Mid-range 1920x1080 Resolution Gaming Build 11/24/10
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Mid-range Gaming Rig $950 +/- (This one does include shipping if you get it today, otherwise rates may vary.)
This is a small guide to current parts for PC builds in a certain price bracket. This includes current combo deals on sites like Newegg.com and will only be available for a certain time period. Just to clarify I don't work for any of the companies shown here, as this list is constructed out of parts with one thing in mind [bang for buck]. If there's another site with a better price I would surely link you to them, but I also take into account possible shipping costs.
I will not be editing these articles when promotions end but I will create new ones for each respective pricing build. These builds do NOT include the cost of the operating system, optical drive (DVD/CD RW), monitor or after market HSF (using stock CPU cooler for budget system).
If there are any questions or comments on parts or compatibility, feel free to leave a comment or message me.
- AMD X4 970 3.5GHz COMBO BELOW
- EVGA GTX 460 1GB SUPERCLOCKED EE
- Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF
- GIGABYTE GA-880GA-UD3H W/ SATA III & USB 3.0 COMBO BELOW
- CORSAIR DDR3 1600 CAS 9 COMBO BELOW
- CORSAIR 650TX COMBO BELOW
- OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD
- 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 COMBO BELOW
- Cooler Master HAF 912 Case COMBO BELOW
CPU & Motherboard Combo: I see a lot of people recommending the i5 650 or 655k for a midrange system but I would have to go with the X4 970. One big reason being because of this combo deal, while another is to get an 1156 socket motherboard at this price would require chucking some features. If you want a good Intel board on this socket you normally have to fork out at least $140 to get the same features. Also I couldn't recommend a dual-core with hyperthreading over a Quad-core. The i5 CPUs can give better performance in gaming with a couple caveats. One would be you'd have lower graphical settings, the other would be playing it at lower resolutions. At any resolution above 1680x1050 with high settings you'll see a trivial amount of difference, so why pay more? If this was a dream or high end system I'd go with an Intel build but that's not what were doing here.
Now to get on with the motherboard I always like using Gigabyte as they seem to be one of the best for the money. I'm fine with MSI and ASUS board but only choose them when it might be cheaper or the board layout looks better.
Graphics Card: For my midrange system I'm sticking with the GTX 460 once again. This card is still going strong even with wonderful competition from AMD's launch of the 6800 cards. For an extra $30 you can get a HD 6870 or GTX 470 right now, but the latter is still not recommended for its heat issues. I however heard that some of the new GTX 470s, more namely a new ASUS model, has seem to delt with the heat issues a little or if you can get one with a custom cooler then it could be a better deal. For now though I'm sticking with the 460 as I still see it as the bang for buck king. I would also like to add that for the same price you could easily switch it out for the HD 6850 and get very close to the same performance. Obviously the card I picked out is factory overclocked and still has a little headroom left, at around this price range it's hard to go wrong.
SSD: When looking for an SSD you should take into consideration how much you want to spend. They're still a luxury item overall and even with how much of a difference you'll see in things like programs loading, it still won't do anything for game performance. Now let me contradict myself and say this is one more reason that I put an AMD CPU in this list, it gives me a little room for something like this. Now onto the SSD, the OCZ Vertex 2 and Agility 2 series drives use the Sandforce controller, which is known for its superior performance. Two other series of drives that are also using this same controller are the Corsair FORCE line and the Muskin Enhanced Callisto Deluxe line. I went with the Vertex 2 in this build for the free shipping on Newegg and don't feel going with the other brands would be a bad idea. If you do have a preference then by all means go with the others, you probably won't make a mistake in doing so.
PSU & RAM COMBO: If there's one part in a computer that I'm hard to deviate from a certain brand, it's the PSU. Corsair is still king of trusted power supplies and I would rather not recommend anything else. The 650TX is THE midrange PSU and can even comfortably crossfire cards like the HD 6850, HD 6870 and even maybe SLI the GTX 460 if you don't do too much heavy overclocking.
For the RAM it's very easy to choose just about any brand. I only went with Corsair in this instance because of the combo. This is one way to knock down the price on any build and you should always look for them on every part to get the best deal.
CASE & HDD COMBO: I always recommend recycling a case to use the money in other areas and this case is one that you'll gladly use in the future. At this price point I start to look for cases with a lot of room inside, especially for extra room for long video cards. But I still say that getting a case with free shipping is almost a must and should still be considered one of the main things to remember when looking for one. The Cooler Master HAF 912 takes care of both of this concerns in this instance. This case has enough room for even a 5970, the monster of graphics cards at 309MM long. This can be achieved by removing the middle 4 bay HDD cage that isn't needed. At the same time you can move the SSD cage attached to the bottom and put it on top of the two drive cage. To finish the deal all off you can get two 200MM fans like the other HAF cases for the front and top. Cooler Master out did themselves for this case and it's the new Midrange and even budget kind of cases.
The HDD in this build would have been the same even without the combo. It's the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB and this line of Samsung drives have made a name for themselves in the PC world. I even see them as the company that filled the void of Seagate as they've been having quality control and firmware problems for almost two years now.
Aftermarket HSF: The Cooler Master Hyper 212+ performs the best for the money right now. This heat-sink will allow you to overclock your new x4 970 to 4.0GHz with enough tweaks. I will recommend looking at guides on how to properly apply thermal paste to a heat-pipe direct touch heatsink. This is essential for getting the best possible surface coverage and pinnacle heat transfer. The link below is a good guide that explains what you need to know about this problem and why.
