If you're planning on assembling a gaming rig, just contact me with your wishes & budget and I might make some adjustments.
Changelog (so you can easily keep track of updates):
- 17-10-2012: After reading up a lot on current RAM, I decided to swap out Corsair in favour of Kingston, since it seems to be (slightly) less prone to failures for the same price.
- 18-01-2013: The Samsung 830 series is no longer widely available, due to their newer siblings, the 840 and 840 pro series, hitting the market. Alternatives have been added in case you cannot find the 830.
- 15-02-2013: Overhaul of the budget series, reverting back to the good ol' Phenom II X4.
If you cannot find a certain part at your own local retailer, just ask me for an alternative.
BUDGET (~€600)
Probably the toughest for me to build, since you have to sacrifice performance on pretty much every level in order to stay within the budget. Don't expect wonders, but it'll be able to run games without exploding
I originally aimed for €500, but that asked for too much compromising. AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (€90): Old, but still solid. It'll give you enough CPU power for your games, without breaking the bank.
ASRock 970 Extreme4 (€85):Asrock has stepped up from his original Asus' spin-off status and is now a well-respected board manufacturer with solid price/performance. This board offers all the goodies (SATA600, USB3, ...) for a reasonable price.
Club3D Radeon HD 7870 jokerCard (€215): The backbone of your gaming system, this HD7870 offers the best performance in it's price point. Faster than the GTX660 for roughly the same cost, it's a bit of a no-brainer. The new Tahiti LE chip in this card, also speeds past the original 7870's.
Kingston ValueRAM KVR1333D3S8N9K2/4G (€20): 4GB dual channel DDR3-1333 should be enough to get this system going.
Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 ST1000DM003 (€75): 1TB of storage should be enough to install all your games, and keep your best screenshots.
Corsair Builder CX500 V2 (€50): A decent PSU from a good company. 500W is enough to keep everything running smoothly.
DVD drive (€15): Normal stuff, don't spend too much money on this.
Computer case (€50): A matter of personal taste, so I won't simply put a model here. For €50 you should be able to get a good, basic case. Example: Antec 100.
TOTAL: €600
MAINSTREAM (~€900)
With roughly €300 more to spend, the plan's easy: we will spend more money on key performance parts (mainly the GPU and the mobo/CPU combo), as well as introduce an SSD to speed the whole thing up significantly in your day-to-day use.
Intel Core i5 3570K (€200): The best CPU for any gamer right now. Since you're reading a best-buy guide, chances are slim you'll be overclocking anything. But the non-unlocked version (without the "K" in the name) is only €10 cheaper, so we go with the real deal anyway.
Asrock Z75 Pro3 (€80): The Z75 allows overclocking, which is needed to be able to get full use out of our K-type CPU (if you ever feel like trying). The board provides the needed modern standards like USB3 and SATA600, without extra bells and whistles to inflate the price.
Gigabyte Radeon HD7950 WindForce 3 (€290): The HD7950 offers the best performance in it's price point. Still faster than it's newer Nvidia counterpart, the GTX660ti, for roughly the same cost, it's once again a no-brainer. The Gigabyte version offers a solid card with a good, quiet custom cooling solution. If you cannot get the Gigabyte, the Club3D Radeon HD 7950 royalKing is also a good option.
Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3B1K2/8GX (€35): 8GB dual channel DDR3-1600, which is plenty for anything you want to play today, and tomorrow. Good & cheap, so we can spend more pennies on more important stuff.
Samsung 830 series 128GB (€90): Still one of the best price/performance SSD's around, but sadly enough availability is starting to be a problem. If you really cannot find one, either the Samsung 840 Pro 120 GB (make sure you get the Pro version, the regular version performs extremely bad) or the Corsair Neutron GTX 120 GB are solid options too.
Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 ST1000DM003 (€75): 1TB of storage should be enough to keep your best screenshots, your music, and your porn folder. Yes, we know, you don't have a porn folder, no one has a porn folder, but hypothetically, if you had one, it would fit
...XFX PRO 550W (€55): A decent PSU from a good company. 550W is enough to provide all those fancy components with enough juice to chew on your games for hours on end.
DVD drive (€15): Normal stuff, don't spend too much money on this.
Computer case (€60): A matter of personal taste, so I won't simply put a model here. For €60 you should be able to get a good, basic case. Example: Antec 302.
TOTAL: €900
Right on budget! However, if you want to try overclocking, or you simply want your precious CPU to run a bit cooler without sounding like a vacuum cleaner with asthma, you might want to go for the extra-part-that-wasn't-included-because-it-didn't-fit-the-budget:
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO or GELID Solutions Rev2 Tranquillo (€30): Both solid after market coolers, for roughly the same price. They will give better cooling at lower noise levels than the stock coolers. You won't be able to squeeze the last Mhz out of your CPU, but that's most likely not your cup of tea anyway.
HIGH-END (~€1250)
With extra budget, comes extra awesomeness. The purpose of this build is quite obvious: deliver all the shinies! Which means a high-end CPU, coupled with a high-end GPU, and all other bells and whistles for one hell of a desktop PC.
Intel Core i5 3570K (€200): As already mentioned in the "mainstream" build, this is the best CPU for any gamer right now. Good overclockable, so you'll be able to make your high-end system even more high-end.
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H (€125): Asrock makes room for Gigabyte in the high-end system. This board has a good featureset, with ample room for extra cards, without breaking the bank. Good bang for your buck.
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO or GELID Solutions Rev2 Tranquillo (€30): A small, easy to install after-market cooler will make sure you can keep on gaming without frying your CPU. Can easily handle even moderate overclocks. For the real hardcore overclocking, you'll need a better (larger & more expensive) cooler.
Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX (€40): Low profile, in case you ever want to install one of those enormous CPU-coolers. The slightly fancier cousin to the set used in the "mainstream" system. Because it works.
Gigabyte GV-N670OC-2GD (€380): Nvidia priced their own GTX680 out of the market with their GTX670. The overclocked versions, sold by most big manufacturers, perform (almost) equal to the GTX680 while costing €100 less.
Samsung 830 series 256GB (€165): Same series as the "mainstream" build, but double the capacity. Because a high-end system should be able to store more games
When availability is an issue, the Samsung 840 Pro 256GB or the OCZ Vector 256GB can be used as alternatives.Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 ST3000DM001, 3TB (€130): Because your HDD can never be big enough.
XFX Pro 650W (€80): Slightly overdimensioned, to leave headroom for overclocking, or a possible SLI-style upgrade down the road. This PSU will be able to handle dual GTX670, with an overclocked CPU.
DVD drive (€15): Normal stuff, don't spend too much money on this.
Computer case (€85): Still up to personal taste, but I usually prefer one that also keeps the noise made by my system in check. So a bigger bugdet to get a quiet case. Recommendation: Fractal Design Define R3.
TOTAL: €1250
Do note, that the hardware market is a fast-evolving one. The best choice today might be second-best tomorrow. So keep your eyes peeled for updates, and check the date when this guide was last edited.
PC Hardware
!
.
