$900 gaming build

M

millz

Member
Hi Guys... I'm doing my second gaming build (this time for a friend) You guys helped a tonne on my last one. He's got a few parts that he's going to keep.
He won't be gaming at anything above 1080p.

Parts that I don't need are:
power supply
operating system
monitor
mouse/keyboard
HDD

Looking for a budget case with decent cable management and decent airflow and I'm looking to incorporate an SSD into this build and I've got about a $900 budget here. What's the best gaming rig I'm going to be able to build with that kind of budget? If there's any upcomming price drops in the next month, then I'll stick it out if it's worth it. Also, if I can get a huge performance increase by spending a little more than I'll consider it. I'm up in Canada so just keep that in mind that my prices on Newegg are going to be a little more than you guys in the states. I won't be doing any overclocking so I'll probably just go with a stock cooler.
 
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spirit

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
Look at something along the lines of an i5 4670K, Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H motherboard, 8GB of 1600MHz RAM, Radeon HD 7850/7870, SanDisk Extreme SSD (120GB at least) and a Corsair Carbide 300R case.

If the Intel build is too expensive, then look at an AMD build. Consider the FX-6300 or the FX-8320 with a Gigabyte 990FX board and the rest of the stuff mentioned above.

If you've got some money left over, try to spend as much as possible on the graphics card. If a 7850 fits into the budget, try to get a 7870. If a 7870 fits with room to spare, try to get a 7950. :)
 
spirit

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
Yes your build should fit perfectly into budget, probably even with room to spare.

Wouldn't really change anything. You could get a 7970 if you like if you've room to spare, but I think the 7950 is definitely more than powerful enough.
 
M

millz

Member
PCunicorn said:
Okay then my build works perfectly. A Haswell build may be able to fit in a 7870 and 4670K which would be a fair bit worse in gaming then a 8320 and 7950.
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Am I reading that correctly?? The AMD build would outperform the Intel Haswell Build despite having a slower graphics card?? :confused: I'm trying to get the most bang for my buck here, so if the AMD cpu's have similar performance at a lower cost then it makes more sense to me. I'll have more money to spend on the GPU in that case.

Is it safe to assume that Ivy Bridge chips are going to drop in price really soon? I was looking around and it looks like the Ivy Bridge chips and the Haswell chips are basically the same price right now. Am I just going to get a better value from the 8320 regardless?

Also Unicorn your build has an HDD which I may not need and doesn't have an SSD. Is there a noticible performance bump by choosing a Sata3 SSD vs a Sata 2 SSD?
 
PCunicorn

PCunicorn

Active Member
millz said:
Am I reading that correctly?? The AMD build would outperform the Intel Haswell Build despite having a slower graphics card?? :confused: I'm trying to get the most bang for my buck here, so if the AMD cpu's have similar performance at a lower cost then it makes more sense to me. I'll have more money to spend on the GPU in that case.

Is it safe to assume that Ivy Bridge chips are going to drop in price really soon? I was looking around and it looks like the Ivy Bridge chips and the Haswell chips are basically the same price right now. Am I just going to get a better value from the 8320 regardless?

Also Unicorn your build has an HDD which I may not need and doesn't have an SSD. Is there a noticible performance bump by choosing a Sata3 SSD vs a Sata 2 SSD?
Click to expand...

Remove the HDD and get a Crucial M500 if you have a HDD. The amd build has a better GPU, slightly worse CPU, but the GPU will make a much bigger difference in gaming then a CPU. Don't go Ivy bridge.
 
M

millz

Member
PCunicorn said:
Remove the HDD and get a Crucial M500 if you have a HDD. The amd build has a better GPU, slightly worse CPU, but the GPU will make a much bigger difference in gaming then a CPU. Don't go Ivy bridge.
Click to expand...

Woops... I read that previous post wrong. Since I won't be gaming at anything over 1080p, is it worth it to get the 7950 over the 7870 ghz edition? The 7950 costs about $60 more than the 7870 ghz edition.

3gb is a lot of vram for 1080p gaming. I can't seem to find gaming benchmarks @ 1080p on a website that will let me look at the difference (damn work internet).
 
spirit

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
OK well if you want to save money, yes you can get a 7870.

You could also get an FX-6300 and a slightly cheaper motherboard.
 
M

millz

Member
Benny Boy said:
What's the brand/model/and age, of this used power supply.
Click to expand...

It's a 600 watt power supply. However I don't know if it's of reputable brand. It's about 2-3 years old. Why do you ask?

I'll probably stick with the build outlined originally with the 8320 and 7950.
 
PCunicorn

PCunicorn

Active Member
Because a Cheap PSU will blow and take parts with it. Also, don't skimp on the board to go under budget. If you must have a cheaper build, go 7870. No 6300, that's only $20 cheaper.
 
Eric4753

Eric4753

Member
also why not cut out the ssd and go for a hard drive that would get you 10x the space and a little extra money.
 
M

millz

Member
Eric4753 said:
also why not cut out the ssd and go for a hard drive that would get you 10x the space and a little extra money.
Click to expand...

The idea is to get the most performance per dollar spent. I feel like the SSD will add a lot of speed to the OS and game loading times vs the regular HDD.

Are you guys suggesting to get a new PSU if the one we're planning on using is older and not of reputable brand?
 
M

millz

Member
PCunicorn said:
Because a Cheap PSU will blow and take parts with it. Also, don't skimp on the board to go under budget. If you must have a cheaper build, go 7870. No 6300, that's only $20 cheaper.
Click to expand...

Is the suggested board not very good?? It will probably end up being a build with a 7870. The local store has better prices than I've been able to find online for the same GPU. Saphire 7870 GHZ edition should be able to handle most games on max graphics at 1080?

The build is first and foremost for FFXV but other games such as Battlefield 3 will be played using this. My 6870 handles BF3 on ultra at 1600x900 with no problem.
 
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