PC Build Guide – September 2012
Welcome to the September version of our PC build guides. As with before, we have implemented hard price limits ($800, $1300, $1800) on ourselves and have had to make tough decisions with each build. Your personal budget will likely be flexible, but we hope this article will give you a baseline. You can of course spend more or spend less, but you run into a case of diminishing returns at either end. Please keep in mind that pricing information is immediate and may not necessarily reflect real prices by the time you have read this article.
Compared to last month, we continue to see strong builds at each of our price points. Most improved this month is the Starter, as we upgrade from the trusty Sandy Bridge i5-2500K to an Ivy Bridge i5-3570K and select a new ASRock Z77 motherboard to go along with it. We also switch to XFX for our Radeon 7870, based on budgetary constraints as we come right up against our price ceiling. The Enthusiast sees only minor changes, as we switch video card brands from MSI to EVGA and also move to an ASRock motherboard. Lastly, the Professional stays strong as ever as we simply change video card brands to EVGA. (Don’t forget that the NZXT Phantom comes in several different color schemes.)
Side note: At time of publish, it looks like Newegg is offering a free 60GB OCZ SSD with the ASRock Pro4 and a free 8GB of RAM with the ASRock Extreme4, so you may want to jump on those deals quickly if interested.
The Starter ($800 maximum)
Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/h2uL
- CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K ($215.99 @ NCIX US)
- CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($19.99 @ Newegg)
- Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro4 ATX LGA1155 ($109.99 @ Amazon)
- Memory: Kingston Blu 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600 ($35.99 @ NCIX US)
- Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($74.99 @ NCIX US)
- Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7870 2GB ($239.99 @ Newegg)
- Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.49 @ SuperBiiz)
- Power Supply: Cooler Master 500W ATX12V ($34.99 @ Newegg)
- Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $799.40
The Enthusiast ($1300 maximum)
Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/h1Yx
- CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K ($314.99 @ Newegg)
- CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($19.99 @ Newegg)
- Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro4 ATX LGA1155 ($109.99 @ Amazon)
- Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600 ($38.99 @ NCIX US)
- Hard Drive: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5″ SSD ($99.99 @ B&H)
- Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($74.99 @ NCIX US)
- Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB ($404.62 @ NCIX US)
- Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 ATX Mid Tower Case ($93.89 @ NCIX US)
- Power Supply: Corsair 650W ATX12V / EPS12V ($104.99 @ Newegg)
- Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1280.42
The Professional ($1800 maximum)
Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/fT7J
- CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K ($314.99 @ Newegg)
- CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($19.99 @ Newegg)
- Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 ($134.99 @ Amazon)
- Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3-1600 ($74.99 @ Newegg)
- Hard Drive: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5″ SSD ($99.99 @ B&H)
- Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($74.99 @ NCIX US)
- Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB – 2-Way SLI ($404.62 @ NCIX US)
- Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB – 2-Way SLI ($404.62 @ NCIX US)
- Case: NZXT Phantom (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($119.99 @ Newegg)
- Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V ($129.99 @ NCIX US)
- Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1797.14
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vol1tion
BrandonBrandon started his PC gaming days playing Doom II (IDDQD/IDKFA for life) and has been hooked on online gaming since the original Starsiege: Tribes. The way to his heart is through proper grammar, corn dogs, and cookie cake.
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