Anyone know of a better gaming rig for $1400?

iHazACupcake · 15 Aug 2012

Okay, so this is going to sound strange, but I won first place in a cheese dip making competition and they gave me $1500. And now I want to upgrade from my current gaming rig, to a newer, better one. And after scrounging around on the interwebs for a little while, and comparing prices between Tigerdirect, and Newegg. I've got these specs.

Case: Thermaltake VL200k Element V $99.99
Mobo: EVGA P55 Socket LGA 1156 $184.99
CPU: Intel i5 650 Socket LGA 1156 3.2GHz $179.99
Heatsink: Coolermaster V8 $60.00
Thermal Grease: Thermaltake TG1 Extreme High Grade Thermal Grease $13.99
PSU: Coolermaster Silent Pro M 850W ATX $104.99
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 7200rpm $89.99
SSD: OCZ 120GB Agility 3 series SATA 3 6GBps $95.99
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB 1600Mhz 4-Sticks $104.99
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit $99.99
GPU: EVGA GTX-560 Superclocked 2GB GDDR5 $184.99
Monitor: BenQ GW2250 22" Class Widescreen Backlit LED $149.99
Keyboard and Mouse: Razer Lycosa and Razer Deathadder $110.00
Headset: Earforce Z11 $39.99
Total Price: $1460.00

Questions: Is there a place where I can some of these parts cheaper? Should I just go with an AMD of equal performance? (If the processor is cheaper of course)
(sorry if I posted this in the wrong forum)

Solarstarshines · 15 Aug 2012

for the heatsink the v8 you could get a Antec 620 Khuler water system why pay 60 for air when you can be water cooled also

depends on where you get it the OCZ agility is 89.99 120.GB i recently got one Microcenter
win 7 premium can be had for 89.99 @ frys OEM everything looks good but some of those iteams depends where you shop are a little cheaper

Sardonicus · 15 Aug 2012

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

Solarstarshines · 15 Aug 2012

Sardonicus said:

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

yeah 1155 is Ivy Bridge right ?

Sardonicus · 15 Aug 2012

Solarstarshines said:

Sardonicus said:

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

yeah 1155 is Ivy Bridge right ?

1155 boards can use Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge.

Z68 boards support Sandy Bridge, out of the box.
Ivy Bridge support is possible with a BIOS update.

Z77 Boards support Ivy Bridge and is backwards compatible with Sandy Bridge.

Solarstarshines · 15 Aug 2012

Sardonicus said:

Solarstarshines said:

Sardonicus said:

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

yeah 1155 is Ivy Bridge right ?

1155 boards can use Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge.

Z68 boards support Sandy Bridge, out of the box.
Ivy Bridge support is possible with a BIOS update.

Z77 Boards support Ivy Bridge and are backwards compatible with Sandy Bridge.

One of these days im going to toy with a Intel rig I had them years ago last one was a P4 but i went AMD and been with eversince but.... i like to taste a bit of everything my dad runs intel as well im the only red guy ha

iHazACupcake · 16 Aug 2012

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.

AstaLaVista · 17 Aug 2012

I only play shooters and Campaigns so I don't know much about the other Genres but, if the others are similar to the shooters, wasting a lot of money on a computer is that, wasting money... more so when the majority of them are console ports, some of them even shoddy and unoptimized.

I think with 1500 cheeseburgers you can get a hellacious rig, I just can't see myself doing so when I am not even going to be able to enjoy it to its fullest... I do hope you do play other Genres and they are not console ports though.

When I am looking to build a rig, I usually check Google products for good deals or I go to the following website... I have never been let down.

Check their Hot Deals Forum... http://hardforum.com/

Solarstarshines · 17 Aug 2012

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.

Think of it this way There is always upgrade options you can strive for the best in the begining and make it even better through time

Get the latest and then Build around it that is what most of us do
I would say over the last year or so after i went to the FX series i spent money on better upgrades then i had from the begining and it has paid off

paulpicks21 · 17 Aug 2012

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.