Hardware Revolution’s $1250 Gaming Build Version 2.0

Thumb it up!

The Cooler Master HAF 922, the case used in this build

In the last two weeks, I started to update our Gaming PC Builds Designs, with the $400 Gaming Build, the $500 Gaming Build, the $600 Gaming Build, the $700 Gaming Build, the $850 Gaming Build and finally the $1000 Gaming Build.

Today, it’s time for the $1250 Gaming Build.

I’ll keep going at this for the next days/weeks, as I update all/add Gaming PC Builds. Needless to say, if you haven’t done so already, make sure to subscribe for free via RSS or E-mail to not miss the future posts.

If the fact that you’ll be receiving outstanding custom Gaming PC designs for free is not enough to convince you, here are 7 Reasons to Subscribe.

About the $1250 Gaming Build:

What does this $1250 Gaming PC offer?

• Solid performance: It will handle gaming, with modern titles, with high details, AA and AF, at a resolution up to 1920 x 1080 (1080p – Up to 22-25″ monitor)
• Quality and looks: The Cooler Master HAF 922 case offers a look that you can be proud of, and cooling that will keep your system cool and reliable, even after hours upon hours of gaming. The power supply is a solid Corsair 650W unit with nothing short of 52A on the 12V lines to handle the whole system without a problem.
• Easily upgradeable in the future, with:
  1. PCI-Express 2.0 slot for the video card.
  2. DDR3 RAM.
  3. USB 3.0
  4. SATA 6Gb/s

What’s new in version (2.0) of the $1250 Gaming Build compared to the previous version?

This version makes a switch from an Intel Core i5 750 processor to the faster Intel Core i7-860, which offers Hyper-Threading and higher frequencies Turbo mode. This version also has a motherboard that supports USB 3.0/SATA 6Gb/s unlike the previous version of this build. I also make changes to the cooling and tried to offer more upgrade options.

Computer Builds FAQs:

I often get questions such as:

• Who are you to tell me which parts to choose?
• Can you suggest me a step by step guide to build a computer?
• Why should I build a PC instead of buying one in a store?
• And many more…

You will find the answers to all of these questions and more in this article: FAQ: How to Build Your Own Computer

Also, if this is your first build, here are 10 Quick Tips for 1st Time Builders to get you started.

$1250 Gaming computer hardware parts recommendations, short version:

• In Bold, you’ll find my recommendations, with a price that fits the overall budget.
• In Italic, you’ll find the best possible upgrades, that is the parts that offers the best bang for your buck.
• In simple terms, if you want a more powerful CPU or video card, pick it from the list of recommended upgrades that are in Italic.
• All upgrades are compatible with the rest of the system, as well as other upgrades, meaning that you can choose one or many upgrades without a problem.
• If upgrades just don’t cut it, visit the Gaming PCs page, where you’ll find our other gaming computer custom build designs.

Components	Make, Model and Specifications	Price
CPU/Processor	Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz Quad-Core + HT 1156 95W Intel Core i7-870 Lynnfield 2.93GHz Quad-Core + HT 1156 95W	$280 $540
Motherboard	GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ASUS P7P55D PRO: LGA1156 Intel P55 ATX Crossfire 8x/8x ASUS P7P55D-E Pro 1156 P55 SATA6Gb/s USB3.0 Crossfire8x/8x	$135 $170 $190
RAM	G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1.5V DDR3 1600 Dual Channel 2x G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1.5V DDR3 1600 Dual Channel for 8GB	$94 $188
Video Card	Radeon HD 5870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 DirectX 11 Radeon HD 5970 2GB 512(256 x 2)-bit GDDR5 DirectX 11 Two Radeon HD 5870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 DirectX 11 in Crossfire	$400 $650 $800
Hard Drive	W.D. Caviar Black 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA II W.D. Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA II OCZ Solid 2 Series 2.5″ 60GB SATA II SSD OCZ Solid 2 Series 2.5″ 120GB SATA II SSD Required for SSDs: ICY DOCK 2.5″ to 3.5″ SSD & SATA Adapter	$80 $100 $169 $299 $20
Optical Drive	LITE-ON Black 24X SATA CD/DVD Burner	$27
Power Supply	CORSAIR 650W CrossFire/80 PLUS Certified SeaSonic 850W Crossfire/80 PLUS SILVER Certified	$90 $110
Case	COOLER MASTER HAF 922 – 1x 120mm 2x 200mm fans Antec Twelve Hundred 5x 120mm, 1x 200mm case fans COOLER MASTER HAF 932 1 x 140mm, 3 x 200mm case fans SILVERSTONE KUBLAI KL03-BW 2 x 120mm case fans COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000 4 x 120mm case fans	$90 $160 $160 $170 $180
Cooling	COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus 120mm CPU Cooler ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound CORSAIR All-in-One Water-Cooling CPU Cooler Rosewill 120mm Case Fan Scythe 120mm “Slipstream” Case Fan	$30 $8 $78 $4 $9
Sound	8 channels sound card: Integrated on the motherboard	Free
Network	Ethernet RJ-45 10/100/1000 Mbps: Integrated on the motherboard	Free
Total price	Not Including OS, Shipping nor handling. Within -/+ 5% of Budget	$1234

Is this the right type of PC for me?

If you’re looking for a PC to play video games, you’re at the right place. If this is not what you’re looking for, check out our other Computer Systems instead.

About Gaming PCs:

Gaming Computers are all about playing video games. Every year, new video games that pushes the boundaries of visual effects are released and demand more and more power from your computer to run.

This is why our Gaming Builds Designs focus both on current performance for today’s games, as well as being ready to upgrade, to be ready to handle future games. For Gaming Builds Designs, the majority of the budget goes to the Video Card and the Processor to ensure high performance in video games, as well as a solid power supply with a case with good cooling abilities, to ensure reliability.

Upgrades will usually focus on the processor and video card for enhanced performance, as well as on the power supply and cooling, to enhance overclocking capabilities. You may choose to upgrade the hard drive for more capacity, or change the case to get one that matches your personal preferences, such as look, cooling, size, etc.

$1250 Gaming Computer Hardware parts recommendations, detailed version:

Motherboard:

GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0

A nice, solid motherboard, that is a full sized ATX motherboard based on the Intel P55 chipset. This is an edition that includes two USB 3.0 ports as well as two SATA 6GB/s ports.

Other than that, it features:

• Eight USB 2.0 ports, one PS/2, LAN, 8 channels HD audio and 1 x Optical, 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF outputs.
• One PCI-Express 16X 2.0 (16x), One PCI-Express 1.0 (4x), two PCI-Express 1X and three PCI slots, six SATA 3.0 Gb/s ports and the usual IDE port, etc.

The LGA 1156 socket, DDR3 RAM support, USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s ports and the PCI-Express 2.0 slot will make it last and be ready to upgrade in the future if you want to.

This board pretty much has everything that you could need, unless you want Crossfire of course. If that’s the case, check out the upgrades below:

Recommended upgrades:

1. ASUS P7P55D PRO: LGA1156 Intel P55 ATX Crossfire 8x/8x – This is the next step up, as it supports Crossfire with two Radeon cards. However, no USB 3.0 nor SATA 6GB/s here, see the next upgrade for that.
2. ASUS P7P55D-E Pro 1156 P55 SATA6Gb/s USB3.0 Crossfire8x/8x This has it all. Crossfire support AND USB 3.0 along with SATA 6Gb/s support. This is the motherboard to get if you want to be as future-proof as possible.

CPU:

Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz Quad-Core + HT 8MB L3 1156 95W

The other contenders in the same price range would have been the AMD Phenom II X4 965BE or Intel’s own Core i7 920. I picked the Intel Core i7 860 over them simply because it is faster than both of them when it comes to gaming, according to AnandTech, who also said about the Core i7 860 vs the Core i7 920: “In terms of cost effectiveness, the Core i7 860 is the way to go. With cheaper motherboards and higher operating frequencies than a Core i7 920, for the majority of users the 860 will be the better pick.”

I couldn’t agree more with that statement. I also have to mention that the Core i7 860 consumes only 95W instead of 130W and that it’s turbo frequencies are much higher: Bloomfield processors (Core i7 920 and other socket 1366 Core i7) are limited to a 133MHz boost with 4 active cores or 266Mhz with a single active core. Meaning that the Core i7 920, which at stock runs at 2.66GHz, won’t go any faster than 2.93GHz.

The Lynnfield based Core i7 860, which starts at 2.80GHz, also gets only an extra 133Mhz with 4 or 3 actives cores, up to 2.93GHz. However, things get interesting with 2 active cores will hit 3.33GHz or even better, 3.46GHz with a single active core. If you consider that most programs, especially video games, use one or two cores, this is where the Lynnfield based Core i7 860 shines.

Recommended upgrades:

1. Intel Core i7-870 Lynnfield 2.93GHz Quad-Core + HT 8MB L3 LGA1156 95W – While it’s only 133MHz faster at stock, the Core i7-870 main advantage over the Core i7-860 is its even higher turbo frequencies. With a single or two actives cores, it hits 3.20GHz (333MHz more than the Core i7 860), with three cores 3.46GHz and finally, with 4 cores, nothing short of 3.60GHZ (133 MHz than the Core i7 860).

Video Card:

Radeon HD 5870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 DirectX 11

The Radeon HD 5870 is AMD’s fastest single-GPU video card

The Radeon 5870 supports DirectX 11 and it is perfect for gaming at 1920 x 1080 (1080p), with high details, AA and AF. It also has a 1GB of memory buffer, to handle games such as GTA: 4.

Finally, it is HDCP Ready and will handle Blu-Ray and other 1080p content playback, with audio over HDMI as well, with most audio setup (2.1, 5.1, 7.1, etc.).

VS Nvidia video card:

The main competition from Nvidia at this price range is the Geforce GTX 295. Unfortunately for Nvidia, the Geforce GTX 295 is not that faster than the Radeon HD 5870 (~10% on average), while costing much more ($520+ for the Geforce GTX 295, if you can find it in stock that is, $400 for the Radeon 5870) and consuming much more power, due to its dual-GPU.

At equal performance levels, I would take a single-GPU setup any day; there are no profiles to deal with or the sometimes inconsistent scaling in performance, as well as micro-shuttering, which mind you, is common for any multiple-GPU setups/cards.

Considering the price difference and the need to fit within the budget, not to mention stock levels, DirectX11 and power consumption, overall the Radeon HD 5870 simply is a better solution.

Recommended upgrades:

Note that the Crossfire upgrade requires a Crossfire compatible motherboard.

1. Radeon HD 5970 2GB 512(256 x 2)-bit GDDR5 DirectX 11- How do you upgrade from the faster single-GPU video card? Simple: Get the fastest single card solution, the dual-GPU Radeon 5970. This is basically two Radeon 5870 in Crossfire on one card, although with reduced frequencies. This is the perfect solution if you don’t want to spend more for a motherboard upgrade.
2. Two Radeon HD 5870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 DirectX 11 in Crossfire - If you want to run Crysis: Warhead maxed up at 1920 x 1080 or simply want a future-proof solution, this is the way to go.This is faster than the Radeon 5970 as you get two Radeon 5870 with their full frequencies here.

RAM:

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1.5V DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel

4GB of RAM is pretty much mandatory to handle the latest video games along with Windows and background background such as your anti-virus, web broswer, music/video player, etc.

Considering the price of RAM these days and the ever-expending memory use of games and programs, 4GB of high-speed DDR3 memory is a no-brainer.

I went with G.Skill for their high reliability and compatibility with the majority of motherboards. I chose these particular sticks as they only require the standard 1.5V to run at 1600MHz, resulting in lower power consumption, but more importantly, because they are user-friendly as they don’t require to increase the voltage for stock settings.

In my opinion, there is little incentive to move to faster frequency RAM, as it brings only a small performance increase (According to Tom’s Hardware ) for a much higher price. DDR3 1600MHz is the sweet spot, costing about the same as lower speed, offering good performance and overclocking headroom.

Note that the RAM will most likely not run at 1600MHz to begin with. This is normal, you need to adjust your BIOS settings to reach that speed.

Hard Drive:

Western Digital Caviar Black 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

I went with Western Digital because their hard drive offers the highest reliability in my experience, being less prone to failure on average.

This drive offers 750GB of storage, plenty enough to handle your video/music collection and all your games. This drive is from the Black series from Western Digital, their best and fastest hard drive series with more cache (32MB) and a 5 years warranty instead of 3.

Recommended upgrades:

1. W.D. Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s – ($100) For an extra $20, you get an extra 250GB.
2. OCZ Solid 2 Series 2.5″ 60GB SATA II SSD - SSDs are finally getting somewhat affordable. Here you get 60GB for $169.
   
3. OCZ Solid 2 Series 2.5″ 120GB SATA II SSD – Need more capacity? Get 120GB for $299.
   
4. Required for SSDs: ICY DOCK 2.5″ to 3.5″ SSD & SATA Adapter – You’ll need this adapter to fit SSDs in regular hard drive 3.5″ bays.
   

Optical Drive:

LITE-ON Black 24X SATA CD/DVD Burner

This drive is able to read and burn CDs and DVDs. Silent, compatible with all major formats including DVD-RAM.

The motherboard includes two SATA cables (One will be used for the hard drive and one for this DVD Burner), so no need to worry about cables.

Also, seeing as DVD Burners are often go out of stock lately, here are a two alternatives that you can use to replace it. All are SATA based.

1. LITE-ON Black 24X SATA Black CD/DVD Writer
2. HP Black 24X SATA 24X CD/DVD Writer – Retail

Case:

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 – 1x 120mm 2x 200mm fans

If you’re looking for a different look, or simply hate blue LEDs, have a look at Cooler Master HAF 922. It offers one 120mm fan as well as two massive 200m fans.

On a side note, yes, the Radeon 5970 video card upgrade fits in this case as well as any of the other case upgrades.

Recommended upgrades:

1. Antec Twelve Hundred 5x 120mm, 1x 200mm case fans
2. COOLER MASTER HAF 932 1 x 140mm, 3 x 200mm case fans
3. SILVERSTONE KUBLAI KL03-BW 2 x 120mm case fans
4. COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000 4 x 120mm case fans

Power Supply:

CORSAIR 650W CrossFire/80 PLUS Certified

This power supply is capable of delivering up to 650W, not that should rely on this information only as I often point in posts such as Warning: 6 Surefire Ways of Blowing Up Your Computer Due to an Inadequate Power Supply, but more importantly 52A on the 12V line, the most important factor when it comes to choosing a power supply for a gaming computer.

Power Consumption:

According to the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator, it is estimated that this system will consume at load (peak usage):

• 346W with the recommended Core i7 860 and the Radeon 5870
• 426W with the Intel Core i7 860 and a Radeon 5970.
• 452W with the Intel Core i5 860 and two Radeon 5870 in Crossfire. This is the worst case scenario.

This goes to prove how efficient these new Radeon 57xx and 58xx cards are, especially compared to the older Radeon 48xx series.

Upgrades:

SeaSonic 850W Crossfire/80 PLUS SILVER Certified – If you want more overhead (200W more) or simply want to save on electricity costs by getting a more efficient power supply (80 PLUS Silver here, which is a minimum of 85% to 88% efficiency depending on the load, compared to the only 80 PLUS (80% minimum) on the Corsair.), for only $20 more, this is an excellent upgrade to consider, especially considering the current low price on this power supply.

Cooling:

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus 120mm CPU Cooler

Tom’s Hardware recently compared ten CPU cooler for the socket 1156, and declared that the Cooler Master Hyper 212 offered the best performance for the price, or the best value.

The reason for that is that it cools relatively well and costs only $30, a bargain for a good heatsink.

If you have something more high-end, consider the CORSAIR All-in-One Water-Cooling CPU Cooler. Many say that if performs just a well as a custom water-cooling system that you’ve built from separated parts, while obviously being much more simple and less expensive, at $80.

Also to consider:

1. Thermal Compound: Use the ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound either with the stock cooler or better, with the upgraded CPU cooler to lower your CPU temperatures further more. For $8, this is a wise investment.
2. Case cooling: You can add up at least one additional 120 mm fans in any of the case and I highly recommend that you add one on the side, to help keep your video card cool, but the best is to get two. If you’re on a tight budget and don’t mind a bit of noise at 29.3 dBA, the Rosewill 120mm Case Fan is a good choice. Go for the Scythe 120mm “Slipstream” Case Fan if you’re looking for a higher-quality, more silent fan. This particular model is relatively silent at only 24dBA.

Sound Card: 8 channels sound card: Integrated on the motherboard

Integrated with the motherboard, this sound card will handle many different sound setups, including headphones, a microphone and more. While integrated audio on a PC used to be absolutely horrible, it has gotten much better in the last few years, thus why I have no trouble recommending it.

Network: Ethernet RJ-45 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN: Integrated on the motherboard

Integrated with the motherboard, this network adapter will allow you to access your local network and Internet.

Recommended operating systems:

The operating system cost, if there’s one, is not included in the total cost. The two reason for this are:

1. The budget only considers hardware.
2. You may be able re-use a previous license, go with an open-source OS such as Linux or , if you’re so inclined and are aware of what you’re doing, use torrents.

If you decide that you need a need OS, here are some recommendations:

Windows 7

Despite Linux gaining more and more support, Windows still is the platform of choice for compatibility at the moment. Considering that you’ll have 4GB of RAM or more, along with a dedicated video that also has memory (512MB or 1GB), you’ll need a 64-bit version, as 32-bit is limited to 4GB of memory for the entire system, which is not enough now, nor in the future if you decide to upgrade.

Windows 7 is by far better than Windows Vista, looks better, more functional, less annoying, consumes less resources and brings DirectX 11 to the table.

Three Available Versions:

1. Windows 7 Home Premium: The basic edition, with all the looks, most of the functionality and DirectX 11.
2. Windows 7 Professional: If you want the virtual XP mode, you’ll need at least the Professional edition. Also required if you want to backup to a network, using the built-in backup mode in Windows.
3. Windows 7 Ultimate: To help protect data on your PC and portable storage devices against loss or theft with BitLocker and to work and switch between 35 languages.

OEM vs Retail:

The OEM version allows you to only install it once on a computer. You cannot transfer the license to another computer in the future and you do not receive support from Microsoft. It’s the same type of license you get when you get Windows on a desktop or laptop that you buy from Dell, HP and such. It’s less expensive, but gives less flexibility. Ideal if you intend on keeping your computer for many years.

The Retail version is the full version, which allows you to transfer the license to another computer in the future and you can call Microsoft if you need any form of support. Ideal if you intend on upgrading/changing your computer down the road.

Other than that, you get the same features on both, only the license differs. The price between the two differs obviously.

OEM Versions:

1. Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM – $105
2. Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OEM – $140
3. Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit OEM – $175

Retail Versions:

1. Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Retail – $184
2. Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Retail – $275
3. Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Retail – $292

Linux

A lot of people these days boots more than one OS. Linux is a wonderful choice: powerful, cool, and cheap. Take your pick of distributions and have fun! For Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Slackware, and Mandrake, try Distrowatch.com, Cheapbytes.com, LinuxQuestions.org or one of the many others.

While Linux does not offer the wide compatibility of Windows with video games, gaming on Linux is still possible, through projects such as Wine, Cedega and Crossover. For more on the topic of Linux Gaming, I invite you to read this excellent article from AnandTech: Linux Gaming: Are we there yet?

What about Word processing, Excel and other Windows-based programs that you need? Linux being an open platform, there are many free alternatives that will answer your needs. For Word/Excel and such, try OpenOffice.

Cost: Free

Conclusion

What do you think of this version 2.0 of the $1250 Gaming PC?

What about the new Gaming PC layout?

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Building this system?

Do you need a guide on how to build a computer or do you have some questions?

Consult our: FAQ: How to Build Your Own Computer

Also, if this is your first build, here are 10 Quick Tips for 1st Time Builders to get you started.

Finally, if your newly built computer won’t start, I invite you to read Help me: Why won’t my newly assembled PC start or boot?

Don’t miss the new/updates to the Gaming PCs!

Make sure not to miss the next Gaming PC Builds that will be published in the next days/weeks by subscribe for free via RSS or E-mail. If the fact that you’ll be receiving outstanding custom Gaming PC designs for free is not enough to convince you, here are 7 Reasons to Subscribe.