Looking to build a gaming PC for about $1000 CDN

R

rcorporon

So Old I'm Losing Radiation Signs
Orderite
Hello! I used to be very into the PC gaming scene about 15 years ago (back in my high school days in which I lived in a world with no kids, no wife and no job) but haven't really payed much attention to developments in PC hardware in quite some time.

I'm trying to put together a PC for myself to buy in the new year that will allow me to play some of my more demanding games (Witcher 2 is probably the most graphically demanding game I play). I need to start from scratch (so case, monitor, OS, keyboard, mouse, etc).

I spent some time at pcpartpicker and put this together:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Rosewill RCX-ZAIO-92 54.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-GL Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($67.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($33.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($209.99 @ Microcenter)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DGX 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Apex SK-393-C ATX Mid Tower Case ($24.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Raidmax 530W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($38.81 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($25.28 @ CompUSA)
Monitor: Asus VH236H 23.0" Monitor ($144.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Keyboard: Logitech K120 Wired Standard Keyboard ($9.93 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Logitech M100 Wired Optical Mouse ($7.99 @ Mac Mall)
Total: $982.45
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-08 19:42 EST-0500)

I'm hoping you guys can tear this list apart for any deficiencies or poor choices I've made here and offer up some suggestions. If possible I'd like to have stuff shipped from Canadian stores to save on shipping costs.

I don't play any twitch shooters so having a hardcore gaming mouse / keyboard doesn't interest me. Monitor size I'm flexible on and I'll be playing with a headset that uses an optical cable so having an optical out on my sound card would be nice.
 
1) Monitor:

that monitor lists a 2 ms response time.

is that hot to cold?

black to white?

grey to grey?

that looks to me like a hot to cold rating, which means you have 3x black to white, and then 2x that for grey to grey.

6 ms black-white, and 12 ms grey to grey.

which fits the price. as its a poor quality montor.

2) CPU:


my biggest problem with intel cpus is they have horrible L1 and L2 cache.

while 256k per core is not great, 6mb shared across 4 cores is horrible. really should be 8mb or 12 mb for quad core.

3) Sound Card

that sound card is a waste of money. that sound card is 5.1 24 bit 96khz. the onboard sound for the motherboard? 5.1 24 bit 96khz. why are you buying a separate sound card that is not better than the onboard?

in fact, the onboard may even be better.

4)
you are buying a dvd/cd drive... you dont have one already? you do know that games will eventually be released on blu-rays right? by not buying a blu ray player, you are not future proofing your system much. plus you prevent the option of playing blu rays on the computer like, say if your main blu ray player for your tv dies.

5)

home premium for windows 7 is nice, but it still runs non-native 32 bit emulator. only ultimate has the native 32 bit emulator. this is important for playing older games.

you see notes on games where they say "does not work/play in windows 7", what they really mean is that it doesnt play right in the non-native 32 bit emulator in w7 64bit. if you got w7 64bit ultimate, you would have the native mode 32 bit emulator which makes older games work much better.

6)

that ram you have is not listed as compatible with your motherboard. while if you get it, it may work, there is no guarentee on how long it will work, nor will the mobo manufacturer support it. or that it wont damage either the ram or the mobo.
 
1)

no real need to change it, just have to accept that its not going to be a great quality monitor.

2)

no real need to change it, just realize that unless you are really willing to pony up the money for what intel calls their server class cpus, there are going to be little things that sap from performance.

3)
dont get a separate sound card, no need really.

4)
honestly i would say get that drive and a blu ray drive. always best to have another.

not sure i would go with external/usb blu ray player either, stick with internal.

5)
win 7 ultimate 64 bit if you care about best chance for backwards compatibility. if you dont care or know that the older games you want to play without the native 32 bit emulator in non ultimate versions, then you dont need to change it.

its only important if you play older games. and then its up to you to decide if the extra cost is worth it.

6)
you would go to the motherboard page and look up their list for ram and pick which one of those you want to pay for.


its up to you to do the research and do the considerations for the parts you are getting.

i didnt even look to see if your CPU was listed as compatible with the motherboard. just because the sockets are the same does not mean that CPU will work right either. thats up to you to research.

to be honest i stopped looking up your hardware when i saw the ram was not on the list for the mobo. it means you didnt do your work. time for you to do the work you should have done.

to build out computers, the first thing you look up is the motherboard. once you have that, you have to use that to base the CPU and RAM you are going to get.

time for you to RTFM.
 
pcpartpicker has a "compatibility filter" that I was using to try to ensure that the parts I was selecting would work together. So much for that I guess.

Back to the drawing board.
 
Went back to the drawing board (and reddit) and made some revisions. Here's version 2 of the build:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI B75MA-E33 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: PNY Optima 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DG 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card ($23.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 370 ATX Mid Tower Case ($36.39 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: OCZ StealthXstream II 600W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS72 DVD/CD Writer ($22.49 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Acer G215HVAbd 21.5" Monitor ($118.16 @ CompUSA)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Keyboard: Microsoft ANB-00001 Wired Slim Keyboard ($11.99 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Cooler Master Recon Wired Optical Mouse ($34.65 @ NCIX US)
Total: $917.60
 
the onboard for the motherboard is better than the sound card.

motherboard is 24 bit and 192khz and the sound card is 24 bit 96 khz

again, using that sound card is stupid and worthless.


did you make sure that the ram and cpu work for that motherboard? there is a reason mobo manufacturers release compatability lists.
 
TheWesDude said:
the onboard for the motherboard is better than the sound card.

motherboard is 24 bit and 192khz and the sound card is 24 bit 96 khz

again, using that sound card is stupid and worthless.


did you make sure that the ram and cpu work for that motherboard? there is a reason mobo manufacturers release compatability lists.
Click to expand...

I think its so that theres the optical output for his headphones. But yeah, apart from that wes dudes pretty much right, unless youre planning to drive high impedance high end headphones from your PC too.
 
I checked and made sure the RAM and mobo are compatible.

I know it's a junk sound card but I need an optical out for my headset.
 
TheWesDude said:
3) Sound Card

that sound card is a waste of money. that sound card is 5.1 24 bit 96khz. the onboard sound for the motherboard? 5.1 24 bit 96khz. why are you buying a separate sound card that is not better than the onboard?

in fact, the onboard may even be better.
Click to expand...
Are you drunk? Stop giving advice about sound cards, please.
 
Integrated sound chips usually suffer from interference. Some more, some less. Cheaper motherboards are probably more likely to have that problem. You can hear the interference if you turn up the volume. You'll hear a lot of high pitched beeps and chirps. For some reason the noise is most noticeable when you move the mouse. I have that issue with my onboard sound, but not when I use my X-Fi card. I've had that with all my previous PCs, which is why I started buying sound cards.
 
Buxbaum666 said:
Are you drunk? Stop giving advice about sound cards, please.
Click to expand...

this times a thousand. even my 8 year old x-fi wipes the floor with any onboard-solution currently out there. dedicated DACs and DSPs on add-in cards are just so much better. i'd never go without. the difference in SNR alone should tip anyone off. this WILL be noticeable in daily usage, especially in gaming. hell, even MP3s sound so much better with the x-fi crystalizer enabled than without. also: fuck interference.

as opposed to:

TheWesDude said:
my biggest problem with intel cpus is they have horrible L1 and L2 cache.

while 256k per core is not great, 6mb shared across 4 cores is horrible. really should be 8mb or 12 mb for quad core.
Click to expand...

which is absolutely irrelevant and un-noticeable during normal operation, especially since most games today are GPU limited.

anyway, back to the original question:

rcorporon said:
Monitor size I'm flexible on
Click to expand...

might consider spending a bit more and getting a dell ultrasharp model. while the acer is pretty good, the ultrasharp series (they start at around 200 bucks), even the smallest one has en LED-lit IPS panel and can swivel, pivot and has height adjustment. since you are not playing twitch shooters the 8ms G2G response time will also go unnoticed. but you will notice the insanely better brightness, colors and viewing angles. absolutely worth it, and although i kinda hate dell, their monitors are among the best in the price range.
 
Thanks for the tip on the Dell monitor. I've come to the conclusion that I will probably break my budget a bit to get a better monitor.
 
rcorporon said:
Went back to the drawing board (and reddit) and made some revisions. Here's version 2 of the build:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI B75MA-E33 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: PNY Optima 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $917.60
Click to expand...

I'd roll over a few more dough and get yourself a better CPU and Mobo. It'd still stay under $1k, and you'll get better performance out of it.

For CPU, get either one of these:
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ NCIX US)

Yes, it's Sandy Bridge, not Ivy Bridge, but it doesn't have the issues with heat as the new Ivy Bridge ones do. I bought this one and instantly OC'd it to 4 GHZ with the stock cooler. You can OC it to 4.4 with a decent heat sink later.

Overclocking might not look like a big deal, but with how easy it is for these CPUs(the K versions are specifically unlocked for it), they pack quite a punch. Along with that GPU, you'll be very pleased at the performance in a lot of games.

The i5-2500k is a very popular choice for builds at the moment.


CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ NCIX US)

This is the Ivy Bridge equivalent of the 2500k. A bit faster, but suffers from the increased heat problems Ivy Bridge has, so it's harder to OC it without a good cooler.


Now regarding the mobo, here's your problem. You're picking a Micro-ATX mobo for an ATX case. It won't fit nicely, in fact, it'll be really small for the case. You might even have some trouble fitting one of those GPUs in a Micro-ATX mobo, just like I had with my last one.

The Mobo I recently picked for the i5-2500k(also compatible with the 3570k) is this one:
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
or any of the equivalent ASRock Z77 ones will do the trick.

Getting yourself a better Mobo will also open up to getting better memory modules. I got myself a single 8GB module @ 1600 mhz, and it works very well. These motherboards support up to 32GB of RAM, and with the increasing use of RAM in Editting software, and playing around with ramdisk software as well, I can assure you will make some good use out of it.
 
Dario ff said:
Now regarding the mobo, here's your problem. You're picking a Micro-ATX mobo for an ATX case. It won't fit nicely, in fact, it'll be really small for the case. You might even have some trouble fitting one of those GPUs in a Micro-ATX mobo, just like I had with my last one.
Click to expand...

with the mobo and case combo he picked, he should not have any problems. CM lists the elite 370 specifically with µATX compatibility. i'd be really surprised if any brandname case today had any issues with µATX. so what if it's small inside the case? makes no difference.
hell, even my big-ass HAF932 takes µATX boards just fine.
 
DJS4000 said:
so what if it's small inside the case? makes no difference.
Click to expand...
To be on the safe side, it's better to get one that fits. Especially with one of these Radeon GPUs which take up quite a lot of space. My old Micro ATX mobo had some issues with fitting one of those GPUs in, and it had overheating problems as well. Now the card hasn't failed at all since the change.

The case he's picking also has coolers already in place, they should be at the right position to cool the system efficiently. :P
 
Dario ff said:
To be on the safe side, it's better to get one that fits. Especially with one of these Radeon GPUs which take up quite a lot of space. My old Micro ATX mobo had some issues with fitting one of those GPUs in, and it had overheating problems as well. Now the card hasn't failed at all since the change.

The case he's picking also has coolers already in place, they should be at the right position to cool the system efficiently. :P
Click to expand...

but that's the whole point. it will fit. no matter what. it'll just look a bit strange :)

compatibility issues of this magnitude are a thing of the past. doing a quick google-fu returned zero relevant results for "intel b75" and "overheating". i mean, i can relate. when my last mobo crapped out and i had it RMA'd, i had to choose a cheap board that would carry me over. i almost bought one with a VIA chipset, which at the time was prone to overheat at load. but that was in 2008.
we are talking intel here. he should be fine.

same with cooling. the case creates airflow to cool the components. biggest heat-generators are GPU and CPU. and both are in the exact same place inside the case, no matter if it's ATX or µATX form factor. only difference is length, to accomodate additional PCIe slots.
 
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