$1200 PC Build

Hello,

I'm not 100% hip on the hardware side. I'm a full stack javascript developer.. I'm not a hard core gamer either. Though I imagine I wouldn't mind playing a game here or there.

I need help picking out hardware for a PC build with a 1200 MAX budget. I'm not saying I want to reach that budget, Im just looking for a good deal. What should I get?

$1200 what...? Cad? USD? Euro? Pound? Australian? Yen?

What will be the main use? Gaming, programing, something else?

usage? what parts do you have that? what country? do you need peripherals like screen/keyboard/mouse/ect...

@TheAlmightyBaconLord and @fredrich_nietze thanks for replies.

Currency: USD.
Country: United States.
peripherals: No.
Usage: Web Development with some gaming.

Joseph

What's your display set up?

Builds is probably going to be something like this, I guess X99 might have gone up in price a bit in the last few months

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fBYYm8
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fBYYm8/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($329.88 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool ASSASSIN II 70.1 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170A-X1/3.1 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($92.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 470 4GB ARMOR OC Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($86.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Jet)
Total: $989.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-05 00:01 EST-0500

2 Likes

Since ur not doing full 3d rendering or multi core processing like video. Any quad-core computer made in the last 10 years would do fine.
I would suggest a $100 dollar HP Z400 workstation off ebay.

3 Likes

I would check out:
Microcenter for CPU/MB combos and open box GPU's. Also found an Antec Case/PSU combo for half off cause it has one scratch.

I also had great success with Best Buy for monitors.

An APU build can go under 400 easily. I wish I knew of a website that does compile benchmarks

1 Like

You're awesome. That's a very interesting build. Im going to look at reviews for this. The only thing left is a hard drive.. which is easy.

It's probably overkill for what you need, could potentially get an i5 6500 a cheaper motherboard, and invest the rest in some 4k displays.

Otherwise a 240GB SSD for the OS and a whatever drive for mass storage should be enough

2 Likes

Yeah you should be fine with an i5. You could also wait for Zen and see how it performs and/or hope for a price drop. But as @Streetguru mentioned, an i5 should be fine.

1 Like

Its over kill and i love it! I put this together (Partially because I've been neglecting this site for a while) I would honestly go to micro center like they said and get any quad core and go from there, you can get great deals there and places like it. Anyway here is my put together

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fbtFbj
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fbtFbj/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($303.77 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG M9i 48.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Motherboard: ASRock H170M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX200 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($149.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon RX 470 4GB Red Dragon Video Card ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 650W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($105.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $924.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-05 12:34 EST-0500

TL;DR I do not recommend building a system with a 6700/6700k. Not only will the processor alone cost almost as much as a whole system (HP Z420/Dell T3600), the 6700/6700K will have a worse multi-threaded performance, and similar single threaded performance to a Xeon 1650. Save your money, buy a used workstation with a Xeon 1650, and either save the money or buy new/better peripherals. Intel's been sitting on their ass with a lack of competition, so they have not improved their CPU performance much since second gen.

Personally, I don't think getting sixth gen skylake is worth the price (made a rant about it recently...), especially for your needs. I feel as though you'd be much better off saving some money and getting something like an HP Z400 (currently use as my server, upgrade it to something like the X5670 with 16GB RAM and you'll be golden, you need mod the system a bit to support standard atx PSU's, which I did easily), or buy a new/used HP Z420/Dell T3600 with a Xeon 1650 (around 500USD used). The Z420 and T3600 both have 600W PSU's with Gold efficiency (the Dell can have a lower wattage PSU, so know what you're buying), and with the 600W PSU, you can easily upgrade to almost any GPU that you'd like, and still have headroom.

With that spare amount of cash, you can get some nice peripherals (better monitor's, keyboard, mouse, desk, etc), or just save the money for other things.

I personally do not recommend getting a sixth gen i7. Not only will the multi threaded performance be worse than something like a Xeon 1650, but the single core performance will also be very similar. For your usage, the single threaded performance difference WILL NOT warrant the price difference, because the application/games that you will use will not be severely bottlenecked by the ~15% slower single core performance.

Edit: Just realized that my TL;DR is not much shorter than my other 3 paragraphs. Oh well.

omg, this is exactly why I came here. I never heard of Microcenter either. These systems are awesome. You cant build these for that price. I have 2 dell 24" monitors.

1 Like

@Joseph_Chambers If you get lucky, you can find Z420/Dell T3600 with 1 year warranty's, along with the Xeon 1650, AND 16GB of ram, all for under $500 USD, which is a lot cheaper than what you were originally planning, and would probably suite your needs a lot more.

TBH, I've actually been really looking at buying one of the 2 systems as well, and just selling my i5 6500 rig. The motherboard and PSU will be of such higher quality than my current rig, much faster, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised to have the components lasted longer as well.

1 Like

Thanks for your help everyone. Went to costco for something else and saw this: http://store.asus.com/us/item/201510AM170008066/A17602-ASUS+ROG+GL752VW-DH71+Intel+i7+2.6GHz+16GB+DDR4+1TB+HDD+GTX960M+2GB+17.3-inch+Gaming+Laptop and just picked it up.

That HP Z400 workstation may be perfect for freenas box. cheap, and Im guessing low power....

I found this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Build-Your-Own-Dell-T3600-6-Core-Workstation-CTO-No-OS-Save-A-Lot-of-Money-/172401588028 for 354.00 without graphics card or hard drive and with 32gb it doesn't cost anymore. :| You know, for docker ;)

Do these support SATA 6?

Yup http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/shared-content/data-sheets/en/Documents/Dell-Precision-T3600-Spec-Sheet.pdf

2 Sata 6Gb/s, 2 USB 3.0. If wanted to add USB 3.1, M.2, U.2, or more Sata 6Gb/s, there's plenty of PCIE slots for cards.