Building a decent gaming desktop- How much?

Splashtash on 11/06/2012 - 14:42
Last edited 11/06/2012 - 14:54

I am taking a keen interest in IT at the moment and was thinking of building my own gaming desktop computer. I just was wondering a few questions like-

*How-much would a decent one cost me if I built it myself
- or is it actually a similar price to just buy one already assembled?
(I was thinking it wouldn't cost me more then $1500)

But what could $1500 get me for decent quality parts and not short lasting things like PSU's and so on.

I guess I don't need much more then 1TB for a hard drive. Also dont need cd/dvd/blue ray drives. I mean I don't see much use for them now a days.

Would any one be so kind to shed some advice please :)

Computing

Comments

  • leonheart1 on 11/06/2012 - 14:53
    +1

    I'm guessing you meant to type 'desktop' in the title.
    But if you really were looking for custom laptops, I'd take a look at clevos: e.g. the 11" http://www.affordablelaptops.com.au/contents/en-us/d427_meta…

    For desktops you'd save $50 or so if you built it yourself + it's a satisfying experience + you can't really go wrong unless you spill stuff on it. It either fits or it doesn't.
    Here are some builds on whirlpool: http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/rmp_sg_whirlpoolpcs_gaming_conf…

    And no matter which one you choose, get an SSD.

  • Splashtash on 11/06/2012 - 14:54

    lol…….. so right

  • Splashtash on 11/06/2012 - 14:55

    Thank you :)

  • Ssilver7 on 11/06/2012 - 21:02

    I recently built my own for $1400 which I am quite happy with. Unfortunately for me, my graphics card only last 2 days before failing due to an inherited fault, which I am in the process of replacing. It can be quite stressful dealing with an issue such as that on your first build.

    An SSD + a storage drive can push the price up a lot, but it is really worthwhile.

  • Doge on 12/06/2012 - 00:19

    I built this system:

    Fractal Design Define R3
    Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3
    Core i5-2500K
    16GB Corsair Dominator
    Silverstone 750W 80+ Silver PSU
    Powercolor PCS 6950
    Samsung Blu-Ray
    Thermalright TrueSpirit CPU cooler

    For ~$1200 from Pccasegear. With a 128gb Kingston SSD I had in a laptop which cost me about $240 at the time.
    I already had my G500/G510 combo and a Dell u2312HM which would probably add ~$300 to the cost if you don't already have them. I then added:

    3TB Seagate ($169 Thanks OzB)
    3 Deepcool UF120 fans ($57)

    It's good, but not great. I mean day to day it's blindingly fast, I literally have never had a slow down, but gaming isn't that awesome: I get 100FPS in something like Dirt2/3 but Battlefield 3 everything maxxed I get around 40FPS in a 'tough' (explosions, etc) scenario. The 6950 is insanely loud. So loud I have actually taken it out for now. With it out I can not tell if the computer is on or off it is so quiet, I run the the Deepcool fans on the slowest speed, they push an insane amount of air. If I were to do it again, I would definitely think more about choosing a quieter graphics card, even at the cost of performance. The upgrades I have planned at the moment are:

    240GB Sata3 SSD
    Xonar Essence STX
    MOAR Graphics CARDZZZZZ
    Fully Watercooled

    But limited time, funds and other hobbies have stopped me lately.

    If I had any advice it would be to buy a good case, even if it costs >$150 and think about the noise before you spend a lot on an insane performance part.

  • ProspectiveDarkness on 12/06/2012 - 00:40

    CentreCom certainly may not be the cheapest around, but their site does have this: http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/build.php
    I do a quote every couple of months, just to see how the price of things varies: I usually get around $1200 - $1400, sans monitor, keyboard, and mouse (Windows is included in that though). Shipping isn't accounted for, either.
    My usual quotation will usually be about:
    -Intel i5 3570K: $241 (K may not be necessary if you don't plan on overclocking. You could go for an i7 for about another $100)
    -ASRock Z77 Extreme4-M Motherboard: $145
    -Intel 520 120GB SSD: $195 (Completely optional, and cheaper / lower capacity SSD's can be found easily, if that's the way you want to go)
    -Western Digital Green 1TB: $95
    - Corsair 8GB DDR3 Vengeance RAM: $65
    -XFX Radeon HD 7850 Graphics Card: $275 (Or comparable Nvidia Cards, personal preference, really. Last gen AMD cards, if you can find any, should be much better value)
    -Antec 100 Gaming Case: $73 (A bit simplistic, but the price will increase the more extravagant case you buy.)
    -Antec TruePower New Series 750W: $159
    -MS Windows 7 64-bit OEM: $95

    Total: $1347
    And that's with no added thermal pastes, fans, keyboards, mice, headsets, monitors, optical drive, network cards, sound card, etc, etc. Its also self built and shopping around should get you a better price.

    If you're looking for a more budget PC, then perhaps think about AMD processors. They're cheaper, but aren't as fast as comparable Intel ones.

    • samfisher5986 on 12/06/2012 - 11:01

      Nice build, but I would get a Corsair or even Seasonic PSU instead.

    • Postulative on 13/06/2012 - 15:12

      Get 16gb RAM.

      • samfisher5986 on 13/06/2012 - 15:24
        +1

        waste of money.

        • Cobalt_ on 14/06/2012 - 10:58

          Also you would have a 16GB page file using up precious SSD space. Unless of course you moved the page file to another drive. Just more messing around. Not recommended for novice users

        • samfisher5986 on 14/06/2012 - 11:27

          Generally the more ram you have the more of the pagefile you remove.

          I have 8GB of ram and made my pagefile only 2GB, but I could easily get away with 100mb.

      • ProspectiveDarkness on 13/06/2012 - 15:54

        For gaming only, I'd agree with samfisher; complete overkill. If I can run games relatively well on my 3.5GB of DDR2 RAM at the moment, I think 8GB of DDR3 would be sufficient.
        If the OP was planning on running virtual machines and heavy duty media editing and such, then I would agree that 16GB would be better.

        • samfisher5986 on 13/06/2012 - 15:59
          +1

          at 16GB you'll need a lot of virtual machines and media editing at once to make it worth it.

          At that point the CPU is too slow anyway making the idea of 16GB pointless for this build in most circumstances.

        • Hintswen on 30/06/2012 - 13:53

          What?!?! 16GB makes perfect sense for me. My browser uses a ton of RAM with the amount of tabs I leave open.

        • WT on 28/10/2012 - 10:47

          COD MW3 can use 3gb on its own!

      • Postulative on 15/07/2012 - 12:24

        Obviously there are a range of views on how much RAM you should get.

        At the moment, 8gb is pretty much the entry level. Three years ago, when I built my last machine, I got 6gb as insurance on the future. If you want a machine that'll last, you do not go with the "entry level" amount of RAM or you'll need to upgrade in a year or two (at which point you'll find all your RAM slots are full).

        No, you do not need 16gb today. But remember that RAM is always faster than your hard drive - even if it's an SSD. You want to use swap files as little as possible, and RAM as much as possible.

        If you're anything like me, and have two monitors with 35 web pages open, Steam, Google Earth, a couple of backup devices, and a couple of Microsoft Office programs running at the same time as you're playing a game (I don't like closing everything down just so I can play), then RAM is nice. If you're happy to juggle things around, and close everything else to maximise your gaming experience, then you can do with less.

        Just remember, the RAM you use today isn't what you'll use in a year or two. And RAM is currently cheap as… well, chips.

        • johnno07 on 26/10/2012 - 16:35

          I would say 4GB is entry level at the moment.
          Though, as you say, RAM is insanely cheap right now and therefore not really of much concern when you are fitting to a budget.

    • scrimshaw on 13/06/2012 - 18:35

      For $77, you can get an Antec 302 v2 which has cable management design, tool-less hdd racks and USB 3.0 front ports.

      http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?gid=23275&pid=43375&p=product

      It's a new product. Here is a review by NCIX.

      • ProspectiveDarkness on 13/06/2012 - 20:10

        Ah, I was wondering where the 300 had gone from the CentreCom site. Good review, it looks to be a damn good case, especially for the price.

  • Postulative on 12/06/2012 - 10:30

    There are a couple of websites that will allow you to spec your own system. Try one of:

    http://www.mwave.com.au/system.asp?

    http://www.adelong.com.au/systembuild.php (this one's actually pretty good to get an idea of what you can put together, as long as you're prepared to click through and look at the parts)

    http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/build.php

    They'll tell you what kind of things you need to think about when speccing your system. Make sure you get a decent GPU - this is one area where many pre-built systems fall down badly.

    I just ordered a build from mWave that cost $2,100 total. That included a decent amount of RAM, SSD, i7 processor and GTX670 video. It'll last me three years, maybe a bit longer. As someone else said, get a good case. Especially if you build it yourself, the case makes the difference between just slotting everything in and wrestling with each part you're trying to assemble.

    Finally, be aware that some video cards are now extra long, and won't fit into some cases. Check that your video card and case will be compatible. Just about everything else conforms to standards.

  • perkinma on 13/06/2012 - 22:02

    Just to throw my new machine into the mix for comparison sake ($1816):

    Intel Core i5-3570k - $248
    Asrock Z77 Extreme4 - $152
    G.Skill Ripjaws-X 8G Kit(4Gx2) DDR3 1600 F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL - $57
    Sapphire HD7870 OC 2Gb - $366
    Crucial 256 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive - $237
    2 x Seagate ST2000DM001 2Tb 7200 RPM - 2 x $98
    Fractal Design Define R3 USB 3.0 Black - $141
    Antec High Current Gamer 620W - $95
    LG IPS236V-PN 23" LED Slim IPS DVI HDMI - $166
    Logitech G15 - $69
    LGE BH12LS38 Black BlueRay SATA LightScribe Writer Retail - $90

    Still installing the software (although am typing on it currently) and still need to get a mouse and speakers to be finished (thinking Logitech G500 and maybe Logitech Z506 if I can get them for the right price). My budget was for all hardware inc keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc for less than $2k.

    edit: added individual prices which inc delivery where applicable.

    • Usemame on 15/06/2012 - 02:56

      Logitech G15 - $69

      Used???

      • perkinma on 10/07/2012 - 15:35

        Nope, everything was brand new. The G15 was from UMart, they called it the "Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard Refresh" and ran a special for a short period of time. I couldn't see the difference between the old one and the new one personally but that was fine I liked the old one.

  • 2ndeffort on 26/06/2012 - 08:32

    I went a bit over at just over $2K. Most of the bits from mwave.com.au:

    Antec P280 Case with a couple of extra Noctua fans behind the drives
    Asrock Extreme 4 Mobo, ATX form factor
    Palit overclocked GTX 670
    16GB Geil Corsa RAM
    650W Corsair Enthusiast Power Supply
    Xonar DG Sound Card
    Noctua DH-14 CPU Cooler
    i5 3570 CPU
    120GB SSD
    1TB WD Caviar Green HDD

    Also bought the MW 3 keyboard and mouse deal off COTD yesterday and a Corsair Vengeance 1500 headset off Amazon US. I noticed when I was shopping around for the headset that I could have gotten some of the parts from Amazon US for a lot cheaper than I could get them here. Some not so much but there were savings to be had and the shipping was surprisingly cheap.

  • jaygee on 11/07/2012 - 03:34

    I Paid $3k for mine (including Mouse and Keyboard, and parts with case, but excluding monitor), and mine's at the higher end of performance. It's a little overkill, but least I can play any game on max settings without worrying. 2 graphic cards (EVGA GTX 670 FTW (OC) x 2 ), liquid cooling, Gigabyte G1 Sniper3 mobo etc. I reckon you'd save $500 by opting for a single GTX 680. I also use two SSD's with a Thermaltake lvl 10 case (no need for this case, I just really liked the look of it).

    The 7970 AMD card is about $500 and it's pretty fast. Otherwise go for a 7950 if you're trying to save. Don't bother with LC like me, it might get hard to maintain and I recommend a Caviar Black 1TB HDD at least.

  • phantomzzz on 15/07/2012 - 09:23

    Good luck building a new gaming rig, it's certainly fun if you plan everything right. I just spent $2500 for the following build:

    Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow (it looks like the type of case a Stormtrooper would own and I'm a Star Wars fan)
    Intel i7 3930k 3.2GHz 6 Core CPU
    Asus P9X79 deluxe motherboard (8 Dimm slots for up to 64GB ram)
    Corsair H100 liquid cooling
    Corsair 32GB Vengence Ram (4x8GB 1600MHz)
    Gigabyte GTX 560Ti graphics card (needed for CAD application)
    Sandisk extreme 120Gb SSD Drive
    Seagate 2Tb 7200Rpm Sata 3 Hdd
    Samsung DVD burner
    Genuine Windows 7 Pro

    I haven't over clocked it yet but plan to in the future, I'm currently using for 3D Cad work so need the stability, I use HP Z400 Workstations at work with 24gb ram and Quadro 2000 graphics card $3800 machine but doesnt seem as quick as my new home rig.

    Anyway good luck.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join