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flyingmonkey

Building PC, what's your input?

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My friend wants me to pop him out a PC that can play Diablo3 and some other games, has a $1500 budget.

So far I have a list of stuff, just wondering what your guys input would be.

~$260 Mobo: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3853#sp

~$290 GFX: http://www.gigabyte.co.nz/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3881#sp

~$300 CPU: http://ark.intel.com/products/52210/Intel-Core-i5-2500K-Processor-%286M-Cache-up-to-3_70-GHz%29

~$50 Cooling: http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6741

~$80 RAM: http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=345

All up, it's just over $1000 here in NZ, so throw in a Chassis and PSU for $400 to hit the budget - awaiting his input on his choice for that one.

What do you guys think, any suggestions/alterations?

Cheers

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That's nice, but isn't there one core component missing?

No storage device?

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He's got his HDDs from his current one that he can just chuck over.

It just died on him and he has been asking about upgrades for a little while now, finally decided to go for it.

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well except for the cpu cooler it just looks a little light weight to me but that's just my opinion, assuming there are other fans then I guess it shouldn't be an issue

was that 2x4gig of ram or just 4gig of ram i couldn't quite see while scanning the page

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Ever looked at an Alienware? These things kick  when it comes to hardcore gaming. You can go bigtime with the 1500+ model or build up from the $700 model. This one I made, with good moniter, keyboard, and mouse comes up to only $1300.

Software & Services

OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW) edit

MONITOR DELL UltraSharpâ„¢ U2212HMC 21.5" Monitor edit

KEYBOARD Alienware Multi-Media Keyboard edit

MOUSE Alienware Optical Mouse, MG100 edit

My Software & Accessories

PRE-INSTALLED SOFTWARE Steam and Portalâ„¢ Factory Installed edit

My Accessories

SUPPORT 1 Year Basic Service Plan edit

ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM

Alienware X51 Alienware X51

OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ i7-2600 3.4GHz (8MB Cache) with Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost Technology 2.0

MEMORY 8GB (2x4GB) Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz

CHASSIS COLOR Matte Stealth Black with Dark Chrome Accents

VIDEO CARD 1GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 555

HARD DRIVE 1TB SATA 6Gb/s (7,200RPM) 32MB Cache

WIRELESS DW1502 Wireless-N WLAN Half Mini-Card

Adobe Reader Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader

AUTOMATIC UPDATES 330W External Power Supply

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My friend wants me to pop him out a PC that can play Diablo3 and some other games, has a $1500 budget.

So far I have a list of stuff, just wondering what your guys input would be.

~$260 Mobo: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3853#sp

~$290 GFX: http://www.gigabyte.co.nz/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3881#sp

~$300 CPU: http://ark.intel.com/products/52210/Intel-Core-i5-2500K-Processor-%286M-Cache-up-to-3_70-GHz%29

~$50 Cooling: http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6741

~$80 RAM: http://www.gskill.com/products.php?index=345

All up, it's just over $1000 here in NZ, so throw in a Chassis and PSU for $400 to hit the budget - awaiting his input on his choice for that one.

What do you guys think, any suggestions/alterations?

Cheers

Looks good as far as I can tell :) I don't suppose he needs wifi?

While Alienware computers do generally have more bang than most other pre-built computers you'll still always end up with far less performance than you could've gotten if you assembled the rig yourself. For instance, a GTX 555 would be a weak choice for "hardcore gaming" especially when paired with that processor.

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It might be worth considering adding an SSD to it if it's within the budget, I've seen 120gb ones for around 110 euro. That should be big enough to have the OS and several games on it. He could then put the rest of his stuff that's less important performance wise on that HDD he has left over.

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It might be worth considering adding an SSD to it if it's within the budget, I've seen 120gb ones for around 110 euro. That should be big enough to have the OS and several games on it. He could then put the rest of his stuff that's less important performance wise on that HDD he has left over.

One option to consider in that regard is getting a small SSD to reinstall Windows on. Then the remaining old HDD's can be saved for games and other stuff (pretty easy to to through directory linking).

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Just build to recommended specs for D3. After diablo no other game exists:D

well maybe a lil ps2 on the side

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i5 > i7 for gaming. i7 is for hyperthreading, which is unused in gaming. Until the i7 offers a more processing power, it is an absolute waste of money for gaming. i7 is around a 2% increase in processing power for gaming yet drastically more expensive. Stick with an i5 for gaming. 8gb of ram is enough, the lower CAS latency the better. A 120gb SSD is the way to go; load times are almost non-existant. A cooler is unneeded, assuming you get the right case. Assuming you do not go over around 4.4ghz, any sort of cooling is not needed.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=22110007

This is a very secure and well built gaming PC, which I personally use. Easily runs BF3 on maximum :).

I chose the parts based on reviews, power, power, and % increase / decrease versus the next step up.

If you want to make it more powerful, get another 570 gpu, rather than the 580, as you will see more increase per $. The same for the 590, which is 2 580s stacked ontop of each other. If you do choose to get this, it does require a bit of setup as the SSD I am using requires a firmware update. This SSD is the absolute fastest on the market (at the 120gb level).

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2072259

http://www.ocztechnology.com/ssd_tools/ (you must flash it BEFORE installing the OS)

THe beauty with the MSI mobo is that it is made for overclocking; there is even an interface that helps you with all of the steps (or it can do it for you - not recommended to use turboboost, as manual numbers will run a cooler PC at the same speed). As I told you to not overclock past 4.4ghz, you will not need any cooling and it is very stable. I run my case at about 25% fan speed and it keeps all of my cores under 50c under a medium load. Avoid overclocking the RAM, but the CAS7 timings should already be applied, as there tend to be stability issues (experts only!!)

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I think that's a good spec-up, apart from the cooling. It'd be a waste of a 2500K to not be overclocking it and so investing in better cooling is worth it.

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Wait, so this is a relatively good build these days? I thought it was mid-range.

When I built my PC bout 5 years ago it cost me $3000, are you telling me that everything has come down that much?

Haven't really followed price trends or parts for a while, haven't needed to upgrade yet - might have a look into it now heh.

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When I built my PC bout 5 years ago it cost me $3000, are you telling me that everything has come down that much?

Computer building advice: never do this. Do not buy computer parts that are on the bleeding edge unless money is no object, or you just like wasting money.

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Money was no object haha, though, coming up 6 years without an upgrade certainly makes it worth it - plays all the games no troubles.

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