$1000-$1200 to spend on a gaming PC

Forums › Gaming › $1000-$1200 to spend on a gaming PC - what would you do?

nzwazza

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#196592 5-Jun-2016 21:59

Hey :)

currently rocking (which I found in a bin at work about a year ago and mixed and matched parts)

Summary:

Operating System Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU Intel Core i5 2400 @ 3.10GHz Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology
RAM 8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. P8H67-M LE (LGA1155)
Graphics 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 (ASUStek Computer Inc)
Storage 931GB Seagate ST1000NM0033-9ZM173 (SATA)

I used to game competitively some years ago(QW, Q3A, TF2) and I'm kinda in a good place now and want to start up again.

Using Pricespy.co.nz I quickly did something like this:

CPU 377.21 Intel Core i5 6600K 3.5GHz Socket 1151 Box without Cooler
HSF 35.19 Cooler Master Hyper 103
MOBO 209.29 Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3
SSD 146.87 Samsung 850 EVO Series MZ-75E250B 250GB
GFX 499.00 Asus GeForce GTX 970 Strix DirectCU II OC HDMI DP 2xDVI 4GB
RAM 132.00 Corsair Vengeance LPX Black DDR4 PC19200/2400MHz CL14 2x8GB (CMK16GX4M2A2400C14)
CASE 92.98 Corsair Carbide 100R (Black/Transparent)
PSU 97.75 Corsair CX600M 600W

$1500ish

I don't care about aesthetics. I just want a decent mid-range pc. I don't really want to spend what I quoted above.. I can afford it and I guess I haven't had to buy a PC in about 10 years. so perhaps this is the reality of my situation.

toejam316

1466 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1566198 5-Jun-2016 22:01

Honestly, with what you have, keep it. Go out and get a graphics card (If you can wait, a AMD RX 480 would be a good bet, otherwise see if you can pick up a second hand GTX 970 or a new GTX 1070), and probably an SSD drive. Everything else you have is fine, and isn't worth upgrading until AMD's Zen platform launches later this year, or Intel's Cannonlake platform launches early next year.

Anything I say is the ramblings of an ill informed, opinionated so-and-so, and not representative of any of my past, present or future employers, and is also probably best disregarded.

cowface

27 posts

Geek

#1566205 5-Jun-2016 22:20

That build seems pretty good. You may be able to find a cheaper motherboard if you're really trying to save your cash. You also maybe able to find a cheap gtx970/80 on trademe, a lot of people are trying to get rid of them for one of the new 1070/80s coming out soon.

nzwazza

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1566207 5-Jun-2016 22:38

toejam316:

Honestly, with what you have, keep it. Go out and get a graphics card (If you can wait, a AMD RX 480 would be a good bet, otherwise see if you can pick up a second hand GTX 970 or a new GTX 1070), and probably an SSD drive. Everything else you have is fine, and isn't worth upgrading until AMD's Zen platform launches later this year, or Intel's Cannonlake platform launches early next year.

Yeah.. this is why I've put it off for so long. I've only had this CPU/MOBO combo for a little while. I had a Q950 Quad before about 5-6 years before that.

the only enhancement in PC hardware in the last 10 years really has been SSD. CPUs haven't really added much in the last 5 years, RAM is meh, Videocards above 2GB DDR5 don't really appeal unless rocking more than 1080p which I'm not...

I'll probably grab SSD and a 960GTX for now..

Thanks for your input

nzwazza

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1566209 5-Jun-2016 22:41

cowface:

That build seems pretty good. You may be able to find a cheaper motherboard if you're really trying to save your cash. You also maybe able to find a cheap gtx970/80 on trademe, a lot of people are trying to get rid of them for one of the new 1070/80s coming out soon.

good info. i don't need fancy features for a mobo and videocards are definitely where people spend the most and end up selling for nothing! i'll stalk TM and see how I go, ta

alinz

71 posts

Master Geek

#1566212 5-Jun-2016 22:51

I'm in the same boat as you with an i5 2400 paired to a gtx 970, 8 gigs of ram. It can play most stuff on high or max settings with a minimum of 60fps, so I figure it's not worth throwing money at a new build.

I reckon you'd be best off waiting another month for the RX 480 as your GPU though. The performance will be much better than a 960 (more like a 970), but you'll be able to pick up the 4gb version for about $320 nzd shipped off Amazon.

JWR

821 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1566228 5-Jun-2016 23:53

alinz:

I'm in the same boat as you with an i5 2400 paired to a gtx 970, 8 gigs of ram. It can play most stuff on high or max settings with a minimum of 60fps, so I figure it's not worth throwing money at a new build.

I reckon you'd be best off waiting another month for the RX 480 as your GPU though. The performance will be much better than a 960 (more like a 970), but you'll be able to pick up the 4gb version for about $320 nzd shipped off Amazon.

Yep. Don't buy a GTX970 at the moment. Wait until the new Nvidia and AMD cards are out.

It seems the new stuff will offer a considerable price/performance improvement over current offerings.

dejadeadnz

2394 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1569826 10-Jun-2016 23:58

nzwazza:

Hey :)

currently rocking (which I found in a bin at work about a year ago and mixed and matched parts)

Summary:

Operating System Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU Intel Core i5 2400 @ 3.10GHz Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology
RAM 8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. P8H67-M LE (LGA1155)
Graphics 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 (ASUStek Computer Inc)
Storage 931GB Seagate ST1000NM0033-9ZM173 (SATA)

There's no need to buy another system. Your current one isn't amazing but it will more than do its job when paired with a decent video card. What kind of monitor do you have? I'm assuming you have a 1080p panel. Depending on how much you want to spend (and how future proof you want to be), you can buy a second hand 970 (many of these will flood the market soon, especially when the GTX 1070 is out) for around $350 and then pair that with some ram upgrades (I recommend 16 gigs - 2 x 8 gb at around $140 GST inclusive) and you will be running even recent releases on very high/some ultra settings at near 60 FPS. You can possibly try overclocking your CPU as well (if you don't know what this is, best to take this to a PC shop and ask them to investigate whether this is worth your while).

If you want to future proof your video card option a bit more, buy a GTX 1070 when that is out. Don't buy the founders edition, though -- the partner boards with boost clocks and better performance is what you will want. It'll probably cost you around 900 bucks. But if you pair this card with any future CPU upgrades, it'll probably murder most games at 1440p even at ultra settings.