[MatthewsJ]

Hey, Im brand new to the forums but just after today their very helpful. I have been looking into building a gaming machine for some time now but on somewhat of a tighter budget ($820) so i put together some parts this week and i wanted to check with people to see what they think can be improved or just changed off of the specs and budget im working with so here's a list of the parts and i'd like to hear your people's opinion

Thanks
AMD FX-6100 Zambezi 3.3GHz Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6100WMGUSBX ($149.99)

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 15000) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9B ($59.99)

COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M700 RS-700-AMBA-D3 700W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply($109.99)

EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card ($134.99)

GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard ($144.99)

Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive ($99.99)

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ($99.99)

ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM ($18.99)

[LiveBrianD]

Bulldozer CPUs are crap for gaming, and Cooler Master CPUs are crap.

LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM - $17
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $55
Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $100
EVGA 01G-P3-1460-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - $190
SeaSonic S12II 520 Bronze 520W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - $70
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL - $47
ASUS P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS - $120
Intel Core i3-2120 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I32120 - $125
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM - $100

I suppose you could change the CPU to an i5 2300 and downgrade the GPU to something like a 550ti, but for gaming I don't think that's a great idea, and most games aren't multithreaded anyway.

[waldojim]

MatthewsJ, on 24 April 2012 - 08:01 PM, said:

Hey, Im brand new to the forums but just after today their very helpful. I have been looking into building a gaming machine for some time now but on somewhat of a tighter budget ($820) so i put together some parts this week and i wanted to check with people to see what they think can be improved or just changed off of the specs and budget im working with so here's a list of the parts and i'd like to hear your people's opinion

Thanks
AMD FX-6100 Zambezi 3.3GHz Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6100WMGUSBX ($149.99)

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 15000) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9B ($59.99)

COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M700 RS-700-AMBA-D3 700W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply($109.99)

EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card ($134.99)

GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard ($144.99)

Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive ($99.99)

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ($99.99)

ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM ($18.99)

$820 is actually not a terrible budget for a gaming machine. Was there a reason you wanted to stick with a 3 core AMD though (the 6 core numbering is a misnomer- there are only three complete cores)? Some time ago, I would have honestly suggested you rock an AMD machine as they were a better value for your money. Today, a $120 Intel i3 outperforms that FX 6xxx series. Kind of hard to justify in my opinion. Working with what you posted up though, it would be easy to build an Intel i5 machine that will play most (if not all) games on high quality settings at 1080P.

Now, the most important question: What are your final goals? Overclocking? Just gaming? What games do you want to play (different games have different needs)? do you have brands/products that you prefer or are trying to avoid?

Now then, things I would leave alone:
Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive ($99.99)

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ($99.99)

ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM ($18.99)

Those are all decent enough choices. No reason to second guess them.


Things I would think twice about:
COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M700 RS-700-AMBA-D3 700W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply($109.99)

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 15000) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9B ($59.99)

For the most part, Corsair is overpriced given what sppeds they deliver (though not always true). Add to it that they also use the tallest heatsinks known to man. This is normally not a bad thing, but on ram it is pointless and makes other things more complicated. IE: after market CPU cooling.

The Cooler Master PSU is relatively expensive, and there are much higher quality power supplies at that same price (or a tad cheaper). Add to it, that the machine doesn't need more than 500 watts, if you are only going to rock one video card. Shoot 500 watts will still work out with two 550Ti's in there, so long as it is a quality 500 watt PSU. It would be best to explore other options.

At the 700 watt range, I would suggest looking into these:
Antec HCG 700, which is $109.99 - has 100% Japanese capacitors,
OCZ ZT 750 Watt - $99.99 - again, Japanese caps, fully modular, and Hardware Secrets seemed to love this series.
Corsair TX 750 - $104.99. This is the tried and true gamers choice. It is stable, well made, and been thoroughly abused by many gamers.

So, my suggestion?
use your case, and hard drive, and DVD burner that you found, then use these parts with it:
MSI Z77 Motherboard - $114.99 - This is Ivy Bridge capable should you feel the need to upgrade a bit later on.
Intel i5 2400 - $189.99 - This is a great quad core, though not an overclockers chip by any means.
EVGA Nvidia 560SE - $129.99 - This is not quite as powerful as the 560, but is a good deal faster than the 550Ti. A nice balance given the situation.
GSkill Aries 8GB kit - $59.99 - I have had excellent luck with GSkill ram, and highly recommend them. - Plus they are blue, and might actually fit in with the motherbaord!
OCZ 550 Watt ZT series fully modular power supply - $74.99 - originally, I had cut back to a 500 watt to save the extra $25 for other parts... too bad it wasn't really needed. Still, it is more than plenty for this machine, so I decided to leave it!
Now then, as long as my math isn't too terrible, we are at 788.92. And so long as I didn't forget anything, we have a machine here that is more powerful, and of higher quality than what we started with, while being under budget.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: I forgot to post the stinking power supply I was suggesting...

This post has been edited by waldojim: 24 April 2012 - 10:00 PM

[Deploythelight]

You dont need a 700w PSU at all.

[MatthewsJ]

LiveBrianD, on 24 April 2012 - 08:34 PM, said:

Bulldozer CPUs are crap for gaming, and Cooler Master CPUs are crap.

LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM - $17
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $55
Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $100
EVGA 01G-P3-1460-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - $190
SeaSonic S12II 520 Bronze 520W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - $70
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL - $47
ASUS P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS - $120
Intel Core i3-2120 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I32120 - $125
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM - $100

I suppose you could change the CPU to an i5 2300 and downgrade the GPU to something like a 550ti, but for gaming I don't think that's a great idea, and most games aren't multithreaded anyway.

Sorry about the reply with no more information at work and tried to reply from phone but what I was going to say was I do not need that windows 7 because I already have it here so could I change the i3 to the i5 and just get a new heatsink and fan for the i5 because I heard they come with poor ones for gaming?

Ha,sorry

[waldojim]

MatthewsJ, on 25 April 2012 - 04:09 AM, said:

Sorry about the reply with no more information at work and tried to reply from phone but what I was going to say was I do not need that windows 7 because I already have it here so could I change the i3 to the i5 and just get a new heatsink and fan for the i5 because I heard they come with poor ones for gaming?

Ha,sorry

Stock fans work just fine for a stock processor. They don't do well if overclocking though.

[MatthewsJ]

waldojim, on 24 April 2012 - 09:58 PM, said:

MatthewsJ, on 24 April 2012 - 08:01 PM, said:

Hey, Im brand new to the forums but just after today their very helpful. I have been looking into building a gaming machine for some time now but on somewhat of a tighter budget ($820) so i put together some parts this week and i wanted to check with people to see what they think can be improved or just changed off of the specs and budget im working with so here's a list of the parts and i'd like to hear your people's opinion

Thanks
AMD FX-6100 Zambezi 3.3GHz Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6100WMGUSBX ($149.99)

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 15000) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9B ($59.99)

COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M700 RS-700-AMBA-D3 700W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply($109.99)

EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card ($134.99)

GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard ($144.99)

Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive ($99.99)

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ($99.99)

ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM ($18.99)

$820 is actually not a terrible budget for a gaming machine. Was there a reason you wanted to stick with a 3 core AMD though (the 6 core numbering is a misnomer- there are only three complete cores)? Some time ago, I would have honestly suggested you rock an AMD machine as they were a better value for your money. Today, a $120 Intel i3 outperforms that FX 6xxx series. Kind of hard to justify in my opinion. Working with what you posted up though, it would be easy to build an Intel i5 machine that will play most (if not all) games on high quality settings at 1080P.

Now, the most important question: What are your final goals? Overclocking? Just gaming? What games do you want to play (different games have different needs)? do you have brands/products that you prefer or are trying to avoid?

Now then, things I would leave alone:
Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive ($99.99)

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ($99.99)

ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM ($18.99)

Those are all decent enough choices. No reason to second guess them.


Things I would think twice about:
COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M700 RS-700-AMBA-D3 700W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply($109.99)

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 15000) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9B ($59.99)

For the most part, Corsair is overpriced given what sppeds they deliver (though not always true). Add to it that they also use the tallest heatsinks known to man. This is normally not a bad thing, but on ram it is pointless and makes other things more complicated. IE: after market CPU cooling.

The Cooler Master PSU is relatively expensive, and there are much higher quality power supplies at that same price (or a tad cheaper). Add to it, that the machine doesn't need more than 500 watts, if you are only going to rock one video card. Shoot 500 watts will still work out with two 550Ti's in there, so long as it is a quality 500 watt PSU. It would be best to explore other options.

At the 700 watt range, I would suggest looking into these:
Antec HCG 700, which is $109.99 - has 100% Japanese capacitors,
OCZ ZT 750 Watt - $99.99 - again, Japanese caps, fully modular, and Hardware Secrets seemed to love this series.
Corsair TX 750 - $104.99. This is the tried and true gamers choice. It is stable, well made, and been thoroughly abused by many gamers.

So, my suggestion?
use your case, and hard drive, and DVD burner that you found, then use these parts with it:
MSI Z77 Motherboard - $114.99 - This is Ivy Bridge capable should you feel the need to upgrade a bit later on.
Intel i5 2400 - $189.99 - This is a great quad core, though not an overclockers chip by any means.
EVGA Nvidia 560SE - $129.99 - This is not quite as powerful as the 560, but is a good deal faster than the 550Ti. A nice balance given the situation.
GSkill Aries 8GB kit - $59.99 - I have had excellent luck with GSkill ram, and highly recommend them. - Plus they are blue, and might actually fit in with the motherbaord!
OCZ 550 Watt ZT series fully modular power supply - $74.99 - originally, I had cut back to a 500 watt to save the extra $25 for other parts... too bad it wasn't really needed. Still, it is more than plenty for this machine, so I decided to leave it!
Now then, as long as my math isn't too terrible, we are at 788.92. And so long as I didn't forget anything, we have a machine here that is more powerful, and of higher quality than what we started with, while being under budget.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: I forgot to post the stinking power supply I was suggesting...

the overall goal is to have a decent gaming machine i have a dual-boot (windows 7/ mac osx) macbook pro for documents and minor things and i just want a solid desktop to (90% of the time) play games, but as far as the types i'm a huge mmo fan and i really just play everything from the up coming Guild Wars 2 to FPS's like Rage,Counter Strike,to games like Minecraft. im really all over the board if you know what i mean. as far as overclocking i dont really get into doing it so thats more on the no side, for parts that i want to avoid/prefer i work at a tech shop putiing/fixing computers so im not new to that but for parts that i know of gaming wise im new to it so i wouldd't know the differences in brands or not. which is why im asking you people.

Thanks, it helped a lot

waldojim, on 25 April 2012 - 06:18 AM, said:

MatthewsJ, on 25 April 2012 - 04:09 AM, said:

Sorry about the reply with no more information at work and tried to reply from phone but what I was going to say was I do not need that windows 7 because I already have it here so could I change the i3 to the i5 and just get a new heatsink and fan for the i5 because I heard they come with poor ones for gaming?

Ha,sorry

Stock fans work just fine for a stock processor. They don't do well if overclocking though.

Alright, so i can go ahead with the stock fan/heatsink and maybe later down the road i can put in a after market one. sounds like a plan thanks all

[coastie65]

Hi and welcome the forums. As Long as the copy of Windows 7 you have is Retail and not OEM there shouldn't be a problem with moving it to the new build and as you said would allow you to go with the i5, which would be an excellent choice. As wj, has said, as long as you don't plan on OCing for the immediate time being, than the stock Fan / Heatsink will be fine. wj, has made some good sugestions to ponder, and have fun.

[MatthewsJ]

coastie65, on 25 April 2012 - 08:17 AM, said:

Hi and welcome the forums. As Long as the copy of Windows 7 you have is Retail and not OEM there shouldn't be a problem with moving it to the new build and as you said would allow you to go with the i5, which would be an excellent choice. As wj, has said, as long as you don't plan on OCing for the immediate time being, than the stock Fan / Heatsink will be fine. wj, has made some good sugestions to ponder, and have fun.

Thank you for the welcome, and yes everyone has help a ton! thanks for all the feedback you guys actually saved be a couple of bucks and i have a better build then what i started with.

thanks

[MatthewsJ]

waldojim, on 25 April 2012 - 06:18 AM, said:

MatthewsJ, on 25 April 2012 - 04:09 AM, said:

Sorry about the reply with no more information at work and tried to reply from phone but what I was going to say was I do not need that windows 7 because I already have it here so could I change the i3 to the i5 and just get a new heatsink and fan for the i5 because I heard they come with poor ones for gaming?

Ha,sorry

Stock fans work just fine for a stock processor. They don't do well if overclocking though.

would you say there is a major differnce between the EVGA Nvidia 560SE and the EVGA Nvidia 560(fermi)? i really like your build and i think i might just go with what you told me. i'm just not sure if i should go a tad out of budget to spend on the 560 rather then the 560se if its a big differnce.

[waldojim]

MatthewsJ, on 25 April 2012 - 09:32 AM, said:

waldojim, on 25 April 2012 - 06:18 AM, said:

MatthewsJ, on 25 April 2012 - 04:09 AM, said:

Sorry about the reply with no more information at work and tried to reply from phone but what I was going to say was I do not need that windows 7 because I already have it here so could I change the i3 to the i5 and just get a new heatsink and fan for the i5 because I heard they come with poor ones for gaming?

Ha,sorry

Stock fans work just fine for a stock processor. They don't do well if overclocking though.

would you say there is a major differnce between the EVGA Nvidia 560SE and the EVGA Nvidia 560(fermi)? i really like your build and i think i might just go with what you told me. i'm just not sure if i should go a tad out of budget to spend on the 560 rather then the 560se if its a big differnce.

The 560SE sits dead in the middle between the 550Ti and the 560. Was it worth $10-20 to move from the 550Ti to the 560SE? Without a doubt. Now, can the same be said for another $50 price jump to the 560? Hard to say. The 560 is faster, no doubts there. The 560Se will play any game on the market at 1080P without any trouble though. You won't always get to hit the "max quality" button, but you will get close. So the answer is, I really don't have a good answer. Get what you feel you will need.

[MatthewsJ]

waldojim, on 25 April 2012 - 10:56 AM, said:

MatthewsJ, on 25 April 2012 - 09:32 AM, said:

waldojim, on 25 April 2012 - 06:18 AM, said:

MatthewsJ, on 25 April 2012 - 04:09 AM, said:

Sorry about the reply with no more information at work and tried to reply from phone but what I was going to say was I do not need that windows 7 because I already have it here so could I change the i3 to the i5 and just get a new heatsink and fan for the i5 because I heard they come with poor ones for gaming?

Ha,sorry

Stock fans work just fine for a stock processor. They don't do well if overclocking though.

would you say there is a major differnce between the EVGA Nvidia 560SE and the EVGA Nvidia 560(fermi)? i really like your build and i think i might just go with what you told me. i'm just not sure if i should go a tad out of budget to spend on the 560 rather then the 560se if its a big differnce.

The 560SE sits dead in the middle between the 550Ti and the 560. Was it worth $10-20 to move from the 550Ti to the 560SE? Without a doubt. Now, can the same be said for another $50 price jump to the 560? Hard to say. The 560 is faster, no doubts there. The 560Se will play any game on the market at 1080P without any trouble though. You won't always get to hit the "max quality" button, but you will get close. So the answer is, I really don't have a good answer. Get what you feel you will need.

thanks!! that actually helped a lot i have never had a huge gaming computer so i was never set on playing on the highest of the high so the 560se works perfect for me something i can run on medium-high without any problems.

thanks

[coastie65]

Actually in probably a lot of cases you could probably run it on High and just down tweak a few things and will look and run great. In a lot of cases you can set to Ultra High and turn off the AA and it will do fine, and maybe cut back on shadow effects and that sort of thing. I never use the Blur effect.

[LiveBrianD]

Waldojim, I'm not sure why we need to put in a more expensive case here, but otherwise your build looks fairly good. Personally, I still feel that it's a better idea to get a regular 560ti and then a cheaper case (like the antec 300 that I mentioned).

[waldojim]

LiveBrianD, on 25 April 2012 - 02:34 PM, said:

Waldojim, I'm not sure why we need to put in a more expensive case here, but otherwise your build looks fairly good. Personally, I still feel that it's a better idea to get a regular 560ti and then a cheaper case (like the antec 300 that I mentioned).

I take into account that sometimes people have different tastes than I do. As such, if he likes that case, it is fine. That is actually a very nice, high end box to put his parts in. Certainly better than the Antec 300.

[coastie65]

I agree that is a very nice box to put his stuff in. It is roomy and easy to work in with excellent airflow and features. It outshines the Antec 300 in my opinion and for that matter so does the 912 HAF I have my stuff in. I got mine because I liked the way the Hdds mounted for one thing and it has it's own SSD cage for two of those things or whatever else 2.5 thing you may want to put in there. Cases are a personal thing. You like Antec 300 fine, the other person may like something else, so no point in belaboring the issue, move on. If I wanted to save him money on a case, then I would point him toward the 912 HAF and he could save some $40, I think, and have a nice box. As I said, the case in my opinion, is a matter of personal taste.

[waldojim]

In the end, it matters not what case is used. We have a much nicer system - with an i5 - and it will do everything the op wants. That is what is most important here. The icing on the cake, was coming in under budget! That so rarely happens around here.

[MatthewsJ]

@liveBrianD didn't mean to cut yha out of the picture your info alone was a big help on just the parts floating around the market i appreciate that help/knowledge you have given.

@waldojim and coastie65 both of you have also been a huge help for the same reasons im really glad i came here to seek some advice saved me about $40 and i learned a lot.and i forgot to add i now have a x2 better of a rig now then i started with =P thanks again

as far as the case it really is just preference for me why put $700+ in something that you arnt 100% fond of on the out side

thanks again all

This post has been edited by MatthewsJ: 25 April 2012 - 07:09 PM

[LiveBrianD]

How about a case like this? http://www.instructa...LK/PC-parts.jpg It's cheap, for sure!

[coastie65]

waldojim, on 25 April 2012 - 06:10 PM, said:

In the end, it matters not what case is used. We have a much nicer system - with an i5 - and it will do everything the op wants. That is what is most important here. The icing on the cake, was coming in under budget! That so rarely happens around here.

Exactly.