Gaming PC build - around $1,200 budget

Benjamin King2 said:Well, look—you’ve already got the confusion on your account, so just throw in a high-end monitor and call it a day. 😁

Yeah, honestly, that's pretty much the bottom line... I should probably apologize to Mr. McCLovin for my oversight regarding the fact that uzi doesn't work—which, naturally, means we can't squeeze everything into the Core 1000, right?

But let's be real here: I basically crushed your little $3167 bucket with my own $2700, and he ended up getting the exact same crap for $500 less
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If I may weigh in briefly—when I stopped by Micro Center this morning, they had exactly one R9 290 left in stock. Online, the price is listed at about $550 cash, though I suspect you could probably snag it for closer to $520 if you play your cards right. They aren't sure when the next shipment arrives, so maybe this helps someone out.
Timothy Fisher79 will likely give this a thumbs up.

cosmicseal98 said:I wanted to jump back in here for a second—when I swung by Micro Center this morning, they still had one R9 290 left in stock. Online, the price is listed at around $550 cash, but if you play your cards right, you could probably snag it for $500. They aren't quite sure when their next shipment is arriving, so I figured I’d mention it just in case anyone's looking to grab one.
Timothy Fisher79 will be happy with that info—thumbs up!

😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

Timothy Fisher79 said:Why can't we just cram everything into a Fortune 500 case?

I mean, sure, you *could* force it all in there—but "forcing it" is kind of the problem here. An ITX build is basically playing life on hard mode; an mATX case has about 50-60% more breathing room, which means you actually have options for upgrades or decent cooling instead of just praying for airflow.

Once you slot in your drive, your SSD, and your GPU, you're done—you won't even have space for a decent CPU cooler, let alone anything else. Why would you bottleneck yourself with a cramped case when you're building a $2,500 rig? If this were a budget $800 build, I'd get it, but seriously—just buy a proper case and you won't have to worry about it for the next 7 or 8 years.

Benjamin King2 said:I mean, sure, you could try to force it if you really wanted to—but honestly? That would be straight-up forcing it. If you look at the specs, the Arc Mini actually offers about 50-60% more volume, which gives you a lot more breathing room, plus you end up with way better options when it comes to cooling and future upgrades down the road.

You just pop in the drive, the SSD, and the GPU, and you're basically done—you don't even need to worry about throwing a high-end CPU cooler into the mix right away. Honestly, why would you ever bottleneck yourself by skimping on the case when you're putting together an $1,200 build? If we were talking about a budget rig where every single cent counts, sure, maybe spend $450 on a decent chassis, but for this setup? Just grab a solid, reliable case from the jump. You’ll get it set up, forget about it, and be totally good for the next seven or eight years.

I mean, I get it—they’ll probably end up with a rig that's just powerful enough that they won't even feel the itch to upgrade anytime soon—but let's be real, at the end of the day, we're still talking about an mATX case.

I’m thinking there shouldn't be any more complaining about my rig now—I've checked all the boxes for what people call "standard specs"... plus, I actually managed to snag a beefier GPU for the same price!

Intel Core i5 processor
Patriot Viper3 Blue Sapphire 1600MHz, 8GB (2x4GB)
ASRock B85-PRO4, 1150
MSI GTX 780 TF OC, 3GB DDR5
Seagate BarraCuda hard drive (3.5", 1TB, 32MB, SATA III-600)
Kingston V300 120GB SSD, SATA
LG DVD±RW 24x GH24NS95 SATA black bulk
EVGA 650W power supply, 80+ SILVER
MS LOGIC A30 case (no PSU included)
AOC LED 23.6" E2450SWDAK, VGA, DVI, 5ms

$3191 Accenture

For $400 more, you're only looking at about a 15% boost in performance (like a GTX 780 versus an R9 280X). I guess it’s definitely not worth sacrificing other parts for that; you'd probably be better off putting that extra cash toward $133 three other components to get much better overall quality and power.

If I were buying for myself, I wouldn't go overboard on an overpriced GPU just to push overkill performance while cutting corners on everything else—like the case or an unlocked CPU—just to make the math work within a strict budget.

INTEL
1 x Intel 1 x ASUS Z87-A, 1150, Intel ® Z87, DDR3, 4 slots, 1600 MHz
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz, Haswell
1 x 8GB DDR3 Kingston HyperX Blue, 1600MHz, CL10
1 x Sapphire R9 280X 3GB VAPOR-X OC, 3GB GDDR5 384bit, 28nm, 2xDVI
1 x 120GB Kingston V300 SSD, 2.5" 7mm, SATA 3 6G, 7mm to 9.5mm adapter
1 x 1TB Western Digital Caviar Blue 10EZEX, 1000 GB, SATA3, 64 MB, 3.5", 7200RPM
1 x XFX Core edition 80+ 550W PSU - EasyRail technology
1 x ASUS DRW-24F1ST/BLK/B/AS SATA, DVD-R 24x, DVD-RW 6x, DVD+R 24x
1 x Zalman Z3 PLUS mid tower case. 192(W)x465(H)x430(D)mm. ATX standard
1 x Cooler master Hyper 212 Evo, 2011, 1366/1156/775/AM3/ 626g, 13-32dB
1 x LG 23EA63V-P, 23", 16:9, 1920x1080, IPS panel, 250 cd/m2
$3143

AMD
1 x 8GB DDR3 Kingston HyperX Blue, 1600MHz, CL10
1 x Sapphire R9 280X 3GB VAPOR-X OC, 3GB GDDR5 384bit, 28nm, 2xDVI
1 x 120GB Kingston V300 SSD, 2.5" 7mm, SATA 3 6G, 7mm to 9.5mm adapter
1 x 1TB Western Digital Caviar Blue 10EZEX, 1000 GB, SATA3, 64 MB, 3.5", 7200RPM
1 x XFX Core edition 80+ 550W PSU - EasyRail technology
1 x ASUS DRW-24F1ST/BLK/B/AS SATA, DVD-R 24x, DVD-RW 6x, DVD+R 24x
1 x Zalman Z3 PLUS mid tower case. 192(W)x465(H)x430(D)mm. ATX standard
1 x Cooler master Hyper 212 Evo, 2011, 1366/1156/775/AM3/ 626g, 13-32dB
1 x LG 23EA63V-P, 23", 16:9, 1920x1080, IPS panel, 250 cd/m2
1 x Gigabyte 990XA-UD3, AM3+, AMD 990X SB950, 4x DDR3
1 x AMD FX-Series X8 8320 3.5GHz, 16MB, 125W, AM3+, FD8320FRHK

$2840

www.newegg.com

So I’m sitting here thinking... check out this laptop:

Isn't this actually a better call than building a desktop rig? To me, it looks like it hits all the same marks as those desktop setups, plus the cooling setup seems killer. What's the verdict?

No, that setup you mentioned is actually more powerful. A GeForce GTX 970M (the laptop version) is significantly weaker than a standard GTX 770. It used to sit in the same performance tier as something like an $333 desktop card. Honestly, if you're looking for serious gaming, buying an expensive laptop just isn't worth it. You end up paying the same amount of money for noticeably worse performance, plus you're stuck with a smaller screen and all that.

The only reason to go that route is if mobility is your absolute priority.

Timothy Kim60 said:Nah. Those desktop cards crush them. A GeForce GTX 970M (for laptops) is way weaker than a standard GTX 770. It used to sit somewhere around the $333 tier for desktops. Honestly, buying expensive laptops for serious gaming is a bad move. You’re getting way less performance for the same amount of cash, plus you've got a tiny screen and all that.

Unless you absolutely need mobility, that's it.

And I just realized those GPUs aren't even in the same league. How much weaker is the R9 280X compared to the R9 290? Is it actually worth dropping $167 more for the difference?

It’s a bit overkill; you won't see much benefit at standard resolutions like 1080p or 1200p. Those high-end GPUs really only start to shine once you push past that. Plus, with the card pulling 290 watts, it runs pretty hot, so you’ll probably want to budget for an aftermarket cooler too—maybe around $350-$133.
review (just look at the actual in-game frame rates instead of those synthetic benchmarks)

Hey there!
I’ve put together a potential build here, and I’d love to get some feedback or suggestions from the group. Basically, I'm wondering if anything looks out of place, if I should swap something out, or if I'm overspending on parts I don't actually need. 🙂

Motherboard:
- ASUS Z77 series, 1155 socket, Intel Z77 chipset
CPU:
- Intel Core i5-3570K, 3.4 GHz, LGA 1155
CPU Cooler:
- Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
RAM:
- 2x Kingston DDR3, 4GB, 1600 MHz, HyperX Red Edition
Graphics Card:
- MSI GTX 760 OC TF, 2GB, GDDR5
SSD:
- Kingston 120 GB, HyperX 3K SATA 3
HDD:
- Western Digital 1TB, 7200 rpm, 32MB cache
PSU:
- Corsair CX600M, 600W, CX-M series
Optical Drive:
- Seagate ST250DM001 SATA
Case:
- Thermaltake V3 Black Edition, Mid-Tower

I’d swap out the V3 case for a Zalman Z3 +, and honestly, you could probably get away with just a CX-M 500W power supply; everything else looks pretty solid.

crimsonstag84 said:Skip the V3 case and grab a Corsair RM series instead. Honestly, that CX-M 500W is plenty for what you need; everything else in that build looks solid.

+1

If you aren't dead set on modularity, you can find much better value for your money than the cx600M. For instance, an EVGA 550 or an EVGA SuperNOVA 550W would be smarter picks—plus, they're actually cheaper.

I’d suggest going with the Fortron 550W instead; honestly, you can't beat a five-year warranty like that. Besides, does modularity even really matter if you can just tuck the cables away neatly?

Alright, fair enough! Honestly, I’m not losing any sleep over modularity. What actually matters to me is making sure the core components are rock solid—like the motherboard and the RAM. Sure, I could have opted for some budget-friendly alternatives there, but at this stage, the price difference is negligible. As for the GPU, I’ve been crunching the numbers and I don't think I could have squeezed a better card out of this specific budget, though I'm still keeping an eye on it. This one seems like a pretty sweet spot.

Grab the GTX 780; it costs a bit more, but the performance jump is definitely worth it.

Alexander Moore67 said:Grab the R9 280x. It costs a bit more, but the graphics are way better.

and it costs $167 more...🙄