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    The PC (Personal Computer) is a highly configurable and upgradable gaming platform that, among home systems, sports the widest variety of control methods, largest library of games, and cutting edge graphics and sound capabilities.

    NCIX Gaming Computer Rig

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    CaptainTryHard

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    #1  Edited By CaptainTryHard

    So I emailed customer service at NCIX asking for help on building a computer and the reply I got was a build that is supposed to be able to play every game now on high settings with a high FPS. Take a look and tell me what you think. It is a bit pricey seeing as how I'm going to have to buy a monitor, keyboard, and copy of Windows. If anyone knows what I can downgrade let me know, thanks!

    (Motherboard & CPU)

    (RAM)

    (Case)

    (PSU)

    (GPU)

    (SSD)

    (DVD)

    (Keyboard)

    (Monitor)

    (Windows 7)

    EDIT: $1,255.85

    Added- Keyboard, Monitor, Windows 7, GPU

    Removed- GPU, HDD

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    mosdl

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    #2  Edited By mosdl

    Looks good, I believe the GPU is good nut I haven't touched a ATI gpu in a long time.

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    kindgineer

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    #3  Edited By kindgineer

    I'm no PC guru, but I just wanted to share that the build is very nice. However, I don't know if it's just Giantbomb, but get a cooler case, man!

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    Bwast

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    #4  Edited By Bwast

    You will probably be able to play games at max(might have to fiddle with aliasing and such but no big deal)for at least a couple years. It is pricey, yes, but if that's something you want to be able to do, go for it, everything is great.

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    Sackmanjones

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    #5  Edited By Sackmanjones

    If your willing to dish out a bit more I have a 7950 and that thing would be right at home with your system to give it even more power. But overall it looks great. Just built a pc myself! Only bout a month ago and man I forgot how amazing gaming on a pc really is

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    ghost_cat

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    #6  Edited By ghost_cat

    Yeah you are going to be fine. I just built a computer recently with similar specs, except with an i7 cpu and GTX670 gpu.

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    ch3burashka

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    #7  Edited By ch3burashka

    @ck1nd said:

    I'm no PC guru, but I just wanted to share that the build is very nice. However, I don't know if it's just Giantbomb, but get a cooler case, man!

    Monolith brick is the epitome of cool.

    Can anyone do the mundane work for me and give me a price on the build? That seems to be a rather important detail when comparing builds.

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    pandorasbox

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    #8  Edited By pandorasbox

    Well, if money is no object, the specs they gave you are plenty good. I personally am running:

    Intel i5 2500k @3.7ghz(oc'd by 400mhz)

    Asus GTX560ti

    4gb DDR3 RAM (actually, it's 8gb, but i'm running a 32bit OS which is incapable of using more than 4gb)

    My system runs EVERYTHING that's been released MAXED at 1440x900 with ~60fps, including BF3(avg 50fps). The only game i cannot max out is Metro 2033.

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    kindgineer

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    #9  Edited By kindgineer

    @CH3BURASHKA said:

    @ck1nd said:

    I'm no PC guru, but I just wanted to share that the build is very nice. However, I don't know if it's just Giantbomb, but get a cooler case, man!

    Monolith brick is the epitome of cool.

    Can anyone do the mundane work for me and give me a price on the build? That seems to be a rather important detail when comparing builds.

    No way you can convince me that a computer case that lacks spinners, epileptic strobe lights, and firework-like color displays is cool. Just for reference, I wasn't being serious. I just like prettier pieces, but can understand the "manly" minimal look that case gives.

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    Hunkulese

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    #10  Edited By Hunkulese
    @pandorasbox

    Well, if money is no object, the specs they gave you are plenty good. I personally am running:

    Intel i5 2500k @3.7ghz(oc'd by 400mhz)

    Asus GTX560ti

    4gb DDR3 RAM (actually, it's 8gb, but i'm running a 32bit OS which is incapable of using more than 4gb)

    My system runs EVERYTHING that's been released MAXED at 1440x900 with ~60fps, including BF3(avg 50fps). The only game i cannot max out is Metro 2033.

    I was going to suggest the same CPU and GPU i you want to save a couple hundred bucks. If the maximum resolution you're going for is 1080p then they'll do just fine for the next couple years but what you've listed is just fine.
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    CaptainTryHard

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    #11  Edited By CaptainTryHard
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    Hunkulese

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    #12  Edited By Hunkulese
    @CaptainTryHard It's the same card from a different manufacturer so you'll be getting the same results and msi is a quality manufacturer so you should be happy with that gpu.
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    Shivoa

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    #13  Edited By Shivoa

    @CaptainTryHard: That card is a last gen (40nm) part and while being 18 months old isn't a terrible thing in itself* I'd say you want an AMD part if you want to pay that price (direct comparison, note the old 560Ti is a lot warmer/more power hungry for roughly same speed - 101W more draw at the wall when pushed with OCCT). My full reasoning on GPUs today (options at the top to move between games and settings/resolutions, each game may change the ranking so look at which games you play and know demand a lot from your GPU to help pick out comparisons you care about).

    OP: That is certainly the poster child for a 'budget concious but serious gaming rig'. It doesn't waste money on Sandy Bridge-E (masses of added memory bandwidth, optional 6 cores rather than 4, rarely much benefit for games vs the massive price increase over Ivy Bridge and a fast i5-3xxx) and it reasonably bare to avoid wasting money. I'd say there's an argument for buying 2x8GB of fast 1.5V RAM to jump the price from $45 to $100 for that component and be a bit more future-proof but that's far from necessary (possibly overkill as a pure gaming machine when games are still often locked to grabbing 4GB of RAM and so with an OS and other tasks that makes 8GB total ideal). You can also spend more or less on the GPU depending on how much you demand for all games max at 1080p. $400 buys you a mild over clock on a GTX670 and that thing is painfully fast. It's not required for gaming (you can drop to $215 for an AMD 7850 as the 7870 isn't the best price at $300 if you want to save cash and maybe cut back on the AA at 1080p) but you can justify a $400 spend on a GPU and still not be able to make every game sing locked 60fps when you crank literally everything up at 1080p with AA.

    As you say you're looking to shave costs, I'd say keep the 2x4GB RAM and maybe save $80 with a 7850 over a 7870 but you should understand that advice comes at a cost to how hard you can push the settings at 1080p and get 60fps. But if you look at that direct comparison then think it is $300 vs $215 for the two cards and AMD are asking for quite a bit more money to slightly increase your performance at the same settings. Of course, this is only if you really need to cut costs as I also say if you're rich that a $400 GTX670 over a $300 7870 in this comparison makes sense. All three of these cards are decent buys, if you want to cut costs then the 7850 is your best bet, but if you get a 7870 or GTX670 then you're spending a bit more to give your total system a real boost.

    You might also look to saving another $100 on the rotating HDD if you can live on Steam or using DVDs to install games as you need them. I prefer a 250GB SSD but you can survive on a 128GB model if you have to (and later buy a spinning HDD for your video/media files - do people still do that in a world of Netflix and Spotify? - or to backup Steam downloads rather than deleting them and redownloading them later) and taking out that 2TB of empty storage (if you have an old drive with media already on it then you can plug that one in and save wasting money on a new drive to copy the files onto for no good reason, no need for a fast drive as your SSD is for important files). Just remember to sign up for a cloud storage service to back up your savegames and so on to protect against an unlikely drive failure and no local backup.

    * the GTX570 is also that old and is the only part that nVidia have that competes for performance on a similar price (it should be below $250 at retail, not sure why they're spiking to $280/290 right now) with the AMD part the OP suggested - nVidia have yet to release a compelling card in the $200-300 area this gen so you have to pay $400 for a GTX670 for their bleeding fast enthusiast card if you don't want to buy AMD or buy old stock.

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    Shivoa

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    #14  Edited By Shivoa

    On the updated list of components:

    If you are careful then you can buy that nice i5 CPU ($220) and a cheaper Z77 motherboard (probably can't get SLI and CrossfireX support but you can get just CrossfireX support which is all you'd need even if you were to one day make the questionable upgrade move of adding another AMD graphics card to your system) for less than the bundle price. This or this stand out as the good deals on NCIX for a Z77 motherboard for under $120. It's only a saving of $30 but it's a start.

    You can't spend less than $45 on decent RAM (if you try you can end up with having to underclock it to avoid crashing or running at 1.65V rather than what Intel mandate of 1.35V or 1.5V) so don't try to save money there.

    CoolerMaster do good PSUs, they're not the most popular brand (many enthusiasts currently go with a Corsair TX model but it's more expensive than your current pick) but they're dependable and a bit less than you're currently paying. A dependable model for under $73 so again, only a few dollars but it all adds up and it means we're saving money without making your gaming experience any worse.

    It can be justified to spend a bit on keyboards if you have a preference (I enjoy scissor action, individual caps, low travel which is how good laptops work and am too cheap to buy the mechanical action keys that feel similar to this as $150 for a keyboard is too expensive for me) but if not thanyou can spend $10 and get something that is likely to be a lot like the $40 model you picked, only no lights.

    You can probably get a decent (not fancy or flash, not padded with foam to be silent, but usable for installing parts and with enough air-flow for gaming components) case for under $50 but make sure to check shipping in case it screws you over. You can do a lot worse than CoolerMaster budget models, I haven't used this exact case before but I have used 300 series before to get a cheap but functional case (and there was a recent review on Anandtech saying the same thing about budget but functional offerings). At $30 you can afford to also but an extra fan or two (at least buy one to put in the front of the case so you have the rear one it ships with and a front fan (plus the PSU and GPU fans do some venting for a case). Not nearly as nice as that $100 Antec, but if you want to save money you sometimes have to give up the looks and just get something that'll work.

    If you have a previous license for Windows (XP, 7 or Vista) then you can get Windows 8 Pro for $40. If you're not a fan of the new start menu replacement then it isn't as great as Windows 7 but for gaming they both have DX11 (with 11.1 coming soon) and a desktop from which to launch your games so that is a saving to be had if you can wait for October for the release. If not then I think you should be able to find a Windows 7 Home Premium OEM edition for less than your linked price but I haven't found it (so maybe you can't, I only really know the Euro prices from a few years ago). also, are you a student (in higher education)? MS may have a deal where you can get a free copy of Windows via your institution. Are you at school? You can probably get a discount via the MS student shop. I don't know if you can certainly spend under $95 for Win7 Home Premium but I though you should probably go looking (just avoid getting scammed by someone on ebay selling a fake key).

    I'm not sure I can see savings anywhere else without impacting performance (as you've already moved down to the $200 of GPU which is entry level if you're serious about gaming). You could save money by buying the lower end CPU, but if you can get the money together then that's a nice unlocked model you've got (as fast as money can buy for gaming, more or less) and i3s do come with a cost to performance (especially for games that aren't great at threading) while slower i5s aren't much cheaper.

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