Anyone know of a better gaming rig for $1400?

AstaLaVista · 17 Aug 2012

paulpicks21 said:

iHazACupcake said:

Sardonicus said:

Hello,
any reason why you went with the older 1156 chipset instead on the newer 1155 chipset?

I'm a cheap *******, and the 1156 i5, is an ass-load cheaper than the 1155 i5. At least that's my opinion on the price difference.

Hi bud, unless my calculations are way off, you can get 1155 sandy i5 and a nice z77 mobo for only $4 more.

This has to be the way to go, I am surprised the first gen stuff is still even available.

Here - Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K

There is a choice of motherboards around this price so you don't have to go for the one I linked to.

Paul.

Don't they sell the same CPU sans the integrated graphics cheaper than with it? if so and since the OP will get a better GPU, I would save more money by getting the cheaper CPU

paulpicks21 · 17 Aug 2012

It's $10 less for the non K series, this still comes with intergrated graphics but a lower quality. I would still recommend the K series as it can be overclocked very easily should the OP wish to at a later date.

paulpicks21 · 17 Aug 2012

And while we are at it, lets save $20 on Ram, G.skill, top quality stuff.

Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL10D-16GBXL

Zepher · 17 Aug 2012

That is a slow system for a lot of money.
Psu is overkill, CPU cooler is overkill, especially on a slow processor, even if you overclock the shit out of it, you won't be anywhere close to an i5 ivy bridge which is about $45 more.
I'll post my recommendation when I get to my pc, searching and posting links is tedious on my iPad.

XJLanzaro · 18 Aug 2012

Switch to Ivy Bridge i5-3570k and Z77 motherboard, reduce RAM to 8gb and psu to 600w or even 500w. Reduce heatsink to hyper 212+ or even stock would be fine unless you want to oc the crap out of it. My buddy has his 3570k overclocked at 3.8 GHz with stock cooler with great temps. You don't need to spend $14 on thermal paste it comes with the heatsink if you decide to buy one. I would recommend Crucial or Intel SSDs, the OZC models aren't very well received. Everything else looks good. I'm sure a lot of people would agree with what I'm saying.

cam51037 · 20 Aug 2012

If I were you with $1400, here's what I would do for a high end gaming rig:
AMD FX-8120
ASUS M5A97 AM3+ Motherboard
Rosewill Black Bone Case
Hyper 212 Heatsink
Corsair Builder 600W PSU
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1 TB
SSD: Crucial M4 64 GB SSD
Kingston 8 GB RAM
Windows 7 Home Premium
Sapphire Radeon 7870
ASUS 24" LED Monitor
Rosewill RK-700M Keyboard
Microsoft Compact Optical Mouse
Headset: Sony PS3 Headset

Total Price on Newegg: $1426

You'd save a lot not getting a headset, and settling for a lower end keyboard and mouse. I have a default Dell keyboard and mouse deal, and I've gotten a ton of nukes in MW2, and played endless hours in Minecraft with them, and they are awesome, and waaaay cheaper than the higher end stuff, which honestly wouldn't do anything different for me, except make me spend at least $100 extra.

With my suggestions, you'd get a newer CPU, and a way better GPU for about the same price.