I did have some coupons from Newegg for buying some of the parts and used it on others, so I got a deal on some of it, but it was more just to give you an idea. you don't have to get those parts, but the key is research. Find some parts, compare them, search prices, read reviews ect.
Hope I helped
Wow, thanks a ton. I'll have to go a bit cheaper on some parts, but my biggest issue making sure everything was compatible with each other. Again, thanks.
Here you go:
Processor/memory combo deal:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.805911
There's no point in getting a faster processor than that. Nice specs on the memory for cheap.
Motherboard/OS combo deal:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.791361.13-157-231
The motherboard has all the features you might want and then some. And you need an OS.
SSD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442
Because a computer that doesn't have a good SSD is slow, no matter what else it has. Note that you'll need to update the firmware or else it will start causing blue screens after about 5000 hours of use. But you can do that before you install anything. The firmware update is on Crucial's web site.
Optical drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
They're all the same, so get the cheapest one.
Power supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182071
Do note the promo code. That's Super Flower's gold platform, so it's pretty high end quality.
Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129180
Antec just updated their classic Three Hundred for USB 3.0 front ports, SSD mounting brackets, room for longer video cards, and some other goodies.
CPU cooler:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835214023
Because the stock cooler that Intel ships with their processors is terrible. There are trade-offs between noise and cooling performance. Enermax leans heavily toward the quiet end of the spectrum. That's good for you if you're going to leave things at stock speeds or only modestly overclock it, and bad if you're going to try to overclock the processor to its limits. But if you were considering Best Buy, then you don't strike me as an extreme overclocker.
Video card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948
Comes with a free game, too.
Hard drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148725
Do you need a hard drive? I don't. But if you do, then get whatever size you need. This one is 1.5 TB, which is a lot bigger than most people need, but conveniently uses up the rest of your budget.
Total, including shipping and before rebates: $1200.72, or a lot less if you skip the hard drive.
Well, you said a $1200 budget, and I came close to it. :)
Wow, another great reply, thanks. Going to have to take a bit to look through everything on both posts...a lot to think about. I do like the package deals you found, plus I did forget that I need an OS.
Compatability is pretty easy actually, just look at the socket type your CPU is, motherboards will list what they take and also what type of RAM it supports, and the package deals can be great, building your own PC is a great time and you won't regret it, trust me
First of all, you have to respect the budget. Shipping costs are real costs, too. You've got no OS, no storage, and no optical drive. Add those and you might be $300 over budget.
The motherboard is decent. But you don't want to pay $185 for decent. The one I linked is a higher end model from the same company, and $25 cheaper.
The power supply is also decent. But again, you don't want to pay $120 for merely decent. If you're going to pay $120, you want high end. The power supply I linked is much nicer, and also $39 cheaper.
The video card is nice. But not $350 worth of nice. You could get a significantly better Radeon HD 6970 for cheaper than that.
Hardly anyone has any use for more than 8 GB of system memory. Gaming certainly isn't such a use. Or perhaps rather, consumer use; lots of servers need a lot more than 8 GB of system memory.
That's a nice case. But $130 is a lot to spend on a case if you're looking to fit a $1200 budget.
Liquid cooling has its uses. But $79 for a CPU cooler is an awful lot for a $1200 budget. And it's not the best thing to try if you're already skittish about building a computer.
.
I'm gonna chime in here, because you can save yourself $183 by not getting an SSD. Its 100% absolutely unnecessary. PCs and gaming have been running just fine on regular HDD for a long time and the only thing an SSD does is load programs a little faster. The cost per gig is still astoundingly expensive, and not worth it.
I did finally get to play with one recently after Quizzical and many others kept attempting to ram it down my throat about how much better it is, and I honestly didn't see much difference. I never turn off my PC, so loading windows 10sec faster is null, and while gaming, the only differences I experienced were some, but not all load times when zoning or respawning from death we're at most 1-3 seconds faster. I'm still quite content with my 2 terabyte Hitachi 7200RPM HDD, that I bought for $80 before the floods in Thailand raised their prices.
If you're anal about a few seconds less load times then sure go for it, but its IMHO a mass waste of money. ~ At least until they become the standard when HDDs are phased out and they are cost/size comparable...
I wasn't trying to give him a rig with what I posted, I posted what I had, to give him an idea possibly. I also stated that I was going to post *some* of what I had since the intent was not to post a full rig. I fully understand that I spent more on certian parts for a budget-ish machine. Yes what you posted was a lot better, since it was more to show him a closer to a full rig. As far as the liquid cooling, that is a closed system, there is no maintenance involved, so it's not like regular liquid cooling, and better for someone who lacks experience with the real thing. All in all, I posted leaning towards the higher end, just to give him ideas. Honestly, what was the intent with that? Yes, what you posted was better, I get it.
If you don't care if your computer is slow, then sure, you don't need an SSD. But then, if you don't care if the computer is slow, then there are lots of other places that you could cut way back, too.
The question of whether to get an SSD or not is basically one of what you want your computer to do when you tell it to do something:
1) wait, wait, wait, and then eventually do what you said, or
2) do what you said promptly, rather than making you wait.
An SSD is the second option. You probably have some idea of when your current computer makes you wait. Furthermore, you probably have some idea of whether that waiting is due to downloading something from the Internet. When it isn't a download, an SSD would mean you have to wait a lot less.
There was a new doubleblind study pitting Bulldozer vs I7-2700k and AMD won so I would start my build there for the budget minded. Check out the study
http://semiaccurate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6044
Processor 270$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103960
Heatsink 27$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233001
Motherboard 130$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157281
Power supply 125$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139025
Ram 106$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145325
OS 140$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116992
case 115$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811517004
Hard drive 60$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136770
Video card 170$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161389
Thermal paste AC-MX2 9$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186020
Extra fan for Xigmatek heatsink 10$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186034
cd/dvd 19$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106276
Total 1181$ not including shipping
20$ rebate on video card. Dropping AMD FX to 1090t 6 core is 100$ cheaper if shipping puts you over. You can also save 30ish$ by going with 970x motherboard. 50$ by downgrading to radeon 6850.
If you need to save some pennies for shipping I would get this. I do not reccomend deviating from the FX8150 processor though. peoples reviews of it are very good, and it will get better with future Win7 patch.
Motherboard 110$ If you don't need Crossfire, I see no point in it. Just get a better single card. better performance
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157262
Some notes.There is a patch comming for the Bulldozer CPU for Win7, and Win8 has a much better thread server making 8 cores a far better choice than Intel 4 cores.
That Heatsink coupled with another fan for 2 fans in a push/pull config will allow for some awesome overclocking if you want.
Agreed completely on this study:
I have in my cybercafe both I5-2400 and FX-6100, and let me tell you, I do not know how the all internet reviews show that Intel is faster. I've tested currently most played games in cybercafe - League of Legends, Blur and Battlefield 3.
LoL has 20-30fps more on AMD than on Intel (150 vs 120ish), Blur fps clearly drops to below 30fps in some moments on Intel, while on AMD it works perfectly smooth, and Battlefield 3 is just slightly smoother on AMD.
Every single machine out of those are using AMD 6870 as a graphic card and the same DDR3 memory.
NEW IDEAS that can refresh the STALE state of MMORPGs
Do note that your study had the hardware setup by AMD and used games chosen by AMD. So there's plenty of room for shenanigans there.
There were actually two separate comparisons. One had both systems using integrated graphics. AMD's integrated graphics is massively better than Intel's, so AMD won in a landslide there. But that's only relevant if you're using integrated graphics, and on a $1200 budget, you aren't.
The other comparison did have a Core i7-2700K and an AMD FX-8150. AMD came out a little ahead in the voting, but realistically, it was a tie. And the reason for that is pretty simple: if the processor isn't the limiting factor, then games will perform the same on either system. AMD got to choose the games, so they could make sure that they avoided games where the processor was a meaningful limiting factor. If Intel got to choose the games, they'd have made sure that the processor was the major limitation, and then the 2700K would have won in a landslide.
-----
As for your build itself, AMD ships a better stock cooler with their Black Edition processors, so an aftermarket cooler isn't entirely necessary unless you want to overclock quite a ways. And there's especially no need to buy your own thermal paste unless you're going for the best overclock you can find. In which case, Intel Sandy Bridge processors overclock better than AMD Zambezi.
Corsair GS series power supplies are all right. But you don't want to spend over $100 even after rebate on something that is merely all right.
There's no sense in spending $105 for only 8 GB of system memory. Even if you did think that high memory clock speeds were important, you can get 1866 MHz (the max that Zambezi supports) for a lot cheaper than that:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231455
There's no need for Windows 7 Professional in a home gaming system.
That hard drive is going to be slow.
That last link does not go to an optical drive.
SSD is in no way necessary at all, especially for someone having to make a gaming rig on a budget.
He would be WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY better off investing the money into.....
1. GPU
2. CPU
3. PSU or motherboard.
SSD is a luxury item right now. On average it will load windows 7-15 seconds faster and shave off a few seconds for most programs. Nothing major whatsoever and really not that important for gaming.
A few things to note:
I would take a NVIDIA card over an ATI card any day of the week. I have used ATI almost exclusively and recently switched and have fewer problems and they bring drivers out faster.
I believe in March/April new NVIDIA cards and Intel CPU chips (Ivory) will be out. This could make the system you build now cheaper or spend about the same and get a much better one.
You can a lot of times find online videos on building a PC if you have zero experience and no one else to help you build it. Even sometimes Newegg items have help videos on their page with the items. A lot of companies, if contacted, will help you out if you are having specific problems - they want to keep a good reputation in a competitive PC parts market.
Good luck.
That's your own opinion.
My opinion is ~ I will never build or buy another PC for myself without an SSD in it. It makes that much difference just in overall use of the computer. ~Everything~ is snappier.
Sure, you don't get any more FPS out of it, but so very few upgrades can make such a dramatic difference in your computer as a modest SSD can.
If you are on a very strict budget, then I can see eliminating it - basically any budget that has to cut back to an AMD or a fourth tier video card probably won't consider it, but it is an option I always highly recommend, and the price for useable-sized drives (40G+) has come down dramatically.
I just received a XFX Double D (two fans) 6870 from newegg and so far happy with it. Also has a lifetime warranty. I recommend this card, especially if you can grab two.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150521
I got it for 169.99 as it was on sale for a few days last week. Also has a 20$ rebate and typically Dirt3 as your free game.
Others before me posted 6870s also but by different companys. I dont know the differences but one thing I know for sure is XFX is the only one with lifetime warranty. I put emphasis in warranty because my card before broke RIGHT after 2 years and that kinda got me a little bit angry
As far as ATI vs Nvidia....
There are 30 ppl in my clan and only 5 or so use Nvidia, and they have had more problems than the 25 ATI users combined.
On top of that ATI Tray tools gives far better options in adjusting visual quality than any NV tweaking program.
Thats awesome dude and I'm glad you have the money to spend on a luxury device like an SSD, but this thread was about a guy building a budget rig for under $1200.
Also a 40gb SSD is still gonna run you $75 minimum and the OS will take up half that. He would still need to purchase a normal HDD anyways so why waste that $75 now when he can put it invest it in the GPU or CPU and snag a bigger and more useful SSD down the line?
revised build with
Asrock 970 extreme 4 90$ 40$ less
Windows 7 home premium 99$ 30$ less
OCZ Agility 3 64gb SSD 90$
and rebates 35$ or so
1160$ before shipping
Might be able to find some combo deals to shave off more $
Have your cake and eat it too^^
$1200 is more than enough to fit an SSD in. $1200 is damn near top of the line across the board.
120G SSD - big enough for OS, several games - many people don't even need anything else
Can be found for well under $200, and often closer to $150 on sale commonly enough.
A typical WD Black Caviar: cheapest I could find was 500G for $139 on sale right now.
Sure, you get 4x the storage for $20 less. But you give up about 1,000x the speed.
It's not a luxury item anymore. It ~should~ be standard equipment in any gaming computer today. especially on a $1,200 budget, when all you need to do is drop from a 6950 to a 6870 (or 570 to 560Ti) to squeeze it in - and that is a compromise that I would recommend, knowing that it could have some impact on frame rate eventually, although I can respect if not everyone is willing to do that. And odds are you won't even need to make that sacrifice - even squeezing in just an extra $75 can easily be done just by catching gear on sale, or mailing in one or two of those rebates we love to forget about.