Build Guides

Published on October 17th, 2013 | by Brandon

7

PC Build Guide – October 2013

Welcome to the October version of our PC build guides. As with before, we have implemented hard price limits ($500, $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.

Cooler fall weather may be upon us, but these builds are only getting hotter! Every build has a strong showing this month, and we even get a welcome bit of breathing room for the higher end price points. At $800, the Sweet Spot truly continues to live up to its name, finally graduating from its trusty Ivy Bridge i5-3570K to a Haswell i5-4670K.

The introduction of new AMD video cards this month almost shook up our video card lineup, but ultimately, we felt Nvidia cards still made more sense at each of these price points for the time being. Next month could be exciting, however, as AMD will keep its foot on the pedal with the release of its new flagship card, the R9 290X.

The Starter ($500 maximum)

Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1PYoK

• CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 ($114.28 @ Outlet PC)
• Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G41 ATX LGA1155 ($84.98 @ Outlet PC)
• Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1866 ($64.99 @ Newegg)
• Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
• Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 1GB ($99.99 @ Newegg)
• Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($42.83 @ Amazon)
• Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 600W ($24.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $492.04

The Sweet Spot ($800 maximum)

Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1PKoJ

• CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K ($227.49 @ SuperBiiz)
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($25.99 @ Mwave)
• Motherboard: MSI Z87-G43 ATX LGA1150 ($115.99 @ Amazon)
• Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1866 ($64.99 @ Newegg)
• Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($59.96 @ Outlet PC)
• Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB ($249.99 @ Newegg)
• Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case ($46.24 @ Amazon)
• Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 600W ($24.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $798.64

The Enthusiast ($1300 maximum)

Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1PYui

• CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K ($339.99 @ Newegg)
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($25.99 @ Mwave)
• Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 ($149.99 @ Newegg)
• Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1866 ($64.99 @ Newegg)
• Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5″ SSD ($99.99 @ Amazon)
• Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
• Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB ($399.99 @ Newegg)
• Case: NZXT Phantom (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
• Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W ($84.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $1295.90

The Professional ($1800 maximum)

Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1PKYM

• CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K ($339.99 @ Newegg)
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($25.99 @ Mwave)
• Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 ($149.99 @ Newegg)
• Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1866 ($64.99 @ Newegg)
• Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5″ SSD ($177.99 @ Amazon)
• Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
• Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card – 2-Way SLI ($399.99 @ Newegg)
• Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card – 2-Way SLI ($399.99 @ Newegg)
• Case: NZXT Phantom (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
• Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W ($84.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $1773.89

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vol1tion

Brandon

Brandon 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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