Build me the best possible rig for $1200

Like the title says, Id like the more experienced vets out there to show me the best possible rig combination for around 1200 bucks. I was thinking maybe like a 6970 for the gpu and some sort if i5 or i7, if that's possible for my budget...

Does this include a monitor, keyboard, speakers/headphones, and mouse?

you need an os too?

Basically I need everything other than a mouse and headphones. So I'll need a monitor, OS, nearly everything. I hope I dont sound stupid but I want to pretty much be able to max out almost every modern game on 1080p at 60fps. I just need some guidence on the build.

any more help?

any more help?

jakerinobino

unfortunately you won't be maxing the highest end games since that will require a budget of more than $2500. I would recommend a core i5 2500k plus p67 motherboard, a 580 gtx if you can fit it, other wise go for either the 6950 2gb or the 570. From there choose a case and get a decent psu, the OS if you don't have one, hard drive and ram, everything should come to about $1500

HAF 912 Case

XFX 650W modular PSU

BIOSTAR P67 mobo

I5 2500k

4GB G.skill RAM

MSI GTX 480 (roughly equivalent to GTX 570 and HD 6970)

1TB HDD

CD/DVD combo drive

Windows 7 OEM

Asus 21.5" 1920x1080 monitor

Total: $1178

Got a red theme going on too :P

HAF 912 Case

XFX 650W modular PSU

BIOSTAR P67 mobo

I5 2500k

4GB G.skill RAM

MSI GTX 480 (roughly equivalent to GTX 570 and HD 6970)

1TB HDD

CD/DVD combo drive

Windows 7 OEM

Asus 21.5" 1920x1080 monitor

Total: $1178

Tezcatlipoca666

480 runs how and will reck his electricity bill, scrap that and go with a 6950 2gb or if you can fit it in a 570. You could also bundle the 2500k and mobo.

Oh please. It doesn't run that hot and this model has a good cooler. For $300 he is getting GTX 570 power.

Substitute the 480 for this 570. It's $20 more. Still under $1200 although only barely. I would still go for the 480 though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133370

ASUS DRW-24B1ST

ZALMAN Z9 Plus

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB

Asus VE228H 21.5"

MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II Radeon HD 6950 2GB

Antec TruePower New TP-750 Blue 750W

ASUS P8P67 PRO

i5 2500K

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit

G.SKILL Ripjaws 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 DDR3 1333

$1,260. But over budget, but you could change the motherboard to an ASUS P867, if that bothers you.

PSU will handle another 6950 if you want/need to add one, later.

ASUS DRW-24B1ST

ZALMAN Z9 Plus

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB

Asus VE228H 21.5"

MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II Radeon HD 6950 2GB

Antec TruePower New TP-750 Blue 750W

ASUS P8P67 PRO

i5 2500K

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit

$1,205.

PSU will handle another 6950 if you want/need to add one, later.

C_Rule

RAM?

[QUOTE="C_Rule"]

ASUS DRW-24B1ST

ZALMAN Z9 Plus

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB

Asus VE228H 21.5"

MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II Radeon HD 6950 2GB

Antec TruePower New TP-750 Blue 750W

ASUS P8P67 PRO

i5 2500K

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit

$1,205.

PSU will handle another 6950 if you want/need to add one, later.

Tezcatlipoca666

RAM?

Give me one second...



EDIT: Fixed.

unfortunately you won't be maxing the highest end games since that will require a budget of more than $2500. I would recommend a core i5 2500k plus p67 motherboard, a 580 gtx if you can fit it, other wise go for either the 6950 2gb or the 570. From there choose a case and get a decent psu, the OS if you don't have one, hard drive and ram, everything should come to about $1500

blaznwiipspman1

2500? Are you serious? What "highest end games" are you talking about?

And also, I could probably go a couple hundred above 1200 USD

Phenom x4 955 - 115$

Asus M5A87 AM3+ - 100$

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 - 45$

CORSAIR HX Series 650W Modular - 120$

ASUS 24X DVD Burner - 21$

WD Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0 - 90$

Asus 21.5 LED 1080p - 150$

Windows 7 64 bit - 90$

XION Predator Gaming Series case - 75$

XFX Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 - 350$

---------

Total: 1156$

Keep in mind that the motherboard I picked out will allow you to upgrade to the next line of CPUs by AMD. Also you have one of the most powerful GPUs available. You'll be maxing out games @ 1080p for quite some time. Also the PSU (Power supply) is modular which will allow for great cable management.

Phenom x4 955 - 115$

Asus M5A87 AM3+ - 100$

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 - 45$

CORSAIR HX Series 650W Modular - 120$

ASUS 24X DVD Burner - 21$

WD Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0 - 90$

Asus 21.5 LED 1080p - 150$

Windows 7 64 bit - 90$

XION Predator Gaming Series case - 75$

XFX Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 - 350$

---------

Total: 1156$

Keep in mind that the motherboard I picked out will allow you to upgrade to the next line of CPUs by AMD. Also you have one of the most powerful GPUs available. You'll be maxing out games @ 1080p for quite some time. Also the PSU (Power supply) is modular which will allow for great cable management.

xsubtownerx

Maybe this motherboard, and a 750w PSU, so he has the option of adding another 6970, later?

Maybe this motherboard, and a 750w PSU, so he has the option of adding another 6970, later?

C_Rule

[QUOTE="blaznwiipspman1"]

unfortunately you won't be maxing the highest end games since that will require a budget of more than $2500. I would recommend a core i5 2500k plus p67 motherboard, a 580 gtx if you can fit it, other wise go for either the 6950 2gb or the 570. From there choose a case and get a decent psu, the OS if you don't have one, hard drive and ram, everything should come to about $1500

jakerinobino

2500? Are you serious? What "highest end games" are you talking about?

And also, I could probably go a couple hundred above 1200 USD

[QUOTE="Tezcatlipoca666"]

HAF 912 Case

XFX 650W modular PSU

BIOSTAR P67 mobo

I5 2500k

4GB G.skill RAM

MSI GTX 480 (roughly equivalent to GTX 570 and HD 6970)

1TB HDD

CD/DVD combo drive

Windows 7 OEM

Asus 21.5" 1920x1080 monitor

Total: $1178

blaznwiipspman1

480 runs how and will reck his electricity bill, scrap that and go with a 6950 2gb or if you can fit it in a 570. You could also bundle the 2500k and mobo.

last time i checked my electric bill isn't even that high on top of my cpu being overclocked to 4.2ghz, also on top of it being hot, before i trasnfered over to WC, on air it sat roughly at 75c. So as far as your facts go they are false.

Phenom x4 955 - 115$

Asus M5A87 AM3+ - 100$

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 - 45$

CORSAIR HX Series 650W Modular - 120$

ASUS 24X DVD Burner - 21$

WD Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0 - 90$

Asus 21.5 LED 1080p - 150$

Windows 7 64 bit - 90$

XION Predator Gaming Series case - 75$

XFX Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 - 350$

---------

Total: 1156$

Keep in mind that the motherboard I picked out will allow you to upgrade to the next line of CPUs by AMD. Also you have one of the most powerful GPUs available. You'll be maxing out games @ 1080p for quite some time. Also the PSU (Power supply) is modular which will allow for great cable management.

xsubtownerx

This looks really good, thanks. Do you think the 4 gigs of ram will suffice?

[QUOTE="xsubtownerx"]

Phenom x4 955 - 115$

Asus M5A87 AM3+ - 100$

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 - 45$

CORSAIR HX Series 650W Modular - 120$

ASUS 24X DVD Burner - 21$

WD Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0 - 90$

Asus 21.5 LED 1080p - 150$

Windows 7 64 bit - 90$

XION Predator Gaming Series case - 75$

XFX Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 - 350$

---------

Total: 1156$

Keep in mind that the motherboard I picked out will allow you to upgrade to the next line of CPUs by AMD. Also you have one of the most powerful GPUs available. You'll be maxing out games @ 1080p for quite some time. Also the PSU (Power supply) is modular which will allow for great cable management.

jakerinobino

This looks really good, thanks. Do you think the 4 gigs of ram will suffice?

It is inferior to the one I linked. Not going to lie...

You asked for the best possible rig for $1200. The 650HX PSU, whilst very good, isn't worth nearly $40 more than the XFX 650W I linked. The HDD sports 64MB of cache and SATA III versus 32MB and SATA II. The end result? The Caviar Black is $25 more and doesn't actually deliver superior performance in any quantifiable manner. Furthermore the HD 6970, again whilst an excellent card, delivers approximately the same performance as the GTX 480. At a $50 price premium. In the end you also end up with a significantly worse processor.. the i5-2500k walks all over the PII X4 955.

[QUOTE="jakerinobino"]

[QUOTE="xsubtownerx"]

Phenom x4 955 - 115$

Asus M5A87 AM3+ - 100$

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 - 45$

CORSAIR HX Series 650W Modular - 120$

ASUS 24X DVD Burner - 21$

WD Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0 - 90$

Asus 21.5 LED 1080p - 150$

Windows 7 64 bit - 90$

XION Predator Gaming Series case - 75$

XFX Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 - 350$

---------

Total: 1156$

Keep in mind that the motherboard I picked out will allow you to upgrade to the next line of CPUs by AMD. Also you have one of the most powerful GPUs available. You'll be maxing out games @ 1080p for quite some time. Also the PSU (Power supply) is modular which will allow for great cable management.

Tezcatlipoca666

This looks really good, thanks. Do you think the 4 gigs of ram will suffice?

It is inferior to the one I linked. Not going to lie...

You asked for the best possible rig for $1200. The 650HX PSU, whilst very good, isn't worth nearly $40 more than the XFX 650W I linked. The HDD sports 64MB of cache and SATA III versus 32MB and SATA II. The end result? The Caviar Black is $25 more and doesn't actually deliver superior performance in any quantifiable manner. Furthermore the HD 6970, again whilst an excellent card, delivers approximately the same performance as the GTX 480. At a $50 price premium. In the end you also end up with a significantly worse processor.. the i5-2500k walks all over the PII X4 955.

Is the i5-2500k only good if you overclock? i heard its great for oc'ing, but since Im relatively new to pc gaming I dont think ill be overclocking for a little while, ill mostly just be playing with them completely stock. Is the i5 still significantly better than the amd, even without oc?

[QUOTE="Tezcatlipoca666"]

[QUOTE="jakerinobino"]

This looks really good, thanks. Do you think the 4 gigs of ram will suffice?

jakerinobino

It is inferior to the one I linked. Not going to lie...

You asked for the best possible rig for $1200. The 650HX PSU, whilst very good, isn't worth nearly $40 more than the XFX 650W I linked. The HDD sports 64MB of cache and SATA III versus 32MB and SATA II. The end result? The Caviar Black is $25 more and doesn't actually deliver superior performance in any quantifiable manner. Furthermore the HD 6970, again whilst an excellent card, delivers approximately the same performance as the GTX 480. At a $50 price premium. In the end you also end up with a significantly worse processor.. the i5-2500k walks all over the PII X4 955.

Is the i5-2500k only good if you overclock? i heard its great for oc'ing, but since Im relatively new to pc gaming I dont think ill be overclocking for a little while, ill mostly just be playing with them completely stock. Is the i5 still significantly better than the amd, even without oc?

The i5-2500k stock outperforms a highly overclocked Phenom II X4 CPU.Take a look at the following benchmarks. All of those CPUs are stock.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/20

It is inferior to the one I linked. Not going to lie...

You asked for the best possible rig for $1200. The 650HX PSU, whilst very good, isn't worth nearly $40 more than the XFX 650W I linked. The HDD sports 64MB of cache and SATA III versus 32MB and SATA II. The end result? The Caviar Black is $25 more and doesn't actually deliver superior performance in any quantifiable manner. Furthermore the HD 6970, again whilst an excellent card, delivers approximately the same performance as the GTX 480. At a $50 price premium. In the end you also end up with a significantly worse processor.. the i5-2500k walks all over the PII X4 955.

Tezcatlipoca666

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/20

Tezcatlipoca666

would it not be possible to get the rig with the 6970 but replace the amd processor with the i5?

Why would anyone recommend the poor kid a 480? :?xsubtownerx

Can you actually give me a reason why the GTX 480 is a bad choice?

[QUOTE="Tezcatlipoca666"]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/20

xsubtownerx

They use the GTX 280 and HD 5870. This is pretty irrelevant anyway.

[QUOTE="Tezcatlipoca666"]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/20

xsubtownerx

Can you actually give me a reason why the GTX 480 is a bad choice?

Tezcatlipoca666

[QUOTE="Tezcatlipoca666"]

Can you actually give me a reason why the GTX 480 is a bad choice?

xsubtownerx

[QUOTE="Tezcatlipoca666"]

Can you actually give me a reason why the GTX 480 is a bad choice?

xsubtownerx

The model I linked is no louder than any other TwinFrozr cooled video card + most high-end video cards are going to be loud. It may generate more heat but that's a non-issue in a HAF 912 or similar case.

I never said or insinuated that the 955 was bad. That being said, why go PII X4 955 + HD 6970 when you can go i5 2500k + GTX 480 for the same price. You get a better CPU and a similar GPU.

Well now I'm quite confused whether to go with the 6970 or 480, or whole other card. Could I not just get the i5 2500k in the rig with the 6970 and replace the amd processor?

the i5 2500k is currently one of the best cpu you can buy. The phenom II 955 is the best bang for buck cpu you can buy at $100. I say get the 2500k, it is worth the money. Also for the graphics card, all ive heard about the 480 were bad things, which is why Im not recommending it. For example 2 of the 480's in SLI consume more electricity and power than ANY graphics card on the market, including the 580gtx and will require you a 1000 watt power supply. Its that power hungry. The heat also reaches above 80 deg. celsius which is also not a good thing. For the graphics card I would recommend the 6950 2gb card....you can overclock it to well past the performance of the 570, the 6970 and it will come close to a 580 gtx. Pretty impressive for a $250 card.

Well now I'm quite confused whether to go with the 6970 or 480, or whole other card. Could I not just get the i5 2500k in the rig with the 6970 and replace the amd processor?

jakerinobino

If you are going to give in to those prone to hyping non-issues then replace the GTX 480 in my build with a GTX 570 or HD 6970 or HD 6950 2GB.

HAF 912 Case

XFX 650W modular PSU

BIOSTAR P67 mobo

I5 2500k

4GB G.skill RAM

XFX Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5

1TB HDD

CD/DVD combo drive

Windows 7 OEM

Asus 21.5" 1920x1080 monitor

This looks like what Im going with so far. Anything wrong with this rig or any other further suggestions?

[QUOTE="xsubtownerx"][QUOTE="Tezcatlipoca666"]

Can you actually give me a reason why the GTX 480 is a bad choice?

Tezcatlipoca666

The model I linked is no louder than any other TwinFrozr cooled video card + most high-end video cards are going to be loud. It may generate more heat but that's a non-issue in a HAF 912 or similar case.

I never said or insinuated that the 955 was bad. That being said, why go PII X4 955 + HD 6970 when you can go i5 2500k + GTX 480 for the same price. You get a better CPU and a similar GPU.

It's looking good, but I don't care for that motherboard much. But then again I'm Asus biased. :P I also don't care for the PSU. If there's something in the build you should never cheap out on its the PSU. Is that the one Tez picked out for you?xsubtownerx

IIRC XFX PSU's are Seasonic's in disguise. It's not a bad PSU by any means :P

I chose the mobo to complete the red and black color theme... yeah... but it is a good motherboard so it's not like quality is compromised!

[QUOTE="xsubtownerx"]It's looking good, but I don't care for that motherboard much. But then again I'm Asus biased. :P I also don't care for the PSU. If there's something in the build you should never cheap out on its the PSU. Is that the one Tez picked out for you?Tezcatlipoca666

IIRC XFX PSU's are Seasonic's in disguise. It's not a bad PSU by any means :P

I chose the mobo to complete the red and black color theme... yeah... but it is a good motherboard so it's not like quality is compromised!

[QUOTE="Tezcatlipoca666"]

[QUOTE="xsubtownerx"]It's looking good, but I don't care for that motherboard much. But then again I'm Asus biased. :P I also don't care for the PSU. If there's something in the build you should never cheap out on its the PSU. Is that the one Tez picked out for you?xsubtownerx

IIRC XFX PSU's are Seasonic's in disguise. It's not a bad PSU by any means :P

I chose the mobo to complete the red and black color theme... yeah... but it is a good motherboard so it's not like quality is compromised!

still, the 6970 is a great video card and the 2500k will not hold him back in any game while the phenom II will (RTS games). The 2500k is much more powerful than a 955 while the 580 is not much more powerful than a 6970. He will appreciate the 2500k's power if he does any type of encoding at all, which he likely will. I noticed my rar extractions are very fast with my 2500k, also encoding times are around 11 minutes for a full divx video, which is amazing.

[QUOTE="xsubtownerx"][QUOTE="Tezcatlipoca666"]

IIRC XFX PSU's are Seasonic's in disguise. It's not a bad PSU by any means :P

I chose the mobo to complete the red and black color theme... yeah... but it is a good motherboard so it's not like quality is compromised!

blaznwiipspman1

still, the 6970 is a great video card and the 2500k will not hold him back in any game while the phenom II will (RTS games). The 2500k is much more powerful than a 955 while the 580 is not much more powerful than a 6970. He will appreciate the 2500k's power if he does any type of encoding at all, which he likely will. I noticed my rar extractions are very fast with my 2500k, also encoding times are around 11 minutes for a full divx video, which is amazing.

[QUOTE="xsubtownerx"]It's looking good, but I don't care for that motherboard much. But then again I'm Asus biased. :P I also don't care for the PSU. If there's something in the build you should never cheap out on its the PSU. Is that the one Tez picked out for you?Tezcatlipoca666

IIRC XFX PSU's are Seasonic's in disguise. It's not a bad PSU by any means :P

I chose the mobo to complete the red and black color theme... yeah... but it is a good motherboard so it's not like quality is compromised!

should I replace the motherboard and psu? or should I go with a gtx580 and the amd processor instead of the i5 and 6970 like subtowner else suggested?

[QUOTE="Tezcatlipoca666"]

[QUOTE="xsubtownerx"]It's looking good, but I don't care for that motherboard much. But then again I'm Asus biased. :P I also don't care for the PSU. If there's something in the build you should never cheap out on its the PSU. Is that the one Tez picked out for you?jakerinobino

IIRC XFX PSU's are Seasonic's in disguise. It's not a bad PSU by any means :P

I chose the mobo to complete the red and black color theme... yeah... but it is a good motherboard so it's not like quality is compromised!

should I replace the motherboard and psu? or should I go with a gtx580 and the amd processor instead of the i5 and 6970 like subtowner else suggested?

GO with the hd 6970 and i5 2500k imo. The 580 is great but since it is the best single gpu card out there you pay a premium. It's not necessarily worth $100 more than an HD 6970 or GTX 570.

Btw seasonic are regarded by many as the best PSU manufacturer. They manufacture XFX PSU's and Corsairs too :P

HAF 912 Case

XFX 650W modular PSU

BIOSTAR P67 mobo

I5 2500k

4GB G.skill RAM

XFX Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5

1TB HDD

CD/DVD combo drive

Windows 7 OEM

Asus 21.5" 1920x1080 monitor

This looks like what Im going with so far. Anything wrong with this rig or any other further suggestions?

jakerinobino

ok this seems like what Im still going with so far. Sorry for so many questions. So the cpu and motherboard looks fine and 4 gigs of ram is fine? will this have superior performance as opposed to if i got the gtx 580 with the amd processor?

Btw seasonic are regarded by many as the best PSU manufacturer. They manufacture XFX PSU's and Corsairs too :P

Tezcatlipoca666

will the 4 gigs of ram be good enough?