$1000 gaming PC

Hey everyone, I’m looking for a little guidance regarding some component selection.

For peripherals, I'm thinking a 22" monitor or maybe something larger, plus a wireless keyboard and mouse combo.

Currently, I’ve got a 400W power supply, a Thermaltake case, and a 200 GB HDD sitting around.

My wishlist includes an AMD Radeon R9 270, a 120 GB SSD, and 8 GB of DDR3. As for the CPU and motherboard, I’ll leave those up to your expertise, though I definitely lean toward Intel. My main priority is ensuring the system isn't overly noisy.

I prefer to handle the payment in cash.

Nathan Long8 said:Hey everyone, I’m looking for a little guidance regarding some component selection.

For peripherals, I'm thinking a 22" monitor or maybe something larger, plus a wireless keyboard and mouse combo.

Currently, I’ve got a 400W power supply, a Thermaltake case, and a 200 GB HDD sitting around.

My wishlist includes an AMD Radeon R9 270, a 120 GB SSD, and 8 GB of DDR3. As for the CPU and motherboard, I’ll leave those up to your expertise, though I definitely lean toward Intel. My main priority is ensuring the system isn't overly noisy.

I prefer to handle the payment in cash.

Timberlake swing? Never heard of it. 🤔 As for that 400W power supply, just saying "400W" isn't enough info. Check what it actually says on the label. Also, what kind of gaming are we talking about here? If you want to play anything remotely serious, a 200GB HDD is going to be way too small. A new Call of Duty can take up like 50GB alone. 🙂 Give me those specific details and we can try to put something together. And can you send a link to that case? Even Google is useless here—it just keeps showing me Justin Timberlake. 🤦

1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x Procesor AMD FX-Series X8 8320 3.5GHz,16MB,125W,AM3+, FD8320FRHK
1 x LG 23MB35PM-B 23" Wide LED, IPS panel, 1080p resolution
1 x Logitech wireless Combo MK270
1 x Napajanje XFX TS Series 550W PSU -P1550S-XXB9
1 x Kingston SSD 120GB HyperX Fury, 2.5", SATA 3 6G
1 x XFX R9-280A-TDFD, Double Dissipation Edition Radeon R9 280 933m 1 x Logitech wireless Combo MK270
1 x Zalman CNPS10X OPTIMA, CPU cooler. FAN: 120mm, fan speed:1000rpm
1 x ASUS M5A97 R2.0, AM3,AM3+, AMD 970, SB950, BUS 5200 MHz, DDR3

$2167 ADM

It's a Thermaltake case, not a Timberlake 🤣 😬

4 bucks 🙏

crimsonstag84 said:1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x Procesor AMD FX-Series X8 8320 3.5GHz,16MB,125W,AM3+, FD8320FRHK
1 x LG 23MB35PM-B 23" Wide LED, IPS panel, 1080p resolution
1 x Logitech wireless Combo MK270
1 x Napajanje XFX TS Series 550W PSU -P1550S-XXB9
1 x Kingston SSD 120GB HyperX Fury, 2.5", SATA 3 6G
1 x XFX R9-280A-TDFD, Double Dissipation Edition Radeon R9 280 933m 1 x Logitech wireless Combo MK270
1 x Zalman CNPS10X OPTIMA, CPU cooler. FAN: 120mm, fan speed:1000rpm
1 x ASUS M5A97 R2.0, AM3,AM3+, AMD 970, SB950, BUS 5200 MHz, DDR3

$2167 ADM

It's a Thermaltake case, not a Timberlake 🤣 😬

Aaaa Thermaltake 🤣 Now I'm actually Googling it, I have no clue what a freaking Timberlake would even be 😵 Nice build, but the guy said he prefers Intel, so let's see what we get on that side 😛

1 x ASRock B85M Pro3, S 1150, Supports 4th gen Intel Core i7 / i5
1 x Intel Core i5-4460 (3.20GHz, 1MB, 6MB, 84 W, 1150) Box
1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x TOSHIBA 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA100
1 x Kingston SSD 120GB HyperX Fury, 2.5", SATA 3 6G
1 x Fortron Blue Storm II 400W
1 x AOC I2269VWM, IPS monitor 21.5" Wide, WLED, 1920x1080@60 Hz
1 x XFX R9-280A-TDFD, Double Dissipation Edition Radeon R9 280 933m 1 x Logitech wireless Combo MK270
1 x Logitech wireless Combo MK270

$2175 admin.us

Nothing special 😬

EDIT: You don't have an HDD 🤣 You can't play any games heroically with only 200 gigs.

If I were in your shoes, I’d go with this setup—I've included 4GB of RAM since that's the easiest thing to upgrade later (you can just grab another 4GB stick whenever you want for about $100 and pop it right into a slot), but in exchange, you're getting an absolute beast of an R9 290. I'll leave it to you to decide which way you want to lean...

1 x AOC I2269VWM, IPS monitor 21.5" Wide, WLED, 1080p resolution 1 x Logitech wireless Combo MK270
1 x Logitech wireless Combo MK270, wireless keyboard and mouse
1 x MSI R9 290 GAMING 4GB DDR5 512bit
1 x AMD FX-Series X8 8320 3.5GHz, 16MB, 125W, AM3+, FD8320FRHK Processor
1 x Gigabyte 970A-DS3P, AM3+, AMD 970 SB950, 4x DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1866
1 x Spire Kepler Rev.2 cooler, 1156/775/FM1, 96.5×51×125 mm, 92mm
1 x Fortron 600W Power Supply, Hyper, PPA6003302, 12cm fan
1 x Kingston SSD 120GB HyperX Fury, 2.5", SATA 3 6G
1 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11

Total:$2196 Micro Center, free assembly and shipping!
If I were you, I'd just pick up a 1TB hard drive and another 4GB of RAM down the road and call it a day—you'll have everything you need.

Hehheeh I can't believe I actually typed Timberlake lol. Well, I managed to get a little laugh out of you all. That Thermaltake case is what I'm using right now, though honestly, I could probably swap that out too if needed.

The power supply is some old Fortron Blue Storm II 400W. I currently have a 200GB drive lying around and I'm not entirely sure what to do with it—it's not exactly something you can just flip for a profit—so replacing that would be the easiest move.

Let's look at it this way:

I've got a ceiling of $1000, maybe stretching to $1100, and I need everything included.

Here you go:

Intel Core i5-4460
ASRock H81M HDS
Crucial 8GB 1600 MHz
Intel 120 GB SATA 3 SSD
Toshiba 1TB SATA 3 HDD
XFX R9 280 3GB DDR5 Black Edition
XFX 430W 80+ Bronze
Zalman Z3 Midi ATX w/ 3x 120mm fans & USB 3.0

Samsung 24" 1080p Monitor
Genius Slimstar 8000 ME

= $2323 including delivery and setup.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions, everyone. Honestly, I think I'm leaning most heavily toward the build suggested by graniteharbor85. Much appreciated.

I’d probably suggest grabbing the Gigabyte Radeon R9 280 for $13 more than what you'd pay for the XFX

When I was putting my rig together, I didn't see it available—but honestly, you can't really go wrong with either one. Even the XFX Black is a solid pick since both are top-tier choices for the R9 models. That said, having that extra year of warranty with Gigabyte definitely comes in handy click.

Could someone please clear something up for me?

According to the official product page, the XFX R9 280 3GB DDR5 Black Edition recommends a 750W power supply unit.

However, I'm looking at a Gigabyte R9 280 setup paired with a 650W unit.

In that case, would this power supply be sufficient for the configuration?

Those specs are basically just fluff—they don't actually mean much in the real world. Honestly, they mostly just make it easier for sellers to talk you into buying some overpriced, overkill power supply that you definitely don't need.

Look, when you're picking out a power supply, it’s not just about the total wattage—that’s a huge misconception people always fall for when they don't know what they're doing. It’s actually about what’s going on inside the unit itself.

The power supply is totally fine—I wouldn't bother recommending something else just for the sake of it. You’ve still got plenty of headroom left considering how much power your whole setup actually pulls. If you really want to level up, though, maybe look into something more powerful or even a modular unit just to cut down on the cable mess inside the case... go with INTEGRU-M. INTEGRU-M The only catch is that her warranty is two years shorter. But honestly, Best Buy does a pretty solid job putting configurations together—so the cables shouldn't be much of a headache for you. Plus, the Z3 actually has some really decent options when it comes to cable management.

Let me give you an example of how I do things— click.