Here are the PC builds for the wonderful month of June 2013. One caveat to this months builds is that I will be paying very little attention to doing any major changes to the main builds. Why you may ask, well this is the month where the shiny new Intel’s Haswell Processors are supposed to come out. Have no fret though as these builds still stand very strong and will for a while. The $600 build has stayed pretty much the same, the $1000 build has had some minor changes with the change to a mini Corsair case and the $1500 build had the most changes like the MSI Gaming G45 motherboard. In light of this and as per a few requests in the passing month, I will be writing a new $2000 build following this article, so stay tuned.
What does this mean for you who want to build today or even in the days as the Haswell processors are released – well you have a few options:
Wait and see how the new Haswell processors get priced along with the new types of Z68 motherboards throughout the month.
See if I include them in next months builds
Or purchase a build today that will still be just as good as it was last month. Before I make any concise decisions on when and what Haswell processor into the builds, I will be also waiting to review any upcoming real benchmarks.
Please keep in mind prices will be high for any builds in the next few months for a Haswell buillds so, it might be good to decide whether you are going to build today, or perhaps a few months from now. For any of you who are curious as to what the specifications for the new Intel Haswell processors are – I have attached this wonderful graphics from Softpedia –
Monthly Gaming PC Build ( $626 ): June 2013
(Game at Smoothly with Medium – High settings at 1920X1080 resolutions)
A mirror image of the previous $600 gaming pc build. This month prices have remained static and hardware releases minimal, so this fantastic $600 build still stays just as strong.
One minor change was the change to a lower priced GTX 660 Superclocked Graphics Card, which will give you a great opportunity for maximized performance in a budget gaming pc.
This $600 gaming pc will be able to play the most recent games at anywhere from medium to the highest settings with a high FPS rating at resolutions of 1920X1080. The 2GB GeForce GTX 660 Superclocked graphics card is a very capable graphics card that is the best in its class and budget, and especially so with 2GB of memory overclocked.
The Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 full ATX sized motherboard has USB 3.0 and many features included in much more expensive boards; such as the potential to CrossFire and memory up to 32GB.
Overall you will have a great build with 8GB of total RAM, 500GB hard drive storage space, 500Watts in a quality Corsair Builder Series 500W PSU – and this will all be encased in a quality budget oriented NZXT CS-NT-S210-B PC case. All great quality hardware packed into a budget oriented build.
Upgrades / Alternatives for the $600 Gaming PC Build:
Here you will find some hardware alternatives to the hardware already included in the build above. Keep in mind that these are alternatives and are all compatible with the current build. If you want some more suggestions for alternatives or additions to the current build, you just leave a comment below and I will respond back as soon as I can.
Below you will find an action packed AMD FX-8320 Eight Core Processor, which has been said to be a great choice for gamers prepping for the future. The Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 would suffice as a great graphics upgrade enabling you to play games at higher resolutions at higher FPS. You can go with a nice blue lit Cooler Master Elite pc case, or even upgrade your potential hard drive space with a 1TB western digital.
*none – as it pushes this build over budget, however I would recommend the Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler – especially before you start overclocking the heck out of your Intel 3570K Processor. This can be purchased now or later.
Just as great as last months $1000 build. I have kept most of the great hardware including the Intel 3570K and the Power Color 7950 Boost Graphics card, which has also decreased in cost to $284.
Yet again, this is a wonderful Mini-ITX sized build using the very compact featured filled Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI motherboard with built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, USB 3.0 and PCI Express 3.0. Instead of the great BitFenix case from month I have chosen the newer Corsair Obsidian Series 350D Performance Mini ITX PC case. Basically, it’s the mini me version of the regular Corsair Obsidian series of cases. This case would be the perfect addition for anyone wanting a nice compact professional looking gaming pc that still has the potential for tons of upgrades.
The other specifications for the $1000 build include, 8GB of Corsair Vengeance memory, a solid 750 Watt Corsair HX series PSU and 1TB of hard drive space with a Western Digital Blue hard drive.
$1000 Gaming PC Build Additions / Alternatives
The following are additions and or alternatives to pair with the $1000 PC build above; each of the hardware are compatible with the $1000 build. If you have any questions for further additions / hardware alternatives, please feel free to leave a comment below and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Below you will see a Crucial m4 solid state from consisting of 128GB of storage. This would be a great addition for those wanting a faster boot drive for their operating system and most played games. We also have another PowerColor Radeon HD 7950 Boost Card for those that want to either add tons of more graphics potential in Crossfire, or you can simply swap the graphics card for a better EVGA GeForce GTX 670 graphics card. Last but not least, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 would be a highly recommended CPU cooler for those wanting to overclock right away, otherwise keep it in mind.
We have the standard Intel 3570K processor paired with the very powerful Radeon HD 7970 BOOST graphics card. Overclock the 3570K and your screaming!
I have also included the very cool MSI Z77A-G45 Gaming motherboard. Overall, his motherboard has everything you could want, for a really good price and it looks so cool. Allows for easy overclocking, Crossfire & SLI support with PCI Express 3.0 and it states that it can “low your lag” with “game networking” – I’m not 100% sure whether that rains true, but you cannot argue the features and value of this motherboard for $139. Want to learn more – Check out the MSI Specifications.
With some price decreases this month I have fit in the vey fast 256GB Samsung PRO solid state drive – allowing you to have a fair sized SSD to boot from and store tons of games / software on.
As per last month we have the boat load of 16GB Kingston HyperX Blu RAM, Corsair AX series750 Watt high quality PSU and a basic Samsung optical drive.
Finally, I have added in the well established Antec Nine Hundred PC Case that comes in at a very affordable price without sacrificing quality. This case has been around for a while and is still one of the best.
$1500 Gaming PC Build Additions / Alternatives
The following are additions and or alternatives to pair with the $1500 PC build above; each of the hardware are compatible with the $1000 build. If you have any questions for further additions / hardware alternatives, please feel free to leave a comment below and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Below you will find an upgraded Intel 3770K processor for those wanting to go with an i7 instead of the i5 3570K processor included in the build. For those insane gamers, you can always Crossfire the Radeon HD 7970 by adding another Sapphire Radeon HD 7970. You can swap the CPU cooler for a liquid CPU Cooler Master Seidon 240M. Or perhaps you want to store most of your information purely on your SSD – then the Samsung 840 PRO 512GB SSD might be for you.
Even though there were no major changes to any of the core builds this month, we saw a few changes to accomodate fore any price changes and a stronger $1500 build due to a slight decrease in its overall hardare costs. In the upcoming months we may see some major changes due to Intel’s newest Haswell processor product line. If you are interested in the proposed product line with their respective prices and specifications, then check back at the top of this article.
There you have it, these three builds are what I think to be the best for their relative prices at this point in time. If you have any questions or other build needs that are outside of these requirements then by all means leave a comment and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Hey guys. First and foremost, great site you got going on here. I’m just curious if I was to do the $600 dollar build of this if the Intel Ivy i5 is compatible or if I would need a different motherboard. Thanks in advance.
You can use the same one provided in the $600 build just fine with an AMD FX-6300 as is aslo has an AM3+ socket. You can also get something like an ASRock 970 EXTREME3 ATX AM3/AM3+ motherboard if you ever expect you might want to add more then one graphics card etc.
Do I have to worry about buying something for wifi? Sorry extremely new at this Im going to go with the 1000 build with the EVGA GeForce GTX670 and i am going with the Thermaltake Chaser A41 Snow Edition Case instead of the one you reccomended. Thanks Ive been waiting for forever to build a computer and your suggestions are fantastic and break it down nice and easy! Also is there a way i can add a solid state hard drive later on and switch it to boot off of it?
If you go with the motherboard in the $1000 build, you will have built in WiFi, so no worries there. And nice choice on the case.
You bet, you can always add in your solid state drive later. You would just install your windows on the SSD when you purchase it and change your boot order in BIOS. I would then wipe the other hard drive and use it simply for storage.
Best of luck and if you have any more questions please let me know 🙂
Hi there,
Really love your site. I had a computer built last year kind of using one of your builds.
I was wondering what you would recommend upgrading first? i spent about 900$ on it. If you need the specs on it lemme know
ok corey uhm,
currently i have
Processor: AMD FX-6100 Zambezi 3.3GHz Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6100WMGUSBX
Graphics card:PowerColor AX7870 2GBD5-2DH Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP
Motherborad: ASUS M5A78L-M LX PLUS AM3+ AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
Ram: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
Case: Thermaltake V3 Black Edition VL80001W2Z Black SECC / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
not sure about the hard drive, but i know it isn’t an SSD, and i ma pretty sure i have 750 watt power supply. I mostly use my computer for online games like Path of Exile, League of Legends, and World of Warcraft. My computer is performing not amazing but it isn’t terrible either. Just not what i want it to be at. I would like to get a little bit more speed and a little bit better picture quality. also a little bit better cooling too.
I believe I responded to your last comment via e-mail, sorry about that! Thanks for filling me in what you currently have. What I would first suggest (assuming you haven’t done it) is try some overclocking. This would right off the bat, be the most cost friendly way to boost things up. Here is a video of a guys tutorial overclocking his FX-6100 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8wy-bgypKo )
If you are having trouble getting the resolutions you would like, then your next best bet would be to up the graphics card. However with the Radeon HD 7870 you should be getting pretty damn good gameplay in those games (assuming you;re playing at resolutions no higher then 1920×1080). You can try overclocking the graphics card too – http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-graphics-card,1916.html
Other factors that I can think of that may be contributing to a perception of lessened performance may also be your network connection, multiple programs open, using at least Windows 7?, or your hard drive getting way to full – so be sure to check those too.
You can increase boot times with an SSD if you were interested. Otherwise at this point in everything should be doing what you want it to in terms of performance. If it were me I wouldn’t be changing anything major like the graphics card or processor.
I really like the $1500 build but I’m looking to cut a little out of it. Could I sacrifice the SSD and still get the same performance? Or would you recommend going for the $1000 build and upgrading to the better graphics card? Let me know what you would recommend.
In my opinion of cutting back in the $1500 build to make it more affordable for you, my recommendations would be – Yes you can take the SSD (Could always opt for one later when you can afford it). You can also save on the power supply and go with the one from the $1000 build (Corsair Professional Series HX 750 Watt). And if you are still wanting to save further, you can also go with the 8GB of RAM from the $1000 build. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Very similar to the $1000 build, so no complaints there and I am a fan of the AsRock Extreme 4 as you know. I’m not 100% familiar with the GS series of Corsair PSU’s, but in my opinion you cn’t really go wrong with Corsair, I’d say go for it. $900 AUS for that build is about $877 USD, which is pretty impressive that that build. Scrapping the optical drive I see?
Good Thank you Corey , Thanks for the answer too and yes the GS Power supply has some issues from where what I was reading , yea I Guess I’ll change it to antec gamer or something. HAH and the optical drives isn’t really a issue. Thanks again Dude.
Joe here with an updated build based on the new Haswell chips and utilizing the GTX 770 (@dark), this build levels out at about 1800$ (all on amazon, without peripherals), but could be reduced the 1500$ with a cheaper motherboard and a less powerful core, feedback would be appreciated.
Cooler Master Seidon 240M Liquid CPU Water Cooling System with Copper Heatsink and 240mm Radiator – 2 Fans 94.65
ASUS Z87-DELUXE DDR3 1600 LGA 1156 Motherboard 289.99
ASUS VS278Q-P Ultrafast 1ms 27-Inch LED-Lit Monitor 285.99
That build looks so very nice – way to go! And would be very similar to what I would have recommended if I did go with the new Haswell’s in the builds this month (just waiting).The only thing I might downgrade (as you stated) was the motherboard, but that’s just the way I work – as it is a very high end board.
Your build does make me drool. Mind checking back with an update if you decide to build it? I would love to hear how it goes before adding them to the build list.
Thanks again for the feedback. There are only a couple things in this build that are left up to chance. 1. Both the ASUS and the EVGA versions of the 770 are great but, which one? 2. is a 27 inch screen to big and will the pixel density suffer on high performance games. 3. Do you have any recommendation on coolant liquid.
1. Main difference (and only difference) between the cards is the core clock speed and the boost clock speed of the EVGA is SLIGHTLY higher. 53 MHz to be exact. Which is such a small difference it’s almost un-noticeable. Although you can boost the ASUS card to the same core clock, the EVGA card can also be boosted slightly higher again. But like I said, almost no difference of speed.
That is the only technical difference, but in the physical aspect, the ASUS takes the cake. It’s exterior is very attractive, and it has a dual-fan cooling system. Resulting in your card lasting longer and performing better for a long period of time. This is why I would choose the ASUS card over the EVGA one, even though there is a slight (58MHz = 0.058GHz) difference.
2. I can’t help as much with this as I don’t know very much about monitors besides the basic things. But from what I can tell, that monitor is one of the best out there for less than $300. 1ms response time is OUTSTANDING and it’s 80,000,000:1 ratio is amazing as well.
27 inches is pretty large for a monitor although it’s not dreadfully big. If you can find a similar monitor that’s 24 inches, than that would be the way to go.
In my opinion, monitors that are slightly smaller (20″, 22″ & 24″) are the best since they are small enough you can stare at the screen and see everything on it at once without having to move your head around too much. Unless the distance you are from the monitor contradicts that, 27″ close up may not be the best.
3. This is an easy question. My recommendations of 3:
(BEST OVERALL) = CORSAIR Hydro Series H100i ($105) http://www.bit.ly/17OhXrI
I have also heard that 24 inch monitors are the optimal size, furthermore, the EVGA version of the 770 just jumped up 80 bucks on amazon so ASUS it is haha. I am “downsizing” by motherboard to the Z87 pro, 80 dollars cheaper and just as much bang for your buck. as far as the monitor goes, i am actively searching for a smaller monitor with the same specifications, i will update you when this happens.
I do also agree with Luke, as I do also use a 24 inch monitor, it’s been the happy medium for me at 1080×1920. And the monitor Joe posted is a very nice high end one, which would be pretty sweet. If you do plan to spend less, I would recommend some BenQ monitors, however if you can afford it that Asus VG248QE would be splendid.
dark
hey, love your build. i have a few question
can you make a build using a new haswell processor?
and do you recommend a gtx 770 for replacing the 7970?
thank you
Thank you. As stated in the introduction to the article I will be doing Haswell builds next month. However if you are wanting to build right away, I will try and keep up to date within the next week or so and would feel more confident giving you a great build at that point in time, so that I can take into account benchmarks and motherboard reviews. So if you are interested in a week or two let me know!
And good question with regards to the Radeon HD 7970 vs GTX 770 – I t has been said the new GTX 770 is slightly better, but it’s hard to say so far. I would say they are performing pretty similarly and are priced pretty similar.
Dark, the information that Corey has given you is the best you’ll probably get.
Although, this video ( http://www.bit.ly/11OZWpT ) from LinusTechTips explains and demonstrates the power the GTX 770 & 780 have compared to the 600 series and Radeon stuff.
From every single benchmark, the GTX Titan comes out on top with the GTX 780 VERY close behind. Below that is the GTX 680 and GTX 770 close together although both with 30% power difference then the two on top. But generally, the 770 beats the 7970.
Thanks Luke! I tend to really like Linus’s videos. I do wonder what caused that “anomaly” with the GTX 670 gpu boost. He does also state in the end that he would try to opt for a GTX 780 if he could due to the performance discrepancy when compared to the Titan.
After watching this video I would like to also pin point that he does pressure you to buy higher then a 1080p monitor to make these cards worth it; which is definitely true after watching his GTX 770 video with 1440p resolutions. – http://goo.gl/0H7Nu – plus both the Radeon 7970 and GTX 770 seem to average par on par.
The conclusion seems to be that AMD i lacking in regards to GTX 780 – Titan ranges, however is pretty similar in the GTX 770 and Radeon 7970.
PS. Did you drool at the look of that card at the beginning of the video?…I did 😛
thanks for the response guys
since i saw the 2000$ build i decided to go with that
the gtx 780 as corey said look very tempting and with the performance to boast about.
and about the haswell, i did my research and it turns out that the haswell chip is not yet stable.
a few reviews tells me that the temperature spiked immensely when you OC-ed it. so i will hold back on haswell for a while
but still, i would love to see your haswell build corey
Processor Alternative: AMD FX-8320 Eight-Core Processor Black Edition AM3+ FD8320FRHKBOX ($149.99) – Price reduced from last month
Alternative PC Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 – Mid Tower Computer Case with All-Black Interior (RC-430-KWN1) ($45.81)
Graphics Card Alternative: Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD 7870 2 GB GDDR5 DVI-I/HDMI/2x Mini-Displayport PCI-Express 3.0 Graphic Card GV-R787OC-2GD ($249.99)
WD Blue 1 TB Desktop Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache – WD10EZEX ($67.63)
Add a SSD Boot Drive: Crucial m4 128GB 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT128M4SSD2= (+ $129.99)
Upgrade your graphics card: EVGA GeForce GTX670 2048MB GDDR5 256bit, 2x Dual-Link DVI, HDMI, DP, 4-Way SLI Ready Graphics Card (02G-P4-2670-KR) ($363.08)
CROSSFIRE with another PowerColor Radeon HD 7950 Boost State AX7950 3GBD5-2DHV4 Video Card (+ $284)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler (RR-212E-20PK-R1) (Price: $33.24)
Intel Core i7-3770K Quad-Core Processor 3.5 GHz 8 MB Cache LGA 1155 – BX80637I73770K ($317.98)
Crossfire that Radeon 7970 by adding another –
Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 OC with Boost 3GB DDR5 DL-DVI-I/SL-DVI-D/HDMI/DP PCI-Express Graphics Card 11197-03-40G (+ $399)
Better CPU Cooler (To Overclock Intel 3570K):
A Larger Faster SSD: Samsung Electronics 840 Pro Series 2.5-Inch 512 SATA_6_0_gb Solid State Drive MZ-7PD512BW ($468.77)
Comments 31
Hey guys. First and foremost, great site you got going on here. I’m just curious if I was to do the $600 dollar build of this if the Intel Ivy i5 is compatible or if I would need a different motherboard. Thanks in advance.
Author
Thank you 🙂
And yes you would need a different motherboard for the $600 build if you purchase an Ivy i5. Looking at budget motherboards you will need a motherboard with a B75 chipset – For an example look at March’s Builds from this year – https://newbcomputerbuild.com/newb-computer-build-home/march-2013-gaming-pc-builds
If you let me know specifically which i5 you are planning to go with I can make a suggestions based on your overall budget.
Author
Hello Ralph,
You can use the same one provided in the $600 build just fine with an AMD FX-6300 as is aslo has an AM3+ socket. You can also get something like an ASRock 970 EXTREME3 ATX AM3/AM3+ motherboard if you ever expect you might want to add more then one graphics card etc.
what kind of motherboard should i use for a AMD FX-6300 processor
I am going with the $600 build, but due to a price change and the “D3” http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0056G10WK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER being cheaper than the DS3, I was going to plan on buying that one instead. Will i run into any issues with that one if I keep the rest of the parts the same? Thank you
Author
Bit of a late response, but I just wanted to add that no you will not run into any difficulties 🙂
Do I have to worry about buying something for wifi? Sorry extremely new at this Im going to go with the 1000 build with the EVGA GeForce GTX670 and i am going with the Thermaltake Chaser A41 Snow Edition Case instead of the one you reccomended. Thanks Ive been waiting for forever to build a computer and your suggestions are fantastic and break it down nice and easy! Also is there a way i can add a solid state hard drive later on and switch it to boot off of it?
Author
Hello David,
First, congratulations on deciding to build!
If you go with the motherboard in the $1000 build, you will have built in WiFi, so no worries there. And nice choice on the case.
You bet, you can always add in your solid state drive later. You would just install your windows on the SSD when you purchase it and change your boot order in BIOS. I would then wipe the other hard drive and use it simply for storage.
Best of luck and if you have any more questions please let me know 🙂
Hi there,
Really love your site. I had a computer built last year kind of using one of your builds.
I was wondering what you would recommend upgrading first? i spent about 900$ on it. If you need the specs on it lemme know
Thanks,
Andrew
ok corey uhm,
currently i have
Processor: AMD FX-6100 Zambezi 3.3GHz Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6100WMGUSBX
Graphics card:PowerColor AX7870 2GBD5-2DH Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP
Motherborad: ASUS M5A78L-M LX PLUS AM3+ AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
Ram: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
Case: Thermaltake V3 Black Edition VL80001W2Z Black SECC / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
not sure about the hard drive, but i know it isn’t an SSD, and i ma pretty sure i have 750 watt power supply. I mostly use my computer for online games like Path of Exile, League of Legends, and World of Warcraft. My computer is performing not amazing but it isn’t terrible either. Just not what i want it to be at. I would like to get a little bit more speed and a little bit better picture quality. also a little bit better cooling too.
Let me know what you think
Thanks,
Andrew
Author
Hello Andrew,
I believe I responded to your last comment via e-mail, sorry about that! Thanks for filling me in what you currently have. What I would first suggest (assuming you haven’t done it) is try some overclocking. This would right off the bat, be the most cost friendly way to boost things up. Here is a video of a guys tutorial overclocking his FX-6100 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8wy-bgypKo )
If you are having trouble getting the resolutions you would like, then your next best bet would be to up the graphics card. However with the Radeon HD 7870 you should be getting pretty damn good gameplay in those games (assuming you;re playing at resolutions no higher then 1920×1080). You can try overclocking the graphics card too – http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-graphics-card,1916.html
Other factors that I can think of that may be contributing to a perception of lessened performance may also be your network connection, multiple programs open, using at least Windows 7?, or your hard drive getting way to full – so be sure to check those too.
You can increase boot times with an SSD if you were interested. Otherwise at this point in everything should be doing what you want it to in terms of performance. If it were me I wouldn’t be changing anything major like the graphics card or processor.
ok corey thanks for the help
hey Corey, What would you choose for Gaming ?
i5 3470 and 7950
or
i5 3570K and 7870
??
Thanks
I really like the $1500 build but I’m looking to cut a little out of it. Could I sacrifice the SSD and still get the same performance? Or would you recommend going for the $1000 build and upgrading to the better graphics card? Let me know what you would recommend.
Author
Helo Jetrey,
In my opinion of cutting back in the $1500 build to make it more affordable for you, my recommendations would be – Yes you can take the SSD (Could always opt for one later when you can afford it). You can also save on the power supply and go with the one from the $1000 build (Corsair Professional Series HX 750 Watt). And if you are still wanting to save further, you can also go with the 8GB of RAM from the $1000 build. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Hi, What do you think about this build ? Its similar to the $1000 build though.
i5 3570k
As rock Extreme4
8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600
Sapphire 7950 3GB BOOST
1TB Caviar Blue 64mb 7200rpm
Samsung 840 Series 120G SSD
Corsair GS700 Power Supply
Corsair Storm Enforcer
All this comes about $900 , In aus though.
Thanks
Author
Hey How have you been Sif?
Very similar to the $1000 build, so no complaints there and I am a fan of the AsRock Extreme 4 as you know. I’m not 100% familiar with the GS series of Corsair PSU’s, but in my opinion you cn’t really go wrong with Corsair, I’d say go for it. $900 AUS for that build is about $877 USD, which is pretty impressive that that build. Scrapping the optical drive I see?
Good Thank you Corey , Thanks for the answer too and yes the GS Power supply has some issues from where what I was reading , yea I Guess I’ll change it to antec gamer or something. HAH and the optical drives isn’t really a issue. Thanks again Dude.
Hey Corey and Luke,
Joe here with an updated build based on the new Haswell chips and utilizing the GTX 770 (@dark), this build levels out at about 1800$ (all on amazon, without peripherals), but could be reduced the 1500$ with a cheaper motherboard and a less powerful core, feedback would be appreciated.
Cooler Master Seidon 240M Liquid CPU Water Cooling System with Copper Heatsink and 240mm Radiator – 2 Fans 94.65
ASUS Z87-DELUXE DDR3 1600 LGA 1156 Motherboard 289.99
ASUS VS278Q-P Ultrafast 1ms 27-Inch LED-Lit Monitor 285.99
Intel Core i5-4670K Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80646I54670K 249.99
EVGA GeForce GTX770 SuperClocked w/EVGA ACX Cooler 2GB GDDR5 256bit, DL DVI-I, DVI-D, HDMI,DP, SLI Ready (03G-P4-2784-KR) Graphics Cards 02G-P4-2774-KR 419.99
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit (OEM) System Builder DVD 1 Pack 90.91
Corsair Professional Series AX 850 Watt ATX/EPS Modular 80 PLUS Gold (AX850) 144.49
Razer Goliathus Alpha L – Control (Fragged) 17.92
CM Storm QuickFire Rapid – Compact Mechanical Gaming Keyboard with CHERRY MX BLUE Switches 75.24
Cooler Master HAF X – Full Tower Computer Case with High Airflow Windowed Side Panel and USB 3.0 169.99
Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10) 124.21
Samsung Electronics 840 Pro Series 2.5-Inch 256 GB SATA 6GB/s Solid State Drive MZ-7PD256BW 229.78
Anker High Precision Laser Gaming Mouse with 8000 DPI, 9 Programmable Buttons, Weight Tuning Cartridge, Omron Micro Switches for PC 39.99
Samsung 24x SATA DVD¡ARW Internal Drive without Software, Black SH-224BB/BEBE 20.94
WD Blue 1 TB Desktop Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache – WD10EZEX 67.93
Author
Joe,
That build looks so very nice – way to go! And would be very similar to what I would have recommended if I did go with the new Haswell’s in the builds this month (just waiting).The only thing I might downgrade (as you stated) was the motherboard, but that’s just the way I work – as it is a very high end board.
Your build does make me drool. Mind checking back with an update if you decide to build it? I would love to hear how it goes before adding them to the build list.
Corey,
Thanks again for the feedback. There are only a couple things in this build that are left up to chance. 1. Both the ASUS and the EVGA versions of the 770 are great but, which one? 2. is a 27 inch screen to big and will the pixel density suffer on high performance games. 3. Do you have any recommendation on coolant liquid.
Thanks again,
Joe
Hey Joe,
I believe I can help with that:
1. Main difference (and only difference) between the cards is the core clock speed and the boost clock speed of the EVGA is SLIGHTLY higher. 53 MHz to be exact. Which is such a small difference it’s almost un-noticeable. Although you can boost the ASUS card to the same core clock, the EVGA card can also be boosted slightly higher again. But like I said, almost no difference of speed.
That is the only technical difference, but in the physical aspect, the ASUS takes the cake. It’s exterior is very attractive, and it has a dual-fan cooling system. Resulting in your card lasting longer and performing better for a long period of time. This is why I would choose the ASUS card over the EVGA one, even though there is a slight (58MHz = 0.058GHz) difference.
2. I can’t help as much with this as I don’t know very much about monitors besides the basic things. But from what I can tell, that monitor is one of the best out there for less than $300. 1ms response time is OUTSTANDING and it’s 80,000,000:1 ratio is amazing as well.
27 inches is pretty large for a monitor although it’s not dreadfully big. If you can find a similar monitor that’s 24 inches, than that would be the way to go.
In my opinion, monitors that are slightly smaller (20″, 22″ & 24″) are the best since they are small enough you can stare at the screen and see everything on it at once without having to move your head around too much. Unless the distance you are from the monitor contradicts that, 27″ close up may not be the best.
3. This is an easy question. My recommendations of 3:
(BEST OVERALL) = CORSAIR Hydro Series H100i ($105) http://www.bit.ly/17OhXrI
(BEST ON BUDGET) = CORSAIR Hydro Series H80i ($97) http://www.bit.ly/17OibPA
(BEAST IN GENERAL) = NZXT Kraken X60 ($139)
http://www.bit.ly/12YOKUi
Hope I helped!
Thanks Luke,
I have also heard that 24 inch monitors are the optimal size, furthermore, the EVGA version of the 770 just jumped up 80 bucks on amazon so ASUS it is haha. I am “downsizing” by motherboard to the Z87 pro, 80 dollars cheaper and just as much bang for your buck. as far as the monitor goes, i am actively searching for a smaller monitor with the same specifications, i will update you when this happens.
Thanks again,
-Joe
http://www.amazon.com/VG248QE-24-Inch-Screen-LED-lit-Monitor/dp/B00B2HH7G0/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=E6UT3GPRMW41&coliid=I3RX540OZB1SBJ a great gaming monitor and overall very impressive specs. feel free to comment.
That is an incredible monitor. Quite expensive, but you get what you pay for.
Author
Thanks Joe and Luke 🙂 Fantastic feedback.
I do also agree with Luke, as I do also use a 24 inch monitor, it’s been the happy medium for me at 1080×1920. And the monitor Joe posted is a very nice high end one, which would be pretty sweet. If you do plan to spend less, I would recommend some BenQ monitors, however if you can afford it that Asus VG248QE would be splendid.
hey, love your build. i have a few question
can you make a build using a new haswell processor?
and do you recommend a gtx 770 for replacing the 7970?
thank you
Author
Hey dark,
Thank you. As stated in the introduction to the article I will be doing Haswell builds next month. However if you are wanting to build right away, I will try and keep up to date within the next week or so and would feel more confident giving you a great build at that point in time, so that I can take into account benchmarks and motherboard reviews. So if you are interested in a week or two let me know!
And good question with regards to the Radeon HD 7970 vs GTX 770 – I t has been said the new GTX 770 is slightly better, but it’s hard to say so far. I would say they are performing pretty similarly and are priced pretty similar.
the TomsHardware article did state that the GTX 770 and Radeon 7970 – “These two are as close to even as you can get when it comes to gaming on one GPU” – http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-770-gk104-review,3519-31.html
Hey Corey and Dark,
Dark, the information that Corey has given you is the best you’ll probably get.
Although, this video ( http://www.bit.ly/11OZWpT ) from LinusTechTips explains and demonstrates the power the GTX 770 & 780 have compared to the 600 series and Radeon stuff.
From every single benchmark, the GTX Titan comes out on top with the GTX 780 VERY close behind. Below that is the GTX 680 and GTX 770 close together although both with 30% power difference then the two on top. But generally, the 770 beats the 7970.
Hope I helped.
Author
Thanks Luke! I tend to really like Linus’s videos. I do wonder what caused that “anomaly” with the GTX 670 gpu boost. He does also state in the end that he would try to opt for a GTX 780 if he could due to the performance discrepancy when compared to the Titan.
After watching this video I would like to also pin point that he does pressure you to buy higher then a 1080p monitor to make these cards worth it; which is definitely true after watching his GTX 770 video with 1440p resolutions. – http://goo.gl/0H7Nu – plus both the Radeon 7970 and GTX 770 seem to average par on par.
The conclusion seems to be that AMD i lacking in regards to GTX 780 – Titan ranges, however is pretty similar in the GTX 770 and Radeon 7970.
PS. Did you drool at the look of that card at the beginning of the video?…I did 😛
Hey, Corey and Luke
thanks for the response guys
since i saw the 2000$ build i decided to go with that
the gtx 780 as corey said look very tempting and with the performance to boast about.
and about the haswell, i did my research and it turns out that the haswell chip is not yet stable.
a few reviews tells me that the temperature spiked immensely when you OC-ed it. so i will hold back on haswell for a while
but still, i would love to see your haswell build corey
thanks again and keep up the great work