Thoughts on this gaming machine Intel i5 $1437

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  tonyjzx on 09/10/2012 - 12:43

  +2

  lol

  for $1.5k i'd be expecting i7, z77 board, 120gb ssd

  sounds like wayyy too much cheap shit to be worth that money

  h61 boards are cheap crap

  • 

    spuddy9595 on 09/10/2012 - 12:47

    lol thanks Tony

    I really dont have much of an idea and this was the prices at a local computer shop. Might be better to buy the parts from MSY and ask them to build it, they charge $50

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  tonyjzx on 09/10/2012 - 12:52

  i think under <$1k you can build a pretty awesome i5 box with good middle grade components like GA asus boards which will do pretty much all you'd want

  $1.5k you'd be expecting some frills and maybe a screen… will crank well in most games

• 

  Cobalt_ on 09/10/2012 - 13:47

  -4

  The motherboard is the nerve center of your computer. No point spending big money on a decent CPU and graphics card if you put in a rubbish motherboard which is going to end up being the performance bottleneck. Unlike graphics card, cpu's and memory, motherboards are not easy to swap out and upgrade at a later date.

  Agree with tonyjzx, you should get a Z77 motherboard and spend at the very least $150-200 on it.

  • 

    _Bruce_ on 09/10/2012 - 14:03

    +1

    This isn't really true any more. Almost all of the tasks the motherboard used to perform have been moved to the CPU, particularly for the i3/i5/i7. The motherboard is almost just a place to stick some plugs these days.

    Having said that you do get some advantage form having a chipset that matches the CPU generation. For 3rd get this means ?7? (ie B75, Z77), for 2nd gen 6 will be just as good.

    The other differences in the chipset numbers make almost no difference for regular users.

    • 

      tonyjzx on 09/10/2012 - 14:09

      -1

      i disagree with that

      for a sub $500 office machine you can get away with cutting corners but a $1.5k gaming box you want as many connections as possible… that means plenty of usb3, sata3 and a decent onboard sound not ac97 2ch shit

      for me i'd want 1394, e-sata and that new fangled UEFI graphical bios, maybe even bluetooth and wifi and make sure the GBe nic is a good brand

      as for stuff moved to the cpu, that means manily the HD4000 whatever Intel onboard video which is irrelevant for gaming

      i would really stick with an quasi enthusiast Asus or GA board for this application

      if it was an office machine, yeah go asrock, ecs or really 2nd tier

      • 

        _Bruce_ on 09/10/2012 - 14:15

        Go look up the difference between B75 H77 and Z77 and then come back, as this is not a well informed post.

        Might want to look up AC97 while you are at it.

        … and as for 'stuff on the CPU' the HD4000 is only the tip of the ice berg, almost all traditional north bridge tasks are now on chip (again, you can look this up).

      • 

        Cobalt_ on 09/10/2012 - 14:15

        -2

        Spot on. For a gaming machine never cut corners on the motherboard (as well as some other crucial components).

      • 

        _Bruce_ on 09/10/2012 - 14:16

        Cobalt: Same goes for you. Please explain what difference at all a B75 to Z77 makes to 99% of users?

      • 

        Cobalt_ on 09/10/2012 - 14:22

        -1

        Forget about the features of the chips for a second. The lower end chipsets are targeted towards the low end market where the objective is to produce the cheapest possible board. That means budget components and an overall low quality product.

        The enthusiast chips are targeted towards the enthusiast who has much higher expectations and therefore better components are used. I always recommend going enthusiast for this reason. But whatever, you can choose the cheapest nastiest motherboard on sale but don't come crying a year later when your motherboard is failing to post and all the capacitors are bulging/leaking.

      • 

        _Bruce_ on 09/10/2012 - 14:29

        If you really think that Asus (for example) use different processes/parts for the cheaper and more expensive boards then that is just fine, the margins on the products you buy will continue to subsidise those that I buy.

        I do draw the line at comments that suggest that gaming machines will need this for performance reasons however.

      • 

        tonyjzx on 09/10/2012 - 14:32

        no one is interested in a breakdown of what a z77 vs b77 is… no one brought that up

        in this instance we can agree that z77 is the best and h61 is the worst

        asus z77 = $120

        asus h61 = $60

        now what is more fitting for a $1.5k gaming box?

        putting an expensive cpu in a budget board is the dumbest decision ever in just about any build but especially for games

        also all manufacturers, even the rubbish ones like ECS acknowledge ON THEIR OWN WEBSITE that they put better components on their enthusiasts boards

        hell Gigabyte say they use a better 2oz copper PCB on their better boards!

        you pay for what you get

        i'd be especially upset if i paid someone box builder $1.5k and they put in a $60 board? wouldnt you?

      • 

        Cobalt_ on 09/10/2012 - 14:37

        I know for a fact that they do. All manufacturers do. And I have dealt with a lot of low end dead boards from both Asus and Gigabyte so please don't lecture me on this. The higher end boards make a point of using quality Japanese solid state capacitors where the low end boards do not. And capacitors or just one of many components where they may skimp on to produce the low end boards.

      • 

        spuddy9595 on 10/10/2012 - 09:25

        Thanks for all the advice guys! sorry to cause a bit of an argument about this. I would happily pay the extra $50-100 and get a quality motherboard if it was likely to last 5 years longer than the cheapest on the market

      • 

        TranzformIT on 11/10/2012 - 18:00

        +3

        I'm sure the guys have convinced you, but just to add my 2 cents…
        It's worth paying extra for a good main board for at least 3 reasons:
        1. System stability
        2. Robustness - will last much longer
        3. Overclocking, can get higher speeds at cooler temps (if you are into OC'ing)

• 

  Zarcady on 10/10/2012 - 21:41

  I sorta agree with both side of the argument but since the OP isn't an enthusiast gamer, his most perceivable difference in the quality of his gaming would have to come from his GPU. As it stands, for a 1.5k PC, a 7850 will definitely not give him the bang for buck.
  In saying that since the OP does not state the actual model of the I5 that is going in, he could use a medium level sandy bridge mobo that is really cheap these days and still would not notice any real life difference. To most people, the only benefit they see from getting a more expensive mobo is the knowledge that they have a more expensive product. As for using a higher quality capacitors, they can use all the gold covered capacitors they want but at the end of the day, it is NOT a linear relationship and a $100 mobo isn't likely to fail twice as much as a $200 mobo. It is all about budgeting, and that extra $100 could be used to upgrade to a 7950/7970 which would be money BETTER spent.

• 

  ProspectiveDarkness on 10/10/2012 - 23:08

  There's some serious price gouging going on there - I would definitely recommend buying from PC Case Gear or MSY (well, anywhere but the source of your quote, really).

  Have you thought about just ordering the components, then building yourself? The process is actually surprisingly easy, and it would save money on the labour fee. You can Google a walkthrough, or ask people on Whirlpool for help, should you get stuck.

• 

  ethereal88 on 11/10/2012 - 08:49

  What a load of crap. There is no performance difference between H61 and Z77. Intel does not gimp chipsets. All the people posting here are sad they paid $150+ for Z77 mobo's that they don't need. Why do you need USB 3 or SATA 6 in a cheapo gaming build? You need a PCI-E hole and DVI + HDMI. 99% of H61 boards have solid caps. All of Gigabyte's do. As for copper layers, a lot of Asrock's crap doesn't and they are still popular.**

  For the record I never buy nor recommend mobo's over $100. You don't need 50 SATA ports or 50 USB 2/3 ports with 50 headers. Unless you want to waste time and effort overclocking or for some mysterious reason want that many slots and ports. My last 2 mobo's were $85 - Gigabyte's H77M-D3H. Great quality, nothing extra you won't use. ROFL, $150 on a mobo, what a waste.

  For the build - you are getting ripped on the case, ripped on Win 7 ($90), ripped on the mouse+keyboard ($15), ripped on the burner ($20) and the PSU is crap. Build it yourself.

  ** This is based on the fact I always have 2 builds, one for office and one for games. Its only for games so I couldn't care less about USB 3 or SATA 3. I don't recommend an all rounder PC. Too many things can go wrong.

  • 

    spuddy9595 on 11/10/2012 - 16:12

    Thanks for the advice, I am leaning towards building myself now and buying from PC Case gear like Prospective Darkness said. The parts on Pc Case gear all seem quite a bit cheaper

    Thanks

  • 

    tonyjzx on 11/10/2012 - 16:55

    +1

    i would never recommend people spend more than $15,000 on a car. I mean why bother. Just buy the cheapest chinese made $12,990 piece of crap. They still go and stop and get you to work… maybe.

    I kind of agree. I'm not into buying super enthusiast boards in the $300+ class but if such a market was rubbish, why would it exist? No one is saying buy the cheapest there is but there's a middle ground. As far as I'm concerned a $100-$120 z77 is middle ground for me. Ironically the Asrock z77pro4m would be a good choice.

    Hard drives are sata3 these days. Why buy a sata2 mb? To save money? Remember this is a $1.5k machine that is supposed to last a reasonable amount of time.

    If I spend $1.5k on a machine I'd be expecting leading edge technology. Would you put up with sata2 and usb2 today?

    It's about getting expected value for your money. Again I will repeat this is a $1.5k machine.

    People have different values and expectations of their money. When I spend $1.5k I expect something quality for it strangely enough.

    • 

      ethereal88 on 11/10/2012 - 18:19

      I agree for 1.5K. I don't agree about the mobo. $85 will do the job. Its rubbish because its overpriced - and for what?

• 

  gmail92 on 24/10/2012 - 00:28

  +1

  id just take the 1.5k whirlpool build lol. still would prefer an i7 if i was spending that much money.